Largest IPA you've ever brewed?

A while ago I set out to make a HUGE IPA....well, last attempt I ended up making a 12.5% barleywine. It's sitting nestled in a few 1 litre bottles because it's way too sweet and incredibly boozy.

Today, I just kegged my second attempt. It's a 10.5% Imperial IPA single-Hopped with Galaxy.

It's still a huge malt bomb but not overly sweet and not as malty as the barleywine. I took a photo of it:

http://adam-jackson.net/beer/my-first-imperial-ipaunsurprisingly-lacks-balance/

Anyway, it's pretty damn good. Wondering..how far can I take the IPA before it's a barleywine? I know IBU doesn't matter as far as classifications go but ABV is, right?

I guess it's pretty subjective but when the alcohol level is the same as typical wine--11% and up, say, it's fair to call it barley wine. I brew a beer I call Audacious Blackguard (inspired by but not cloned Arrogant Bastard) that is up around 10% but I call it a "double IPA."

Once upon a time all beer that was over about 7% abv was called barley wine. Then people started making beer that was a specific style that was stronger than the standard style, they started to call this beer Imperial. IMHO there is no difference other than a barley wine is meant to age where most imperial beer is not but you can if you so choose to.


As for the largest IIPA I have ever made... was actually the last one I brewed. It was a party gyle that I mash hopped and whirl pool hopped as well as dry hopped. I think this may have been the hoppiest beer I have ever made. Fortunately with a 13%ish ABV it was well balanced! I am sure the theoretical IBU's were well over 200...

That saddest part is I only have a few bottles of it left...I seem to drink IPAs faster than any other style.

Would mind sharing your experience going single hop with Galaxy? What would you compare it to and how would you describe it?

I have a single hop (actually 1 90 minute magnum addition) IPA with Galaxy that should be finishing up soon.

I made a ~110 IBU 11%abv a few months back that got rave reviews from almost all of my friends.

6oz of hops in boil and 1 dry hop.

The one in my recipes list. I have brewed it twice since I wrote the recipe.

12.1% on the first one
12.7% on the second, when I unexpectedly overshot my OG


I definitely wouldn't consider either one a barleywine, although the first time I brewed it, I considered that it might end up in that territory. Instead, it fermented out pretty well both times....1.010 and 1.014.
Not sure when I will be making it again, as I have a whole lot of beers already kegged.

My last IPA was at 9.6% I think the IBU's were around 150, it was definitely on the hoppier side, it didn't last very long.. I think I need to brew that recipe again

I just did a ipa with home grown galaxy 6 ounces of em its still in primary but smells damn good going to dry hop next week with 2oz of simcoe

I just finished an 11% (FG 1.011) IIIPA

Hops:
15ml of HopShot 90min
2oz Warrior 90min
2oz Warrior 15min
1oz Centennial 10min

Just starting the 3 stage 1lb total dry hop with CTZ, Simcoe, Cent, Citra, and Amarillo.

It's dry and bitter. Will be a great beer (initial samples great).

T

jammin said:

Would mind sharing your experience going single hop with Galaxy? What would you compare it to and how would you describe it?

I have a single hop (actually 1 90 minute magnum addition) IPA with Galaxy that should be finishing up soon.

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Yeah.



As you can see, I overshot my OG but ended up fermenting down pretty well to end up with 10.5. I wish I had done just a bit more hop additions..maybe dry hopped with Galaxy & Citra instead.

The aroma is pretty weak and it's a big malt bomb but very drinkable and a single glass gets me pretty tipsy and I'm a big guy. It's an intense beer.;


I'm doing a lot of single-hop beers so I can learn the aroma and taste of each hop and then I feel it will make be a better brewer...It comes down to how much I can get of each..if the LHBS has a pound of something interesting, I'll make an IPA out of it and see what comes out.

Hope that helped...but I'm not an expert just messing around so don't trust anything I say.

@AdamJackson

+1 for the single hop experiments. I never add a new hop to any combination of other hops until brew it alone.

As for big beer; strangely enough my first 10-15 batches were the highest I've ever brewed: 9-11%. All around 100 IBUs and no sugars add, so very malty. I enjoyed them but since I bottle with 16oz, one or two could easily make my night interesting.

The biggest I've made so far was an 8.5% IIPA. At some point I'm going to get off my ass and attempt scottland's Ruination 10th recipe, which should finish up around 10%. For me the distinction between a big IIPA and a barleywine is residual sweetness. I would expect a barleywine to finish with a relatively high FG, whereas the IIPA should have some sugar added to dry it out more. That's my personal distinction and obviously there are breweries turning out contradicting beers on both sides of that.

Calichusetts said:

@AdamJackson

+1 for the single hop experiments. I never add a new hop to any combination of other hops until brew it alone.

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Yeah, I think that's the most important thing to me is knowing exactly how each hop affects aroma and bitterness of my beer. I'll still drink the beer but, instead of some guys who start making IPAs with 12 step hop schedules and 6 different varieties, I thought let's start simple and then decide which hops I love the most at various schedules...

Galaxy, Simcoe, Columbus and Citra are my favorites so far!

ktblunden said:

The biggest I've made so far was an 8.5% IIPA. At some point I'm going to get off my ass and attempt scottland's Ruination 10th recipe, which should finish up around 10%.

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Can you send a link? I'd like to try this in the future. I loved the 10th anniversary!

Well, I brewed a harvest IPA last night, and it was supposed to be pretty standard at 1.073. Ended up at 1.080. I guess since I'm pretty new to this that's the largest one I've ever brewed! Let's hope the wet hops shine, because otherwise I might end up in the same boat as you.

Not that I don't like barleywine or anything...

adamjackson said:

Can you send a link? I'd like to try this in the future. I loved the 10th anniversary!

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It's in this thread. He formulated it over the course of the thread, so you kind of have to piece it together from the changes he made.

Boneyard makes an IPA called "Notorious BIG". It is a 14% ABV monster...but it actually doesn't taste like it is that high in alcohol content. DFH 90 min is way more sweet and cloying. BIG really sneaks up on you. Their "Hop Venom" at around 10% is a superb Double IPA.

Using sugar is one way to up the ABV in IPAs w/o them getting too sweet and malty. Keep the amounts low of course, I used 1lb in my DIPA that finished around 8.5% ABV, I actually want a little more malty-sweetness for next time.

I'm waiting on an IIPA now that's got 1.33oz of nugget at 60, 50, and 40 mins, and 1oz of Zythos at 20, 15, 10, and 5 minutes, and it's been sitting under 2oz of whole leaf Citra hops now for about 2 weeks dry hopping in secondary. Should come out to around 8.65% when it's done. This may end up being my standard IIPA recipe but right now I'm calling it my "DC Experimental IIPA".

I'm actually dying to see how it comes out

My first, but not last, IPA is actually an IIPA... I was going for 8.5%, but it finished at 9.1%, a lot lower than expected. I pitched a lot of yeast S-05. Only a 2.5 Gallon batch, its got 4 lbs Pilsen DME, .5 lb Crystal 40L, .5 lb dextrose. Hops used were : Centennial for bittering 60, flavor and aroma 15 and 5. Simcoe 15 and 5 and dry hop. Amarillo 15 and 5 and dry hop. Citra 10 (maybe 5) and 1 and dry hop. Each hop addition at 15 and 5 were .25 oz., and the dry hop is .5 oz. This batch is in the secondary dryhopping right now for 7 days total. I feel going too high abv will just be a little sweet, as I don't like sweet IIPA's. I could have added more bitterness hop, I used .5 oz (equal to 1 oz. for a 5 gallon batch), but I didn;t want a hop bomb, because I will be sharing this with family.

As for a name.... Lets just call it "Test Subject Paco"

Here's my thread if interested. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/first-ipa-well-looks-like-iipa-349147/

I would just add that at some point, say when I have to start enjoying my beer out of a shot glass, I wish I had backed off on the OG.

9 % 254 IBU'S calculated.

adamjackson said:

A while ago I set out to make a HUGE IPA....well, last attempt I ended up making a 12.5% barleywine. It's sitting nestled in a few 1 litre bottles because it's way too sweet and incredibly boozy.

Today, I just kegged my second attempt. It's a 10.5% Imperial IPA single-Hopped with Galaxy.

It's still a huge malt bomb but not overly sweet and not as malty as the barleywine. I took a photo of it:

http://adam-jackson.net/beer/my-first-imperial-ipaunsurprisingly-lacks-balance/

Anyway, it's pretty damn good. Wondering..how far can I take the IPA before it's a barleywine? I know IBU doesn't matter as far as classifications go but ABV is, right?

Click to expand...

I would say that as long as it is relativey dry, it's going to be a IIPA, IIIPA, etc. Barleywine is usually going to have a higher FG and still be sweeter and chewier.

This is the recipe for one I just did. I named it Rosencrantz and Guildenstern's Imperial IPA.

It came out around 118 IBUs. Strange hop schedule but added some nice complexity. I dry hopped with 1oz of Saaz at the end. It's 8.9% ABV. I was trying to make an Imperial but I don't think it was malty enough for that. It has a medium mouthfeel and I really enjoyed it but only got a 30.5 out of 50 in a local competition. Friends who have tried it gave it two thumbs up as well.

The smoked malt adds an interesting smokey flavor that is noticeable but not dominant. I'm a big fan of smoked malts and had some left over from a smoked vanilla porter (that was outstanding!) so I threw it in the mash.

10 lbs Golden Promise (Simpsons) (2.0 SRM) Grain 1
5 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3
8.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 4
4.0 oz Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 5
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 6
5.0 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.0%] - Boil 60 min Hops 7
1.0 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 60 min Hops 8
3.0 oz Tettnang [4.5%] - Boil 50 min Hops 9
2.0 oz Nugget [13.0%] - Boil 40 min Hops 10
1.0 oz Saaz [4.0%] - Boil 30 min Hops 11
1.00 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15 min) Misc 12
1.0 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 5 min Hops 13
1 pkgs Northwest Ale (Wyeast Labs #1332) Yeast 14
1.0 oz Saaz [4.0%] - Dry Hop 30 days Hops 15