Looking for Double IPA recipe for English hops

[Jocky]

As per the title, I'm looking for an example recipe for a Double/Imperial IPA that is made with just English hops.

Not worried about it being any kind of traditional recipe, I just want to get as much hop flavour as I can from our English hops.

Happy for all grain or extract recipes.

[Barley Water]

Hell, just make one up yourself. Shoot for an O.G. of about 1.080 and use traditional English ingredients. I am currently drinking a regular strenght English IPA (O.G. roughly 1.065)and I just put the recipe together off the top of my head, it really came out well. Next time I make it (which I will) I may jack up the bitterness a bit but otherwise I'm really happy with it. Just a couple of suggestions though; once you get into the higher gravity stuff I would probably add some simple sugars to try and thin the beer out a bit or you may end up with really bitter pancake syrup and I would also mash at a lower temperature. Attenuation gets to be an issue so make sure to pitch enough yeast and by that I mean alot (3 quart starter for a 5 gallon batch, yeah just like making lagers). Finally, keep the crystal malt additions low or eliminate them altogether as they will tend to cause the final gravity to rise and make the beer heavier than you would really like, think dry, dry, dry. Of course you know this but make damn sure you control fermentation temperature otherwise it's really easy to end up with fusels when the O.G. gets up there and nothing says "nasty headache" like a bunch of fusels in beer. Anyhow, get creative and have some fun. Let us know how it turns out.

[seymour]

You got sick of our ranting on your other thread, huh? viewtopic.php?f=11&t=55855#p587016

If I recall, you've got a bunch of Challenger and Fuggles leftover. You may not have enough, though. If you're buying more hops anyway, feel free to use Goldings, EKG, Bramling Cross, etc, in some of the late additions. Anyway, here's one you can try:

SEYMOUR-JOCKY IMPERIAL ENGLISH IPA
all-grain recipe

For the integrity of this recipe, use only UK malts, hops, and yeast. No substitutions.
Make sure your mash tun can handle this much grain, and don't be surprised at how much fluid these hops will absorb.

This is just my preference, but unlike Barley Water, I do like a little crystal in my big IPAs. Dry is good, but I still want more malt complexity/backbone than I get from most IPAs. His advice is sound, though, and he's not the only BJCP judge who would count that a fault, so feel free to replace it with more base malt. This is an English Imperial IPA, after all, so I intend on extra full body and mouthfeel.

6 US gallons = 5 Imperial Gallons = 22.7 Litres

FERMENTABLES:
75% = 13.13 lbs = 5.96 kg, English Two-Row Pale Malt
10% = 1.75 lbs = 794 g, Cane sugar (added to boil)
7% = 1.23 lbs = 558 g, Torrified Wheat
5% = .88 lb = 399 g, English Crystal malt
3% = .53 lb = 240 g, Oats (from kitchen: steel-cut, Scottish, pin-head, flaked, quick, porridge, etc)
TOTAL: 17.5 lbs = 7.94 kg

HOP-BURST SCHEDULE:
2 oz = 57 g, Challenger, 7.1% AA, 90 minutes
2 oz = 57 g, Challenger, 7.1% AA, 30 minutes
2 oz = 57 g, Challenger, 7.1% AA, 15 minutes
1 oz = 28.3 g, Fuggles, 5.2% AA, 15 minutes
1.5 oz = 42.5 g, Challenger, 7.1% AA, 10 minutes
1.5 oz = 42.5 g, Fuggles, 5.2% AA, 10 minutes
1.5 oz = 42.5 g, Challenger, 7.1% AA, 5 minutes, steep until chilled
1.5 oz = 42.5 g, Fuggles, 5.2% AA, 5 minutes, steep until chilled
1.5 oz = 42.5 g, Challenger, 7.1% AA, add dry-hops to secondary fermentor
1.5 oz = 42.5 g, Fuggles, 5.2% AA, add dry-hops to secondary fermentor
TOTAL: 1 lb = 454 g

MASH at 152°F/66.7°C for 60 minutes or until converted

Add a pinch of calcium carbonate to mash, a pinch of gypsum to boil, Irish Moss near end of boil.

BOIL 90 minutes.

Use a wort-chiller then pour through metal strainer into fermentation bucket in order to strain hops and oxygenate the wort. Avoid the temptation to squeeze-out your spent grains and hops, doing so would release unpleasant harsh tannins.

YEAST: Wyeast 1728, the McEwans Scottish ale strain, ferment at 67°F/19°C, or cooler for the reasons Barley Water indicated.

STATS assuming 78% mash efficiency and 80% yeast attenuation:
OG) 1.087
FG) 1.017
ABV) 9%
IBU) 100
COLOUR) 11°SRM/22°EBC

[Jocky]

Of course you know this but make damn sure you control fermentation temperature otherwise it's really easy to end up with fusels when the O.G. gets up there and nothing says "nasty headache" like a bunch of fusels in beer. Anyhow, get creative and have some fun. Let us know how it turns out.

You give me too much credit! I'm mainly an extract brewer, and I can make good simple beers, but I want to start making some more extreme brews, so the more knowledge I can get the better!

Anyway, thank you for the advice, very useful.

[Jocky]

You got sick of our ranting on your other, thread, huh? viewtopic.php?f=11&t=55855#p587016

Not really, just wanted to see some more examples of recipes, like you've come up with, and this seemed the appropriate place to ask! I really struggled with finding examples out there that didn't contain a chunk of American hops in them.

Anyway, that recipe and advice is great for what I wanted. May well do this as a partial extract brew, so I'll certainly need a bit of sugar in there to dry it out a bit.

[Jocky]

As a quick question - why the Torrefied Wheat and Oats in the mash? If we're aiming for dry, surely this is just working against that aim?

[seymour]

As a quick question - why the Torrefied Wheat and Oats in the mash? If we're aiming for dry, surely this is just working against that aim?

They would work against an aim for absolute dryness, but that's not my aim as noted. Mashed with the pale malt, both wheat and oats will convert while simultaneously lending subtle but complex improvements to the appearance, body, and mouthfeel, all with true-to-style English ale characteristics, in my opinion.

[Barley Water]

Actually, I don't think either ingredient is going make the beer sweeter. The wheat is going to lighten it up a bit and the oats more than anything will tend to affect the mouthfeel but aren't sweet per se. The beer is going to have one hell of a head on it though, not a bad thing at all. The "slickness" provided by the oats may not be particularly traditional but what the heck, makes the beer unique. The reason high gravity brewing is a bit more difficult than making a 1.050 beer is because it's easy to make a phenolic, estery, cloying product. It's the difference between dating the nice girl next door and a Victoria Secret model; one just requires alot more care and feeding than the other but both are "doable". Brewing is really about fermentation control and making extreme stuff if how you learn your craft, carry on. By the way, making Belgians and Heffeweizens will also teach you alot about yeast handling which you can apply to many other beer styles.

[seymour]

Actually, I don't think either ingredient is going make the beer sweeter. The wheat is going to lighten it up a bit and the oats more than anything will tend to affect the mouthfeel but aren't sweet per se. The beer is going to have one hell of a head on it though, not a bad thing at all. The "slickness" provided by the oats may not be particularly traditional but what the heck, makes the beer unique. The reason high gravity brewing is a bit more difficult than making a 1.050 beer is because it's easy to make a phenolic, estery, cloying product. It's the difference between dating the nice girl next door and a Victoria Secret model; one just requires alot more care and feeding than the other but both are "doable". Brewing is really about fermentation control and making extreme stuff if how you learn your craft, carry on. By the way, making Belgians and Heffeweizens will also teach you alot about yeast handling which you can apply to many other beer styles.

+1

[Barley Water]

Mr. Seymour and I have slightly different ideas about English IPA's and really the debate is useful to somebody trying to figure out how they want to shape the beer to their personal idea of what it should be. In a nutshell, he likes his bigger and sweeter than I do, all just personal preference really. The thing about me is that I compete quite a bit and I generally try to push my beers in a direction that I think will get results in the contests I enter consistent with my personal preferences; it doesn't mean that my way is best because frankly I am quite full of the stuff that makes the grass grow green. As long as I'm kabitzing however, I doubt I would use the yeast strain in his recipe, I would look for something that attenuated even more but again that's just me. Of course, with oats in the grist he sort of has the Scotish IPA thing going there, an interesting twist I must say.

[seymour]

Mr. Seymour and I have slightly different ideas about English IPA's and really the debate is useful to somebody trying to figure out how they want to shape the beer to their personal idea of what it should be. In a nutshell, he likes his bigger and sweeter than I do, all just personal preference really. The thing about me is that I compete quite a bit and I generally try to push my beers in a direction that I think will get results in the contests I enter consistent with my personal preferences; it doesn't mean that my way is best because frankly I am quite full of the stuff that makes the grass grow green. As long as I'm kabitzing however, I doubt I would use the yeast strain in his recipe, I would look for something that attenuated even more but again that's just me. Of course, with oats in the grist he sort of has the Scotish IPA thing going there, an interesting twist I must say.

Guilty as charged. And in all fairness, I bet the arguments I've been making for my dream Imperial IPA would fit better in the BJCP "American Barleywine" category.

Any highly attenuating, highly alcohol tolerant ale yeast will work, hell, Chico if you must. But don't underestimate the Wyeast 1728. I fermented a 9% ABV beer to dryness without a problem; gregorach and other members have reported similar performance on this site. As high as any ale yeast I've used, with more complexity.

[Scotty]

It's the difference between dating the nice girl next door and a Victoria Secret model; one just requires alot more care and feeding than the other but both are "doable"

And the quote of the year goes to Barley Water! Absolute classic!

[Barley Water]

Guilty as charged. And in all fairness, I bet the arguments I've been making for my dream Imperial IPA would fit better in the BJCP "American Barleywine" category.

Not with English hops,malted barley and yeast they wouldn't. It wouldn't be American because the hops wouldn't give you that "chewing on a pinetree while sucking on a grapefruit rind" flavor and aroma. The quoted snipet however begs me to ask the question, what's the difference between an Imperial English IPA and say an English Barleywine or perhaps an Olde Ale (or Stock ale)?

[Jocky]

More great information guys.

Thinking about this, temperature control may be an issue for me at the moment - my brewing cupboard isn't subject to big fluctuations in temperature, but I think it may actually be a little cool at the moment over night (14-16C) as I don't have any heating/insulation in it and it's cold in England right now. I'm paranoid that I'll end up with the fermentation stalling and not drying out the beer.

I'll monitor it over the next few days and see what the temperature goes down to and figure out installing my temperature controller with a heater.

[seymour]

No problem, cool temps are a good thing here. The recommended temperature range of Wyeast 1728 goes down to 55°F/12.8°C. If you're worried about it, a 50W aquarium heater with built-in thermostat is a simple solution. It's definitely cheaper and easier to heat than to chill.