Best Malt for Brewdog Punk IPA clone

[davidgrace]

I am thinking about brewing a Brewdog Punk IPA clone. I usually use Maris Otter for my ales, but the recipe for the Punk IPA says I should use extra pale malt, I assume the extra pale is to give a clean taste letting the hops shine. Another possibility is Pale Ale Malt which is supposed to be good if wanting a cleaner base for a big hopped American IPA brews. Can anyone persuade me of the best choice?

 

[ppsmith]

I did a Punk IPA clone a few months back using Maris Otter and it came out pretty decent.

My wife and I did a side by side comparison of my brew with the original - flavour wise it was definitely in the right ballpark, but the genuine article had a lot more hop aroma on the nose than mine did. I didn't consider that might be to do with the malt though, as it didn't feel like it was overshadowed, just not there to begin with.

I can't say if there's anything better, but if you've got MO, then it'll probably be fine with that.

 

[GeorgieV]

I just got my Punk IPA clone carbonated and couldn't resist the temptation to compare with the original. I also used Maris Otter as a base malt, mainly because I had no pale malt at home. The recipe calls for Caramalt but I didn't have and used Light Crystal instead. I got slightly darker colour compared to the original but I couldn't find any difference in the taste as it's very much hop driven. I'm very happy with mine, even though the original one has a bit stronger hop aroma.

 

[Horners]

Just to clarify a couple of apparent misconceptions - Maris Otter is a pale malt of a specific variety in the same way that say Golden promise is. Maris Otter is also available as an extra pale malt (i.e. slightly less kilned) which is what many of the APA recipes call for.

 

[davidgrace]

Just to clarify a couple of apparent misconceptions - Maris Otter is a pale malt of a specific variety in the same way that say Golden promise is. Maris Otter is also available as an extra pale malt (i.e. slightly less kilned) which is what many of the APA recipes call for.

Would you recommend using Maris Otter extra pale malt for the punk IPA?

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Would you recommend using Maris Otter extra pale malt for the punk IPA?

I used the extra pale MO for a Punk IPA clone and it came out pretty good. I’ve even used it for pseudo lagers which my lager drinking friends have enjoyed.

 

[Horners]

Would you recommend using Maris Otter extra pale malt for the punk IPA?

Any extra pale malt should do the trick - I tend to use MO out of habit but wouldn't be too hung up on it .

 

[davidgrace]

I used the extra pale MO for a Punk IPA clone and it came out pretty good. I’ve even used it for pseudo lagers which my lager drinking friends have enjoyed.

I'm not so keen on lagers. That makes me doubtful about using extra pale malt for the punk IPA. I suppose it is a case of try it and see but I don't want to do a lot of work on something I wo'nt like.

 

[Horners]

I'm not so keen on lagers. That makes me doubtful about using extra pale malt for the punk IPA. I suppose it is a case of try it and see but I don't want to do a lot of work on something I wo'nt like.

Well if the extra pale is good enough for Brewdogs version then it ought to be good enough for yours.

 

[davidgrace]

Well if the extra pale is good enough for Brewdogs version then it ought to be good enough for yours.

True. I suppose it is down to taste and personal preference, but Brewdogs own recipe must be respected.

 

[An Ankoù]

I use either Crisp's Best Ale malt or Minch' Hookhead for Punk IPA. Both of these are excellent pale malts. I pretty much only use MO for Summer Lightning these days.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

I'm not so keen on lagers. That makes me doubtful about using extra pale malt for the punk IPA. I suppose it is a case of try it and see but I don't want to do a lot of work on something I wo'nt like.

I don’t think you’d be disappointed with extra pale MO but as @Horners said, any extra pale will do.

 

[An Ankoù]

True. I suppose it is down to taste and personal preference, but Brewdogs own recipe must be respected.

I've made up a couple of Brewdog recipes: Punk IPA isn't my favourite, but everyone else loves it. I much prefer Dead Pony Club. Their recipes, both in their online recipe book and in their physical book need careful reformulating in the hops department. Their online recipes and the book often don't agree with each other!

 

[BartonMillBrewer]

I just got my Punk IPA clone carbonated and couldn't resist the temptation to compare with the original. I also used Maris Otter as a base malt, mainly because I had no pale malt at home. The recipe calls for Caramalt but I didn't have and used Light Crystal instead. I got slightly darker colour compared to the original but I couldn't find any difference in the taste as it's very much hop driven. I'm very happy with mine, even though the original one has a bit stronger hop aroma.

Hi
Did you dry hop to get the hoppy aroma?

 

[GeorgieV]

Hi
Did you dry hop to get the hoppy aroma?

Yes, I did. I got a very good hoppy aroma coming out but as I mentioned just a notch lower than the original. I guess it's down to the process. I kept the temperature at 18C during dry hopping. Maybe at different temperature you can get different result.

 

[BartonMillBrewer]

I have tried dry hopping unsuccessfully and I would be obliged if you could give details of volumes of hops and what process you adopted.

Thanks

 

[GeorgieV]

I used Brewtarget software to scale the recipe to 17 litres in order to match my stove top setup.
While checking the recipe I found that I actually used 3kg Maris Otter and 1kg Extra Pale. I had previously forgotten about the Extra Pale.
Below is the scaled recipe with some hop substitutions. I couldn't find Ahtanum at that time and replaced with Willamette. Also, the scaled recipe called for 9 gr. of Amarillo and I though it's not worth buying a pack of Amarillo and use only 9gr. as I'm not planning to brew anything with Amarillo in the coming months. So I increased the Cascade instead of adding Amarillo.

Batch Size 17.745 L
Boil Size 20.745 L
Boil Time 1.000 hr
OG 1.055 sg
FG 1.014 sg
ABV 5.6%
Bitterness 41.0 IBU


Grain Bill
Name Type Amount
Maris Otter Grain 3.000 kg
Extra Pale Grain 1.000 kg
Light Crystal Grain 235.000 g
Total grain: 4.235 kg

Hops
===================================================
Name Alpha Amount Use Time
Chinook 11.5% 15.000 g Boil 1.000 hr
Willamette 4.4% 5.000 g Boil 1.000 hr
Chinook 11.5% 15.000 g Boil 30.000 min
Willamette 4.4% 10.000 g Boil 30.000 min
Chinook 11.5% 24.750 g Boil 0.000 s
Nelson Sauvin 12.0% 11.250 g Boil 0.000 s
Simcoe 12.8% 11.250 g Boil 0.000 s
Willamette 4.4% 5.000 g Boil 0.000 s
Cascade 6.8% 33.750 g Dry Hop 7.000 day
Chinook 11.5% 42.750 g Dry Hop 7.000 day
Nelson Sauvin 12.0% 15.000 g Dry Hop 7.000 day
Simcoe 12.8% 33.750 g Dry Hop 7.000 day
Willamette 4.4% 25.000 g Dry Hop 7.000 day


I also tweaked a bit the bittering hops in order to limit the IBU to about 40 as I don't like the beer too bitter.
For the dry hopping I rounded up the hops to the nearest gram and where only a few pellets were left in the package, I added them too.

I bought one of these for dry hopping and this beer was the first time I used it. Basically, just sanitised the mesh filter, put the hops in and submerged it in the fermenter 5 days after pitching the yeast. Then left it in for 7 days.

I wonder what do you mean when you said your dry hopping was not successful?

 

[ssashton]

I've tried:
Simpsons Extra Pale
Crisp Extra Pale
Thomas Fawcett Marris Otter
Dingemans Pilsen

I think I liked Dingemans Pilsen malt the best. Crisp Extra Pale was the worst.

 

[BartonMillBrewer]

I used Brewtarget software to scale the recipe to 17 litres in order to match my stove top setup.
While checking the recipe I found that I actually used 3kg Maris Otter and 1kg Extra Pale. I had previously forgotten about the Extra Pale.
Below is the scaled recipe with some hop substitutions. I couldn't find Ahtanum at that time and replaced with Willamette. Also, the scaled recipe called for 9 gr. of Amarillo and I though it's not worth buying a pack of Amarillo and use only 9gr. as I'm not planning to brew anything with Amarillo in the coming months. So I increased the Cascade instead of adding Amarillo.

Batch Size 17.745 L
Boil Size 20.745 L
Boil Time 1.000 hr
OG 1.055 sg
FG 1.014 sg
ABV 5.6%
Bitterness 41.0 IBU


Grain Bill
Name Type Amount
Maris Otter Grain 3.000 kg
Extra Pale Grain 1.000 kg
Light Crystal Grain 235.000 g
Total grain: 4.235 kg

Hops
===================================================
Name Alpha Amount Use Time
Chinook 11.5% 15.000 g Boil 1.000 hr
Willamette 4.4% 5.000 g Boil 1.000 hr
Chinook 11.5% 15.000 g Boil 30.000 min
Willamette 4.4% 10.000 g Boil 30.000 min
Chinook 11.5% 24.750 g Boil 0.000 s
Nelson Sauvin 12.0% 11.250 g Boil 0.000 s
Simcoe 12.8% 11.250 g Boil 0.000 s
Willamette 4.4% 5.000 g Boil 0.000 s
Cascade 6.8% 33.750 g Dry Hop 7.000 day
Chinook 11.5% 42.750 g Dry Hop 7.000 day
Nelson Sauvin 12.0% 15.000 g Dry Hop 7.000 day
Simcoe 12.8% 33.750 g Dry Hop 7.000 day
Willamette 4.4% 25.000 g Dry Hop 7.000 day


I also tweaked a bit the bittering hops in order to limit the IBU to about 40 as I don't like the beer too bitter.
For the dry hopping I rounded up the hops to the nearest gram and where only a few pellets were left in the package, I added them too.

I bought one of these for dry hopping and this beer was the first time I used it. Basically, just sanitised the mesh filter, put the hops in and submerged it in the fermenter 5 days after pitching the yeast. Then left it in for 7 days.

I wonder what do you mean when you said your dry hopping was not successful?

Thanks for the comprehensive reply; mush appreciated.
I like the idea of using the infuser for dry hopping. I just use a sterilised muslin bag filled with hops and sterilised glass beads to weigh the hops down.
Where I have been failing is in the volume of hops I have been using. Clearly I need to add around 100G of hops get the aroma going.

 

[trummy]

Out of my comfort zone here but to weigh down hop bags my ' glass beads' are the sons marbles some 30 odd years old