Big IPA recipe - opinions sought

[Skittlebrau]

Hi all. I'm looking to brew a biggish IPA to celebrate my impending passing out of training (been in my new job since 1/10/12). I've put this recipe together with a view to hitting maximum attentuation for this yeast strain, hence the 65 degree mash temp. Anyone think I should go lower? Any other thoughts are also much appreciated.

Batch Size (L): 26.0
Total Grain (kg): 6.774
Total Hops (g): 321.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.060 (°P): 14.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015 (°P): 3.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.89 %
Colour (SRM): 9.3 (EBC): 18.4
Bitterness (IBU): 38.1 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 73
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
5.928 kg Maris Otter Malt (87.51%)
0.507 kg Wheat Malt (7.48%)
0.339 kg Crystal 60 (5%)

Hop Bill
----------------
21.0 g Warrior Leaf (17% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.8 g/L)
27.0 g Amarillo Leaf (10.9% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (1 g/L)
73.0 g Amarillo Leaf (10.9% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (2.8 g/L)
100.0 g Amarillo Pellet (10.1% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (3.8 g/L)
100.0 g Citra Pellet (12.7% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (3.8 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 65°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 18°C with WLP028 - Edinburgh Scottish Ale


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

[killer]

Yeah that looks like a smashing beer.
Obviously its down to personal taste but for that strength beer I would be inclined to try and finish a bit lower - maybe - 1012. I would up the bitterness a slightly to maybe 50 IBU but I suspect with all those late hops you might get the extra bitterness through sheer quantity....

[Gold]

Again, personal choice but I prefer to use less crystal which will result in higher attenuation and less sweetness. Some might say this is a lack of balance but I just want to be able to taste hops in something like this.

I don't have any experience with WLP028 but you might want a cleaner and higher attenuating strain. Make sure you have a decent starter and ferment cool to keep it clean.

[Skittlebrau]

This is the thing. The reason I've gone for the yeast and FG I have is because I fancy a bit of malt background to go with what will surely be very dominant hops. Having said this, I could be persuaded to change it round a bit. 1.015 is quite high...

[Patterd Ale]

I would up the hops if it was me.

Cheers, PA

[Skittlebrau]

I would up the hops if it was me.

Cheers, PA

That's all I've got!

[Patterd Ale]

Buy some more then! All that effort brewing and bottling. More hops, you know it's the right thing to do.

[seymour]

I would up the hops if it was me.

That's all I've got!

Buy some more then! All that effort brewing and bottling. More hops, you know it's the right thing to do.

Or else brew a "Big Bitter" instead of a "Big IPA"

If this is the beer you wanna brew/drink, then stick to your guns (but again, be careful not to call it an IPA around hop-heads.) Not every beer needs to be made into an over-the-top American IPA.

[Barley Water]

Well what it looks like you have there is a cross between a traditional British IPA and an American IPA. First of all, the wheat is not going to get you anything; if you are adding it as an aid to head retention don't bother. Hoppy beers always have good retention so you don't need to worry about it and you won't taste it anyway. I also agree with the previous poster concerning the crystal malt; personally I'd drop it but I know many IPA's include crystal so it's a matter of personal choice. It will however tend to increase your terminal gravity and everything else being equal make the beer taste/feel bigger. I try to dry mine out as much as possible because it makes the beer more drinkable and also accentuates the hops (which in my mind anyway is the whole point). I would substitute the crystal malt for some other specialty malt, maybe amber, bisquet or special roast. Finally, I would also tend to jack up the bitterness to maybe 55-60 IBU. Since you are using MO, the malt should be able to support a higher level of bitterness in my opinion. Anyway, take all this with a grain of salt; after all this is home brewing so you can do whatever the hell you want, enjoy.

[Gold]

I would up the hops if it was me.

Cheers, PA

If done right 200g dry hops in 26L along with 73g at flame out should give a decent hop rate for an IPA. Although if you have anymore to add for an 80C steep I would.

But moooooar hops are obviously even better.

[Skittlebrau]

I would up the hops if it was me.

Cheers, PA

If done right 200g dry hops in 26L along with 73g at flame out should give a decent hop rate for an IPA. Although if you have anymore to add for an 80C steep I would.

But moooooar hops are obviously even better.

I'm a bit surprised to be honest! 200g in 25 litres (made a mistake with that, I usually brew 26 litres with smaller beers so I have extra wort to save for yeast starters) is more dry hopping than I've ever done before and I've never been disappointed in the past! Likewise, 100g will be as big an aroma addition as I've ever made so am not anticipating feeling let down!

What would be a shame though would be if the high FG made it hard to drink so I am considering the idea of using a higher attenuating yeast and a lower OG... I do like the sound of that yeast though.

[TC2642]

I would up the hops if it was me.

Cheers, PA

If done right 200g dry hops in 26L along with 73g at flame out should give a decent hop rate for an IPA. Although if you have anymore to add for an 80C steep I would.

But moooooar hops are obviously even better.

I'm a bit surprised to be honest! 200g in 25 litres

That's a fairly common amount I use. Throw 100gms of a high bittering hop, something like Magnum 90mins, 60 mins add 50gms of whatever it is I use, usually new world (Nelson Savin, Amarillo etc.) in the 10-15%IBU range and 50gms on flameout. For around 1059-1062. Mash at around 65oC to leave body, no crystal but usually some wheat and maybe 10% sugar to dilute the nitrogen and it's a good un, drink in about three to four weeks after bottling.

[Skittlebrau]

This has been revised a bit, taking into account some of the comments. The OG/FG remain the same, although I have lowered the mash temp to make absolutely sure I do hit the target FG. I have replaced the crystal with Belgian biscuit. The wheat stays in there, although I was interested in what Barley Water said. Fact is, I have a few kg of wheat malt so it's going in! I have also upped the IBU very slightly to 40 and moved all the Amarillo to flameout, adding more warrior at 60 minutes to compensate.