IPA Critique

[NervousDad]

I'm going to brew up this IPA for the AHA Competition and I'm look for a little critique

Do you think this grain bill will be too malty? I filter my beers (5 Micron) and I wanted to have a hop forward IPA with a nice subtle maltiness if that makes sense. I am shoot for a burt orange color after filtering.


90 Minute boil: Its a little low on the ABV (6.5) but I usually get a little better than 78% efficiency, which this recipe is based on

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name
5 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
5 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM)
3 lbs Vienna Malt (Briess) (3.5 SRM)
4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.50 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Mash 90.0 min
0.50 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [9.20 %] - Boil 10.0 min
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [9.20 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Day Hop


Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 20.27 qt of water at 162.9 F 152.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.82gal, 4.29gal) of 168.0 F water



Thanks!

[theobrew]

You have your 90 min hop labeled as a mash hop. 90 min hops and mash hops are different and produce different effects.

Also I'd push the 10 min Amarillo to at least 5 min or flameout. Do you do a whirlpool because that will affect your aroma hops.

Not too familiar with using those Malts in an ipa so ill leave that to someone else to comment on.

[Afterlab]

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.

[BDawg]

I think the Style Guidelines spell it out pretty well:

Malt flavor should be low to medium, and is generally clean and malty sweet although some caramel or toasty flavors are acceptable at low levels.

[Ozwald]

I think the Style Guidelines spell it out pretty well:

Malt flavor should be low to medium, and is generally clean and malty sweet although some caramel or toasty flavors are acceptable at low levels.

+1, I'd dumb the malts down a little. Early on I kept trying to make an over the top IPA with minimal success. Finally I gave up & made a super simple malt bill & everything fell into place. I lean on 1 base malt, a small percent of an accessory base malt & a touch of a specialty malt. I think my last one was something like 90% GW 2-row, 5% Munich, 5% crystal. Malt is noticeable with a slight complexity, but steps out of the way to showcase the hops.

[NervousDad]

Thanks Guys!

I was trying to get rid of 5# of Pilsen that I had laying around and wanted to get close to Nugget Nector, but not as sweet.

Maybe I'll add some 2 row in there and get rid of the Vienna and cut the munich to 2#. I'm also thinking about using Amarillo for the Bittering hops and Try El Dorado hops for the dry hops.

[RedRory]

I agree with the earlier post on adding a couple of oz of hops at flameout/whirlpool. 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 recently had an IPA brewed with 100% munich, and it was nice and dry. Surprising I thought it worked really well. Maybe not completely to style, but I thought it was a great beer.

Now, if your brewing for competition, maybe bring the munich down a bit, but the Vienna and Pils will work nicely (IMHO).

[cheddahbiscuits]

as a former pennsylvanian i would like to provide a critique. i feel that using that much munich malt defeats the purpose of the pilsner malt. However Troeggs brewery in harrisburg uses pilsner malt as their base instead of 2 row but i doubt they use that much munich. I prefer to use 88-93% of 2 row as my base on ipas and fill in the rest with some crystal or munich. As for the hops i agree with some other replies that you should wirlpool a ton of them at the 0 min mark for 20-45 mins and dryhop w 1.5oz or way more per 5gal