IPA Hopping Tips

[GundyBrewer]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum, and fairly new to brewing, having only done three BIAB brews.

My fourth beer is going to be an American IPA, and I just wanted some tips with my hopping schedule. All the grain, hops and yeast have been ordered so I'm just trying to get my hopping schedule sorted. Recipe at the moment is as follows:

Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 23.5 liters [SIZE=.9em] (fermentor volume) [/SIZE]
Boil Size: 27 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.052 [SIZE=.9em] (recipe based estimate) [/SIZE]
Efficiency: 70% [SIZE=.9em] (brew house) [/SIZE]


Target OG - 1.060


Target FG - 1.016


ABV - 5.79%


IBUs - 52.54

EBC - 17.0


Malt

5.2 kg

BB Ale Malt





80%

0.4 kg

BB Wheat Malt





6.2%

0.3 kg

TF Medium Crystal Malt





4.6%

0.1 kg

Weyermann Melanoidin Malt





1.5%

0.5 kg

Weyermann Munich I Malt





7.7%

6.5 kg

Total

Single step infusion mash - 66C - 60min
Mash-out - 76C - 10min

Hops

Amount

Variety

Type

AA

Use

Time

IBU

10 g

Galaxy

Leaf/Whole

11.8

Boil

60 min

11.38

10 g

Simcoe

Pellet

13.5

Boil

60 min

14.33

15 g

Galaxy

Leaf/Whole

11.8

Boil

15 min

8.47

15 g

Simcoe

Pellet

13.5

Boil

15 min

10.66

15 g

Galaxy

Leaf/Whole

11.8

Boil

5 min

3.4

15 g

Simcoe

Pellet

13.5

Boil

5 min

4.28

10 g

Centennial

Pellet

9.2

Boil

0 min



10 g

Galaxy

Leaf/Whole

11.8

Boil

0 min



10 g

Simcoe

Pellet

13.5

Boil

0 min



30 g

Centennial

Pellet

9.2

Dry Hop

4 days



10 g

Galaxy

Leaf/Whole

11.8

Dry Hop

4 days



20 g

Simcoe

Pellet

13.5

Dry Hop

4 days





I'm fermenting it with Wyeast 1217PC at 18C.

I'm just wondering if I might be going a bit hard with the late and dry hops, given that it won't be a really big beer.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Yob]

Bit hard on the galaxy for my tastes, I'd push the galaxy to a late addition and go Simcoe all the way through. Use Simcoe for the work and get a galaxy burst at the end (and dry if you really want to push the passionfruit)

Not sure if you've played with those before and know what to expect?

 

[GundyBrewer]

No I haven't used any of these hop varieties yet, but I'm trying to get a piney, resiny flavour out of the simcoe, and balance it out a bit with the citrus and fruitiness from the other two varieties. I've read that Galaxy can be a bit dominant so I might change it up to use more Centennial than Galaxy in the kettle.

Amount Variety AA% Time IBU
20 g Simcoe 13.5 60 min 28.65

15 g Centennial 11.8 15 min 6.61
15 g Simcoe 13.5 15 min 10.66

10 g Galaxy 11.8 5 min 3.4
10 g Simcoe 13.5 5 min 4.28
10 g Centennial 11.8 5 min 1.95

10 g Centennial 9.2 0 min
10 g Galaxy 11.8 0 min
10 g Simcoe 13.5 0 min

30 g Centennial 9.2 Dry Hop 4 days
10 g Galaxy 11.8 Dry Hop 4 days
20 g Simcoe 13.5 Dry Hop 4 days

Thanks for your help.

 

[Yob]

Looks better mate (to me) and the formatting is much easier to read too.

Want pictures and tasting notes

:icon_cheers:

 

[DeGarre]

60m -15m - 5m -0m schedule is my current preferred one, with any bitters and pale ales/ipas. I would probably be a bit heavier with IBUs on the 60m than you, and less with 15/5 mins and to arrive at the total ibu. Just my personal preference.

 

[///]

Yes i am poking a bear with a stick, but its an APA at that Alc ;p. White Labs some time ago ran 100 US IPA's thru thier labs, 90% of them were 7%alc and 70 BU's. That being said, delete all those mid additions and go or just bittering and whirlpool. By the time you cool it via one of the HB type methods (cubes or immersion chiller) the hops would have fried off to bitterness. I have done lab testing, what ever the method and even with a quick run off, i get 50-70% of Bu contribution from just a 10 minute WP and run straight to a heat ex.

At minimum 3 gms/l of dry hops will give the hop flavour you need. Alot of the SoCal breweries i've happened to come across are now doing 'session IPA's'; which is the same WP and Dry hoping but at about 5-5.5 % alc. Funnily enough they sell more volume. I made one after I had a mates version this year (Thorn St Brewer, SD) and it went like hot cakes at a festival.

Also I'd cut right back on the crystal; no more than 2% with the melanoidin and munich unless you change it to Crystal 10 or 30 for my tastes and experience (silver medal at AIBA with a 1% Cystal IPA). One of my favs is Ballast Point Sculpin, check out the clone recipes, find em' on the interwebs, almost drank my body weight in it on the last visit. HAs more crystal than most, but is kinda killer.

 

[Kranky]

Some good advice from Scotty.

Your recipe looks fairly similar to a pale ale I am hoping to do this weekend. With this style of beer a simple malt bill is all you need. As this is one of your first beers I'd personally just use a bit of crystal malt (say 2- 2.5%) and maybe about 4% carapils (for head retention and body). I definitely agree with Scotty's advice and cut back on the crystal. Too much crystal malt in a hoppy beer and you can kiss your hop aroma and flavour goodbye.

Your hop additions looks ok. After having made a lot of double ipa's I don't worry too much about multiple late additions, a 10 minute and flameout is the most I do, often just a flameout. I dry hop anywhere up to 10g/L but there's no way I'd do that with galaxy.

Make sure you don't add hops during primary fermentation as the hop oils released in dry hopping are volatile and will be blown off during the fermentation process.

Also why dry hop for only 4 days? Most clone recipes for some of the best IPA's say to dry hop for 7 days, some longer. This is a matter of taste though, so if you want a lighter dry hop 4 days is fine. Keep in mind though that hop oils released during dry hopping are volatile and in my experience start to dissipate after about 3 weeks. If you cut the amount of time you dry hop that period seems to be shorter.

While I haven't used that yeast before I think you may find that your final gravity will be lower than 1016.

One final tip - if you have the patience don't rush the beer. I don't rack to secondary for at least 2 weeks, preferably 3.

 

[///]

The guys I mentioned, Thorn St, dry hop thier DIPA 3 times ... once at d rest, crash cool for 3 days, warm to 20c and then dry hop in 2 additions at 48 hour intervals. The hop flavor is ridicules, kinda like the time I was at band camp, and we used 30kg of wet hops into a hop back ...

I find too much crystal gives an iron or metallic flavour. My least favored beers are red/IRA or amber ales with lots of crystal and hops, tastes like a tin can to me.

 

[Kranky]

I meant to dry hop my latest batch of Pliny the Elder clone twice but I forgot to add the second addition of dry hops. I only realised my error once I kegged it and started drinking it, so now I've got pliny light.

 

[2much2spend]

Get a hop sock and fill it so it in to the keg.

 

[HalfWit]

The guys I mentioned, Thorn St, dry hop thier DIPA 3 times ... once at d rest, crash cool for 3 days, warm to 20c and then dry hop in 2 additions at 48 hour intervals. The hop flavor is ridicules, kinda like the time I was at band camp, and we used 30kg of wet hops into a hop back ...

I find too much crystal gives an iron or metallic flavour. My least favored beers are red/IRA or amber ales with lots of crystal and hops, tastes like a tin can to me.

I was planning on doing a Red IPA, and you have me worried now. Ill probably use a lager yeast. Would this grain bill be okay or am I complicating things?

Wey Pils 80%
Caraaroma 7%
Carapils 4%
Melanoidin 5%
Med Crystal 2%
Roast Barley to colour

Sorry for the hijack.

 

[mje1980]

7% cara aroma is going to dominate and clash with the hops IMHO. It's a lot, and it's quite a strong flavour. Why a lager yeast?,

 

[HalfWit]

Hi mje1980, actually im planning on using German Ale yeast at 13C which will turn out more Lager like than Ale. Trying to make it my 1st house yeast. I like the idea of collecting the yeast off the top midway through ferment, and it went very well in my last APA/IPA. What would be a safe percentage of Cara aroma to use?

 

[mje1980]

I wouldn't use any for an IPA, just use the RB for colour. Use like .5-1%. Melanoiden could go too. I'd go 2% carapils and 2% med crystal looking at your recipe. Though I don't like crystal in IPAs, so I might be biased. I like em dry. Using the wey pils should give you enough maltiness to nicely compliment the hops without being cloying. Mash low and use lots of late hops. My .02c. /// is a professional brewer so definately take his advice too. He's unfortunately also a cyclist, so keep that in mind ( hi scotty! ).

 

[HalfWit]

Thanks mje1980, Ill probably drop the crystal as well. And /// advice is always very appreciated and adhered to.

 

[///]

I disagree with the use of things like hop sock, to do the job properly the hops need full exposure to the beer, cant gaurantee that with a hop sock or bag. And they fall out easy with a bit of cooling.

But I agree with Mark, too much time on a bike makes strange things happen ... like inappropriately tight lycra ...

 

[contrarian]

Have been enjoying this thread as I will be brewing an IPA tomorrow although the thought of homebrewers in tight lycra has pretty much ruined my afternoon, thanks fellas!

 

[///]

I'm lucky I can test BU's, the pickup from whirlpool no matter the brewery (HB or Pro) is at minimum 30%. Adding all the mid-additions without knocking back the initial hopping will see over-bittering. One beer I make is bittered from the first hops at 5 BU, the whirlpool hops add 20 Bu's ...

Dont worry mate, there is a sub-culture of lycra in the illawarra, only one of us rides hundreds of kilometres from home, and as yet none is know to brew in said gear ...

 

[Ross]

I disagree with the use of things like hop sock, to do the job properly the hops need full exposure to the beer, cant gaurantee that with a hop sock or bag. And they fall out easy with a bit of cooling.

But I agree with Mark, too much time on a bike makes strange things happen ... like inappropriately tight lycra ...

Using a bag properly does not limit exposure of hops to the beer... Sierra Nevada use hop bags in their hoppiest ales...

We have to use bags in our hoppiest beers, but then with the volume we use just letting them fall out doesn't help

 

[HalfWit]

So back on the off topic, what would you add to a sesionable Red IPA grain bill that had Weyermann as a base?