I’ve dabbled in making an IPA a couple of times, but never really successfully. My biggest mistake was, well, not really getting what an IPA is. Basically, it is: a strong mild/pale ale that has more hops added in the boil and a lot more added as a dry hop. Essentially, you want to make a higher gravity beer that will have more in the hops front and a lot of dry hopping.
My mistake was in making my beer too thin, without enough body and way, way too dry. Armed with that new understanding I decided to try again:
Mash
1.25kg of Crushed Pale Malt (by Balliihoo)
250g Crushed Crystal Malt (by Balliihoo)
4 litres of boiled Brita filtered London tap water.
The mash was kept at 65°c for over an hour in an insulated pot (covered my boil pot with a towel)
Checked after 70 minutes, water temp at 60°c so added another 1.5l of boiled Brita filtered water, brought the temp to 67°c and left for another 20 minutes.
Grains taken out and drained (and squeezed) after 90 minutes total at 65°c.
Roughly 5l mash was left with 1052 gravity at 65°c, or 1058 adjusted gravity.
Yeast
5g Mangrove Jack’s M44 West Coast Craft Series dissolved in 500ml Brita filtered tap water (23°c) along with 5g of dextrose.
Left to activate for a couple of hours through the boil process.
Wort (boil)
5l mash water brought to an immediate boil on a very high heat.
60 minutes: 30g Chinook hops (12.7%) and 100g dextrose
15 minutes: 30g Challenger hops (6.98%) and another 1L of boiled Brita filtered water
0 minutes: 20g Cascade hops (7%), 10g Citra hops (12.7%) and 1L cold Brita filtered water in the ice bath
After 45 minutes the wort reached 27°c and was filtered into the ferementer, 4 litres left after the boil.
Fermentation
4L of the cooled wort along with the 500ml yeast mix were added to 1.5l Brita filtered London tap water.
Total of 6l with OG=1042 at 25°c.
Drinking while making
My Wheat beer.
Dry hop (a week after brewing)
Added 10g Citra hops and 15g Chinook hops
Bottling (2 weeks after brewing)
FG=1010, making it a 4.3% ABV beer.
Total of 6L, or 12 500ml bottles
40g dextrose added for priming to achieve a CO2 volumes of 2.1.
Rested for one week and then transferred to a fridge for storage.
Tasting notes
Amber colour, pouring nicely with a light and consistent cream coloured head.
Pleasant aroma but not too strong, not particularly IPA style, but still nice. Fruity and hoppy scent but not very citrusy, despite the Citra hops. It is missing a higher level of hops in the dry hop stage to increase the hoppines.
Flavour is bitter, very bitter – I think it is too bitter so I will need to reduce the amount of bittering hops in the boil. There is a nice caramel note to the beer with a fully bodied, malty presence.
It is a good IPA but it is too bitter and missing on the hoppy aromas, I think another go on this IPA is in order with the right hops adjustments.