• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

Anyone ever use WLP008 for an IPA?

philm63

Grandmaster Brewer
Joined
Jul 6, 2012
Messages
372
Reaction score
0
Location
Plain City, OH
Looking for some reassurance here - the guy at my LHBS suggested WLP008 for my black IPA.

I told him I was going for some tropical fruit notes (hopping with Amarillo and Citra) and was looking at the English strains when he told me about his APAs in which he uses 008. Reading up on this strain, I can see it is purported to "mute hop bitterness" and that concerns me a bit, seeing as this is an IPA I'm brewing.

My calculated BU/GU stands at 1.377 right now, and I was planning on fermenting at around 68F.

If you've used this strain for hop-forward styles, I'd appreciate your input.
 
Not what your looking for! You want to minimize the effect of the dark malts and yeast on the flavor and nail the hops and let them dominate the flavor. A clean yeast is preferred 1056 or 001. There is a reason BIPA isn't to popular. It all about taste.

I took first place in competition with a similar BIPA using Wyeast 1056. There will be enough dark malt flavor on the palate so try for a dry finish instead  of adding yeast esters, too. I couldn't get this beer as dry as I liked at 1.018. Check out my malt bill to see how I minimized the dark malt taste to let the hops radiate!  Recipie........... BIPA33

I brew this 3 times a year.
 
@ River - 1.018, eh? I'd like to get lower than that if possible. I'm already planning on going in at 148 F in hopes of getting a bit more fermentability out of this thing - I hope that works...

I have to wonder if the suggestion to go with 008 was to leave the beer a little sweeter than a 001 would, seeing as I mentioned I was looking for tropical fruit notes - maybe a little more residual sweetness would accentuate the fruity notes...? I've also tweaked the malt bill to get my OG down just a little (looking at a 1.060 now) and I'd already limited the Carafa III to under 5% (I've got it at 4.6% now) to keep the roasty flavors at bay. I appreciate the input.
 
I have been dinged in comp buy not having enough hops, so I don't shoot for less than a 8% IPA for competition to get the hop and malt to balance.. no you don't want English esters in the beer. If you checked out my recipie, the black malts go in on the temp rise to mash out..check the notes, I have used carafe malts but prefer Breiss black prinz and midnight wheat. The midnight wheat has the lowest flavor impact of any I have ever used.The beer finished out FG just below what the software predicted. It balanced the dark malt flavor and acidity. The head on this beer is fantastic! None of the judges made any comments about sweetness. Scored @ 43 overall
 
The judges never picked up on my FG because it was buried by the flavor. I too like tropical flavors, and they are in the beer. With the 1.018 FG my high score was high 40's. To hand a BJCP judge an American IPA without C-hops hasn't gone well for me. Amarillo, Simcoe, and Citra compliment them well.

In a recent dry hop experiment, Centennial & Willamette  were fantastic together.

Now I have to pick my Crystal hops.
 
I'm already planning on going in at 148 F in hopes of getting a bit more fermentability out of this thing - I hope that works...

At 148 you won't have much residual sugar to balance out the bitter.  The more bittering hops you use, the higher final gravity you want.  Otherwise you get a beer that's thin and bitter.  I happen to like thin beer, but I prefer a thin pilsner over a thin IPA.

I do agree with River about the 1056. That's my workhorse for ales. It ferments out clean and dry before settling down into a nice compact cake. Good yeast.

My limited experience with English strains was lower attenuation and less compact yeast cake, while not as clean as the 1056. 

If you want those citrus flavors, get it from the hops instead of the yeast.  I suggest Chinook for bitter and Amarillo for flavor, though any hop with "citrus notes" should do the trick.

Edit:
Just noticed this on another thread.
Not 100% sure this is the reason, but I'll be mashing around 148 on my next one to see if it makes a difference.

By all means do it, but back off the bittering hops a bit. Like 25% or so.  Or don't.  Either way you'll learn something, and that's what it's all about, right?
 
Maine Homebrewer said:
At 148 you won't have much residual sugar to balance out the bitter.  The more bittering hops you use, the higher final gravity you want.  Otherwise you get a beer that's thin and bitter.  I happen to like thin beer, but I prefer a thin pilsner over a thin IPA....

By all means do it, but back off the bittering hops a bit. Like 25% or so.  Or don't.  Either way you'll learn something, and that's what it's all about, right?

Thanks, Maine - solid advice!

Question: Does the same advice apply if I'm Hop-Bursting? I'm using Columbus as FW hops for about 30% of my total IBUs, and the rest goes in starting at 30, 20, 10, and knockout.

I did raise the BU/GU a bit seeing as this particular strain is touted to slightly mute hop bitterness, but if you say mashing low could be used to bring that bitterness back up, then maybe I do not need to raise the BU/GU. Sound about right?
 
Back
Top