First BIAB Recipe

[ChuckGViolin]

Here's what I plan on brewing for my first BIAB recipe. I'm brewing that extract 2,5 gallon recipe tomorrow. I haven't bought the ingredients yet for this one so please steer me in the right direction if necessary. I'm going for a fairly strong brown IPA without a monumental IBU, but still with big flavor. The recipe is called il Canone which was the name of Paganini's violin, known for it's gigantic sound. Thank you in advance for your help and opinions.

I even made a cool looking label for it (the ABV is incorrect, based on an earlier version of the recipe).

 

[J A]

Probably too heavy on the Carabrown. Try to keep the Cara and Crystal malts to less than 10% of an IPA. You definitely, definitely want to get the FG lower. If you brew as-is, you won't hate it, but you'll probably find it a sweeter than you'd prefer.
Set the mash temp lower and/or use a different yeast.

 

[ChuckGViolin]

Thanks! I'm still learning what grains do what. Question - crystal/cara malts should be 10% or less per grain or total of grain bill? I'm playing with the recipe and now I've got each to 8%.

 

[J A]

Thanks! I'm still learning what grains do what. Question - crystal/cara malts should be 10% or less per grain or total of grain bill? I'm playing with the recipe and now I've got each to 8%.

Total of Cara/crystal additions. The Munich Dark is a "base" grain, though it's enzymatic potential isn't very high. Along with the 2-row, it's part of your base malt. You could easily leave your Munich at a pound but maybe drop the Carabrown (at 15.4 % in the recipe screenshot) to 3/4 of a pound or so and maybe make up the color difference with a combination of Midnight wheat for color and something like Victory or Biscuit or Special Roast to give some toasty/bready notes.
The reason to limit Cara malts and Crystal malts (basically the same thing) is that they're partially converted (mashed) before they're roasted or stewed to get darker color. That means that they'll tend to leave a little more unfermentable sugars in the mash and not attenuate as well. Other specialty grains are malted and then roasted so that they'll tend to convert more like base grains, though maybe less efficiently. You could make a sweeter IPA with less attenuation and more residual sugar in the malt if you have a ton of hops to offset, but IPAs in general tend to be a little more dry in the finish without lingering sweetness in the malt profile.
As I mentioned, you wouldn't dislike the beer as you've got it laid out but without at least a better attenuating yeast to lower the FG, it would probably be a little sweeter than you might expect.
You've got a good hop schedule and that NB will give you some nice piney bitterness, so it'll hold up to a little more residual. No need to overthink it too much. You're in the right range.

 

[ChuckGViolin]

Great. Thanks for the help. As I learn I guess the only way to know how much I'll like it is to brew it! Probably about 2 weeks or so once I get today's brew bottled.

 

[ChuckGViolin]

I'm brewing this one either tomorrow or Friday. I've made a few changes to the grain bill, but the hops schedule is the same. Looking forward to it!

 

[ChuckGViolin]

Well, I bottled this one today and it tastes great! It's not quite as dark as I was hoping so I'll probably adjust the recipe accordingly. Too bad I broke the hydrometer when brewing or I would know the efficiency and ABV. Lucky for me, I'm going out of town tomorrow for 10 days so I won't be tempted to pop one open early....

 

[chub1]

Well, I bottled this one today and it tastes great! It's not quite as dark as I was hoping so I'll probably adjust the recipe accordingly. Too bad I broke the hydrometer when brewing or I would know the efficiency and ABV. Lucky for me, I'm going out of town tomorrow for 10 days so I won't be tempted to pop one open early....

Brown IPA, now that's a new one on me!.Sounds interesting

 

[ChuckGViolin]

Today I'm brewing an updated version of this recipe. I'm using victory malt instead of the munich and 80l crystal instead of carabrown. I've completely changed the hops. Today I'm brewing with Magnum for bittering and Amarillo for late additions (15 and 5 min.). Hopefully this will be more what I was looking for in this recipe originally.

 

[MMO]

I brewed an IPA recently that was bittered with Magnum (first hop addition so with BIAB added when you pull the grain out and bringing the wort up to boil) with and used about 5% Victory malt and loved it. I think you'll like it!

Another good malt that I find helps to balance IPA's in Gambrinus Honey

 

[J A]

Today I'm brewing an updated version of this recipe. I'm using victory malt instead of the munich and 80l crystal instead of carabrown. I've completely changed the hops. Today I'm brewing with Magnum for bittering and Amarillo for late additions (15 and 5 min.). Hopefully this will be more what I was looking for in this recipe originally.

I've arrived at a sort of go-to Pale recipe of 85% Pilsner or 2 row, 10% Vienna or Munich, 5% Victory. Very, very clean beer and just the right toasty malt backbone to make the hops shine.
Just did a killer batch that's got Magnum at 60 and Amarillo and Simcoe late. Really beautiful hop combo!

 

[MMO]

I've arrived at a sort of go-to Pale recipe of 85% Pilsner or 2 row, 10% Vienna or Munich, 5% Victory. Very, very clean beer and just the right toasty malt backbone to make the hops shine.
Just did a killer batch that's got Magnum at 60 and Amarillo and Simcoe late. Really beautiful hop combo!

My go to IPA recipe is very similar where I'll use 82% pale 2 row, 13% Gambrinus Honey, 5% Victory. Bitter with Magnum an use combinations (I like to mix it up) of Citra, Amarillo and/or Centennial as late additions and dry hop. I have never tried Simcoe but will have to give it a shot. I use Wyeast 1450 - Denny's fav

 

[Head First]

My go to IPA recipe is very similar where I'll use 82% pale 2 row, 13% Gambrinus Honey, 5% Victory. Bitter with Magnum an use combinations (I like to mix it up) of Citra, Amarillo and/or Centennial as late additions and dry hop. I have never tried Simcoe but will have to give it a shot. I use Wyeast 1450 - Denny's fav

Wow that's a lot of honey malt.

 

[MMO]

Wow that's a lot of honey malt.

Agreed. Usually 5% is used in most recipes and typically people won't go over 10%.

I run my usual IPA around 70 IBU so I find the Gambrinus Honey combined with Denny's Fav works well to balance it. It's definitely not a session beer.

Works for my taste beds at least

 

[J A]

I have never tried Simcoe but will have to give it a shot.

I'm a fan of the Simcoe...Pine at 60 minutes, dank pot mixed with pine at 20 minutes, lush mango at 5 or less, big aroma in DH. I'm finding that Amarillo is a little thick floral to me. Aroma is sublime, but flavor gets a little heavy. Centennial/Simcoe/Columbus combo makes me very very happy.
That does seem like a lot of Honey malt, but it can work with a lot of hops, I suppose.One of the local breweries has a relatively lightly hopped "Blonde" Ale with a lot of Honey Malt and it's a little cloying for my taste.