First IPA.... well it looks like an IIPA

So this one kind of just popped in my head. I am brewing this to be ready in October when I go visit my brother and sister in law. My brother is in an ipa kick, and I always love them, so I wrote down a quick recipe and bought the ingredients, sans the hops since they were out. But, I found the good stuff online. Please let me know what you think and if another crystal would help, or just sweeten it up too much.
This is a 2.5 gallon batch btw.

Fermentables:
4 lbs breiss pilsen light
8 oz American crystal 40L
8 oz dextrose
Hops:
Centennial .5 oz - 60min
Centennial .25 oz - 15 min
Amarillo .25 oz - 15 min
Citra .25 oz- 15 min
Simcoe .25- 15 min
Centennial .25 oz - 5 min
Amarillo .25 oz - 5 min
Citra .25 oz- 5 min
Simcoe .25- 5 min
Amarillo .5 oz - dry hop
Citra .5 oz- dry hop
Simcoe .5- dry hop

Est. OG 1.086 est FG 1.021- 8.5% abv.

I'm not sure of the ibu's. Beer calculus taking too long with new software on my phone, and BrewR doesn't have some specific hops. Not allowed on beer sites at work, and I just moved so no internet yet. But how does it look? I just figured cutting the hops in half from a regular ipa/iipa. I want this citrusy, grapefruity, with a little floral and pine. I might have gone over board with the hops, but what the heck, its beer, and I love it. There is slways time to brew more. Hooray beer!

Looks good, but I wouldn't use anymore crystal. I usually use a half # in 5 gallons. So, I would probably only use 4 oz in a 2.5 batch. Just me, I'm sure it will still be good either way.

Also, if you could dry hope with a little more of each, I think you would get more aroma. Do you have the other half of that centennial? A couple oz is probably what I would do for that size batch. If you don't have more, I'm sure it will still be tasty! Let me know how that combo of hops turns out, it has my mouth watering.

agentEhrman said:

Looks good, but I wouldn't use anymore crystal. I usually use a half # in 5 gallons. So, I would probably only use 4 oz in a 2.5 batch. Just me, I'm sure it will still be good either way.

Also, if you could dry hope with a little more of each, I think you would get more aroma. Do you have the other half of that centennial? A couple oz is probably what I would do for that size batch. If you don't have more, I'm sure it will still be tasty! Let me know how that combo of hops turns out, it has my mouth watering.

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Yup, you're right, .5 oz dry hops for the citra, amarillo, and simcoe. The centennial an oz total going in the start of the boil, 15 and 5 min. I could get more of that, but figure 1.5 oz dry hop for this size should be good. Ah what the heck do I know I'm still a newb and this is my 4th beer. Btw yeast is safale-05.

I'LL def let everyone knows how it goes in this thread. Probably being this weekend.

Looking at a few recipes with simcoe, citra, and amarillo, it looks like citra can be better at later hop additions. So I was thinknig about moving the 15min to 5 mins, and the last .25oz at 1 minute, leaving everything else where it is. Sound good?

I would have at least 2 ounces dry hopping in a IIPA. The hops should really be running the show. I don't think you're going to get a lot of bitterness. You only have 4 ounces of hops total. I would consider bumping up your bittering addition.

Wow, you're not allowed on beer sites at work? Your employer's a dick.

ludomonster said:

I would have at least 2 ounces dry hopping in a IIPA. The hops should really be running the show. I don't think you're going to get a lot of bitterness. You only have 4 ounces of hops total. I would consider bumping up your bittering addition.

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Even for a 2.5 gallon batch?? Just checking. That would be about 8 ounces for a 5 gallon batch.

tchamber said:

Wow, you're not allowed on beer sites at work? Your employer's a dick.

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Thank goodness HBT works, but Hopville for the beer calculus and beer advocate, along with other sites/ supplies are resitricted for "Beer/ Tabacco".

Same thing with Weapon/ Firearms sites, they just made that switch a few months ago. Good thing for my evo :fro:

sweed said:

Even for a 2.5 gallon batch??

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I missed that. All my suggestions were with respect to 5 gallons.

ludomonster said:

I missed that. All my suggestions were with respect to 5 gallons.

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All good man. Brewing now. Went to my new lhbs, great store and the owner was very nice. He was brewing as I walked in, and he asked if I wanted a beer! Anyways, they had citra and simcoe, so I picked more of that up for kicks. And got some centennial. These hops smell amazing! Someone should make a candle scent 'hops' lol.

Also I needed ice so I went to beer cigar store right by me, and of course I walk out with a beer. The owners have 100 craft beers, and are expanding to 200! Theyasked for my recommendations, and I told then of a few they should look into, but they had all the good stuff. I'm loving my new area in NH.
A pretty good Sunday.

sweed said:

All good man. Brewing now. Went to my new lhbs, great store and the owner was very nice. He was brewing as I walked in, and he asked if I wanted a beer! Anyways, they had citra and simcoe, so I picked more of that up for kicks. And got some centennial. These hops smell amazing! Someone should make a candle scent 'hops' lol.

Also I needed ice so I went to beer cigar store right by me, and of course I walk out with a beer. The owners have 100 craft beers, and are expanding to 200! Theyasked for my recommendations, and I told then of a few they should look into, but they had all the good stuff. I'm loving my new area in NH.
A pretty good Sunday.

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Sounds like your beer world is pretty damn good!

I racked to 2ndary. Dry hoping for 7 days. I ended up withless amarillo hops to dry hop with, I think I added to much in the late boil additions. So I added a little more citra to make up for it. It smelled really good, and the color is spot on, I'm really happy about that, a light copper. I'm upset I didn't take a picture of the small sample I had. That was pretty good, great mouth feel, no sweetness, which I was almost afraid it would be sweet, and I don't like IIPA's that are to sweet. Perfect amount of bitterness, I am just waiting for the hops flavors and aromas.
The OG finished a lot less than expected, 1.015. So this beer is just over 9%. You could taste the alcohol, but that will mellow out. Can't wait for the first taste from the bottles.

Lets see if I can get a good pic in the 2ndary.

I am a hop head as well, however i think you have too many hops! I mean sure it will be good, but doubt you will be able to taste all of them individualy lol.. next one try a few hops with greater amounts and see if you can pick em out!

Jman_01 said:

I am a hop head as well, however i think you have too many hops! I mean sure it will be good, but doubt you will be able to taste all of them individualy lol.. next one try a few hops with greater amounts and see if you can pick em out!

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You're probably right!lol I might have gotten a little too excited, but its just a tester. I think my next IIPA will only be 2 hops. I'm sure I'll make 5 different ipa's within the next year.

I just bottled 12 bombers. And this is left as a sample. (see pic) The smell is incredible. Citrus/ orange/tangerine and tropical fruits, and a little floral in the background. And the first taste....floral, piney with the last bit of citrus/ tangerine. Its not quite there yet, but I have a feeling this will turn out good in a few weeks.
The color turned out great, I love the light copper.
The booze is just about gone, making this a fun/ dangerous IIPA. I want to try this in a week, but with only 12 bombers, I may wait 2 weeks for the first try, even though it'll be best after 3-4 weeks. Its my beer, I can do what I want, haha.

They'll be carbing up in my closet which stays around 70-72°. So that is pretty much perfect.

I used 2.5oz. of dextrose to carbonate. I was afraid I was going to get too much hop junk, but afterletting it settle a bit before racking to my bottling bucket, I didn't get much hop or yeast in there. There might be some in the bottles, but add long as I refrigerate them for a few days, that'll sink and won't effect it.

Enjoy this pic as I enjoy my last sip of my sample...

Here is my first, after a week in bottles. I just poured a glorious glass, with a good 2 finger bright white head! The smell is incredible, citrus, tangerine, grapefruit, mango, tropical fruit, with the slightest floral and pine. The head looks bright white, sticking to the glass as it settles. The color is a beautiful clear, almost a little cloudy which I like, light copper.
The taste is the same as the nose, with a little more pine, and bitterness at the end. Its not a hop bomb, add that's not what I was going for, and succeeded. Great mouthfeel, carbonation still obviously needs work, but the booze taste is gone. This is an easy drinker, and dangerous at almost 9.2% . The head sticks to the glass as I drink it.

Overall, a great beer, my buddy asked if I put grapefruit and oranges in the beer, and he really liked it. Was it exactly what I was going for, for the hop flavor/aroma. Yes and no. I wanted a little more pine in there for an extra dimension of flavor, but this is still a great beer. I could drink this all night, but that wouldn't be very responsible, lol.

I can't wait for next week to try this at week 2! Heck its already great, so why wait??? It'll be hard, but I'll do it. My brother is excited I'll bring down some bombers for him in 3 weeks down to PA, as that should be prime time.
I'm already looking to do another ipa, 5 gallon batch, and giving away half to someone. It'll be different, but I think its going to be centennial, simcoe, and maybe another like citra. More centennial though, and maybe simcoe, lol.
















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