Help on single hop imperial ipa

I am fairly new to brewing and this is the first time I've looked to change the recipe from my homebrew store. I'm trying to make a single hop imperial ipa with citra hops. I am planning on doing a full boil. I expanded on the recipe that the homebrew store gave me and I just wanted to see if I'm on the right track.

Grains
0.75 lbs. Munich Malt
0.50 lbs. crystal 40
0.25 lbs. carapils
0.25lbs. Wheat malt
6.00 lbs. light DME
2.00 lbs. amber DME
1.00 lbs. corn sugar

Hops
1.00 oz citra (13.2) - 60 mins
1.00 oz citra - 30 mins
1.00 oz citra - 15 mins
0.50 oz citra - 0 mins
1.50 oz citra - dry hop

Yeast
White labs WLP001 - California ale

OG - 1.087
FG - 1.020
ABV - 8.78
IBU - 99.7
SRM - 10.0

Does anyone have any suggestions to help?

Citra @ 60 min will boil off its flavor and aroma. I would lose the 60 min addition and add some more at your lower times too reach your ibu

jphart03 said:

0.75 lbs. Munich Malt
0.50 lbs. crystal 40
0.25 lbs. carapils
0.25lbs. Wheat malt
6.00 lbs. light DME
2.00 lbs. amber DME
1.00 lbs. corn sugar

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First, get rid of the Amber DME and go with more Light or Extra Light DME. For an extract IIPA, you'll want to get rid of the Munich and Wheat malt, since these are mashing grains. If you still want them in there, but do not want to mash any grains, then Munich and Wheat Extract are also available for this goal.

If you want to upgrade to a Partial Mash IIPA, then mash some 2-row with Munich and Wheat. In either situation, the carapils is unnecessary since carapils is already inherent in extract.

If you want to make this all about the hops, and less of a malty alcohol bomb, I would consider reducing the OG to 1.070-ish. In addition, this will help with better final attenuation in an IIPA with a good deal of extract.

jphart03 said:

1.00 oz citra (13.2) - 60 mins
1.00 oz citra - 30 mins
1.00 oz citra - 15 mins
0.50 oz citra - 0 mins
1.50 oz citra - dry hop

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Citra is a very tropical and fruity hop when mixed with other American hops such as Amarillo, Simcoe, Warrior, Centennial. It needs support from other hops like these to really shine. It's not a very good hop for a single hop IIPA.

However, if you're deadset on attempting a single hop Citra beer, then I suggest brewing a very simple, no frills, standard IPA at 1.055-60 OG. A base consisting of XL DME and Corn Sugar, that's it...maybe 3% crystal 20 or 40. It will be a cheaper brew that gives you a better idea of what Citra is about and you'll need less hops overall with no yeast starter.

Otherwise, here is a loose example based on a 5 gallon full volume boil IIPA at 1.070 OG / 1.015 FG:

1.5 oz. Warrior @ 60
1 oz. Simcoe @ 30
1.5 oz. Citra @ 10 (optional)
3 oz. mixed Citra and Amarillo @ 0 min. hopstand
5 oz. mixed Citra, Amarillo, and Simcoe @ 7 day dryhop

The 4.5 oz. total hops you were planning on is just way too little for an Imperial IPA, especially at 1.087 OG.

jphart03 said:

White labs WLP001 - California ale

Click to expand...

A good yeast for a beer like this, but you'll need to pitch a healthy starter of adequate size (or multiple vials) for your intended OG. http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html can assist. Be sure to plug in the yeast age and method of stirring, in addition to your batch size and vial count.

The only other piece of advice I can offer is to know your water. Get it tested. More often than not, IPAs benefit from some added gypsum to boost Calcium and Sulfate levels. Again, know your water before adding it.

Munich and wheat are both base malts, so why would you need 2-row?

You won't really, but it will speed up the conversion process due to the much higher diastatic power of American 2-row. It will allow your partial mash beer to attenuate better if you replace some 2-row extract with 2-row base malt since you have more control over the mash temp. and can mash it lower. Mashing 1 lb. of total grain isn't going to do much at all for you anyway so why not bump up the amounts? It will take roughly the same amount of time and cost less money.