Red Rye IPA hopping question

Hi all,
This is going to be my 2nd attempt at creating my own recipe... still learning though I want to make a relatively balanced (but still IPA hop-worthy) red rye ale, somewhere along the lines of founders red rye. my grainbill consists of:
9# 2-row
2# rye malt
1# Melanoidin malt
1# Crystal 80
.5# Carapils

Ive purchased 2oz each of simcoe, centennial and amarillo pellets, but am curious as to what you guys think would be the best use of these hops in this style. I was thinking of simply alternating every 15 min between the three, starting with the simcoe due to its high AA's. beer calc is giving me a 1.068 og for 5 gal @ 14 srm. Let me know what you guys think! Thanks!

Id probably bitter with the centennial, then use a mix of the three for late additions, and dryhop with the simcoe and amarillo.

Sounds good to me, what IBU range should I be shooting for? Right now i have it hovering around 70, but i still want the malt to shine.

Anywhere in the 60 to 70 ibu range should be fine

That's a lot of melanoidin malt. Have you used it before and know what to expect with a pound of it? If you do, that's fine, but if not I'd really reconsider that!

I love simcoe/amarillo together in late additions, so I'd go with that for sure. Centennial and amarillo together are ok (I just did that in a beer last week) but with simcoe in the mix I'm not so sure.

I have never used melanoidin, I was trying to do my best by going through "designing great beers" and consulting other recipes, but... would you suggest .5# instead? I just want a good, hearty and well rounded red ipa, so if there's any other suggestions for the grainbill, I'm all ears!

and I was thinking of using centennial strictly as my bittering hop, using simcoe/amarillo for flavor and aroma. I can't wait to taste what everyone's been raving about with that combo. I'm still relatively new to writing recipes, so bear with me

jdopchibrew said:

I have never used melanoidin, I was trying to do my best by going through "designing great beers" and consulting other recipes, but... would you suggest .5# instead? I just want a good, hearty and well rounded red ipa, so if there's any other suggestions for the grainbill, I'm all ears!

and I was thinking of using centennial strictly as my bittering hop, using simcoe/amarillo for flavor and aroma. I can't wait to taste what everyone's been raving about with that combo. I'm still relatively new to writing recipes, so bear with me

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.25 pound of melanoidin malt will be very noticeable, so I'd cut it to that, maybe 6 ounces at the most if you wanted it to be very malt forward.

My favorite IPA is the DFH clone I have posted (under my avatar on the left). It's my house IPA, although I am happier with some changes that make it not a DFH clone. Anyway, I use a neutral bittering hop, and then all simcoe/amarillo in the last additions. I love that- but it's really grapefruity/citrusy so you have to like that for the combo to work for you! It's like a piney citrus that explodes in flavor. Centennial is more of a floral citrus, if that makes sense.

Yooper said:

.25 pound of melanoidin malt will be very noticeable, so I'd cut it to that, maybe 6 ounces at the most if you wanted it to be very malt forward.

My favorite IPA is the DFH clone I have posted (under my avatar on the left). It's my house IPA, although I am happier with some changes that make it not a DFH clone. Anyway, I use a neutral bittering hop, and then all simcoe/amarillo in the last additions. I love that- but it's really grapefruity/citrusy so you have to like that for the combo to work for you! It's like a piney citrus that explodes in flavor. Centennial is more of a floral citrus, if that makes sense.

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Definitely makes sense. Do you think .25 of melanoidin will still give me the color i'm aiming for?