Would this work (IPA)?

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MickDundee

MickDundee

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Over the last couple of weeks, I've become more and more interested in hoppy beers. The problem is that my last 2 plus my next brew are all malty beers.

My next brew is supposed to be a Belgian pale ale. If I bought some hops and a US-05 from eBay, could I use the grain and make an IPA? The grain bill is 5kg lager malt and 600g CaraBelge.

I'm assuming the answer is yes, but thought I'd better check since I've never used CaraBelge before and don't really have any idea what it's like.
 
Go for it. I think the caramel flavours from the carabelge would lend itself nicely to an ipa.
 
Yes. You need to reduce the carabelge percentage to lager malt (or just leave the carabelge out) than you would use in the belgian beer, and up the hopping rates. You can still use whatever hops you bought for the belgian pale, as long as you have enough - what were they btw?
Belgian pale has an average IBU:OG ratio of 0.49 wheras a (American) IPA has a ratio of 0.84
 
MyQul said:
Yes. You need to reduce the carabelge percentage to lager malt (or just leave the carabelge out) than you would use in the belgian beer, and up the hopping rates. You can still use whatever hops you bought for the belgian pale, as long as you have enough - what were they btw?
Belgian pale has an average IBU:OG ratio of 0.49 wheras a (American) IPA has a ratio of 0.84
Click to expand...

I don't have the option to reduce the CaraBelge, it's a GEB custom grain kit so all the grain is in the same bag. I might just do the Belgian pale (which I am interested in) and fit in another brewday before Christmas to give me my hop fix!
 
MickDundee said:
I don't have the option to reduce the CaraBelge, it's a GEB custom grain kit so all the grain is in the same bag. I might just do the Belgian pale (which I am interested in) and fit in another brewday before Christmas to give me my hop fix!
Click to expand...

In that case perhaps some sort of belgian IPA hybrid? Just buy some hops/get some out your freezer and up the IBU's to IPA levels
 
Ive just spotted this on the BF website about CaraBelge usage:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/fermentables/german-carabelge/

The difference between 10.7% and 8% isn't going to be massive so I might get away with it. Might need to go for fruity hops rather than citrusy as I believe CaraBelge has a bit of a raisin flavour.

I'll have a think, otherwise I'll just wait and do a proper IPA or session IPA when I have time to plan it properly
 

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