BeerBorg

Thinking of doing a quick(?) IPA with few ingredients. How does a 3 gallon batch with 8.91lb of Maris Otter, 7oz of Goldings East, 5.09 first wort and 1.91 dry hop sound? Mash at 152 for 90 min, Mash out at 168 for 10 min. 1 pack of S-04. Ferment 3 weeks, force carb for 1 week, drink up. This is based off a recipe I copied out of BYO (East India IPA) some time back. Would Maris Otter make a great IPA by it's self? Probably throw in some cara-pils/foam for some head. Coming out chewy would be a desire, maybe mash a little higher?

This recent minus 24 temps got me to thinking I needed something in my rotation besides low ABV session brewskis I have been doing. Need something drinkable fairly quick, don't need a spring IPA. Been a few years since I've done an IPA so I just wanted to run this by ya'll first. I figured this out to be 7.3% ABV, don't want lower, a little higher would work.

That beer will be nice. It will turn out a lot like an old school "Burton Ale / IPA".

You probably don't need to mash higher if your going that big, but it won't hurt if you want to, it will be good either way.

If you can harden your water with some gypsum or the like it will turn out even better. You don't have to but a bit of minerally character and hops that zing a bit more are appropriate for this.

mashani wrote:If you can harden your water with some gypsum or the like it will turn out even better. You don't have to but a bit of minerally character and hops that zing a bit more are appropriate for this.

I have a vial of gypsum, how much should I put in for 3 gallons? Or do I need to shoot for a certian ph?

I love MO in my IPA's and use it often though not usually 100%. I like to mix 50/50 but many great IPA's use MO malt.

FrozenInTime wrote:

mashani wrote:If you can harden your water with some gypsum or the like it will turn out even better. You don't have to but a bit of minerally character and hops that zing a bit more are appropriate for this.

I have a vial of gypsum, how much should I put in for 3 gallons? Or do I need to shoot for a certian ph?

Ideally you'd want to plug your source water into BeerSmith or Screwy's water calculator and target a water profile that will tell you exactly what to add to get you into the right PH range with your grain bill, or use this tool https://www.brewersfriend.com/brewing-w ... -profiles/

But just as an example, with my Lake Erie source water for that, I'd use something like 12g of gypsum, 2g of epsom salt, and 3g of baking soda and a pinch of table salt if I wanted to go on a "full on Burton" profile. But you don't have to go that nuts, full on Burton water is not necessary, it is insanely high sulfate compared anything and very high in calcium and bicarbonate.

Really any "hard water" profile is going to give you solid results. If your water is already hard with moderate to high calcium, bicarbonate and sulfate levels just use it as is and it will be good. But if your water is soft then hardening by adding those things is going to make that beer better.

I'll have to get out water profile checked when it gets installed. This spring they are supposed to run rural water to our place. Right now is is an artesian well and almost hard enough to walk on. We go through a lot of water softener salt. I have to change out the sediment filters just about weekly, looking forward to rural water.

You probably don't need to mash for 90 minutes. I think 60 would get the job done. Just tryin to save you some time!!!