Ground Rule Double IPA

Hi! I'm a relative newbie here (~ 5 months brewing experience).

I'm attempting to honor the start of baseball season with my first attempt at an imperial/double IPA. After doing a little research, I've come up with what I consider to be a simple extract w/ steeped grains recipe, which I am going to try this weekend. I'm keeping the batch smaller at 3 gallons to keep costs down, and I like using nice whole numbers for my ingredient amounts, mostly because I buy only for each recipe and I am lazy.

I know it'd probably be easier if I just tried someone else's recipe first, but I consider it fun to con myself into thinking that I'm "reinventing the wheel"!

Anyway, my plans are mostly set, but I have a few questions with respect to my recipe.

Numbers calculated using Brewtarget 1.2:

--- Vital Statistics ---

3 gallon batch

OG 1.096 (Boil SG 1.100)
FG 1.024
ABV 9.3%
IBU 82.9
SRM 11.8

--- Fermentables ---

3 lb Northwestern Extra Light DME - 43%
2 lb Northwestern Extra Light DME - 29% (late extract addition)
1 lb Corn Sugar - 14%
1 lb Caramunich (steeped) - 14%

--- Hops ---

1 oz Magnum 13.5% AA - 60 min
0.5 oz Simcoe 13.0% AA - 30 min
0.5 oz Simcoe 13.0% AA - 10 min
0.5 oz Amarillo 9.5 % AA - 10 min
0.5 oz Amarillo 9.5 % AA - 0 min
1 oz Simcoe 13.0% AA - dry hop

--- Yeast ---

1 pk Danstar Nottingham (pitched dry)

--- Notes ---

Partial boil size of 2 gallons. I'll keep the third gallon in the fridge near freezing and add it to the fermenter after the boil to aid in cooling the wort to ~ 70F (in addition to ice bath).

Vital stats are probably all a little on the high side. I haven't been getting nearly that much out of steeping any grains, and I'm not sure how much I trust Brewtarget's numbers (this might be my own fault though).

Planning on 1 week in primary, 1 week in secondary w/ dry hops, adding 3-4 oz of dissolved priming sugar in 1 cup of water, then into 12 oz bottles for a few additional weeks of conditioning.

--- Questions ---

1. Is there any risk in using 1 lb (14%) of corn sugar in this recipe? Also is it best to boil that for 60 min or add it later?

2. I really like the contribution of Caramunich in the other recipes that I've brewed, but I know that 1 lb (14%), while probably overestimated in the calculations, is probably higher than most people would recommend for an imperial IPA. What can I expect that much Caramunich to do to this brew if I leave this recipe as is?

3. Should I bother with using 1 oz of Magnum as the 60 min bittering hop or should I just get another 1 oz of Simcoe instead? Will there be any noticable difference?

4. For hop flavor & aroma contribution, I was hoping to get a nice combination of pine & citrus. I've heard Simcoe & Amarillo are a good combination. If I were to pick one over the other, which would be a better candidate for dry hopping? Or, should I just dry hop 1 oz of each (perhaps that's too much for 3 gal recipe)?

--- --- ---

Anyway, any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Jason

Might want to think about pitching two packages of the Nottingham. I've seen it recommended to reduce the lag time of the fermentation.

And if you want to keep costs down while upping your brew size you could try partial mashes. Perhaps try replacing the first DME addition with a base grain and mash your caramunich along with it.

David - thanks for your suggestions - I've been reading about doing partial mashes & it certainly seems do-able, but I'll probably wait until it's absolutely necessary (e.g. in an Oatmeal Stout) to do it. That's the lazy side of me talking. I'll also look into using two packs of Nottingham - I wasn't sure if I needed to consider that, thinking that the smaller batch size would compensate for the higher gravity. It'll only add a couple of dollars and probably can't hurt, though...

you really get a SG that high with just 5 pounds of DME and a pound of corn sugar?

That's what Brewtarget says - keep in mind, this is a recipe for 3 gallons. Although, I do admit I may not entirely know how to use Brewtarget...

Gotcha. My bad buddy. I will chime in and say that the hop schedule looks solid...

Ugh, I did a little digging around on HBT and now I am concerned about using Simcoe hops, at least as a dry hop. Something about cat urine. Perhaps I should dry hop with Amarillo instead?

--- EDIT ---

That's weird. After searching for "cat urine" I am now getting Google Ads for "Cat Urine Odor Removal". Great.