Hows my IPA look?

My buddy is coming into town for his last break before being shipped off to Afg.(Marines) and were gonna brew an IPA for the 4th of July. My idea was to do a red, white and blue beer. This is what Ive come up with so far any opinions or ideas are welcome...

Grain Bill..........mashed @ 150-155 for an hour

10.5 lbs 2 Row
1 lbs Carmal 40
1 lb Golden Promise
.5 lb White wheat......My WHITE ingredient and also for head retention.

Hops........Boil 30 mins before starting 60 min boil schedule

1 oz Warrior 60 min
1.5 oz Liberty 10 min
.5 oz Liberty Flamout

Adjuncts

1 lb Clear Candi Sugar
Irish Moss
3 lb Bluberry Puree mixed with 3 lb of Red Raspberry puree

Yeast US 05

For the "red", you could use cara-red instead of the caramel 40L if you want. (And cut it down- 1.5 pounds is too much!)

Blueberry and raspberry mixed together will be more brown than blue OR red, but I like the name!

I'd probably lower the C40 to 1 lb and add more hops. Golden Promise is a base malt, not sure how much that single lb will add, won't hurt though. I like the wheat addition, it'll be great for head retention.

The C40 and GP I just have laying around from other stuff so I figured id use it to up the abv a little more and for color even though I was expecting the fruit to determine that. Also..I was trying to use a total of 13lbs of grain for the 13 Colonies, so what can I do here to get back to that, since im going to be cutting back the C40...just up the 2Row to replace?

My beersmith is telling me its about 50 ibu...I figured that was good as I didnt want it too hop forward.

KeyWestBrewing said:

The C40 and GP I just have laying around from other stuff so I figured id use it to up the abv a little more and for color even though I was expecting the fruit to determine that. Also..I was trying to use a total of 13lbs of grain for the 13 Colonies, so what can I do here to get back to that, since im going to be cutting back the C40...just up the 2Row to replace?

My beersmith is telling me its about 50 ibu...I figured that was good as I didnt want it too hop forward.

Click to expand...

Yup, the C40 won't add abv anyway, mostly just unfermentables, color, etc.

And thanks Yooper Im debating between Red, White, and Blue...Stars and Stripes....Common Sense...or Poor Richards IPA.

I knew it wouldnt add fermentables I just want the beer to have enough body so the fruit doesnt dry it out too much. So 1lb should be good?

Heres a link to the final recipe and results....https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/red-white-blue-ipa-326494/

The candy sugar is what will dry it out some,also. I havent used that much fruit yet, but usually time will change the profile of the beer.

Ive used candy sugar in a few batches and havent had any brews have a dry finish yet. As far as fruit, I imagine the flavor and aroma will be quite prominent. But thats fine for me as it finished at 7.5 abv and 48 IBU. I tried a bottle of a 12 pack I bottled before racking the rest onto fruit puree and its a nice IPA. Good hop malt balance with the bitterness from the Warrior hops really shining through in a great way.

i like the hop choices (based solely on name, of course)

I basically used those choices for the names but I think they actually taste pretty damn good together.