Dogfish Head/Pliny hybrid

I just moved, and I finally got around to inventorying the brewing supplies that made the trip with me. This is kind of a kitchen sink beer, made with the leftovers of whatever I had on hand. In order to keep it interesting, I decided to "continuously" hop the beer with Northern Brewer in order to give it a smooth, earthy finish. I'm calling it Cicero's Garden for the moment. Updates as events warrant.

Boil Volume: 6 gallons
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Yeast: Safale US-05

OG 1.055
FG 1.015
IBU 197
ABV 5.5 %
SRM 3

1lb Crystal 40L Steep
6.50lbs Light Malt Extract Syrup 15min
1.00lbs Light Dry Malt Extract 15min
0.50lbs Corn Sugar 5min

2.00oz Simcoe 90min
1.25oz Northern Brewer 60min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 55min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 50min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 45min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 40min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 35min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 30min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 25min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 20min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 15min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 10min
0.25oz Northern Brewer 5min
1.00oz Northern Brewer 1min

so you intend on boiling hops for 90 minutes and not adding any malt at all until the last 15?

Late extract additions prevent the LME from scorching or caramelizing, and helps keep the color light. It also helps with "extract tang." Also - and this I say without any authority except my own anecdotal experience - I think that a lower gravity wort gets better hop absorption.

Here there's a pound of crystal 40L steeping grains, so it's not pure water and hops, but yeah, it's basically 90 minutes of hop additions and all the fermentables in the last 15 minutes.

197 IBU!? good luck on tasting food for a day or two! Hope it turns out for you!

I don't have much experience with extract but I would think you would want something more than water and hops for the first 75 minutes. Maybe add half the LME at 90 minutes.

1.055 and 197 IBU's is going to be super bitter. Pliny has high ibu's but has a good 20 points on your recipe.

I made something to this effect 1.05ish IBU and a load of IBU's (100+). It just turned out bitter. back of th etongue bitter

It turned out great - but it's definitely not 197IBUs. I've been told that you can't taste bitterness higher than 100IBUs, but it's not even that; I'd call it something on the order of a hoppy Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

pericles said:

It turned out great - but it's definitely not 197IBUs. I've been told that you can't taste bitterness higher than 100IBUs, but it's not even that; I'd call it something on the order of a hoppy Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

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I don't think it's a taste thing. I believe the reason you can't really get more than 100 IBU's out of a beer is that you can't really dissolve enough AA's in solution to get higher than that.