Good grain bill to showcase hops

[karlos_1984]

I'm after suggestions for a decent, yet simple grain bill to make either a pale ale or IPA that will showcase either a single hop or combo of a neutral bittering hop and big late additions of another. 

I only use a 19ltr big W pot so I could scale down to suit.

I've only done 1 all grain biab in this pot so far as I've always done kits n bits or partial mash.

Hoping to get something that's 5% ABV or above that's got decent mouth feel, but is also smashable now it's warming up.

Can anyone suggest something which could be useful? Not fussed if it's hazy (like NEIPA) or not. Thanks. 

[Otto Von Blotto]

I usually use a pale malt, Munich and medium crystal. I think the percentages are about 83, 9 and 6, with the rest being acid malt although you don't have to use that. It's there for pH not flavour. 

[karlos_1984]

Thanks Kelsey. Didn't think anyone was going to offer any advice. Cheers.

[Otto Von Blotto]

No worries. I'm sure other guys have grain bills that work for them too. That's just what I use as it resembles the malt flavour in various American pale ales I've enjoyed over the years. 

[Beer Baron]

I go 80/15/5 pale/light munich/caramunich 1 for my IPA. 
I change my pale ale grain bill all the time. The last one was 90/5/5 pale/wheat/carapils. 

Good luck!!

[karlos_1984]

I've got my hands on some Azacca Cryo hops (which are high alpha acid) and some Hort 4337 hops. These both smell amazing when I open my fridge so I want to make something that will let these dominate rather than the malt.

I use RO water bit haven't played with water chemistry yet. Would using a small amount of acid malt like Kelsey suggested cause any issues?

[karlos_1984]

Also, do the suggested grain bills above give decent mouth feel? My first biab felt a bit thin like something was missing once I drank it.

[BlackSands]

29 minutes ago, karlos_1984 said:

Also, do the suggested grain bills above give decent mouth feel? My first biab felt a bit thin like something was missing once I drank it.

There are a number of ways to improve mouth feel but perhaps one you could try, which doesn't involve adding anything else to the grain bill is simply mashing at a higher temperature.

[The Captain!!]

37 minutes ago, karlos_1984 said:

Also, do the suggested grain bills above give decent mouth feel? My first biab felt a bit thin like something was missing once I drank it.

I use a tiny bit 2-4% of raw wheat. It gives it a nice mouthfeel. It does give the beer flavour too, some people don’t care for it, some like me don’t mind it at all. 

For my tastes I am finding that I’m shying away from crystal malts now to make the beer a little drier.

[Otto Von Blotto]

40 minutes ago, BlackSands said:

There are a number of ways to improve mouth feel but perhaps one you could try, which doesn't involve adding anything else to the grain bill is simply mashing at a higher temperature.

This is what I usually adjust depending on what I want from it. In summer I'll drop it a little bit so the FG is a bit lower, in winter it's a bit higher for a slightly higher FG and fuller body. 

1 hour ago, karlos_1984 said:

Also, do the suggested grain bills above give decent mouth feel? My first biab felt a bit thin like something was missing once I drank it.

Mine does when I mash it around 66-67 degrees. Usually ends up finishing about 1.012 +/- a point. As above in the warmer weather I prefer them slightly thinner so I drop it down to about 65. Still good mouthfeel but a little less "thick". 

[karlos_1984]

That sounds good then cheers mate. I've run with your grain bill using the suggested ingredients and percentages listed above. Just to a total of 3kg to use in my smaller pot.  The amounts are not too different from my last batch relating to total grain.  Your grain bill is also very similar to another thread on here from ages ago where the OP on that had made a pirate life pale ale clonenwith great success, so that's a win for me too. My mash was gonna be 66 degrees so your last bit of advice has got me on board with that. 

The hops I'm planning on using are relatively new, Hort 4337, which I think from checking online are about 11.5% AA, so I've used a hop rated to 12% on brewers friend to work out a rough hop chedule to get me around 30 or so IBU.

I tasted a new release single hop IPA using this hop at a local brewery recently, straight out of the bright tank (wasn't on tap or bottled at the time) and it was amazing.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Sounds good mate, good luck with the brew and hopefully it turns out well!

[King Ruddager]

I've settled on 85/10/5 for base/munich/crystal for my pales as well.

May I suggest 100% golden promise though?

[ben 10]

Or just no crystal. 

4 kg Pale, 1 kg Munich.

[BlackSands]

9 minutes ago, Ben 10 said:

Or just no crystal. 

4 kg Pale, 1 kg Munich.

"Munich, the new Crystal"  

It's an idea I've look at in past brews, but rather than using munich I played around with Gladfield Aurora malt.  Colour-wise it's on a par with a light crystal, and though still a base malt it seems to sit somewhere among aromatic, melanoiden malts, or perhaps Weyermann's Abbey malt.   If it's available locally then might be worth a tinker.