Brewing an Imperial IPA- need hop advice

I am brewing an Imperial IPA today and need advice on my hop schedule.

Here is what I have:

7gal boil
5.5gal batch

15lbs. Pale 2Row
1.5lbs. Caramel 80
5lbs. Honey

Wyeast American Ale II

Hops:
2.0oz Warrior @ 75 minutes
1.5oz Centennial @ 30 minutes
1.5oz Chinook @ 30 minutes
0.5oz Centennial @ 15 minutes
1.0oz Cascade @ 5 minutes

2.0oz Centennial @ Dry Hop 14 days

I want to add more hops than this, but don't want any awful competing flavors.

I have 4oz each:

Centennial
Cascade
Chinook
Bravo
Warrior
Mt. Hood
Nugget
Hersbucker
Columbus
Glacier

8oz:

Willamette

What else and when should I add to my recipe? I want this thing as hoppy as a beersnob can tolerate.

You're going to get a million suggestions on this. I recommend looking at other people's IIPA recipes out there to see how much late hops they add. Setting Pliny aside, the typical IIPA has maybe 3-5oz late hops (last 20mins) and 2-5oz dry hops.

I use Warrior exclusively for bittering my IPA's. I like the firm bitterness that dissipates. I have found that every time I think I have enough hops, I am wrong, especially with aroma.

I wound up with:

2.5oz Warrior @75
2oz Chinook @60
2oz Columbus @60
2oz Centennial @30
1oz Chinook @30
.5oz Columbus @30
2oz Willamette @15
2oz Cascade @5

Dry hop Centennial @ 14 days

I think youd be better off shifting more of the hops to the end. Like 15, 10, 5,0. I didnt calculate your bitterness but looks like youre easily over 100 ibu. Hop bursting at the end will have the most impact on hoppyness.

thats alot of 'wasted' hops. 30min adds dont give much flavor and are underutilized for bittering, its certainly not where you want your largest add to be.

did you really use 5lbs of honey?

dcp27 said:

thats alot of 'wasted' hops. 30min adds dont give much flavor and are underutilized for bittering, its certainly not where you want your largest add to be.

did you really use 5lbs of honey?

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Yup, Savannah Bee Acacia Honey. It is much more neutral than regular clover honey. I used 5lbs for my chocolate imperial stout and it came out amazing.

Yeah, the 2.5oz Warrior alone is enough to get all the bitterness you need. Those other 60min additions are completely wasted.

I also second the uselessness of 30min additions. I'm not saying completely eliminate them, but if you want big hop flavor, pack the hops in the last 20min, especially at flameout.

Also consider letting the kettle sit for 10-30 minutes after flameout but before turning the chiller on. I find that I've gotten some pretty diverse hop character this way, even from small additions.

Dry hop with same varieties to reinforce nose. You can probably leave out the warrior. I LIke doing a 40 min continous hop. 20 additions two minute intervals. Lots of work, but the product......