Authentic India Pale Ale

[rwh]

Hi all,

Some friends of mine want to do an authentic India Pale Ale, so I made up a recipe for them. I just wanted to know if any of you more experienced people had any comments on whether it'll be any good before I lose my reputation as a good person to go to for beer advice

From Wikipedia:

"Modern day versions are usually 5.5% to 6.3% by volume, though the original versions were considerably higher...

"...in modern times typically 35-48 on the IBU scale, though originally probably more than 60 IBU."

So, I made it my aim to go for a malty beer with 8% alcohol and an IBU of 60. Here's my recipe:

The Paint and Wallpaper Authentic India Pale Ale

Kit:
* Coopers India Pale Ale (IBU 23.5) or Coopers Pale Ale kit (IBU 19)
Additional Fermentables:
* 3kg Light Dry Malt Extract
Additional Hops:
* 20g Cascade at 60 minutes
* 20g Cascade at 30 minutes
* 20g Cascade at 10 minutes
* 20g Cascade at flameout
Replacement Yeast:
* 1 or 2 sachets of Safale S-04
Method:
* Borrow Rob's big pot.
* 2/3 fill put with water, add LDME. Bring to a light boil. Add first lot of Cascade hops, boil for 30 minutes. Add second lot of Cascade, boil for another 20 minutes. Add third lot of Cascade, boil for another 10 minutes. Add fourth lot of Cascade and remove from heat.
* Add the Pale Ale kit, dissolve. Cool wort to arount 50°C, add to fermenter, top up to 23L. Aerate the wort by stirring it briskly.
Pitch yeast.

[lethaldog]

wow it will certainly kick like a mule sounds good to me though might have to try it myself For the hops you could also try goldings or galena i had a look here so maybe you might get a few ideas from here aswell http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter19-3.html

[NTRabbit]

Definitely want to use an English hop to make it an authentic IPA, that just seems like way too much cascade for my tastes.

[melbourne man]

that looks like it would be quite expensive, what would you expect to pay for all those ingrediants?

[Balls]

I'd would use Kent Goldings or Fuggles for this. Cheers

[lethaldog]

that looks like it would be quite expensive, what would you expect to pay for all those ingrediants?

wouldnt cost you much more if any more than any other good brew probably around $35-40

[chris.]

I too would change the cascade to something a little more English (unless your going for an authentic American IPA ) Fuggles, Goldings or even Styrian Goldings would be my choice.

[ahsaul]

Wow, that looks like a nice little recipe...
I notice in your own instructions you refer to the Pale Ale - does that mean you're not planning on using the IPA kit?

I just wonder that with all the hops probably in the Coopers IPA can, plus all the extra hops, if it would be a MAJOR hop overkill????

Any thoughts chaps??

[blandy]

Not too sure now, but I'll check when I get home (currently at Uni). There are a few IPA recipes in "the complete joy of homebrewing," so i think Charlie P can set us straight on the hops question, although I'm guessing it'll just confirm what the others have said.

As for other suggestions, how about:

Brew, Drink, repeat.

?

[rwh]

Thanks all!

I've changed my suggestion to the following:

Bittering:
-25g Challenger/Cascade/POR @ 60 minutes (IBU contribution of ~ 35)

Aroma:
- 25g Fuggles/Goldings @ 20 minutes (IBU contribution of ~ 12)
- 25g Fuggles/Goldings @ 5 minutes (IBU contribution of ~ 5)

Coopers IPA Kit has an IBU of 23.5, so this gives an overall IBU of 75.5 which should be more than enough. Depending on what exact hop they lay their hands on I might cut down some of the quantities.

[blandy]

Yep, Charlie P's IPA recipes seem to be similar.

rwh, keep some aside for me, this looks like a beer with balls!

[rwh]

Well, actually this is a Paint and Wallpaper brew, I was just helping with advice and such. But I'm sure Felix'll give you a taste, possibly at the next homebrew party

We ended up using the following hops:

25g Cascade (AA 5.8%) 60 minutes: 11.9 IBU
25g Goldings (AA 5.8%) 60 minutes: 11.9 IBU
25g Goldings (AA 5.8%) 15 minutes: 6.4 IBU
25g Goldings (AA 5.8%) 5 minutes: 2.6 IBU
Coopers IPA kit: 23.5 IBU

Total IBU: 56.3

You should have seen me riding my bike to his house with my new 16.5 litre pot tied to the luggage rack

[lethaldog]

Well, actually this is a Paint and Wallpaper brew, I was just helping with advice and such. But I'm sure Felix'll give you a taste, possibly at the next homebrew party

We ended up using the following hops:

25g Cascade (AA 5.8%) 60 minutes: 11.9 IBU
25g Goldings (AA 5.8%) 60 minutes: 11.9 IBU
25g Goldings (AA 5.8%) 15 minutes: 6.4 IBU
25g Goldings (AA 5.8%) 5 minutes: 2.6 IBU
Coopers IPA kit: 23.5 IBU

Total IBU: 56.3

You should have seen me riding my bike to his house with my new 16.5 litre pot tied to the luggage rack on my bike

That would have been good to see, oh and i think the choice of hops is a good one, i think this will be a good drop so i may even give it a go myself Did you still use the 3 kg ldme?

[rwh]

Yep, recipe as above except for the hops, and also added some Irish Moss to make sure it's nice and clear. Should be about 7.5-8%.

[Murray]

Have you tasted the IPA yet? Would be interested to see how its progressed.

rgds,

murray

[rwh]

Yep, they brought it along to a BBQ the other day. It's only been in the bottle for 5 weeks or so I think, but already a great drop. Very very malty, with bitterness to match.

Mind you, all those who were not keen beer drinkers didn't like it. Said it had a strange bitter aftertaste. I certainly didn't notice, and all of us that loved our ales really loved this. So yeah, kinda like Collingwood I guess... you either love em or hate em.

I reckon that it will improve over time, I mean you really shouldn't be drinking it for a good 3 months, and it's probably at its peak after about a year. Keeping that in mind, I reckon this one was tops. Reckon I'm going to have to do one myself!

[enigmatic]

Hi,

I brewed this up last night, only my third go at homebrew but looking forward to this.

I got the recipe off the Rob Log web site.

I have a couple of questions though:

The Goldings I got from my local store show as Goldings 7.9% Alpha but now looking at this thread I can see the AA as 5.8%. Please can you let me know how this will affect my brew?

I also misread the directions (I was being nagged by a near 2 year old and a 3.5 year old) and added the Pale Ale kit to the water and LDME at the start of the boil. Will this impact my brew in anyway?

Thanks in advance and apologies if the above are daft questions or daft actions on my part.

Cheers,

Chris

[lethaldog]

The 60 minute addition is really your only concern but i wouldnt worry to much as it will only be a little more bitter than the original recipe

[enigmatic]

The 60 minute addition is really your only concern but i wouldnt worry to much as it will only be a little more bitter than the original recipe

Sorry, not sure I follow. Is that the addition of the hops or the extract?

If the hops I have are 7.9%, how do I calculate the correct amount to use to match the 40g at 5.8%?

Cheers,

Chris

[Danis]

This site can help you with your hop additions: http://www.rooftopbrew.net/ibu.php

However, the reason you wouldn't normally boil the already hopped extract is because it neutralises the hops in the kit. So if you want this beer in all its bitter glory, you might want to use more hops than you would've normally, to coompensate for the hops that were boiled off. Someone else will be able to tell you more about what happens to the hopped kit when boiled, but I'd suggest adding more hops at the 60min mark.

I'll just add in that I bottled this on Friday, using Fuggles instead of the Goldings (can't remember why, I guess the HBS was out of stock, or I have a bad memory, or something), but out of the fermentor, I'm tipping this to be one awesome brew.

EDIT: I see you'll have got it all in the fermentor - I wouldn't worry too much dude, its not like this beer gets all its bittering hops from the extract anyway.