Imperial NZ IPA - over the top?

I was brainstorming tonight before my trip to the LHBS tomorrow. I adore Schlafly's NZ IPA and want to make an attempt at one. What do you think of this attempt?

3 gal

OG: 1.092
FG: 1.019
SRM: 12
SRM: >100

8 lb American Two Row
1 lb Munich
1 lb Crystal 40
.12 lb carapils

Mash @152 for 90 mins

Boil
1 oz Pacific Jade @ 60
.25 oz Pacific Jade @ 30
.2 oz of Nelson Sauvin and Mouteka @ 20, 15, 10, 5, and 2

Ferment with WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast

I love these NZ hops. Any good?

I haven't tried Schlafly's NZ IPA, but I am familiar with those hops. They are real beauties. I'm especially a fan of the Motueka. NS is good too though. I like the idea of keeping the grains simple.

I was watching the guy from Stone Brewery talk about brewing IIPAs. He recommended mashing at 148 when doing an IIPA. He said that is where you will get the nice crispness from. I haven't tried it myself yet.

Is a 3 gallon batch all you can attempt under a full wort boil? If so, cut the Munich and C40 each by half and add 5% corn sugar as a late addition. Not sure what you think .12 lb. carapils is gonna do here. I'd stick with a 150-151-ish mash temp. and keep the OG below 1.080. Use 1/2 the amount of jade at 60, then double the amount of jade at 30, and 4 oz. mixed NS and M split among 15-8-0 followed by a 2 oz. dryhop.

Unfortunately, 3 gal is my max. The 5 gal boil pot I have is the biggest that can fit between the small space between my stove and the microwave above it. Apartment living has its drawbacks and low capacity is one of them.

My intention is that the 1/8 lb of carapils will aid in head retention.

Why cut the Jade at 60 and double at 30? Will I have the same amount of bitterness with more Jade flavor? I didn't know it was an effective flavor or aroma hop.

I'm thinking of cutting the NS by half at the intervals so as not to overpower the Motukea.

Agree with Bob and your idea to cut the NS by half, it is a powerful hop that will take over. I would shoot to have it finish in the 1014-1016 range, 1019 is pretty high even for a DIPA.

Pacific Jade is a smooth bittering hop but does have flavor and aaroma uses. I have some I have yet to break into because I have so many other hops I have been using.

DonRikkles said:

Unfortunately, 3 gal is my max. The 5 gal boil pot I have is the biggest that can fit between the small space between my stove and the microwave above it. Apartment living has its drawbacks and low capacity is one of them.

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Where there's a will there's a way. I apartment brew as well most of the time. You may want to look into dual kettles and straddle them each over two burners.

DonRikkles said:

My intention is that the 1/8 lb of carapils will aid in head retention.

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1/8 lb carapils is not likely doing much here. Use it if you have it on hand, but don't waste time going to the homebrew shop for that amount. The crystal will give you head retention.

DonRikkles said:

Why cut the Jade at 60 and double at 30? Will I have the same amount of bitterness with more Jade flavor? I didn't know it was an effective flavor or aroma hop.

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Pacific Jade is citrusy and peppery. They use it in some of the Stone beers. By cutting some of the Jade at 60, you will have more of a pleasant bitterness without sacrificing a ton of IBUs... especially when bolstered by the larger addition at 30. I've always had better IIPAs with low to moderate 60/30 min. additions vs. a huge 60 min addition and nothing at 30. So something like 30-40 IBUs at 60 followed by larger amounts at 30-15-8 to gain the remaining IBUs, and then a big post-boil aroma hop steep and dryhop.

So I brewed this on Saturday. The day went well for the most part. I made a 3L starter on Thursday and the fermentation got going quickly. I adjusted the hop schedule, in part thanks to Bobbrews, to a big FWH addition, an equal addition at 60, then aroma additions at 15, 10, 5, 1, and an aroma steep during cooling. I'll dry hop for 5 days as well.

The only downside was that my OG was 1.077 instead of 1.083 - I'm still trying to figure out why. I think I needed to boil longer because of the higher gravity for my set-up.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Did you hit and hold your temps? Mashing at higher temps would explain your missing gravity points. You wont really notice that in the finished product though. If you really need to, you could just add 500g of corn syrup to the beer after your first krausen has fallen. It will reclaim your missing gravity points. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it much tho. :fro: