Double IPA Tits-Up Imperial IPA (3-Time Medalist - 2 Golds, 1 Silver)

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First time brewing this and just poured myself a partial goblet as I was filling the keg - Wow! Very similar in appearance and taste to Pliny. I can't wait until this is carbed so that I can enjoy it properly. Thanks again, BM. Your recipes never disappoint!
 
Can't agree with the Pliny comparisons, but god damn this is good stuff! Did a 2.5 gallon BIAB test batch and now that the keg is running low, am planning to do a full 5 gallons very, very soon.

Will be a regular in the pipeline without a doubt!

Edit: The whole Pliny thing is not a fair comparison IMHO. Very different beers to my tongue - both are exceptional and unique, both on the same wavelength no doubt. But different. If I had the BJCP training down I'd feel more comfortable saying why and how, but I don't so just brew this kick ass beer for yourself to find out!
 
My 4th PTE is ending fermentation. Gave 80% of the last one away. This brew is a secret. 😜

Stopped doing small batches myself. 5gal it is from now on for just that dame reason.
 
Brewing up a batch tomorrow, with a few changes to accommodate ingredients on hand. Nothing major - just little tweaks to the hops and the specialty grains.

Looking forward to it.
 
Brewing up a batch tomorrow, with a few changes to accommodate ingredients on hand. Nothing major - just little tweaks to the hops and the specialty grains.

Looking forward to it.

I just started serving my latest iteration of yet another batch of this awesome beer. It has a home on my 8 taps and will probably always live here, since it has some major fans among my friends. I don't agree with the Pliney comparison. I live a 10 minute drive from Russian River and have had Pliney since it was introduced. However, we think it IS very similar to Deschutes Fresh Squeezed in our opinion. I'm saying this as a huge compliment to this recipe. Ubermick and I changed the dry hops to 2 oz of Magnum, 2 oz of Citra, 2 oz of Chinook and 2 oz of CTZ in our 15 gallon batches. On dry hops for only 48 hours. I like it a bit better, and since we won a gold medal with the original recipe out of 216 entries I feel we can be an expert here :drunk:.
 
Just brewed for the second time as I had kicked the first batch. First batch was originally brewed as a gift from my sister-in-law to her then-boyfriend. Luckily for me, they had broken up by the time it was bottle conditioned and I talked my sister-in-law out of giving it to him anyway. I was able to savor it for a good year, and looking forward to doing the same with batch 2!
 
This recipe is kegged and ready for tapping at NHC next month. If you want to try it, stop by the Stainless Brewing booth. You won't be disappointed, this recipe is delicious! 20150319_114002.jpg
 
'Bout six gallons sitting in the fermenter right now; waiting to dry hop. Looking forward to it.
 
I brewed this last night and followed the recipe exactly except I subbed light brown sugar for corn sugar. I didn't have corn sugar on hand. I ended up with 6.25 gallons of 1.102 wort. Would brown sugar raise my FG that much or did I somehow achieve a crazy efficiency? I pitched a 1.5l starter of San Diego Super yeast and it's still HAMMERING! Any thoughts on the FG or how this may turn out?
 
I've been drooling over making this recipe for about a year. Bought a bulk hop order in Jan from my LHBS and got all I need for this. Can't wait. But first, one question. What is the expected final gravity for this recipe?

Reason I ask is I brewed a different beer last weekend. It was supposed to have an OG of 1.071 and an FG of 1.015. I was low on my last brew, so I bumped up the grain a bit. Beersmith said I should expect 1.074 - but I ended up mashing longer than expected and came in at 1.082!!! Then after six days it's already down to 1.010. My last five beers have all finished 1.010 or lower. How do I get my beers to come in a little higher? I don't want them all so dry. Seems to me a double IPA should have a little more body. I tried a second mash at a higher temp and sparge with about 180 degree water.
 
I've been drooling over making this recipe for about a year. Bought a bulk hop order in Jan from my LHBS and got all I need for this. Can't wait. But first, one question. What is the expected final gravity for this recipe?

Reason I ask is I brewed a different beer last weekend. It was supposed to have an OG of 1.071 and an FG of 1.015. I was low on my last brew, so I bumped up the grain a bit. Beersmith said I should expect 1.074 - but I ended up mashing longer than expected and came in at 1.082!!! Then after six days it's already down to 1.010. My last five beers have all finished 1.010 or lower. How do I get my beers to come in a little higher? I don't want them all so dry. Seems to me a double IPA should have a little more body. I tried a second mash at a higher temp and sparge with about 180 degree water.

You can drop the corn sugar and up the base malt, in addition to, or instead of, mashing a bit higher. You could also use a yeast that doesn't attenuate quite as high. Many use US-04, or an equivalent, fermented on the low temp side in IPAs to leave a bit more body.
 
This is a style I haven’t tackled yet, but every commercial version I’ve tried makes me wonder why. Like an addiction to hot peppers, the more you move up to highly hopped beers, the harder it is to settle for anything less.

Well last night I cracked open a beer I cannot even buy here in Missouri. Thanks to my Secret Santa from somewhere in Colorado, I got to enjoy a bottle of Pliny the Elder from Russian River Brewing.

That session last night falls into one of those “memorable moments” of beerdom. Light in color, rich in maltiness and the maddening amount of hops was incredible.

While clones of ‘The Elder’ abound, my intent is not to clone this pinnacle of IIPA’s, but to build a recipe that was motivated by it. Pliny recipes boast over a pound of hops for a 5-gallon batch. I’m stopping at 12 ounces (I know…I’m a wuss). I’m also going to scale this up to 6.5 gallons to allow for loss due to the incredible amount of sludge I’m going to end up with.

As my taste for bigger, hoppier beers grows, I’m afraid that these big IPA’s and RIS’s are going to be the death of my wallet, or the death of me (at 8+%).

In honor of that which will likely be my demise, I dub thee:

Tits-Up IIPA

Batch Size: 6.50 gal
Boil Size: 8.54 gal
Estimated OG: 1.082 SG
Estimated Color: 7.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 100.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 64.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------

18.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.25 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM)

1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [12.20%] (FWH)
1.00 oz Nugget [11.50%] (45 min)
1.00 oz Centennial [9.50%] (30 min)
1.25 oz Cascade [6.10%] (15 min)
1.00 oz Centennial [9.50%] (10 min)
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90%] (10 min)
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50%] (10 min)

1.00 oz Summit [16.50%] (Dry Hop 14 days)
1.25 oz Amarillo Gold [8.90%] (Dry Hop 14 days)
1.25 oz Cascade [6.10%] (Dry Hop 14 days)
1.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (Dry Hop 14 days)

Mash at 153 for 90 minutes.

Pitch a butt load of Safale-50 slurry from a prior batch.


I'll let you know how this turns out.
EDIT
On June 6th, 2009...this beer was Grand Champion in a special high gravity brew off at the Boneyard Brew Off in Illinois.

On December 12th , 2009, this beer took Silver out of 25 IPA entries at the St. Louis Brews Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition.

On February 13th, 2010, this beer took gold among 16 IPA entries at the Great Northern Brew Ha-Ha in Minnesota.
:D



How would I convert this to a 5.5 gallon batch?
 
Reduce everything by 15%.

But after all the hop absorption, as originally written, you'll probably wind up with 5.5 in the end.
 
My last big DIPA had 17oz of hops. Pre boil volume of 9.25 gal. When it was all said and done the numbers were spot on but I bottled just over 5 gallons of finished beer. Lots of loss with the long boil and hop bill. Still a fantastic brew!
 
I brewed this today and ended up with about 6 gallons at 1.086. Attached picture is about 10 minutes after draining the brew kettle into the carboy. Stuff was still settling out.

I pitched two smack packs of Wyeast 1056, and I have the carboy in my fermentation chamber set at 67°. Using a blowoff tube for sure.

Snapchat-348710997462522235.jpg
 
So i was planning to brew this for the longest time and finally did so last night. Came up slightly short on my efficiency, but got 5.5 Gal of wort into my fermenter at a gravity of 1.081. So all in all I am happy with it. expecting a large loss at transfer to secondary as my wort was highly cloudy with a lot of trub in but what can you do. Sample was delicious!

Pitched 2 packets of re hydrated US-05. Going for a 2 week primary and then a 2 week secondary on the hops.

Do I need to ad yeast at bottling or will it carb up with this schedule? I am leaning towards not adding additional yeast.

TY Biermuncher. I think this is going to be great!
 
So i was planning to brew this for the longest time and finally did so last night. Came up slightly short on my efficiency, but got 5.5 Gal of wort into my fermenter at a gravity of 1.081. So all in all I am happy with it. expecting a large loss at transfer to secondary as my wort was highly cloudy with a lot of trub in but what can you do. Sample was delicious!

Pitched 2 packets of re hydrated US-05. Going for a 2 week primary and then a 2 week secondary on the hops.

Do I need to ad yeast at bottling or will it carb up with this schedule? I am leaning towards not adding additional yeast.

TY Biermuncher. I think this is going to be great!

I would not think you would need additional yeast after only four weeks of fermentation. I had people tell me I might not even need it after a ten week ferment. I used it anyway, but I wouldn't for four weeks.
 
Bottled my batch this morning. OG of 1.081, FG of 1.014. Gives me 8.8 ABV.

Really strong citrus hop on the nose, and the sample was absolutely delicious. Expected it to be really harsh still but it was as smooth as puddin!

Ended up spending 4 weeks in the primary, with 8 days on the dry hops. Can't wait for it to carb up for a taste.
 
Let me start this by saying, "I don't like IPA's!"

A good friend issued me a challenge without knowing it. He likes IPA's. So I took your recipe and using BeerSmith2 scaled it back to a 3 gallon batch. I mashed at 148F and then followed your recipe exactly.

My friend is a big big fan of Harpoon Leviathon. Its his favorite. Well, actually, it was. Now Tits Up IPA is his favorite. He called me and said 3 simple words. . . "You nailed it !"

I tried a bottle and I have to admit that I liked it too. Not something I would drink in great quantities, but it was very enjoyable.

So I just wanted to let you know that your recipe is now being enjoyed in Eastern PA and to say thank you for my buddy Greg.
 
Man, this recipe has stood the test of time. I'm going to give it a go. If things keep going this way all my house beers will be Biermuncher creations! haha!
 
Next up in my schedule. My go to DIPA. Ages really nicely - have a 9 month old batch that's a rest whenever I pop one.
 
First time brewing this beer (finally). OG 1.080, FG 1.020 - a really great beer!

Well balance, great aroma, dangerously quaffable and pretty in the glass (nice white, thick and creamy head that last for the beer and a Carmel-like copper color).

This has been on my list to brew for 3+ years, so happy it finally happened.

Hats off BeerMuncher for another excellent brew!
 
I am finally going to brew this. :ban: I've brewed a few big IPA's before but never a double, and I must say Holly Shnit!!! $I dropped $73 at the LHBS this morning just for the grains, hops, and yeast for this one brew.

I have no doubt however that the end result will be well worth the effort and expense. :mug:
 
Just pitched this brew. Wow is this a big brew. I had 1.10 going into the bucket. I pitched two packets of 05 and have it in a 8 gallon bucket for the primary. My cooler mash tun was nearly full and took forever to sparge out. Boil smelled great and the samples I tasted were unbelievable! Can't wait!

Thanks! BM
 
Hi All,
This sounds like just the IIPA for me. Unfortunately I dont have enough Centennial but dont want to order anymore hops as I already have somany others.

From what I have Columbus would probably fit best but maybe some of the others would be ok too?

Summit, Columbus, Mosiac, Citra; Vic Secret, Chinook, Topaz, Simcoe, El Dorado

I was thinking about replacing with Summit for the 30 and 10 min additions (of course keeping the AA difference into account) and then Columbus in the dry hop because Summit is already there.
 
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I will likely rack and dry hop this this weekend, which has me thinking about carbonation levels for this beer. Should I shoot for the typical 2.2-2.4 volume level? I will be bottling this beer, and have had issues with getting the right carbonation level in past IPA's. What do you think?
 
Well, brewed this yesterday, and decided to stick to BM recipe and use US05....hit all the marks spot on, but ended up with 6.25 gal at 1.084og...only problem is that i pitched 2 packs of rehydrated US05, and its been almost 24 hours, with very slow start. Pitched the cooled down yeast into 55 degree wort, and its been sitting at 19.5 C in my ferm chamber. If i dont see progress by tomorrow, i may pitch the smack pack of 1056.
 
Give your yeast another day or two, it will get there. You could also check the gravity to see if your yeast is working, even if you don't see activity - you might have a leak that is allowing the CO2 to bypass your bubbler...
 
Hey fellas!
So I will be brewing this next week, can't wait!
I was planning on using a bit less 2 row and including 2pounds of white wheat malt to give a bit of haziness to it.
Thoughts?
 
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