Converting an IPA to an IIPA

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Moonlighter

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I like Sierra Nevada Torpedo. A lot. So I've been tracking this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/sierra-nevada-torpedo-clone-165501/

What I'd like to do is bring this up to an acceptable IIPA level. Here's what I have in mind and I'd appreciate any feedback:

5 gallon batch, extract

7# Extra Light Malt Extract Syrup
3# Extra Light Dry Extract
0.5# Crystal 60
0.5# Two Row (question about this later)

2 oz. Magnum 14.0 AA, 60 minutes
1 oz. Crystal 3.5 AA, 5 minutes
1 oz. Magnum 14.0 AA, 5 minutes
Finish active fermentation, then keg and dry hop:
1 oz. Crystal, dry hop 7-14 days
1 oz. Magnum, dry hop 7-14 days
1 oz. Citra, dry hop, 7-14 days

US-05 yeast
Expected OG: 1.082
Expected FG: 1.022
Expected ABV: 8.0

Anyone see any issues with this? What do you suppose the two row is for, since there is no mash? A variation of the recipe calls for 8-10 oz. honey malt instead. Does anyone think this is a better component to the recipe?
 
looks good, i dont normally see Crystal hops in IPA/DIPA, id maybe switch that out for centennial, amarillo, cascade, etc.
 
Yeah, I hear ya about the Crystal Hops. But the thread says it's a dead ringer for SN Torpedo so I'm gonna try it out.
 
I use crystal hops in my favorite ipa but only .5 oz total it does really well blended with a lot of citrusy hops.Ive never done magnum as a dry hop as I think it is only for bittering shouldn't have any negative effect though. I think u need more flameout hops I'd do at least 6-8 oz of hops and 4-6 oz for dry hopping.

For the malt side everything seems good. Honey malt is good for ipa up to u though. You may want to add some more extract or corn sugar for higher gravity. I'd go with adding some corn sugar while it ferments I do that with all my iipas.
 
Needs work. Particularly the hop amounts and locations. That's a ton of Magnum at 60. And Magnum isn't a very good late addition hop, not to mention a terrible choice for dryhopping. It tastes like grassy Noble ass. Crystal hops work in IIPAs. Ninkasi Tricerahops uses it and that's delicious, but they use it sparingly in the dryhop. I would definitely add another late addition hop like Cascade, Amarillo, Nugget, Summit, Centennial, or Horizon... something that doesn't allow the grassy hops to takeover, which is typically undesirable in American IIPAs. 1/2 lb. of 2-row is completely unnecessary here by the way. Use Honey malt or Crystal malt, not both unless the total % of both is 5-6% tops. Lastly, make sure you pitch enough of that yeast, and please lord, do a full volume boil with no top off water!
 
Torpedo is one of my faves, because it packs a ton of hop flavor. By bumping up the malt load but not considering the hop flavor load, you are losing what you may love about this beer. Whatever you decide to do with that late hop addition... add more to it! Since I assume you aren't going to a clone here, I say double up the 5m addition or at least consider something like "hop bursting", or staggering additions in the flavoring range to get a nice hop taste. I understand some IPA recipes come out today with a small bittering charge and only one addition right in the flavor-aroma stage... but these recipes have a stupid amount of hops in at that time. You will need that to get that same feeling in this beer.
 
bobbrews said:
Needs work. Particularly the hop amounts and locations. That's a ton of Magnum at 60. And Magnum isn't a very good late addition hop, not to mention a terrible choice for dryhopping. It tastes like grassy Noble ass. Crystal hops work in IIPAs. Ninkasi Tricerahops uses it and that's delicious, but they use it sparingly in the dryhop. I would definitely add another late addition hop like Cascade, Amarillo, Nugget, Summit, Centennial, or Horizon... something that doesn't allow the grassy hops to takeover, which is typically undesirable in American IIPAs. 1/2 lb. of 2-row is completely unnecessary here by the way. Use Honey malt or Crystal malt, not both unless the total % of both is 5-6% tops. Lastly, make sure you pitch enough of that yeast, and please lord, do a full volume boil with no top off water!

I use up to 10% honey malt and it comes out delicious in iipas. It's sweetness is definitely not overpowering and the hops will still come out, provided he bumps up his current plan.
 
An IIPA with 10% honey malt would taste immensely cloying to me, but it is not unheard of. Different strokes for different folks.
 
Hey I think you are in the right neighborhood and will be fine with some tweaking. You want the iipa to dry out a little more than is possible in your current recipe. I tweaked your recipe a bit to allow you to get a drier finish. Also, like the others have said your late hope and dry hop additions are a little weak for the style.

Here is a link to a great podcast on brewing iipas that will also cover extract techniques.

Be mindful that if you use the two-row and honey malts you will need to do a partial mash, which I am sure you can handle just fine.

5 gallon batch, extract

7# Extra Light Malt Extract Syrup
2# Extra Light Dry Extract
6oz Crystal 60
1# of dextrose added to the primary on day three or four of fermentation (when fermentation starts to slow down)

2 oz. Magnum 14.0 AA, 60 minutes
1.5 oz. Crystal 3.5 AA, 5 minutes
1.5 oz. Citra 14.0 AA, 5 minutes
1.5 oz. Crystal 3.5 AA, 0 minutes (Flame out and then hold for 20 min)
1.5 oz. Citra 14.0 AA, 0 minutes (Flame out and then hold for 20 min)

Finish active fermentation, then keg and dry hop:
1 oz. Crystal, dry hop 7-14 days
2 oz. (another C-hop or amarillo), dry hop 7-14 days
1 oz. Citra, dry hop, 7-14 days

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

:mug:
 
The beer came out good, not great. I backed off on the Magnum, bittering with 1.5 ounces and I left out any later Magnum additions. The beer has good flavor and I like the citra hops. Thinking about redoing this one with some Mosaic hops my LHBS sold me. But for those of you who said I didn't have enough late hop additions, you were spot on.

I like my strong IPA's to have a nice sweet backbone. I like a good bitter bite and a sweet/bitter mix on the aftertaste. If the next batch goes good I'll post a recipe. Thanks for all the input.
 
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