Ipa Questions

[mje1980]

I am planning my first ipa, and the only yeasts i have are as follows:

1. White labs dry english ale yeast

2. White labs essex ale yeast. ( a very dry finishing ale yeast )

3. White labs burton ale yeast ( in current bottles of porter )

4. Wyeast irish ale yeast ( Probably 12 months old samples, but i have a few )

Which one would be best suited for the IPA??, i know it should have high attenuation, and im looking at around 1.065!, and 50 IBU's. I am thinking of essex ale, but i really like burton.

Also, im thinking of roughly 99% maris otter, and 1% 125ebc crystal wheat, how does that sound??. Hops, would be pacific gem ( 14.7% ) bittering, and EKG at 20,15,10,0, and dry hop ( 30g ). Mash temp would be 69c, also, i would be adding some gypsum to the mash, and sparge water.


What does everyone think ?? I would appreciate any comments

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

I'm doing a similar one in a few days, using Burton ale and about 3% cara-aroma... will end up a lot darker than yours, but that's ok. Bittering, flavour and aroma with Pacific Gem.
I was looking up the yeast availability, Essex Ale was the one that stood out next to Burton Ale, and a slightly higher mash temp should offset the dry finish. 69C seems a bit high, but I'm not a mash guru yet so won't comment further.
I say you've got a good thing going there, but I would personally up the 130EBC (that's about 35L, by the way) crystal wheat to around 2%.

 

[mje1980]

Dunkel boy, just fiddling with percentages on beertools, and ive changed them to

97.4% MO
1.5% Crystal wheat 125EBC
1.1% Crystal 145ebc
I may even sub 5-6% MO for sugar, to boost alc, and drop body.

69c is high, but i want to make sure its not too dry, at least thats my ( unexpert! ) logic!!

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

Yeah, I think that grain bill is spot on.
Mash, I consider 63-65 to be low (lagers, dry finish, high fermentables) with 65-67 typical and I guess 67-69 high.
But, step mashes are often 40-60-70, that 70 is there to finish it off though, and probably shouldn't be held constantly.
Perhaps you should hit 40C for about half an hour, and finish it off at 68-70C, considering you have a touch of wheat as well.
I'd like somebody else to chime in though with their thoughts.

Let's not forget the water quality as well... make sure you know what your ion presence is (Ca, Mg, CO3/HCO3, etc) and adjust if necessary (which is likely).

 

[Steve Lacey]

Mash, I consider 63-65 to be low (lagers, dry finish, high fermentables) with 65-67 typical and I guess 67-69 high.
I'd like somebody else to chime in though with their thoughts.

OK. chime chime There was a similar discussion recently and Pat Casey had a good old rant (g'day Pat!) about people often making the mistake of mashing at too high a temp for these bigger beers. And he is dead right. You'll get a sweeter wort, but not necessarily a maltier wort. The ideal temp for a single infusion would be 66 degrees in Pat's humble opinion. [hope he sees this to put it straight if I've misrepresented]

Steve
h34r:

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

So perhaps a touch of sugar and a very big, healthy, well-oxygenated starter would be more appropriate to try and get the highest attenutation?

 

[user 384]

Hi mje1980

Keep the mash nice and simple for this beer. Around 3ltrs per kg, at 66C, for 90mins. 69C is far too high and will leave too many unfermentable sugars. With an OG of 1.065 you don't have too worry about a thin beer.

You could also simplify your late hop additions, maybe an addition at 30 and 0, or maybe 15 and 0.

These are fairly simple beers to make, people stuff them up when they start to divert from the KISS approach. I personally wouldn't over-think the grain or hop, but instead concentrate on the basics of sanitation and fermentation (right yeast at right temp, with sufficient pitching rate and oxygen for a high gravity beer).

Cheers
MAH

 

[mje1980]

O.K people, so, i will mash at 66c for 90, and i will also cut my hops to 30 15 0, and dry hop. And a huge healthy starter. I will be adding a small amount of sugar too. Any ideas on the yeast ??,

Thanks for all the advice guys, keep it comin!!

 

[user 384]

Well George Hodgson opened his brewery in London in 1752 and in 1790 began shipping pale ale to India, so you could go with one of the London strains. However in the 1820's when Hodgson lost his monopoly on the export of beer to India, the Burton brewers became the major players in the trade of pale ale to India. The Burton brewers were considered superior and IPA became almost synonymous with Burton, so I vote for the white labs Burton ale yeast.

Cheers
MAH

 

[Gulf Brewery]

mje

If you use the Burton Ale yeast, leave plenty of headroom in your fermenter. It is very active and has been known to crawl out of the fermenter in a few of my beers.

Cheers
Pedro

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

Yeah, I had that yeast in my fridge, opened it up a few hours later and it fel on the ground... obviously tries to escape out of any captivity.

 

[Gambrinus]

For 23 liters

Pale Ale -- 4 kg
Crystal(Caramel) 60 L -- 0.3 kg
No malted Barley-- 0.4 kg
Wheat Flackes -- 0.2 kg

I used 40 gramm for IPA Magnum 14.5% for a bittering:
25 gr. 90 min
15 gr. 15 min

Yeast -- Nottingham

Primary fermentation -- 4 days
Secondary -- 3 days

Drink after -- 20 days

 

[PostModern]

I've just put on a quite pale IPA with the White Labs 023 Burton Ale. It's a part mash.

Grain:
Single infusion mash 65C for 90 mins.

2.5Kg Pale Ale malt
120g Munich (because I can )
200g Malted Wheat
200g Light Crystal


Kettle:

1.5Kg Light DME
500g Dark Brown Sugar

Bittered 20IBU of POR flowers.
Additional 15IBU with Styrian Golding Flowers
another 10IBU in flavour addition of Styrian Golding Flowers.
0.25 tsp White Labs nutrient 5 mins
15g Styrian Goldings and 20g old EKG pellets at flameout.

OG 1.060 in 18 litres.

Pitched 2 litre 1.040OG starter of WLP023

After 3 days of fermentation, added 500g DME and 300g dextrose in 3 litres.

Adjusted OG 1.065
IBU 45

Not exactly KISS... <_<