American IPA malt?

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StevieDS

StevieDS

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I'm planning on making an American ipa in the near future but every recipe I look at asks for american 2-row. I know it's nigh on impossible to get in the UK so what can I use as a substitute? I don't want to use mo cos I think it's a little rich, I want it to be a proper hop bomb with a very mild malt flavour. Would lager malt do the job?
 
I think you could do a 100% maris otter American IPA. Usually they have a very small amount of crystal going with the 2-row, so you could just drop that. Maybe half lager and half regular malt would be a good mix. If you make it strong (>7%) they commonly sub some malt for corn sugar to keep it light and dry.
 
I did "untilted" which was 100% MO and it really lets the hops shine when you do that.

A bit of crystal is nice for a bit of colour and a slightly fuller beer. :thumb:

Oh and someone will be along shortly to berate you for using the term American IPA. I don't think we like that this side of the pond and prefer to call them just American Pale Ales.

Or something...
 
A lot of US homebrewers like to use half US 2Row, and half Maris Otter as a base in their pale ales.
You might want to try half lager/pilsner malt and half MO.
But even with all MO it'll be a fine beer.
 
I use british lager malt for all my US beers...US beers dont need the fuller flavour from 100% UK Pale (esp as things like American Amber are mashed slightly hotter) and its a bit cheaper!

F
 
Cheers for the advice guys (and for correcting my poor brewing jargon), I prob will go for half MO half lager just to add a bit of fullness.
Next question, the price of hops being what they are I'm only gonna use 2 or 3 types, which ones would people recommend for this style?
 
Amarillo and chinook or mosaic and simcoe. If you can only stretch for a single US hop then any bittering hop will do but make sure you use Amarillo 10mins from the end of the boil and to dry hop in the barrel for 7 to 9 days ish before bottling/drinking.

F
 
You can use anything for bittering as far as you reach the IBUs. In the last 15m you need PLENTY of hops (3/4 of all the boiled hops). As before, something like amarillo & cascade, or simcoe, ahtanum & cascade, citra & anything else, maybe chinook, cascade & simcoe, etc. Depends a lot on what you like, with Americans often considering cascade and amarillo to be their more floral hops, simcoe and ahtanum more pine/resin, citra & chinook more fruit and grapefruit. Most will have a noticeable fruit component though. There are lots of less stereotypical IPA hop combos, like Sierra Nevada Torpedo, which I find has a bit of a mature cheese sort of flavour (I think it uses Magnum, Citra and some more German-style hop) so it is a lot less grapefruity.

Also, add plenty of hops at flameout and dry-hop with at least 50-60g for 23 litres. Many American breweries do a sequence of dry-hops, say 50g of Amarillo for a week, you remove the hop sock, then add 50g of Cascade for a week. I usually go for around 300-400g of hops for 23l.
 
By the way, lots of non-American hops are very much at home in an American style IPA: nelson sauvin, galaxy, pacific gem, pacific jade, dr rudi, brewer's gold, mandarina bavaria, the higher alpha hops from Europe for bittering (Magnum, Dana, super styrian), etc.
 
OK so I've formulated a rough recipe, 50/50 MO and lager malt with a little carapils, and loads of amarillo, cascade and citra hops, WLP001 california ale yeast.

Nearly £35 for the ingredients though for 20 litres :eek:
 
I hate when IPA's get a way to complicated on the grain side. 100% MO is fine, however, it doesnt hurt to throw some caramel malts in there too.. Just remember to go nuts with the hops!
 
I've used Caramunich in there before and it's a great addition Rukula. Adds the backbone of Munich Malt, crystal flavour and colour, and it's only one ingredient so it saves you arsing about too much. i'd consider wheat malt too (or anything for retention,) but otherwise you're totally right - it's not about the malt, why not keep it simple?
 
JKaranka said:
By the way, lots of non-American hops are very much at home in an American style IPA: nelson sauvin, galaxy, pacific gem, pacific jade, dr rudi, brewer's gold, mandarina bavaria, the higher alpha hops from Europe for bittering (Magnum, Dana, super styrian), etc.
Click to expand...

You've just unleashed a list of awesome hops there!!!
 

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