Critique my simple IPA

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HellBentBrewCo

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First try at an IPA. What do you think. I'd like something slighty fruity and smooth.

5.5 gallons in the fermentor. All grain full boil

95% 17 lbs Rahr Two-Row info
3% 8 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
2% 6 oz Cara-Pils
AAU
boil 60 mins 2.0 oz Yakima Magnumpellet 13.0
boil 20 mins 1.0 oz Willamette pellet 5.5
boil 10 mins 1.0 oz Willamette pellet 5.5
boil 1 min 1.0 oz Willamette pellet 5.5
dry hop 7 days 1.0 Cascade

79 IBU's
9 SRM
7.6% ABV
1.076 OG
1.019 FG
 
The grains look pretty standard, so you're good there. But really, it depends on what you're going for here. If you want a more complex flavor, then I would suggest adding more varieties of hops to your dry hop bill. Maybe some simcoe or centennial (or both).
 
I may be a fool, but I see nothing fruity in there. But I do see a solid simplistic recipe, go with it, it will be good. I also didn't see a yeast, something very neutral would be nice.
It's actually nice to see a recipe that doesn't have 5 malts and 6 hops. A simple nitpick, I never do 1 minute additions, you just get more aroma from a flame out addition after the wort is down to 180f or so.

In brewing, sometimes less is more. imo


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Just tapped my IPA recently that I dry hopped with 2oz of falconers flight pellets. They're a blend of various pacific NW hops and the aroma is fantastic : big, juicy, grapefruity deliciousness. I'd recommend them as a simple way to dry hop that will result in the more complex aroma you would typically get from dry hopping with a variety of different hops.
 
I think your recipe looks pretty good, and unique at that. If you can find it, Bison Brewing company has a series of single hop IPAs, and it seems like I've seen a lot of the Willamette version around. I'm not crazy about Willamette but some people really like it.

Also, you have a pretty high OG, and I see that you've calculated your IBUs so that the BU/GU ratio is 1/1. I'd add a little extra bittering in there just to make sure the beer has enough bitterness. I feel like the IBU calculators work until you get up to about 70, and then I feel like you have to add like 33% more to achieve the calculated bitterness. Something to think about.
 
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