Some new recipe help

Hi Everyone!

So I have 6 batches under my belt; three of while I've done by myself. I have to say, this is a bit addicting. So far, I've done a hopped up Belgian ale, a hopped up saison and Chouffe clone. The hoppy Belgian ale is currently undergoing the cold crash and the rest are fermenting.

Anyway, I wanted to have a go at trying my own recipe for my next beer, and I could use some pointers. I'd like to really develop and refine a ~60 IBU saison with pepper and citrus undertones. Once I get the hang of this, I'd like to try my hand at using this recipe for methode champanoise. But I don't think I'm ready for that just yet, and I'd rather not waste a year turning bottles if the base recipe isn't right. Here's what I have, and I appreciate your feedback.

General:
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 3711
Yeast Starter: 1L Starter (first try at this)
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.062
Final Gravity: 1.008
IBU: ~60
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Primary Fermentation: 14 days at 78*
Cold conditioning: 5 days at 33*

Grain:
10 pounds Belgian pils
2 pounds Wheat
2 pounds Candi Sugar

Spices (@ flameout):
6 tablespoons of fresh ground black and white pepper (50/50 mix)
1 zest of organic organge

Mash Schedule:
Mashed 1.25 qts/lbs @ 144 for 20 minutes
3 qts boiling to raise mash temp to 154 for 70 minutes
Sparge at 170 until 1.008

Hop Schedule:
1 Ounce of Simcoe @ 60 minutes
0.25 Ounces Citra, Simcoe and Cascade (each) @ 20 minutes
0.25 Ounces Citra, Simcoe and Cascade (each) @ 15 minutes
0.25 Ounces Citra, Simcoe and Cascade (each) @ 10 minutes
0.25 Ounces Citra, Simcoe and Cascade (each) @ 5 minutes
0.25 Ounces Citra, Simcoe and Cascade (each) @ 0 minutes
0.5 Ounce Citra, Simcoe and Cascade (each) dry hop for four days, then during 5 day cold conditioning

--Thanks, Chris

With all those IBUs and all those late additions with american hops, you really have a belgian IPA there. It should be delicious, but it's not going to be particularly saison-like, although you will definitely notice the yeast character there. The hops are going to be the vast majority of your impression of this beer.

It looks tasty, I love Belgian IPA's made with saison yeasts, but you're not going to get any pepper or citrus tones out from underneath all those hops.

Hi:

Thanks for the feedback. You raised some concerns, and I would like to find a balance of hops and character from the yeast. I'm wondering what sor of affect it would have if I dialed back the dry hops by 50% and cut out a hop addition.

But if I cut out a hop addition, where would I remove it? What sort of adjustments am I looking at?

--Thanks, Chris

You won't get any black pepper flavor from the boil. I've added have an ounce of black peppercorns to a beer, during the boil, and my beer had ~12 IBUs. If you add the black pepper after primary fermetation you will get flavor from it. I had a strong black pepper beer after adding .5 ounces to secondary (whole peppercorn) for a week.