Chinook, Cascade, Centennial DIPA help

I want to brew a DIPA/Imperial IPA on my birthday. I've never done a DIPA before, so I wanted a little insight and help. I've read the combo of Chinook, Cascade, Centennial is pretty good and creates a nice grapefruit/citrus profile.

I added some honey malt to add a bit of sweetness to the beer. I tend to like most of my beers on the sweet side of the style.


Style: Imperial IPA
TYPE: All Grain


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.31 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.50 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.10 gal
Estimated OG: 1.088 SG
Estimated Color: 12.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 100.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.8 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes ? Is it worth it to do 90?
Ingredients:
------------
-- Fermentables ---
12 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 64.9 %
2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) 10.8 %
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) 5.4 %
1 lbs Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) 5.4 %
1 lbs Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) 5.4 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) 2.7 %
1 lbs Honey (1.0 SRM) 5.4 % (at flameout)

-- Boil Hops --
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - First Wort 7.6 IBUs
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - First Wort 6.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - First 18.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min 4.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min 7.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min 9.9 IBUs
0.75 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min 12.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min 3.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min 6.3 IBUs
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min 3.8 IBUs
0.75 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min 8.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min 4.6 IBUs
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min 2.1 IBUs
0.75 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min 3.8 IBUs
0.75 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min 4.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs

1.0 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 mins)
1.0 pkg Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) (1600ml starter)


1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 18 lbs 8.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 22.88 qt of water at 164.9 F 152.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.91gal, 2.03gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
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Well the LHBS is out of Centennial (and I wanted to brew this this weekend) so I guess I need to come up with a new plan. Maybe swap the Centennial for citra?

Citra is mighty potent, I wouldn't swap the Cent for Citra unless you want passion-fruit city. I say go with more cascade and chinook, that is a good combo by itself.

Why Vienna and Victory? Can you explain your grain bill I'll to me?

mux said:

Why Vienna and Victory? Can you explain your grain bill I'll to me?

Click to expand...

I was trying to give it a little bit more backbone to support the hops. I had debated on the victory, but I tend to like vienna in my normal ipa so I thought it might be a good flavor to bring to a DIPA. I also want to bring the color in dark for the style.

I'm thinking that I might just go chinook/cascade as beeber suggested, or maybe add a slight amount of columbus.

Maybe a hop schedule like

0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - First Wort 8.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - First Wort 19.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - First Wort Hop 10.4 IBUs

0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min 4.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min 9.9 IBUs
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 20 min 5.4 IBUs

0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min 3.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min 8.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 15min 8.8 IBUs

0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min 3.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min 6.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 10 min 6.4 IBUs

0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min 2.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min 3.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min 1.8 IBUs

0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs

1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Dry Hop 10 days

I like your hop schedule but in my opinion you have to much going on with that malt bill. I would do-
Munich if you like it: 2-3%
Carapils: 2-3%
Crystal 20-40: 3-4%
Midnight wheat to your desired color: maybe 1-2%

Oh, and the honey sounds cool for a gravity boost.

This is what we went with. I talked with the guy at the LHBS who has always really helped me when ever I have had questions. He got me though my first 2 or 3 brew sessions with recipe advice and a good helping of "relax and wait it out". He helped me tweak it a bit and talked me out of the crystal 120 and out of columbus hops. I wanted a big citrus flavor and we think this is going to bring that out.

The brew day went mostly without an issue. This is my first "big" beer, so my process hasn't really been worked out. No problems hitting my temps (I never really do have issues with that), but I had issues with batch sparging and hitting my target numbers. I did get close enough to be ok with it. I also didn't take into account the massive amount of trub the pellet hops would make and I had to leave about a half gallon of wort behind (it was like sludge) so I missed my target volume slightly (not a big deal).

The starter kicked in with no issue and everything is bubbling away as we speak, I've read that with WLP007 I should probably rouse the yeast near the end of the fermentation to make sure it gets down to my target FG.

Style: Imperial IPA
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.31 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.50 gal
Estimated Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Actual Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.10 gal
Estimated OG: 1.089 SG
Actual OG: 1.086
Estimated Color: 10.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 103.0 IBUs
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------

12 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
2 lbs 8.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)

0.50 oz Cascade [6.20 %] - First Wort 90.0 min
0.50 oz Chinook [11.10 %] - First Wort 90.0 min
0.25 oz Citra [13.90 %] - First Wort 90.0 min

0.75 oz Cascade [6.20 %] - Boil 20.0 min
0.50 oz Chinook [11.10 %] - Boil 20.0 min
0.50 oz Citra [13.90 %] - Boil 20.0 min

0.75 oz Cascade [6.20 %] - Boil 15.0 min
0.50 oz Chinook [11.10 %] - Boil 15.0 min
0.50 oz Citra [13.90 %] - Boil 15.0 min

0.75 oz Cascade [6.20 %] - Boil 10.0 min
0.50 oz Chinook [11.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min
0.25 oz Citra [13.90 %] - Boil 10.0 min
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins)

0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 mins)
0.75 oz Cascade [6.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min
0.50 oz Chinook [11.10 %] - Boil 5.0 min
0.25 oz Citra [13.90 %] - Boil 5.0 min

0.50 oz Cascade [6.20 %] - Boil 0.0 min
0.50 oz Chinook [11.10 %] - Boil 0.0 min
0.25 oz Citra [13.90 %] - Boil 0.0 min

1 lbs Honey (1.0 SRM) Flameout

Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) - 2000ml starter (shaken, not stirred)

1.00 oz Cascade [6.20 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days
1.00 oz Chinook [11.10 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days
1.00 oz Citra [13.90 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 18 lbs 8.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 22.88 qt of water at 164.9 F 152.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.91gal, 2.03gal) of 168.0 F water

Well this thing is still fermenting very robustly. There is a breeze coming off the airlock that smells like awesome hops. The airlock is bubbling more than once a second so I'm not even bothering to check the gravity yet. I'm wondering though if I should (when the time comes) rack to a clean carboy for the dry hop, or just keg and dry hop? A lot of hop matter made it past my diptube into the fermenter, so I'm afraid there is going to be a TON of trub in the primary.

I made a black IPA once and my LHBS was out of Centennial so I switched with Cascade and it as awesome. The next time I used Centennial and couldn't tell the difference. Both are great in IPA's.
My favorite IPA hop is Chinook. To me, it screams IPA. I've tried other hops but my mouth wants Chinook. I keep lots in the freezer for whenever the mood hits me.
Sadly, I only BIAB and 15.5 lbs is all I can fit and that's very tight. I may try this in a bit smaller size but this looks awesome. That FWH combo gives me a beerection.

Racked to secondary last night for a dry hop. The FG was 1.013 which is a respectable 9.3% ABV. I added the dry hops as in the recipe above. I'm going to let that sit 7-10 days and then keg. It was crystal clear out of the primary, so I probably should have just kegged it and dry hopped in the keg. I just figured I'd keep to my existing pre-kegging process this time around. I didn't have enough left to taste after racking, but the smell was amazing.

I do need a better way of filtering hop matter and trub out of my boil kettle, I lost around a 1/2 gallon of beer to trub/yeast.

Racked to the keg tonight, crystal clear and I can't wait for it to carb up.

So the final results are in. It is very tasty. I just wish I could have gotten more honey flavor into it. Overall though I'm very happy to have a keg full of this beer.