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Author Topic: First Recipe design  (Read 4657 times)

Offline beginnerbrewer

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First Recipe design
« on: April 06, 2015, 09:17:34 pm »
Hey not been brewing long.  Wanted to try my own recipe.  I'm going for an  east coast american ipa.  I don't know if my hops/malts will mesh together well. I am a BIAB brewer I don't know if that matters.

5 Gallon Recipe

EST Gravity: 1.063
IBU: 63.4
SRM: 9.4
EST ABV: 5.9
Measured OG: 1.046

MALTS
-12lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
-12oz Crystal Malt 60L
-4oz Victory malt
-4oz Special Roast

Hops
-.75oz Millennium @ 60 minutes
-.25oz Millennium @ 30 minutes
-.50oz Nugget @ 30 minutes
-.25oz Nugget @ 15 minutes
-.25oz Columbus @ 5 minutes
-1oz Millennium dry hop 7 days



Offline Stevie

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #1 on: April 06, 2015, 09:24:55 pm »
I wouldn't use victory or special roast in an ipa, but I like mine west coast and dry. Nugget isn't a great hop for ipa, IMO. I use a lot of nugget, but for more malt forward beers or bittering only.. Millennium is a descendent of nugget.

You are going to get a lot of replies telling you to increase your hops by a lot. I like what 30 min additions bring to the party, but I like a very strong hop there like columbus.

Offline beginnerbrewer

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2015, 09:30:26 pm »
Thanks for the input.  Should I just bump up the crystal then and get rid of the victory and special roast?  I thought a 63.4 would be a high IBU for just an american style IPA?  I know I probably should of used cascade and centennial with the Columbus but I wanted to try out some new hops.  What would you recommend besides cascade and centennial?   

Offline Stevie

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2015, 09:47:58 pm »
I wouldn't add more crystal either. That's a larger amount then most here would recommend. My typical ipa is 12lb 2-row, 8oz c20, 8oz sugar. Again that's west coast, all I really know about east coast ipa is I don't like it.

I meant to say increase your later hops. I like about 1/2-3/4oz per gallon flameout and dry, others like 1oz+.

There are a lot of newer hops that are geared towards ipa, plus loads of old standbys. Take a listen to the talks and podcasts that Nate Smith recently did regarding new hops. I absolutely love columbus in an IPA, but it can get too dank for some. Mosaic, amarillo, Simcoe, citra, palisades, and summit (*gasp*), are all good choices.

My last IPA hop bill is below. Way too dank for most, but I liked it.


Offline Stevie

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2015, 10:20:29 pm »
Did some digging. If I were to go for an east coast IPA, I would do this.

Your grain bill without the victory and special seems solid. I have heard that harpoon uses victory, but I hate that beer ;)

60 ibu at 60 using whatever clean hop I have on hand. Nugget works well here, millennium should work well too. 2-3oz blend of english pedigree hops at 10  (maybe the millennium paired with ekg?). Same hops as dry hop.

The key from what I can find is english yeast. s04 or wlp002 seem to be popular.

Offline beginnerbrewer

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2015, 11:12:53 am »
Thanks Steve.  You really helped me out.  Found some podcast to listen to. I've done research on the victory, it seems to be a hit or miss with people. I think munich or vienna is more used than victory with this style if I wanted specialty grains.  It should be an interesting journey. 

Offline Stevie

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2015, 11:50:44 am »
And sorry if I came across as a West Coast IPA snob, just my preference.

Offline majorvices

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2015, 02:22:35 pm »
I like a little victory in my IPA - key is a "little" I don't think you want that and special roast.

Also, east coast or not, you need more flame out hops.

Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2015, 03:55:09 pm »
I like a little victory in my IPA - key is a "little" I don't think you want that and special roast.

Also, east coast or not, you need more flame out hops.

Yep
Jon H.

Offline beginnerbrewer

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2015, 07:02:38 pm »
I like a little victory in my IPA - key is a "little" I don't think you want that and special roast.

Also, east coast or not, you need more flame out hops.

What do you think about 8oz of victory and get rid of the special roast or should I just stay with 4 oz?

Offline majorvices

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #10 on: April 07, 2015, 07:05:15 pm »
I think 4 oz is enough for a 5 gallon batch to start. The next time you brew it you may try 6. Then 8. Dial it in for your tastes. But too much will overwhelm a beer flavor so go with an extra light touch.

Offline beginnerbrewer

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #11 on: April 07, 2015, 07:24:23 pm »
Thanks I'll stick with 4oz of victory.  What do you think of the combination of cascade, millennium, & chinook?  I've used cascade and chinook together and it turned out pretty good.  Maybe I will take out the millennium it was used in a recipe I found and seemed interesting.

Offline kmccaf

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2015, 07:33:36 pm »
I like a little victory in my IPA - key is a "little" I don't think you want that and special roast.

Also, east coast or not, you need more flame out hops.

Yep

+1 I like a touch of victory in mine.
Kyle M.

S. cerevisiae

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2015, 10:44:57 pm »
East Coast IPA is what motivated me to become a home brewer in the early nineties. Real post-Ballantine East Coast IPA is closer to English IPA than it is West Coast IPA. C-hops only play a supporting role in this beer style.  Post-Ballantine East Coast IPA can best be described as C-hop accented English IPA.  What's also unique about East Coast IPA is that hops such as US Tettnanger (which is actually a Fuggle selection) and Mt. Hood are commonly found in the hop schedule.

Contrary to what many people in the beer and brewing communities believe, the reason why East Coast IPA is closer to English IPA than it is West Coast IPA has nothing to do with the East Coast states being former English colonies.  It has everything to do with decisions that David Geary made while founding DL Geary Brewing in Portland, Maine, which was the first post-Ballantine ale brewery on the East Coast.  David tapped Peter Austin and Alan Pugsley to design and build his brewery.  Alan Pugsley went on to install Peter Austin systems up and down the East Coast and in Canada. One of these breweries was Magic Hat.

 
Peter Austin's and Alan Pugsley's influence can be felt in East Coast breweries that they did not build such as Dogfish Head.  While Sam Calagione founded Dogfish Head, the decision he made that put Dogfish on the map was to bring Jason Kennedy on as partner and head brewer.  Jason was a brewer at the original Wild Goose Brewery, which was located in Cambridge, Maryland (Cambridge is located on the Delmarva Peninsula).  The original Wild Goose Brewery used a Peter Austin system.  Alan Pugsley designed all of the original Wild Goose Beers, and trained the original brewers.

With that said, a good post-Ballantine East Coast IPA grist needs to include the big three; namely, British pale malt, British caramel 60, and torrified wheat.  Torrified wheat is what gives the better East Coast Pale Ales and IPAs their subtle nutty quality. 

A Basic East Coast IPA Grist

90% British pale
5% British caramel 60
5% torrified wheat

As mentioned above, C-hops play a supportive role in East Coast IPA.  Finishing hops are usually a blend of British/British-derived cultivars such as Fuggle, Goldings, Northern Brewer, Willamette, and US Tettnanger (which is actually a Fuggle selection), Cascade, and often Mt. Hood (it just works). 

Any clean hop can be used as the kettle hop.  Bitterness should be in the 45 to 60 IBU range.  A hopback is almost a must with East Coast IPA because the style is usually not dry hopped. The breweries that Alan Pugsley installed used pellets in the boil and whole hops in a hopback as a final filter before the wort entered the plate heat exchanger.  A reduced temperature hop stand is a suitable replacement.

While not an IPA, Geary's Pale Ale was the original post-Ballantine East Coast ale.  It set the stage for the bigger beers.  The hops used in Geary's Pale Ale are Cascade, Fuggle, Mt. Hood, and US Tettnanger.  Cascade, Fuggle, and  Tettnanger are found in many true East Coast Pale Ales and IPAs.

If you take anything away from this posting, the attribute that differentiates East Coast IPA from West Coast IPA is balance.  Most of the better East Coast IPAs are well-balanced beers.   I find most West Coast-style IPAs to be unbalanced aroma/flavor hop forward beers. 


« Last Edit: April 07, 2015, 10:49:57 pm by S. cerevisiae »

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: First Recipe design
« Reply #14 on: April 07, 2015, 11:22:09 pm »


I find most West Coast-style IPAs to be unbalanced aroma/flavor hop forward beers.

True for most west coast beers period. But it is slowly changing.