Honey Late Hop IPA critique please

Does anyone see anything wrong with this? Im using the honey malt for the first time in place of munich or Vienna. This is also the first time im using mostly late hopping for my bitterness. I estimated my total efficancie at 80% but last brew I hit 85% so im being conservative because it was the first time I went over 80%. I am not solid on the use of Columbus but wanted to throw it in for it herbal profile. I could sub centennial or Amarillo. Thanks in advance.

Honey Late Hop IPA
American IPA
Type: All Grain
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal Brewer:
Boil Size: 7.04 gal
Boil Time: 60 min



Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU
12 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 96.1 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2 2.0 %
4.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.0 %
0.25 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [11.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 8.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [12.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 10.1 IBUs
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [15.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 6.5 IBUs
0.25 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [11.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 4.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [12.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 8.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [15.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 5.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [11.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 10 4.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [12.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 6.0 IBUs
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [15.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 12 3.9 IBUs
0.25 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [11.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 13 2.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 14 3.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [15.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 15 2.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [11.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 16 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Northwest Ale (Wyeast Labs #1332) [124.21 ml] Yeast 17 -


Est Original Gravity: 1.067 SG

Bitterness: 65.3 IBUs
Est Color: 7.1 SRM

Mash 152 60min

I think your recipe looks fine, but i can offer some small feedback:
Using Honey Malt is fine, especially if you keep it at a low percentage of the total grist, which you have. I have spiked it up above 5% and did not enjoy the results.
Using C-120 in an IPA is a bit agressive, especially in combination with the honey malt. Its not a bad thing by any means, but just know that even with low %'s you may have some "stickiness" to the malt profile of your beer. That said Avery uses C-120 in their Maharaja, so its all about what you are going for.
Columbus is an excellent hop if you want to add some hop dank aroma/flavor to a beer. It also works great as a "backbone" hop when adding aroma where your prominent flavors and aromas are coming from hops like amarillo, simcoe, mosaic, galaxy, etc. So I would stick with it.
Mosaic is a flavor/aroma hop. You are using it as a bittering hop. It does have a high Alpha Acid % which makes good choice in that sense, but I would consider using something else and saving those Mosaics for another beer where you would add it late (or you could even add it late to this beer as well).

Good luck.

Holter said:

I think your recipe looks fine, but i can offer some small feedback:
Using Honey Malt is fine, especially if you keep it at a low percentage of the total grist, which you have. I have spiked it up above 5% and did not enjoy the results.
Using C-120 in an IPA is a bit agressive, especially in combination with the honey malt. Its not a bad thing by any means, but just know that even with low %'s you may have some "stickiness" to the malt profile of your beer. That said Avery uses C-120 in their Maharaja, so its all about what you are going for.
Columbus is an excellent hop if you want to add some hop dank aroma/flavor to a beer. It also works great as a "backbone" hop when adding aroma where your prominent flavors and aromas are coming from hops like amarillo, simcoe, mosaic, galaxy, etc. So I would stick with it.
Mosaic is a flavor/aroma hop. You are using it as a bittering hop. It does have a high Alpha Acid % which makes good choice in that sense, but I would consider using something else and saving those Mosaics for another beer where you would add it late (or you could even add it late to this beer as well).

Good luck.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the thought out response! As far as the 120 goes I was looking to get more color with less grain than if I were to use, for example, c60. I like a malty back bone in even a super hoppy beer so the "sticky" that you speak of sounds appealing but wanted to stay away from a crystal dominated flavor.
As for the Mosaic the only reason I put any in at 60 is because i read somewhere that you want at least something at 60 even in late hopped beers so i just added .25 oz.