Critique my first recipe ( IIPA)

Looking to get some feed back on what I will be brewing next Monday. Looking for a citrusy IIPA. Any thoughts / changes?


14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 86.8 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 6.2 %
1 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 4.6 %
6.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 2.4 %

Mash at 150.0 F 60 min
Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.23gal, 3.50gal) of 168.0 F water


Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.063 SG

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1.25 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 32.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 33.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 23.4 IBUs
1.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 27.4 IBUs
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 10.1 IBUs
1.50 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 12.1 IBUs
Primary for 3 weeks
Transfer to secondary to dry hop 2 oz of Citra for 7 days
Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.088 SG
Est IBU's 152
Est ABV 9.6%
Safeale US-05

That sir, is a lot a hops!

Not that it's particularly bad, but you might not notice the honey malt in there.

I think your mash target should be more in the 149-150 range.

Other than that this is a pretty standard IIPA recipe. I can't really judge your hop selections as that is totally a matter of personal preference.

If you really wanted it to shine you might consider ditching the 15 minute through 5 minute additions, running an ounce of them through a hopback, and then dry hopping with the remaining a week or so before you send it to the keg (or bottles). Also I don't know about boiling hops for 90 minutes. After a certain point they start imparting cooked vegetable flavors instead of delicious hop bitterness.

mightynintendo said:

Also I don't know about boiling hops for 90 minutes. After a certain point they start imparting cooked vegetable flavors instead of delicious hop bitterness.

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This is my first 90 minute boil. Should I just moved the 90 min addition to 60 minutes?

HollidaySlim said:

This is my first 90 minute boil. Should I just moved the 90 min addition to 60 minutes?

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I think so. You are not going to get much more utilization from the 90 minute vs. the 60. I think it would reduce your bittering acids by about 2 IBU's.

thats an awful lot of crystal for an IPA, id at least half it.

are you not dry hopping it?

dcp27 said:

thats an awful lot of crystal for an IPA, id at least half it.

are you not dry hopping it?

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Oops...Yeah it will be getting 2 oz of citra for dry hopping.

dcp27 said:

thats an awful lot of crystal for an IPA, id at least half it.

are you not dry hopping it?

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Really? I don't see that as being too much. It is on the far end of OK in my opinion. Besides, this is a first recipe. Some experience with crystal malts is a good thing to give a brewer the sense of how it affects the beer.

If you really want to learn what malts taste like in beer, try brewing up the same recipe with ONLY base malts.

EDIT: in this way you'd have a side by side comparison.

I'm assuming this is for 5 gallons. I think there is way to much crystal malt. Maybe cut the carapils out completely and up your base malt. The honey malt will leave a lot of sweetness in the beer to balance the alcohol and hops.
as far as the hops go. I would do away with the ninety min addition completely. Move the 30 to 60 and maybe even cut it back a little. Maybe move the 15 to FO.

mightynintendo said:

Really? I don't see that as being too much..

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I guess it depends what you're looking for in an IIPA (sweet or dry), but nearly 20% crystal is alot for nearly any beer. the size of the beer should give it plenty of body n malt so with all that crystal its going to come off more barleywine than IIPA. id keep it 10% or less

oh and i definitely would move that simcoe to later in the boil. its kind of a waste of a very limited hop to not take advantage of its best properties (flavor/aroma)

agreed dcp. I get that. and for myself I would do the same. i'm just saying what he has is not outside the realm of OK. my purpose is not to make up a recipe that i like for the OP, but simply to provide help for what he already has. If he had upwards of 50% crystal, I would say something different, like: dude, that's way too much crystal. your beer is probably going to suck. this is not over that threshold yet!

I also think it's a good idea to encourage new brewers to experience what 17.5% crystal tastes like in a grain bill. you can read other people's experiences but how will you ever know what it's like without trying it yourself? i don't think this recipe is BAD and I don't have a clue what his intent is. Maybe he wants a heavy bodied, malty IPA. he definitely didn't say this was for a competition.

So i'm just offering suggestions for brightening the hops, mashing low to get the max attenuation, etc.

dcp27 said:

I guess it depends what you're looking for in an IIPA (sweet or dry), but nearly 20% crystal is alot for nearly any beer. the size of the beer should give it plenty of body n malt so with all that crystal its going to come off more barleywine than IIPA. id keep it 10% or less

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Are the Cara-Pils and Honey malt considered crystal? Right now the 40L is only 7.4% of my grain bill.

dcp27 said:

oh and i definitely would move that simcoe to later in the boil. its kind of a waste of a very limited hop to not take advantage of its best properties (flavor/aroma)

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Thanks for the tip. Reading up a bit more on the hop and how it should be utilized I think I am going to move it to 20 minutes and up it to 1 oz.

OK. Updated everything in the OP.

I took away the 90 minute hop additions and moved the simcoe to 20 minutes, adjusted the mash temp from 152 to 150.

As for what I am looking for in this beer...big bodied, slightly boozy, with a lot of citrus and pine aroma and a its sweetness to marry well with the booze.

HollidaySlim said:

Are the Cara-Pils and Honey malt considered crystal? Right now the 40L is only 7.4% of my grain bill.

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while the honey malt is done by a different process, it still adds alot of sweetness like crystal malt so it should be considered in the same tally. carapils doesnt add any sweetness to it, but its more or less a crystal depending on who you talk to. you really don't have much more of these than BierMuncher's IIPA tho, so it may not be as sweet as I was expecting

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/tits-up-imperial-ipa-3-time-medalist-2-golds-1-silver-92914/

I would go down to a pound of 40, lose the carapils and sub some white wheat in its' place (more fermentable than carapils). Maybe 4 oz of honey max if you really want it but it's not really necessary. I'd also consider a pound of dextrose to help dry it out and make it more fermentable. You want this beer to dry out as much as possible. Maybe pitch a 2500 mL starter of WLP001/1056 and O2 for sure if you have a stone to make sure it attenuates. There is nothing worse than a DIPA that doesn't finish out...

My .002...

I would consider adding Simcoe to your dry hop bill. I've had great results doing that, though I understand a cost standpoint since they aren't cheap by any means.

Updated OP again. Dropped the 40L to 1 lbs (down from 1lb 4 oz) Replaced the Cara with white wheat and reduced the honey malt to 6 oz. After doing some more research I think with the amount of honey malt I was using was going to be to sweet.

Sounds good. Honey malt is powerful stuff. Use sparingly for best results.

Try adding the 15 and 10 min hops as a first wort hops addition.

shaff1101 said:

Try adding the 15 and 10 min hops as a first wort hops addition.

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If it first wort hopped I would run into boiling the hops 90 minutes which I was told can lead to cooked vegetable flavors.

I've never experienced the vegetal effects from too long of a boil, but I wouldnt be surprised if it could happen. I do like FWH and do it in every hoppy brew in the place of my bittering add, but you may want to hold off on it for another time so you can learn first hand what differences it makes.