How should I hop my IPA?

[slash22000]

50g is a great start. I always hop absolute minimum 2g/L with hoppy beers, I've got a brew in the keg atm with a 4g/L keg hop (~88 grams, 2/3 Citra 1/3 Simcoe).

 

[///]

From experience and the acess to a photospectometer (measures bu's), 4gm/l of c-hops gives about 40-50 bu from the whirlpool with a 45 minute heat ex run off

I bitter to 30 bu and then dry hop the same as the whirlpool. Also limit crystal, the SoCal ipa's don't have much in them, maybe a mini mash with some Munich?

 

[Yob]

From experience and the acess to a photospectometer

b'trd.. love to play with one of tose and experiment and see whats what...

 

[keef_g]

Allright

This is what I've decided to put down

25L batch - to fit my old 23L scweppes keg

3kg light DME
500g wheat malt
500g dextrose
200g crystal malt steeped at 65 for 30 min

hops:
15g super alpha and 5g cascade @ 60min boil
15g Amarillo, 10g cascade and 10g galaxy @ 20min
10g each of Amarillo, cascade and galaxy @ 10min
50g citra dry hopped (25g at 2 days and 25g at 5 days) (could possibly be convinced to add a bit more)

works out (with the help of ianh's spreadsheet) to OG of 1061, IBU around 62 with about 1/2 ibu's from the 60min hops

US05 pitched on it at 24 degrees, bubbling away nicely (actually quite aggressively) at 22 degrees at the moment. should be sitting at about 20 degrees after tonight's cold.

Pretty excited as it's my first all extract brew. It already smells awesome and I haven't even dry hopped yet.

Also, enjoying a Mountain Goat - Rapunzel as I write this in preparation for the Origin tonight. Belgian ale next???

 

[slash22000]

There is not really any reason to use that Cascade at 60 minutes, unless you don't have enough Super Alpha to make up the IBU's.

Aside from that, looks fantastic.

 

[bum]

Sure there is. Different hops have different bitterring characteristics.

Whether they'll be noticed in a particular beer/by a particular brewer or not is debatable.

 

[carniebrew]

2 days might be a bit quick for the first lot of dry hops, it's going to be a very active ferment by then, and a lot of the aroma/flavour from that addition will be driven off. Why not drop the lot on it at the 5 day'ish mark?

 

[Byran]

What would be an overdose of hops in an IPA? 500 grams in a 23 litre batch?
I dont think ive gone more that 300.
Flavour is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.

 

[Kranky]

If you dry hop a beer too early the the fermentation process will drive off most of the hop oils that released from dry hopping. You need to wait until primary fermentation is completed before you dry hop. I rack to secondary when I dry hop and of late I've been waiting two weeks to do this.

Bryan - an overdose of dry hops I think is a personal opinion. I've often dry hopped at 8g/litre and the results are usually good. There are some hops that don't seem to go so well in large amounts. Amarillo can taste similar to the way burnt engine oil smells, citra will be a flat mango flavour and not the bright tropical fruit most people enjoy and Galaxy is just plain awful if you over do it.

 

[GuyQLD]

OT - but everytime I see this thread the recent posts box I want to scream "With bloody hops ya daft bugger!"

On topic however - Second the comments on Galaxy being a double edged sword. Couple of times I've used it it has been rougher than your mad aunt's tongue and has taken almost as long to mellow as it did for your mad aunt to decompose.

 

[keef_g]

Yeah slash. Just short on super alpha.

5 days for the dry hop was original plan. Thanks for confirming.

 

[keef_g]

Sorry GuyQLD probably a very broad heading for a thread. On a positive note, I have decided to hop my ipa with hops

 

[keef_g]

It seems that this beer has stalled after two days in the fermenter. I thought that I aerated it pretty well and it is sitting at 20 degrees. Any ideas what could be wrong?

 

[Kranky]

It seems that this beer has stalled after two days in the fermenter. I thought that I aerated it pretty well and it is sitting at 20 degrees. Any ideas what could be wrong?

What was your starting gravity?

What gravity is it now stalled on?

 

[keef_g]

OG was 1.060, currently sitting at about 1.030

This is my first all extract beer, I normally don't pay this much attention to them. Probably nothing to worry about.

 

[manticle]

How are you measuring gravity?

How do you know it's stalled if 2 days ago it was at OG? Fermentation slows down as it progresses. Wait and see.