Imperial IPA Critique

TwoHeadsBrewing · 10-24-2008, 02:48 AM

I was reading in this months BYO magazine and caught Jamil's article about the Imperial IPA. I think it's time I did one, and I'd like you to critique my recipe below. It follows fairly close to the article, but I'd like to get some input/suggestions. Thanks!

Grain & Sugars
5.0# US 2-row Pale
11.0# Marris Otter 2-row
0.50# Crystal 60L
1.0# White Wheat Malt
0.25# Special B
1.50# Dextrose

Hops
60m - 2.00oz Magnum (14%)
30m - 1.00oz Centennial (10%)
15m - 1.00oz Centennial (10%)
5m - 2.00oz Cascade (5.5%)
Dry Hop - 1.00oz Centennial (3 days)
Dry Hop - 2.00oz Cascade (3 days)

Yeast
White Labs WLP051 - California Ale V

Mash Schedule
Mash in with 5.5g @ 150F for 75m (long mash for low final gravity)
Single Batch Sparge: 5.2g @ 175F
No Mash Out
Collected 8-8.25 gallons of wort (left out 1 gallon of the last runnings, therefore lower efficiency

)

Brewhouse Eff @ 60%
OG Est: 1.085 (actual 1.082)
FG Est: 1.020
Est ABV: 8.31%
IBU: 109.3
Color: 12.4 SRM (copper)

Fermentation Schedule
7 days @ 68F
14 days @ 72F (dry hop on day 18 for a total of 3 days)
Crash cool, and force carb in keg @ 21 days from brewing. Cold condition for another 7 days (tasting a bit every day of course

).

TwoHeadsBrewing · 10-24-2008, 04:24 PM

Any thoughts on this recipe? Bueller?

**AZ_IPA** · 10-24-2008, 04:28 PM

I'd up your sparge temp a bit, but it looks good!

how much did those 7 oz of hops set u back?

TwoHeadsBrewing · 10-24-2008, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZ_IPA

I'd up your sparge temp a bit, but it looks good!

how much did those 7 oz of hops set u back?

Sparge at 175F or higher? Hops will probably be about $1/oz., my LHBS has a great line on whole leaf hops. I'm not sure if they'll have them in stock, but Magnums, Centennial, and Cascade are kept in stock almost all the time.

**AZ_IPA** · 10-24-2008, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwoHeadsBrewing

Sparge at 175F or higher? Hops will probably be about $1/oz., my LHBS has a great line on whole leaf hops. I'm not sure if they'll have them in stock, but Magnums, Centennial, and Cascade are kept in stock almost all the time.

I'm from the Bobby_M school of higher sparge temperatures - especially if you're doing a single batch with that grain bill; I'd think you'd want to get that bed temp up.

hops for $1/oz? lucky bastard!

TwoHeadsBrewing · 10-24-2008, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZ_IPA

I'm from the Bobby_M school of higher sparge temperatures - especially if you're doing a single batch with that grain bill; I'd think you'd want to get that bed temp up.

hops for $1/oz? lucky bastard!

yeah, one reason for the lower sparge temp is that I want to get a low final gravity on this beer. From the article, they had a good point of needing a low final gravity for the IIPA. Otherwise, you get too much malt character and it comes out tasting more like a barleywine (still, fine with me either way). I figure with the low sparge temp, I'll have an even longer rest time for conversion...close to 90m. However, I'm a newb especially with IPA's so what temp do you recommend?

heinz57 · 10-24-2008, 04:58 PM

I think you're confusing sparge temp with mash temp. You have a low mash temp so that the sugar will ferment out. But what AZ_IPA is saying is to sparge at a higher temperature to decrease the viscosity in the liquid thereby making it easier to get more sugar out than if you sparged at your current temp.

At least, that's what I think he's trying to say.

TwoHeadsBrewing · 10-24-2008, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heinz57

I think you're confusing sparge temp with mash temp. You have a low mash temp so that the sugar will ferment out. But what AZ_IPA is saying is to sparge at a higher temperature to decrease the viscosity in the liquid thereby making it easier to get more sugar out than if you sparged at your current temp.

At least, that's what I think he's trying to say.

What I mean is, if you don't do a mash out the conversion continues during the entire sparge process. This typically results in a more fermentable wort. I wonder if I could do a double batch sparge...with the first at 170F and the second at 180F? Then I'll get the advantage of a highly fermentable wort AND decrease viscosity in order to collect more of the sugars.

**BierMuncher** · 10-24-2008, 05:00 PM

Is 70% your normal efficiency?

I find as my grain bill goes up, my numbers come down. My base is a 78% efficiency for a 1.045 beer.

I decrease my efficiency by 4% for every 10 points I go up.

In this case I'd drop my efficiency to around 63% (ish).

TwoHeadsBrewing · 10-24-2008, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BierMuncher

Is 70% your normal efficiency?

I find as my grain bill goes up, my numbers come down. My base is a 78% efficiency for a 1.045 beer.

I decrease my efficiency by 4% for every 10 points I go up.

In this case I'd drop my efficiency to around 63% (ish).

Thanks for the advice, I really haven't done a beer this big before. My highest was 1.070 and I hit 72%, and for 1.050 beers I get 75-78% regularly. So I guess at 63%, I should modify my grain bill to something like this:

15# 2-row Pale
1# White Wheat
.5# Caramel 60L
.25 Special B
1.5# Dextrose
EST OG: 1.082

Does that look OK?