IPA Questions

[BeerRust]

Another thread and empty LBK got me thinking of IPA questions.

All the brews that I have done with Hop additions have been single hop additions. I have used Centential - was not my favorite, used for flavor and bitter
Cascade - has been my favorite so far, for flavor and aroma
Amarillo - was good for flavor, but not very strong
Hallertua - conditioning in a brew right now used for flavor, sample tasted good.

So in order to be an IPA;

Can you use 1 hop, or do you need multiple on the schedule?
Do you have to do one for at least 60 mins?

I would like to plan one with a grain steep, some pale DME and/ or pale LME.
I also have some maltodextrin and rice syrup solids on hand.

[Beerlabelman]

To paraphrase from Brewing Classic Styles - American IPA's should have a high hop bitterness with a lot of American hops (Cascade & Amarillo OK could use some Simcoe) up front. Malts should be low & clean. Neutral ale yeast. Can use some sugar, but not too much. - 40-70 IBU's & 5.5 - 7.5% ABV - You can use one hop. It's been done before. I'd add some Simcoe to what you have as the bittering hop.
Simcoe is also a good dry- hop & late hop addition for aroma. You boil as long as you have to to get in the IBU range. It all depends on your recipe, boil size etc. Try Brew Toad it's a free site recipe calculator. Cheers

[Brewbirds]

From our brewing experience I'd make these observations:

I'd just ask first if you've tasted a beer with the rice solid syrups? We did a cream ale and it has a very pronounced/unique flavor that might require an "acquired taste" not sure how it would play out in an IPA.

There are micro/craft single hopped IPAs that are quite popular available on the market (Bells Two Hearted is raved about). Perhaps a visit to a bottle shop is in order for research purposes.

You seem to be interested in and are pursuing hop varieties and their potential contributions to your brews which is the best way to decide what you like vs. what you don't and that is a good thing. We did SMaSHs with many hop varieties to do the same ( though had some undefined problems when adding a different bittering addition in a second round) so the point is did we not like the hop or did we "mishandle" the hop additions in a batch thereby effecting the flavor of the beer and thus our opinion, though miscued of a variety. Unfair to that hop right?

Understanding that no one will be able to tell you what you will like when you are drinking any beer tasting notes become invaluable at this point.

You can see from the many recipes posted here that there are varieties that are frequently combined and then see the review section for what others think of combinations they've experienced.

If you want to learn about the characteristics of hop varieties I like the way beerlegends.com presents the info but there are many similar guides.

This is based on your OP re: didn't like, not strong enough etc. because without the recipes you made you'll find that passing judgement on the hop variety itself would be quite difficult.

If you are new to introducing hops into your beers an IPA could be a challenge because you have to get the right balance between malt and hops.

You don't have to combine hops to make a good IPA but they are apparently a different art form when it comes to hop selection.

[BeerRust]

Rice syrup solids, yes, first I think most people have. They are the main ingredient along with cascade hops in Coors original. And yes I used rice syrups solids in a Trippel , and it was very tastey too.

I think for my first attempt at an IPA, I would go with 1 DME or LME, and hops.

I only do 2.5 gal batches. I have a clone recipe book that I am going to look up a few first, but I am thinking;

4 ozs crystal 10 steeped
1 lbs Pale LME
.50 Ozs Amarillo 60 mins
.50 Ozs Cascade 20 mins
.50 Ozs Amarillo 10 mins

Not sure this an IPA, more towards just a Pale Ale, but may be a good start.

Also have to look into a yeast for this style.

[FedoraDave]

It seems to me you're putting too much in the mix at first. If you like rice solids, okay. You can use them. There's no law that says you can't.

But I think it's a mistake to confuse them with the IPA style. As far as I know, they're not a requirement.

Hops selection and usage, on the other hand, is essential.

If you're new to the task of choosing and using different hops, it can be quite daunting. When I first began creating my own extract/hop boil recipes, I realized I needed to know more about hops and their characteristics, so here's what I did:

I figured first-person, hands-on experience would be the best teacher, so I created a recipe that was fairly simple. Just a certain amount of DME, a certain amount of Carapils (for body and head retention), and a straightforward, clean ale yeast. These elements never varied.

But I would choose one hops variety, and brew the beer with it, with the additions at 60 minutes, 20 minutes, and 5 minutes. Every batch, I would choose a different hops, figuring that the character of the beer would come from the hops itself, and I'd learn what that strain brought to a beer.

It was surprisingly successful. I learned a great deal in only a few batches, and I came to the point where I can identify some hops just from the aroma or the flavor. I can also read a description of the hops and make a decision on what it'll bring (Northern Brewer's website has very helpful descriptions of their hops, although it's a bit tedious to have to click on each individual one to get them, but it's worth it). It only took me three or four batches to reach this point.

As far as boil times, you'll get more bitterness the longer you boil. Usually, 60 minutes is recommended, but you can go longer. Flavor is optimized at around 22 minutes, and aroma falls off sharply after 7 minutes.

That being said, it's not just the amount of time. Different hops have different levels of Alpha Acids, so a 4% AA hops isn't going to give you much bitterness, even at 60 minutes, as a 13% AA hops will give at 45 minutes. Most IPAs use one or more of the "C" hops; Centennial, Cascade, Citra, Columbus. They all have different profiles, and you can mix and match them as you feel appropriate. It may take some time to nail it down, but there's no rule about what you use, how much, how long you boil, etc.

Other hopping techniques include First Wort Hopping and Continuous Hopping. I've made excellent beers using both these techniques. But we may be getting ahead of ourselves.

I suggest using a simple recipe and varying the hops from batch to batch to learn what each strain does, and how you feel about them. It worked for me. I understand the desire to hit one out of the park with every batch, but that probably isn't realistic. If you want to craft a unique, personal IPA that really does something for you, I think you'll have better success taking it in steps until you can make the self-educated choices.

[BeerRust]

Thanks for the feedback, As you see frome my original post I have used single hops, in each brew. And I have not mixed or used 2 or more together yet. Been pretty straight forward, either at 60 mins for bitter, 18-20 mins for flavor, 5 mins to flame out for aroma.
Also as you can see from the proposed recipe there isn't rice syrup solids in there.

[Inkleg]

4 ozs crystal 10 steeped
1 lbs Pale LME
.50 Ozs Amarillo 60 mins
.50 Ozs Cascade 20 mins
.50 Ozs Amarillo 10 mins

This will work for the hop boil. How much more LME or DME were you thinking of adding towards the end. Another 3lbs, or a total of 4lbs would put it at OG of 1.060 with about 50 IBUs. Almost right at middle range for an IPA. Leave Malto out of an IPA completely, it will bring a sweetness that will hide the hops. Have never used rice syrup so I'll have to read up on that.

Also have to look into a yeast for this style.

Any clean American Ale yeast will work. Safale-05 is always a good one.

[BlackDuck]

I have brewed quite a few IPA's, and I love 'em!! Here's my line of thought when I'm drafting a recipe.

I like the malt bill fairly simple, I usually use 2 row, some crystal of some sort for color and a touch of sweetness. And I usually add one more malt for a little complexity, like Munich or Vienna. My hop additions usually are at 60 minutes for the bitterness, then another one or two addition at the 30 to 45 minute mark for a little more bitterness and flavor. Then I wait until 5 to 15 minutes left for the aroma hops. I also drop some in at flameout for more aroma, then a 5 to 7 day dry hop for even more aroma. You can always see the IBU numbers change as you adjust your boil additions, so you'll have an idea on bitterness, but the flavor additions at 0 minutes and dry hopping will only come with experience. You'll eventually figure out how much to use at these points to get the aroma characteristics your shooting for. This is the fun part of brewing....and it looks like you might be ready to start experimenting, just keep good notes so you know what to adjust next time. Most importantly, have fun with it.

Your recipe above looks like a great start. The S-05 yeast is a great recommendation, it's usually my go-to IPA yeast too. You might want to consider some hops at flameout and/or a little dry hopping for aroma too.

[BeerRust]

Thank you for the feed back !

So in addition, you think I should add more DME at the end of the hop boil too?

I do like the idea of adding at flameout, I had some great success with cascade at flame out .

So how this look;

4ozs Crystal 10 steep
4ozs Honey malt steep
1 lbs Pale LME
.50 Cascade @ 60min
.50 Amarillo @ 20min
.50 Amarillo @ 10min
1 lbs Extra Pale DME
.50 Cascade @ flame out

Saf 05 yeast

[Beer-lord]

I would do away with the honey malt. Or, use even less. Many only use 8 oz in 5-6 gallons and it does stand out and can mask some of the other malts.
I think the crystal is fine and if you want a tad more sweetness, replace the Crystal 10 with crystal 40.
And, for some good aroma, add .50 of cascade as a dry hop for a few days.
Just my .04 (adjusted for inflation)

[BlackDuck]

I think that you'll need more than 2 total pounds of extract too. With only 2 pounds, it was a really low gravity beer. I dropped your recipe into BeerSmith with a little more extract. Paul, makes some good points on the previous post also. Anyway, here's your recipe in BeerSmith:

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe:
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American IPA
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 3.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 2.50 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 8.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 62.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 67.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 1 5.6 %
4.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.6 %
2 lbs Pale Liquid Extract [Boil for 60 min](8. Extract 3 44.4 %
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 20.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 18.8 IBUs
2 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract [Boil for 10 min Dry Extract 6 44.4 %
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 7 11.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 9 -

Notice that I added a pound of LME for the 60 min boil and a pound of LME for the 10 minute boil. The statistics are now in line with an IPA.

[Beer-lord]

If you do want to use the Honey Malt, use it in place of crystal and not WITH crystal. One or the other but not both. If you want to see what it brings to the recipe, this is the way to find out. But if you do a search for Honey Malt, you'll see lots of the same sentiment about it.

[BeerRust]

Wow that is very helpful. I was trying to put into beer toad put my IPad kept crashing.

Should I go with more Cystal? Because of taking out the Honey malt.....

[BlackDuck]

Wow that is very helpful. I was trying to put into beer toad put my IPad kept crashing.

Should I go with more Cystal? Because of taking out the Honey malt.....

You can go with 1/2 pound of the crystal and remove the Honey malt and the numbers won't change much at all.

[Beer-lord]

I agree with BlackDuck. If you want to make a traditional West Coast type IPA, leave out the Honey Malt but if you do have some, keep it and try a little of it in a wheat beer. While you'll find it in IPAs (I recently used some in my RCE IPA) it's something you'll see in APA's and even in stouts and porters and it's used in many browns too.