How does this IIPA look?

Taking a shot at an IIPA recipe. Plan on possibly doing this on Saturday.

This is a 3.25 gal. recipe

Grain:
5.5lbs Marris Otter Pale Malt
1.5lbs Vienna Malt
1.5lbs Munich Malt
.75lb Crystal 40
.5lb carapils

Hops
.5oz Columbus pellet 60min
1oz Cascade pellet 30 min
1.5oz Cascade pellet 10 min
2.5oz Citra 5 min
I know these are American hops in what Im calling an IIPA but I really like the Cascade & Citra combo.

Irish Moss 10min boil

Dry Hop
1oz Citra 5days

I am kind of undecided on yeast. My initial thought was just WLP001 which I have some washed and ready to go, but I have been thinking about Saf 04 and leaving it a bit more malt forward.

When I did this on Beersmith its gives me the following @ 72% efficiency

OG - 1.080
IBU - 81.4
SRM - 10.2
Est ABV (if WLP001) - 8.4

So what do you guys think? I am open to all criticism, so fire away.

I would cut the Vienna, Munich, Crystal and carapils in half. With a big beer using too much of specialty malts can leave the beer too sweet. Especially for a IIPA. As for yeast that would be a personal preference. I usually use an American ale strain but I prefer the cleaner finish. An English strain would be nice too for a slightly fruitier and more malt forward finish.
Cheers,
Brandon

Would you then up the MO to get the OG back up?

I do 3 gallon batches as well. It looks like too much hops for me. It also looks like a too complicated grain bill for me. I just worked up a recipe for 3.25 gallons that has 8.5# Marris Otter and 1# C60. Just to get the gravity over 1080 without punching in a bunch of stuff. )))

For hops, I plugged in .5 oz each of your first three and 1 full ounce of Citra at 5 and I got 71 IBUs. 40 of them are coming from the bittering charge.

I'm brewing a 1076 Big Brown tomorrow that I'm using a total of 27 grams of hops for 42 IBUs. (17g Perle and 10g Cascades)

5.5 oz. of hops into 3.25 gallons seems like too much. YMMV

Yes, increase the MO to get the gravity back up. With regards to the hop bill I think you will be fine with what you have. As a reference point I brewed a IIPA last year in which I used 2 oz Chinook and 1 oz of Columbus at 90 min and I didn't think it was harsh or too hoppy. The OG was 1.087 YMMV
Cheers,
Brandon

I'm really new at this, but that seems like a lot of hops to me as well for 3 gallons. Your hop list is almost the same amount of hops that I'm using in a 5 gallon double IPA that I got from Zymurgy magazine.

If you notice most of those hops are late additions (Hop Bursts) They arent being bolied long periods of time. Im looking for full flavor and aroma without the bitterness that much hops would give me in long boils. Its just shy of 82 IBUs. Nugget Nectar, and hopslam are both over that amount. Im not trying to make either of those, but I do like beers with more hops then this recipe gives me in IBUs. The style of an IIPA starts in the mid 60s I believe. I was more questioning the grain bill then I was the hops.

Munich and Vienna are not Specialty malts. They are base malts

Yes, the only specialty malt I added was Carapils and crystal

chezteth said:

I would cut the Vienna, Munich, Crystal and carapils in half. With a big beer using too much of specialty malts can leave the beer too sweet. Especially for a IIPA. As for yeast that would be a personal preference. I usually use an American ale strain but I prefer the cleaner finish. An English strain would be nice too for a slightly fruitier and more malt forward finish.
Cheers,
Brandon

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I was referring to this comment. Personally I would leave the Munich and Vienna in. It will add a nice balance to all of those hops. One of the house beers I do is Yoopers House Pale and the base malts in the beer are MO, Vienna and Munich. I change the hop bill and specialty malts in her recipe from time to time but not usually the base. If I do I sub out the MO for 2 Row..

Her recipe is not an IIPA but it is pretty hoppy. I think as long as your mash temps go according to plan and your yeast attenuates on schedule it looks good to me.

Id say that the hop bill is right in line for an IIPA. I just finished a 5 gal batch of IIPA that had a total of 9oz hops in it. I was going for that "slap you in the face", but I was surprised it was a bit more mild than I expected. Still came out as a great beer!

I love your recipe and look forward to hearing how it tastes in a couple months...

Going to roll with it exactly like I posted. Hoping to be able to brew it on Saturday, if not it will be brewed next Saturday and I will follow up. I appreciate the advice!

zman said:

Munich and Vienna are not Specialty malts. They are base malts

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I stand corrected. I wouldn't use the quantities listed in a IIPA recipe but that is what makes brewing so much fun. You can do what you want. I would still recommend reducing the Crystal and carapils though. Either way, I will be interested to find out how your beer turns out.
Cheers,
Brandon

zman said:

I was referring to this comment. Personally I would leave the Munich and Vienna in. It will add a nice balance to all of those hops.

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I agree with keeping the Munich and Vienna to provide a balance to the hops. However, I would drop the carapils and cut your C40 down to around 5%. I think 13% crystal malt in an IIPA will leave the beer too sweet. This style of beer benefits from finishing on the dry side. Also, I would up the 60 minute addition and drop the 30. You should also consider increasing the dry hop. 1 oz is not much for an IIPA even in a 3 gal batch. I typically dry hop with at least 1 oz per gallon for this style of beer.