[Herminator]

Alright...second brew day is in the works.  This time I am going for one of my favorite styles, IPA.  I am huge hop head and love a good bitter and hoppy IPA. Obviously...I am too much of a noob but want to try my best to put out a good IPA.

I recently was able to score a couple pounds of hop pellets (thanks New Belgium!).  I got some falconers flight, Amarillo and cascade that I would love to use.

This one again will be an extract so I am looking for a few suggestions on the following recipe is a tweaked recipe from my local homebrew shop.


6 lbs pale malt extract
2 lbs amber malt extract
1 lbs medium crystal I
.5 lbs Dextrine
1 oz Amarillo
1 oz Cascade
1 oz Cascade
1 oz Falconers Flight - Maybe to brighten it up?
2 oz Amarillo (dry hop)
American Ale yeast ...maybe 1056?

Thoughts on this combination of hops?  Would Armarillo suffice as a bittering hop or is it better to go with something else?  Falconers Flight from what I have read on various sites, brings a citrus flavor and thought it might be good to brighten this one up to avoid a dank and resin taste.

Thanks for the feedback. 

[anje]

Personally, I wouldn't waste Amarillo for bittering.

Also, if you feel you can't get through all those hops, I'd be happy to help you with them.

[kramerog]

Why do amber malt extract and caramel malt in an American IPA?  I say eliminate one and replace with a corresponding amount of pale malt extract.  If it was up to me I would drop out the amber malt extract because I don't know what is in it and because of the possibility that it could be old and have developed extract twang.

[morticaixavier]

+1 on skipping the amber malt extract. add 2 more lb pale extract, leave the medium crystal, skip the dextrine unless you have some really compelling reason to add it.

On hops I would add enough of your highest AA hops at the begining of the boil or First Wort Hop and a 60 minute to get most of your IBUs then load up at the end with the amarillo and FF and maybe some cascade as well. 1 oz each at 10, 5, and 0 and then Dry hop with a couple oz of similar mix as the late hops

[Herminator]

well the crystal is a specialty grain not extract.  I should have noted that.  I was wondering about the amber extract.  Maybe I will just go with 8 lbs of pale with the English crystal for some color. 

Maybe for bittering going with some warrior hops.

[Joe Sr.]

FWIW, I only use the absolute lightest DME I can get.  Amber, dark, whatever can be achieved with your grains and you have much better control.

If you are using LME there are also some pretty good suppliers that make Maris Otter, rye and other extracts that you could use for a specific style of beer.  As long as their turn-over is good and you use it relatively quickly you shouldn't have to worry about staleness and "twang."

[Iliff Ave]

In my experience with using liquid extract, it was hard to get the attenuation I desired and get my FGs down where they should be. I started subbing in some plain table sugar to increase the fermentability of the wort which helped. Just a thought especially if you are shooting for a higher OG.

Also, I wouldn't use Amarillo as a bittering hop although I am sure it would be good. I like to use higher alpha hops so you don't have to use as much and you can save the really good ones for aroma and flavor. I think Warrior would be a good choice for bittering...

[garc_mall]

I agree with everything said so far.

Yes to Light DME
Yes to Warrior for Bittering
Yes to watch the crystal/no dextrine

This is how I would break out your hops

1/2 oz Amarillo 1/2 oz Cascade FWH
1oz Warrior @60
Take 1oz of each of FF, Amarillo and Cascade, and break them up into 1/3 oz each to blend
1oz blend at 15, 5, and FO
1oz amarillo and 1oz cascade DH

Thats just how I would do it as an IPA, I have a similar Pale going with Cascade, Zythos and Citra.

[blatz]

I agree with everything said so far.

Yes to Light DME
Yes to Warrior for Bittering
Yes to watch the crystal/no dextrine

This is how I would break out your hops

1/2 oz Amarillo 1/2 oz Cascade FWH
1oz Warrior @60
Take 1oz of each of FF, Amarillo and Cascade, and break them up into 1/3 oz each to blend
1oz blend at 15, 5, and FO
1oz amarillo and 1oz cascade DH

Thats just how I would do it as an IPA, I have a similar Pale going with Cascade, Zythos and Citra.

+1

[erockrph]

I agree with everything said so far.

Yes to Light DME
Yes to Warrior for Bittering
Yes to watch the crystal/no dextrine

This is how I would break out your hops

1/2 oz Amarillo 1/2 oz Cascade FWH
1oz Warrior @60
Take 1oz of each of FF, Amarillo and Cascade, and break them up into 1/3 oz each to blend
1oz blend at 15, 5, and FO
1oz amarillo and 1oz cascade DH

Thats just how I would do it as an IPA, I have a similar Pale going with Cascade, Zythos and Citra.

+1

I'm on board with this, too. I also agree with the suggestion to sub out a little of your malt extract with table sugar to help dry things out. I've just never had much luck getting extract to ferment as dry as I'd like for an IPA.

One other thing I don't think I saw mentioned - add Gypsum. 100-150 ppm of sulfate is a good starting point for an IPA. If you're using RO water, I think this works out to anout 5-7.5 grams of Gypsum.

[Herminator]

Awesome!  Thanks so much for all of the suggestions.

Two quick questions.

Sugar (table sugar) sub.  If I am using 8 lbs of dry extract...how much should I sub with sugar?

In regards to first wort hopping with extract.  Would I just steep the hops while I steep the crystal?  Or do I hop it until roughly 160 degrees? All I know about first wort hopping is done with all grain.  Sorry for the noob question. 

hmmmm...never used gypsum.  I will be using regular old tap water (it is actually really good based on the report), so I will do some research on gypsum and figure out how to utilize it in this recipe.

Thanks.

[Joe Sr.]

Sugar (table sugar) sub.  If I am using 8 lbs of dry extract...how much should I sub with sugar?

I wouldn't do more than 1 lb of sugar.  That would replace somewhat more than 1 lb of extract.  I'm lazy and use Beersmith, so I can't recall how much extract you would need to replace.

In regards to first wort hopping with extract.  Would I just steep the hops while I steep the crystal?  Or do I hop it until roughly 160 degrees? All I know about first wort hopping is done with all grain.  Sorry for the noob question. 

That sounds like mash hopping.  FWH would be putting the hops in after taking the grains out and before the wort is boiling.  Since you've only got 1 lb of crystal, I don't know how much benefit you'll get from FWH but you could give it a try.  It can't hurt, right?

hmmmm...never used gypsum.  I will be using regular old tap water (it is actually really good based on the report), so I will do some research on gypsum and figure out how to utilize it in this recipe.

I'm not too clear on how to adjust water when you're using extract.  I thought the general rule of thumb was that it's not really necessary since you don't know what minerals were in the mash that produced the extract.

If you decide to give it a try, I'd go light.

[garc_mall]

If I were to FWH with an extract batch, I would steep grains, remove grains, add extract, add hops, bring to boil. FWH is usually from 165-boiling. Don't pull out the hops.

I would add a bit of gypsum when you add the extract. Use Bru'n water to see how much gypsum to add to get your sulfate into the 100-150 ppm range.

[morticaixavier]

And if you are nervous about adding gypsum you can wait and add it to taste at packagine time.

[Iliff Ave]

You would want to keep any sugar additions below 10% of the fermentables. I don't if others would recommend this but it seemed to work well for me.