IPA - trying to improve

[wolfie7873]

I haven't made an IPA in nearly a year because they never turn out quite right. After listening to John Kimmich from The Alchemist talk about limiting hop material to reduce vegetal flavors, I'm leaning toward using a small amount of super high alpha at 60 minutes for the bulk of the bittering, then using late additions and dry hop all with pellets for flavor and aroma. Here's my attempt at that construct. I'm open to feedback. I like IPAs that are flavorful with great aroma and a balanced dry/sweet finish. I'm not into face-puckering, mind-altering hop bombs, but rather a suggestion of caramel sweetness (more in the imagination than on the palate) and a thirst-quenching experience.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/217145/abigail-pale-ale

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Ive worked on the perfect ipa for nearly 2 years and finally have a consistent way to brew it, I will tell you its not all in the recipe, most of it involves how you brew it and a big deal is in fact the "water and cold crashing" not the grain bill at all. first if you want a carmel type of flavor the easy way to get it is to do a hard boil for 120 minutes
the sweet to the first taste can come from the right hops, Amarillo is one that comes to mind and the dry finish is of course the yeast and mash temp.

Ive tried this a hundred different ways and I will have to say the perfect ipa involves "a lot" of waste, no way around it, bitter to "your taste" not someones recipe, not everyone likes a slamming bitter beer but it does subside to the pallet after a couple. and for the hops Ive used as much as 9 ounces and after conditioning still doesn't hit you in the face, the key to keeping the pucker away is cold crashing at near freezing and that drops anything floating down to the bottom, especially hops, we don't want to drink the hops just its oil

another issue is as you said what I call hop vine taste, we don't like it or want it so we just dry hop for 4 to 5 days with pellets , take out and replace..with the same amount for another 4 days, once the plant has lost all of its oil, theirs nothing left but the stem and veggie taste, so you waste some hops but its sooooo worth it

 

[Nosybear]

Try some of the less traditional hopping methods. I get good results from first wort hopping and whirlpool additions. Dry hopping has generally been a disappointment. FWH and whirlpool give ne great flavor and nose without tongue-ripping bitterness and raw hop flavors.

 

[BrewerJim]

IPA's are all about timing. Keep in mind that anything from 1st wort through last 45 will do all the bittering. Last 45 through Last 20 will contribute the majority of flavor and after that its all about Aroma. Dry hopping will give you Aroma only, the combination you have lined up will give you a dirty aroma. Try this;
Citra 1st wort
Apollo 60 min
Simco 30 min
Citra 5 min
Apollo Dry Hop Day 5
I just did a Black Imperial that came out Fantastic! You can find it on my page, Black and Blue IPA.

Cheers! Jim

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

here is one that 100 people at a wedding loved, me too, its my favorite creation to date
this is not too hoppy by the way using the cold crash after the dry hop method

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... ntain-iipa

 

[wolfie7873]

Here's what I ended up doing (2.5 gallon batch, 75 minute Mash, 60 minute Boil):

5.5# 2-row
0.25# Vienna
0.25# C-40

FWH - 6g Apollo
15Min - 6g Citra , 6g Simcoe

After racking to secondary,
3 days with 6 grams each of Apollo, Citra and Simcoe. Then I removed the hop bag and replaced it with fresh additions in the same amounts effectively dry-hopping twice. Kegged it last weekend, and it smells great, and tastes pretty good.

It's a bit cloudy, I typically have no problems with chill haze or break material, so I wonder if the dry-hop resins can cloud the beer? Also, it's not as dry or crisp as I think it should be, so I'm going to mash a bit lower (had intended for 149-150 and got closer to 153-154). I also will test the pH of my water which I've never done.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

hops will cloud the beer and will mask the bitterness, cold crashing for about 3 days will drop that hop debris floating around and clear the beer, you can also over carb to mimic bitterness if its just to bland, if you want it dry, mash at 148 and add corn sugar right before fermentation

and first wort hopping adds more flavor than bitterness so don't use that just to bitter the beer, add something els before your 15 to 0 hops