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Author Topic: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed  (Read 26477 times)

Offline bluesman

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #15 on: December 22, 2010, 03:13:08 pm »
Brew with whatever ingredients you think will taste right in the finished beer and keep experimenting until you find what you like.  Maris Otter is pale malt, it doesn't know where it came from.

When I think of an American IPA...there are numerous examples that come to mind. Remember the East Coast vs. West Coast IPA thread.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=1045.0

The examples are ranging in color, maltiness and hoppiness across the spectrum. It's really hard to nail down the maltiness of an AIPA to a small target area. It really varies from microbrewery to microbrewery. Personally, I think MO works well with an IPA...as long as it's mashed low and used by itself. Others disagree. I think blatz's assertion is par for the process. Use ingredients that work well in the end product. Experiment and find what works for the style...which is a pretty big window as far as AIPA's go.

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Offline redbeerman

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #16 on: December 23, 2010, 07:44:00 am »
I say go with the MO.  I use it it all my IPAs and must say I like it.  If you bitter up at the high end, the hops still come through very well IMHO.  It is a matter of individual taste and the ends do indeed justify the means.
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Offline mabrungard

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #17 on: December 23, 2010, 10:06:01 am »
I experimented with APAs and AIPAs several years ago, investigating the appropriate grist composition when you have high hop flavor and aroma.  My goal was to increase the complexity of malt flavors, but not really move the wort color from the style guideline ranges. 

I produced great tasting beers with nice malt complexity underlying the bittering, flavor and aroma of the American hops.  But, the complexity of the malt flavor actually interferred with the hop flavor and aroma and clashed.  While they were within style, it was apparent to me that when dealing with the level of hopping in a good APA or AIPA, the malt flavor needed to be cleaner and nearer to a single-dimensional malt flavor. 

I now have been more typically using a grist composed of mostly pale 2-row with a single crystal malt.  I see that there has been a popularization of Tasty's APA and it uses pale and pils with some crystal.  Seems to be in line with my thoughts, but even lighter malt flavor.    I don't see why using either a single pale malt or a simple combination of base malts couldn't produce a good version of these styles as long as the brewer keeps the crystal addition fairly simple.

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Offline Kirk

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #18 on: December 23, 2010, 04:27:40 pm »
Anybody ever try a little sugar with the MO to dry it out a bit and give it some caramel?
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Offline gimmeales

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #19 on: December 24, 2010, 10:38:12 am »
Lots of conversations going on about water adjustments on the boards (which has been enlightening and confusing!), and I know my very soft, clean water has caused extraction issues with my dark beers, but I'm wondering if this beer (all MO IPA - 6-7 SRM) would benefit from water modification.

Here's my profile:
Calcium: 26.7
Magnesium = 0.37
Sodium: 0.95
Chloride: 2.6
Sulfate: 1.2
Alkalinity as CaCO3: 23

1.)  Would any of you tweak my water for this beer?
2.)  If so, is the main concern with the EZWater calculator that the sulfate range listed is too high, so to keep to the mid-lower range of that figure and get the rest of my numbers 'into the green'?

Thanks all!




Offline mabrungard

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #20 on: December 24, 2010, 01:24:06 pm »
Something is very wrong with the water profile posted.  It doesn't come close to balancing.  The alkalinity number indicates that the HCO3 content is 28 ppm, but the anion total is still too low. 

But, with the information posted so far, its a really soft and low alkalinity water.  It may need slight increase in alkalinity but it really shouldn't be necessary.  If you're adding gypsum to this water to bump the sulfate content, then you are driving the residual alkalinity far too low and then adding alkalinity is imperative.  You'll need to report back with what is mis-typed on the water report and what sort of other mineral additions you've done in the past. 
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Offline gimmeales

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #21 on: January 03, 2011, 09:06:15 am »
Great information, Martin - thanks!

Glanced at my water report again and looks like I was taking the 'Hardness' figure as my alkalinity - a line item of 'Alkalinity, Total' is given as 18.9 (as CaC03), but that's an even lower number.  Does that make any more sense?

Offline gimmeales

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #22 on: January 05, 2011, 12:13:02 pm »
Just bumping this, hoping for some clarification on my water report numbers.  Thanks!

Offline Kaiser

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #23 on: January 05, 2011, 12:50:44 pm »
Tough the water report is out of balance, I wouldn’t worry about it since your water is so soft.

I’d add  1 g gypsum and 0.3 g calcium chloride to each gallon of brewing water. The resulting profile will be like this:

106 ppm Ca
0.3 ppm Mg
1 ppm Na
140 ppm SO4
41 ppm Cl
20 ppm as CaCO3 Alkalinity.

The mash pH will be around 5.4-5.5 for your beer.



Offline gimmeales

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #24 on: January 05, 2011, 02:47:34 pm »
Thanks for the input Kai - the one thing I was concerned about was the residual alkalinity even lower (which I'm getting from the EZWater spreadsheet using your suggested additions), but maybe those numbers are not good from the outset if my water report is actually incorrect.


Offline Kaiser

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #25 on: January 05, 2011, 04:28:47 pm »
I'm getting a residual alkalinity number of about -60 ppm which seems reasonable for a 6-7 SRM beer.

Kai

Offline kylekohlmorgen

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #26 on: January 05, 2011, 06:37:37 pm »

I say use the Maris and see what you think (and do report back!) 
You may really like it in your APA.    And unless you're going strictly and specifically for a competition bound  brew,  it's your own tastebuds that  provide the  most important guideline of all.

Agreed...

if its not going to competition, brew it up! I personally like my IPAs with some malt character. If you do a SMaSH, you'll definitely know how MO tastes!

A better experiment (but probably not as good of a beer) would be to omit flavor/aroma hops. You can taste and then dry-hop later if its too bland to drink the rest
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Offline gimmeales

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Re: All Maris-Otter IPA input needed
« Reply #27 on: January 06, 2011, 10:00:35 am »
I'm getting a residual alkalinity number of about -60 ppm which seems reasonable for a 6-7 SRM beer.

Kai

Ok cool - I'm still learning what a 'good' RA number is, so knowing a negative number isn't alarming for a lighter beer, then, I'll tweak this a bit by your suggestions.  I've never treated water for my other IPA's, so interested to see what the bitterness is like with some gypsum.