Imperial IPA Critique

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AvgWhiteGuy

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This is my first post here but I'm always lurking and picking up new and useful information. I'm thinking of brewing an imperial IPA this weekend and using all the leftover hops I have in the fridge. My concern is that it's a huge selection of hops and the flavors may get muddled in the final product. Here's my recipe and I'm open to all criticizing as my come my way.

16 lbs Pale Malt (6 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 78.0 %
2 lbs Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.8 %
1 lbs Caramel Malt - 20L (Cargill) (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.9 %
1 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 4 4.9 %
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.4 %
1.00 oz Chinook [11.00 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 6 30.5 IBUs
0.75 oz Magnum [12.00 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 7 24.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.60 %] - Boil 25.0 min Hop 9 8.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 10 7.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.20 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 11 5.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 12 8.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Mt. Hood [5.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 13 2.7 IBUs

I'll be pitching this onto 1056 yeast I have in primary right now.
 
Ok...first, 3lbs of crystal malts are waaaay too much for a IIPA. I would consider cutting the Carafoam to 0.5lbs and the 20L to 0.5lbs at max, and would probably go less with the honey malt in there. The only way to know about the hop bill is to try it. There will be plenty of people that will tell you it won't work, but I've done a similar thing and it worked out fine.

If you're treating this as an experiment, and looking forward to the outcome (good or bad), I would say go for it. If you're looking to make a citrus bomb IIPA, this isn't the grain bill or hop bill to accomplish that.
 
I think it looks good as is. Except the myriad hops used. I would stick to 2-3 hops. Using just one high AA one for the bittering, and a couple more for flavor aroma.

Carafoam is normally used at 5-10%, and the caramel is used, again usually, up to 25% (too much in my opinion). So you will get some body from the carafoam and some sweetness fromt he caramel. I would only get rid of the honey if I were to change the grain bill up. And maybe the wheat as that much carafoam should take care of head formation and retention.
 
+1 to cutting the carafoam and caramel in half. Or keep the 1lb or caramel but remove the honey.

Is that all the hops you have? I see no dry hops, which in my mind is a critical component of ipas. As for the mix, I haven't ever used Fuggles or hallertau with the others.
 
+1 dry hops? what happened to them, in addition you might want a flame out hop as well. Maybe shift the hops down starting with 25 move to 15, etc. The noble hops are sometimes used in IPA's with good results, should be interesting.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I'm going to cut the honey malt and the wheat and halve the carafoam. This is really just an experiment with all the hops and to clear up some room in my fridge. I'm going to rethink the hop situation too. Maybe keep the high AA for bittering and then use an aroma hop at say 15 minutes and flame out. There will dry hopping for sure.
 
This is my first post here but I'm always lurking and picking up new and useful information. I'm thinking of brewing an imperial IPA this weekend and using all the leftover hops I have in the fridge. My concern is that it's a huge selection of hops and the flavors may get muddled in the final product. Here's my recipe and I'm open to all criticizing as my come my way.

16 lbs Pale Malt (6 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 78.0 %
2 lbs Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.8 %
1 lbs Caramel Malt - 20L (Cargill) (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.9 %
1 lbs Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 4 4.9 %
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.4 %
1.00 oz Chinook [11.00 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 6 30.5 IBUs
0.75 oz Magnum [12.00 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 7 24.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.60 %] - Boil 25.0 min Hop 9 8.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 10 7.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.20 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 11 5.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 12 8.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Mt. Hood [5.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 13 2.7 IBUs

I'll be pitching this onto 1056 yeast I have in primary right now.

I would only make one change, i would drop the pale malt to 11lbs and add 5lbs of Munich, this will give a nice malty back drop for the hops and add some complexity. It will be on the sweeter side with the crystal and honey malt, but that should be countered well by the hops. This is only a problem if you dont like sweeter beers. Otherwise go for it man, i brewed a batch with 5lbs of crystal 60 in a 5G batch that is carbing and bulk aging right now in the keg, cant wait to try it!
 
Ok...first, 3lbs of crystal malts are waaaay too much for a IIPA. I would consider cutting the Carafoam to 0.5lbs and the 20L to 0.5lbs at max, and would probably go less with the honey malt in there. The only way to know about the hop bill is to try it. There will be plenty of people that will tell you it won't work, but I've done a similar thing and it worked out fine.

If you're treating this as an experiment, and looking forward to the outcome (good or bad), I would say go for it. If you're looking to make a citrus bomb IIPA, this isn't the grain bill or hop bill to accomplish that.

the Carafoam is a low low grade Crystal, it will not be a problem.
 
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