American IPA - Fresh Prince
So my first beer I am going to post on this site is the good old IPA. I am yet to be converted to the NEIPA side as I haven't found them to be very enjoyable. They all seem to lack what to me is beer, malt and bitterness leaving it a one sided affair, pretty much just fruit juice.
So for this beer its nice and simple, I kinda based the grain bill off the Pirate Life Mosaic IPA as I had a couple of them the other night and they were delicious. Basic grain bill, basic hop bill and a good old American yeast. I have moved away from using crystal malts in my IPA's these days, I have found it makes them too sweet for my liking. If I am after some extra malt flavor I will usually add some Vienna, Maris or some Munich I. I have added the sugar to try and dry it out a bit but also see what it adds to the body of the beer, as I feel my IPA's have been a bit thin.
For this beer I wanted it to be fruity, like when you pour it you can already smell the hops hence the heavy hand with the dry hops. I only used Simcoe for the hot side as I have found in previous brews these three hops in the dry hop tend to muddle things up a bit. Hopefully the Simcoe in the hot side will give me the pine notes I am after. I normally go with Columbus for all the 60 minute hops but didn't want to have to buy another pack of hops so will just go with the Simcoe.
The name? Well my brother in law and I were pretty hammered when brewing the Amarillo Saison and we tried this beer for the first time, and it was fresh, so fresh.
The name? Well my brother in law and I were pretty hammered when brewing the Amarillo Saison and we tried this beer for the first time, and it was fresh, so fresh.
Recipe:
American IPA
OG 1.061
EBC 9.6
IBU 42
ABV 6.4
FG 1.012
Fermentables:
5.8kg Ale Malt (91%)
400g Carapils (6%)
200g Table Sugar (3%)
Yeast:
Wyeast 1056
Mash:
Mashed at 65 degrees C for 60mins
Raised to 75 degrees for 10mins
Boil:
Boiled for 60mins
Hops:
Simcoe 20g (12.8AA) 24.2 IBU @ 60mins
Simcoe 10g (12.8AA) 4.4 IBU @ 10mins
Simcoe 70g (12.8AA) 14 IBU hopstand once chilled to 80 degrees C
Fermentation:
Fermented at 18 degrees C for the first 5 days then raised up to 20 to finish it off.
Dry Hops:
Mosaic 25g (12.3AA) 0 IBU dry hop day 2
Citra 25g (12AA) 0 IBU dry hop day 2
Mosaic 75g (12.3AA) 0 IBU dry hop day 5
Citra 75g (12AA) 0 IBU dry hop day 5
Tasting:
So this beer finished fermenting quick! After 5 days airlock activity had stopped so I took a gravity reading, yup 1.012. It smelt good and tasted clean no off flavors to speak of so I left it on the yeast for a couple more days before cold crashing.
Left it to carb up for 5 days at 10psi before tasting. What a difference getting a good level of carbonation makes to the aroma and flavor. This was exactly the what I wanted from this brew, very fruit forward with big citrus notes.
The bitterness is spot on, love it. The Simcoe is bringing some nice resin and pine to the table with real clean bitterness, exactly what I was after.
The beer has good body as well without being thin, did the sugar help? Will have to do some more brews to be sure of this but initial signs point to yes. There is no malt sweetness which is exactly what I was after.
Its going to be hard not to drink this one down quick.
Changes for next time? I think the only thing I might try is scaling back the amount of dry hops I am using. There has to be a point where you aren't getting good return on your investment. I would also try changing the yeast to 1272 American Ale II just to add more fruit character.
Tasting:
So this beer finished fermenting quick! After 5 days airlock activity had stopped so I took a gravity reading, yup 1.012. It smelt good and tasted clean no off flavors to speak of so I left it on the yeast for a couple more days before cold crashing.
Left it to carb up for 5 days at 10psi before tasting. What a difference getting a good level of carbonation makes to the aroma and flavor. This was exactly the what I wanted from this brew, very fruit forward with big citrus notes.
The bitterness is spot on, love it. The Simcoe is bringing some nice resin and pine to the table with real clean bitterness, exactly what I was after.
The beer has good body as well without being thin, did the sugar help? Will have to do some more brews to be sure of this but initial signs point to yes. There is no malt sweetness which is exactly what I was after.
Its going to be hard not to drink this one down quick.
Changes for next time? I think the only thing I might try is scaling back the amount of dry hops I am using. There has to be a point where you aren't getting good return on your investment. I would also try changing the yeast to 1272 American Ale II just to add more fruit character.
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