Awesome IIPA, need opinions! :D

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henryfdez

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I want a seriously hoppy, bitter yet flavorful beer with awesome aroma. Ive made big IPAs before but I want this one to be even better.

Extract with steeping grains (steep 30mins? at 150f?…thoughts?)
5gal batch…..6-6.5gal boil.
Wyeast American Ale 1056 or 1272..not sure yet. (Thoughts?) Will make a 2liter starter.
Servomyces and Whirfloc.

Malts:
7lbs Golden Light LME
2lbs Golden Light DME
1lb Crystal 10L
1lb 2Row

Hops: (all pellet)
60 mins- 3oz Magnum
15mins- 3oz Centennial
10mins- 2oz Centennial
5mins- 2oz Centennial
DryHop for about a 1.5 weeks with 2oz Centennial, 2oz Citra and 2oz Cascade.

Im planning on fermenting at about 62-64f…1.5 weeks Primary and then add the dryhop for another 1.5 weeks.

Any thoughts/suggestions on the hop schedule? I want big flavor and strong bitterness…also great strong aroma…Any ideas on steeping time/temp. Also which yeast would be better for this..American Ale l or ll? The beer will be kegged, prolly carbed at 15-20psi for a few days.

Thanks.
 
That recipe will certainly be bitter, i get 200+ IBUs. you could drop the magnum to 1oz and still be over 100IBU.
 
agreed. 90-100 IBU is probably a good starting point. Make big starter and do your best to keep fermentation temps below 70F. Other than that it sounds great!
 
I would personally use 1/2 to 3/4 lb. of C10 to let the hops come through more. In place of some of the extract, I would substitute 10-12% sugar, which will allow the beer to ferment further and help you to avoid some residual sticky sweetness. My thoughts on the 2-row addition is that if you're not using at least 20% for the recipe then why bother? I regularly use 25-50% when I brew Partial Mash IPAs. But I mix it up with American 2-row and British DME (along with other grains). If you hit 1.070-1.080 OG and bring it down below 1.015 FG, then you will be a very happy brewer... (tough to hit 1.012 or lower when brewing a high gravity extract IIPA).

I like 1056 or the equivalents for a beer like this. 1272 is too fruity for my tastes. It turns the hops from crisp, light, citrusy, and clean, to sweet, fruity, and slightly muddled. A yeast starter should DEFINITELY be made.

The hops are another story. Way too much early on for this beer.
Here's my advice on the revamp for a tasty, highly aromatic beer that won't taste like paint thinner but still be very bitter.

60 mins .75oz - 1.00oz Magnum
30 mins .50-.75oz Magnum
15 or 10 mins- 2 or 3oz Centennial
0 mins 2 or 3oz Centennial
DryHop for 10-12 days with 2oz Citra and 2oz Cascade

The Citra in the dryhop is tricky. It will give you a very tropical character, which will wash away some of the piney-citrusy dominance of the Centennial. The Citra in the dryhop will also give you more perceived juicy sweetness... Something to keep in mind if you want a bracingly bitter and slightly harsh IIPA. It's a wonderful hop, but not really the hop of choice if you want something like Pliny the Elder or even a more bitter, dank version.
 
If you really want your beer to have a really hoppy aroma, I would recommend going with a 60min bittering addition and then a big addition right before flame out and whirl-pooling. To from my own brewing experience, if you stir or "whirlpool" your wort (with hops still in there) for 15 min after flame out, and before you start chilling, you will see an increase in hop aroma. Then dry hop with lesser quantities of hops for a shorter duration until you get the desired aroma. I would go with something along the lines (I didn't do the calculations but you'll get the idea):

Hops: (all pellet)
60 mins: 1oz Magnum
5 mins: 1-2oz Centennial & 1-2oz Cascade

0 min: Flame out >> Start a 15+ min whirlpool by continuously stirring or if you have a pump just recirculate.

DryHop for about a 3-5 days with .5 oz Centennial, .5 oz Citra and .5 oz Cascade in the primary when you are 1-2 gravity points away from your target final gravity. Rack to secondary and dry hop 3-5 days with .5 oz Centennial, .5 oz Citra and .5 oz Cascade. Rack to tertiary and repeat same dry hopping schedule until desired level of hoppiness is achieved.
 
I know 3oz of Magnum will be pretty bitter but I want it to be an intense beer...I wrote the recipe down on hopville and I get 305IBUs. I imagine the other bunch of late additions should help it in the flavor and aroma departments. The last IPA I made I used 2oz of Summit(16-17%AA) for bittering and honestly it wasnt that bitter...Im going for something like a Mikkeller 1000ibu style beer, really bitter and really
aromatic/flavorful at the same time. Will go with the 1056 yeast and will certainly do a starter :)

Im pretty sure I will use the whole pound of hops, what I really want to know is if I will get flavor out of the 10 and 5 min additions or just aroma??...Id like to get the most flavor possible since I will be dryhopping with 6oz anyways so that should get me good aroma correct? or should I move some of the hops to the 15-20min mark?

Regarding the malt bill, Im pretty much using the extract version of the Ruination IPA all grain recipe from BYO some years ago. They ask for 6.6lbs Golden LME and 2lbs DME. Plus 1lb 2ow and 1lb crystal 10.
 
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