taking another whack at a WCIPA

[Dave Y]

I'm shooting for a WC style, only "C" hop IPA here, from about 6-6.5 ABV, 65-70 IBU. I should be able to tolerate a little higher IBU with rye in the mash bill.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1621506/ic6cs-left-coast-ipa

I have crystal malts in here, layered at 45/75(the cara-rye). it's a full pound, wondering if this is a little high? it's 7.6% of the mash which doesn't sound terrible on the surface.

Thoughts?

 

[Megary]

You could add a dry hop maybe...but other than that it looks good to me. Should be tasty!

Good luck.

 

[Dave Y]

Thanks !!!!
I forgot to mention the dry hops, I was trying to focus on the pre-fermenter stuff, my hope is to do it tomorrow, worst case Sunday
Here we go!

 

[Megary]

Hot damn, that's a lot of hops! I would love to taste this when it's done.

 

[Bigbre04]

ctz is pretty harsh IMO but it would def give you "dank". otherwise good. maybe swap the amounts on the citra and the ctz.

you could add 4% wheat and it would help with head and body a little. I also like to add vienna or M1/2 for a bit of grainy balance.

i would also consider reducing the total ibu since you are only at 6.4% abv but thats just my take! maybe cut that 60 min to .25 but leave the rest.

 

[Dave Y]

ctz is pretty harsh IMO but it would def give you "dank". otherwise good. maybe swap the amounts on the citra and the ctz.

you could add 4% wheat and it would help with head and body a little. I also like to add vienna or M1/2 for a bit of grainy balance.

On the dry hop?

 

[Dave Y]

Hot damn, that's a lot of hops! I would love to taste this when it's done.

Go big, or go home.

 

[Bigbre04]

sorry i kept editing the comment.

yes on the dryhop. personally i dont really like ctz for anything but bittering but it does fit the style.

 

[Dave Y]

sorry i kept editing the comment.

yes on the dryhop. personally i dont really like ctz for anything but bittering but it does fit the style.

Got it. I did a quick search and don't have anything columbus or ctz in a dry hop for any recipe I've done. Which spans quite a while. boil & whirlpool and I do have one on tap where it's in the whirlpool.

I'll swap the citra and ctz.

 

[Craigerrr]

Buddy, seriously, just look up @Hawkbox 's IPA. I think it was 2024 Q4.
It is a killer Westie.
It is going into my rotation, and I won't change a thing

 

[The Brew Mentor]

For a WCIPA, I'd definitely drop the caramel malts. Additionally they dont play well with dry hopping in my experience.
Have you used cashmere?? I really dont care for it but with what you have going in, it may just get lost.
I agree that the CTZ should be left as a bittering addition.
I also dont like safale 05 as first generation. To me I get a weird peach like taste. After first generation, it rocks.
Id go with bry97 for dry and wlp001 or wyeast equivalent. 2 packs for the dry

 

[Megary]

For a WCIPA, I'd definitely drop the caramel malts. Additionally they dont play well with dry hopping in my experience.
Have you used cashmere?? I really dont care for it but with what you have going in, it may just get lost.
I agree that the CTZ should be left as a bittering addition.
I also dont like safale 05 as first generation. To me I get a weird peach like taste. After first generation, it rocks.
Id go with bry97 for dry and wlp001 or wyeast equivalent. 2 packs for the dry

I’m not a big US -05 guy either, far preferring BRY-97. But do you really think any peach flavor from the yeast would come through in a beer hopped like this? And how would you even know it came from the yeast?

——

To the board…Personal opinions aside, I don’t think there is anything fundamentally wrong with the original recipe. I think Dave Y should just brew it as is. He will then know what he would do differently next time, if anything. If there are clear flaws, there might be clear answers. Just my opinion.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Im all for experimenting, but the title says "another whack", and it's in a feedback thread, so assuming feedback is requested.

 

[Dave Y]

For a WCIPA, I'd definitely drop the caramel malts. Additionally they dont play well with dry hopping in my experience.
Have you used cashmere?? I really dont care for it but with what you have going in, it may just get lost.
I agree that the CTZ should be left as a bittering addition.
I also dont like safale 05 as first generation. To me I get a weird peach like taste. After first generation, it rocks.
Id go with bry97 for dry and wlp001 or wyeast equivalent. 2 packs for the dry

Crystal/cara are like Biggie and Tupac, east coast vs. west coast, 9mm. vs. 45ACP, me and @Bigbre04 ... ;-) My last few IPAs had none, but it used to be almost a requirement for "serious" consideration among the cognoscenti IPA snobs. I don't think I've done an IPA with cara/crystal malts since I've picked up some additional ideas, and experience over -I'd have to check, probably 2 years(?) And the last ones have been good, even hop heads have given me some good feedback on them. Now I want to step back a little to an "older school" w/c type. My WLP001 expired on me :-/ 05 is what I have on hand and should be adequate for what I'm after. I have Voss Kveik, which would also match well, but it's not really warm enough yet.

I've used cascade/cashmere 2x with good results, as I'd expect as the latter is a descendant.

Buddy, seriously, just look up @Hawkbox 's IPA. I think it was 2024 Q4.
It is a killer Westie.
It is going into my rotation, and I won't change a thing

It does look nice, ( but it does have crystal malts )

Many and profound thanks for the feedback. If I was going to get my feelings hurt on a little criticism, I definitely would've kept to my inside keystrokes. There's a lot of great brewers here, so I definitely read and take seriously the comments. The one characteristic of a solid WCIPA I have not nailed is dry hop & aroma. My 2 IPA's last year - Belgian-ish IPA and the one done with French Saison yeast were awesome and will get redone with no changes. But, I have a couple of the target neighbor audience who don't enjoy the phenolics. So this one is somewhat of a throwback, C hop only, IPA heavy on the late additions.

I think Dave Y should just brew it as is. He will then know what he would do differently next time, if anything. If there are clear flaws, there might be clear answers. Just my opinion.

So.... Brew around and find out
#BAFO

 

[Craigerrr]

For a WCIPA, I'd definitely drop the caramel malts. Additionally they dont play well with dry hopping in my experience.
Have you used cashmere?? I really dont care for it but with what you have going in, it may just get lost.
I agree that the CTZ should be left as a bittering addition.
I also dont like safale 05 as first generation. To me I get a weird peach like taste. After first generation, it rocks.
Id go with bry97 for dry and wlp001 or wyeast equivalent. 2 packs for the dry

I have to disagree, For me the Crystal malts are essential to provide the malt backbone #overusedword to back up the bitterness.

 

[Craigerrr]

...while recognizing that 10 brewers will have 10 opinions of course... in fact 20 brewers are pretty likely to have 20 opinions