IPA Critique

[Afterlab]

But, keep the grain bill same! It might not be a perfect fit for style, but it will taste great! Even the carapils. Vienna and Munich don't really add sweetness. More of a rich toasty note.

I would agree that Munich and Vienna would not add much perceived sweetness if used in addition to a crystal malt and if it was used in conservative amounts like 5%-10%. However 5 pounds is definitely going to give you some malt sweetness from the Munich, certainly not in the same league or intensity as a crystal malt, but malt sweetness none the less. I just brewed a Dunkel a few months ago with no decoction mashing but about 80% Munich, 14% Pilsner and split the remainder with Carafa and Kilned Coffee malt . In that beer there was a distinct fresh baked Cinnabon caramel toasty malt flavor coming through. Other than the Munich malt I don't know what the source of that would have been.

However Troeggs brewery in harrisburg uses pilsner malt as their base instead of 2 row but i doubt they use that much munich.

My info on the Nugget Nectar was from their appearance on the Sunday Session. They were pretty wishy-washy on the recipe for both the malt and the hops so I would take it with a grain of salt.

[crashlann]

About a year ago I emailed Alesmith about their IPA recipe. Their brewmaster told me they use a lot of Munich, and that is a pretty dry, citrusy beer. Thats the only hint he gave me.

[NervousDad]

Do you think that I'll have to really load this beer up with hops to score well in a competition. I am wondering how the judges don't get palate fatigue after drinking so many IPAs.

[brewinhard]

Definitely aroma and flavor hops at least. Make sure you enter your IPA as fresh as possible as well to help score higher. IPA category entries are usually very high in numbers and it really is tough to make one stand out against the rest. Good luck!

[maxwell]

You should think about increasing the amount of late and dry hopping. I'm not sure what the Citra addition at 20 min would do for you. If you only have 1 oz of citra to add to the batch, why not add it at flameout?

[BeaverBarber]

Do you think this grain bill will be too malty?

Yes. I think the malt varieties you want to use are fine but the percentage of Munich and Vienna really outweigh Pils. This almost sounds like Oktoberfest-Dunkel-IPA hybrid. If you plan on using a healthy amount of Munich and Vienna then you can probably skip the Carapils because you have enough malt sweetness and body with those. If you add Carapils you just have more one dimensional sweetness you need to balance out with more hops.

Not sure if this will help but here are a few commercial IPAs and Pale Ales that use Munich malt and their respective percentages in the grain bill

21st Amendment - Brew Free or Die IPA (11% Munich)
Firestone Walker - Pale 31 (14% Munich)
Firestone Walker - Union Jack IPA (12% Munich)
Kern River - Citra DIPA (5% Munich)
Oskar Blues - Gordon/G'Knight (6% Munich)
Avery - India Pale Ale (4% Munich)
Cigar City - Jai Alai IPA (5% Munich)
Troegs - Nugget Nectar (Supposedly 77%-80% Vienna and 7%-9% Munich Malt)

If you take an average of just these beers (except for Nugget Nectar) you get about 8% Munich in your grainbill. So if I wanted to brew this I would maybe use 10-15% Munich and 10-15% Vienna max and see how that turned out. If I wanted more malt, I would brew it again next time and adjust accordingly.

For the hop bill, there is such a huge malt presence in your current bill but unfortunately none of the hops you have selected really have that "bitter" kick you in the junk IPA bite to stand up to the malt flavor, mouthfeel and aroma. Citra and Amarillo have a tremendous flavor and aroma but need another more aggressive hop to achieve a desirable bitterness. Magnum is great if you need a high amount of of clean IBUs but I think any bitterness you get from it may fall to the wayside.

This guy really knows what he's talking about. Every word is true. Go with his advice.

[BDawg]

Do you think that I'll have to really load this beer up with hops to score well in a competition. I am wondering how the judges don't get palate fatigue after drinking so many IPAs.

We do get palate fatigue. Generally we will cleanse our palate between beers with crackers and water, but by the end of the flight (normally 8-12 entries per flight) you can tell that you have been tasting IPAs.

[NervousDad]

Thanks guys! I changed the recipe around quite a bit. I took the Munich down to 1.5 pounds and used 5# Pilsen with 5# of Marris Otter and around 2 ounces of Crystal 120 for color.

For the Hops I used all Amarillo with from El Dorado for the Flameout hops.

It was the worst brew day ever so I hope it turns out ok.