Irish Red Imperial IPA -- critique?

I know it's not 'correct' for any style, but I'm looking for some feedback on whether or not you think this might turn out tasting good. I'm new to recipe formulation, and this is frankensteined together from a recipe for an Irish Red, and a couple recipes for Imperial IPAs.


Batch Size -- 10 gallons
Est. Original Gravity --1.076


Fermentables:
Pale Malt -- 20 lbs
Crystal 20 -- 2 lbs
Munich -- 2 lbs
Vienna -- 2 lbs
Roasted Barley -- 0.5 lbs
Corn Sugar -- 2 lbs

Hops:
Chinook -- 2 oz (FWH 90m)
Columbus -- 2 oz (FWH 90m)
Centennial -- 1 oz (40 min)
Chinook -- 1 oz (40 min)
Amarillo -- 2 oz (Fame Out)
Centennial -- 1 oz (Dry Hop in Keg)
Amarillo -- 2 oz (Dry Hop in Keg)

Looks great, you've done your research.

While my 5 gallon batch of an imperial attempt had a slightly higher ratio of grains/sugar to final volume to your batch, I had a 1.110 OG with an ABV 11.8%. I ended up using only 5 ounces of hops. This was a huge mistake. This beer tasted more like a strong porter, and not a Black IPA like I had intended. I would up the hop volume even more since the amount of grains is greatly increased. I use 7 ounces of hops in my standard IPA five gallon batch. I would go with something a lot higher than 11 ounces for your 10 gallon batch maybe 13-14 ounces, even considering your high Alpha acid strains. That way they will balance out the malt characteristics and be an actual IPA.

Here's a helpful chart to use when formulating recipes if you aren't already using it.

http://www.brewsupplies.com/_borders/hopsgraph.jpg

kallen: Thanks for your feedback. I will definitely look at adding more hops. Would you add more at the beginning for bittering, or later as flavoring hops?

Also, Beersmith is estimating a ridiculous 130 IBUs. Is that reliable at all?

Kentunkel said:

Here's a helpful chart to use when formulating recipes if you aren't already using it.

http://www.brewsupplies.com/_borders/hopsgraph.jpg

Click to expand...

Woa, that is helpful. Just bookmarked that. Thanks.

I used some other online IBU calculators, and it got my regular IPA IBU's at near 200! And while my IPA is one of the most "screw turning" IPA's I have tasted, I wouldn't say that it is more bitter than other commercial IPA's that push past the 100 barrier. It has only lead me to believe that there are as many ways to calculate IBU's as there are to make beer, (Sorry to the IBD).

For my own recipe, I would up my bittering hops and my finishing hops, only because I was so unhappy with the way it ended up. I used 2 ounces in dry hopping, and would still stick with that quantity, especially for my 5 gallon batches.

since you're ibus are already so high, i'd move those 40mins add to the final 15mins to get more flavor out of them. i'd also double your late hops, 5oz is awfully low for 10gals of IIPA. grist looks great to me

I ended up brewing a Saison last week, but now I'm coming back to this recipe, hopefully for tomorrow afternoon, and I'm trying something funny! I'm going to mash in the grain for a 12 gallon batch of Irish Red, and after a 60 minute boil I will run off 5 gallons of wort and set it aside. With the other remaining 6 gallons worth of wort still in the kettle I will add pale liquid extract and enough hops to push the whole mess in the direction of an Imperial IPA.

Questions:

1) Is this a rational plan?

2) Opinions on the overall recipe?

3) Suggestions on yeast? Considering Safale S-05, Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale), and Wyeast 1450 (Denny's Favorite 50).

PROCESS:

Beer #1:
OG: 1.049
IBUs: 24.1
Color: 14.6 SRM
Est ABV: ~4.8%

Mash @ 152 F

-----Maris Otter: 14 lbs
-----CaraRed: 4 lbs
-----Vienna: 4 lbs
-----Roasted Barley: 12 oz

-----Fuggles: 2 oz @ 60 min (first wort hops)
-----East Kent Goldings: 1 oz @ 60 min (first wort hops)
-----East Kent Goldings: 1 oz @ 15 min

Drain 6 gallons.

Add the following ingredients to the 6 remaining gallons to make beer #2:

Beer #2:
OG: 1.085
IBUs: 95.5
Color: 15.6 SRM
Est ABV: ~9%

-----Pale Liquid Extract: 5 lbs

-----Warrior: 2 oz @ 30 min
-----Galena: 1 oz @ 30 min
-----Ahtanum: 1 oz @ 10 min
-----Amarillo: 1 oz @ 10 min
-----Summit: Dry Hop