First DIPA recipe. Looking for feedback.

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Tinga

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Looking for a citrus bomb with sweet honeyish malty backbone.

5.5 gallon batch

Grain bill
12.33 lbs 2-row
2 lbs munich malt
1 lb honey malt
.5 lb carapils

at 75% efficiency I'm looking at an og of around 1.075

Mashing at 155 for 60 minutes fly sparge to get 6.5ish gallons preboil

hop schedule

12.2% AA Columbus .75 oz @ 60 minutes = 33.2 IBU
7.1% AA Cascade .5 oz @ 20 minutes = 8.2 IBU
9.1% AA Centennial .5 oz @ 20 minutes = 10.5 IBU
7.1% AA Cascade .5 oz @ 15 minutes = 6.4 IBU
9.1% AA Centennial .5 oz @ 15 minutes = 8.3 IBU
8.2% AA Amarillo .5 oz @ 5 minutes = 3 IBU
7.1% AA Cascade .5 oz @5 minutes = 2.6 IBU
8.2% AA Amarillo .5 oz @ 2 minutes = 3 IBU
7.1% AA Cascade .5 oz @ 2 minutes = 2.6 IBU
total IBUs = 77.8

Fermenting with US-05 for clean profile for 4 weeks.
dry hop on 1 oz cascade and 1 oz amarillo for a week then bottle.

first DIPA recipe so any feedback would be great. I am most of my way through designing great beers so hopefully I got something out of it with this recipe.
 
I like it. Personally I think additions at 20 and 15 are a bit repetitive and unnecessary. You can probably add just a touch of Columbus at 20 to make up your lost IBUs and move the rest to later in the boil for more hoppy goodness.

That is my own personal thought, so just take it with a grain of salt. Besides that, I think you have a fine recipe on your hands.
 
I think a pound of honey is waaaay too much, I would cut that to about 6 oz & make up the difference in 2 row. I love Honey malt, & use it frequently, but that much will turn out cloyingly sweet-especially @ 155*F. My $.02

-d
 
I might bump that 60 minute Columbus up to 1.5oz or possibly even 2oz. You've got a lot of aroma and could use that bittering backbone. Looks good and repeatable though.
 
Mashing at 155F with that much honey malt and carapils will give you a very sweet beer that will probably finish around 1.018, which is kind of high IMO, but to each his own.

Personally, I would cut the honey malt and carapils in half, and mash at 152 or lower, with up to 5% corn sugar, but I like my DIPA'S dry. Your hop bill/schedule looks great.
 
Drop the Honey malt down to .25lbs or zero. Replace with 2-row. mash at 150* or lower. You want your DIPA to finish low. I like the hop schedule though.
 

I suppose it's all personal preference, but that's part of what makes it an IIPA. The drier Imperials are usually better. They are known for being a hop bomb with big hop aroma, lots of bitterness, and lots of hop flavor. Malty sweetness will mask that. If you want more maltiness, definitely mash at 155.

1lb of honey malt is too much though, unless you want a TON of honey flavor in the beer. A little goes a long way. Try .5lb
 
If I were brewing this, I would bump my 60 minute addition to about 60-70 IBUs, and then move EVERYTHING else to a whirlpool addition (except dry hops). Whirlpool hot for 15 minutes, then knock out to the chiller.

Also, I'd double or triple the dry hop addition.
 
I suppose it's all personal preference, but that's part of what makes it an IIPA.

+1. As aggressive as US-05 is, it won't chomp a 75 GU, 78 BU wort down to appealing IIPA territory without some sugar. For perspective, Pliny is 71/92, and several of those 71 come from dextrose.
 
+1. As aggressive as US-05 is, it won't chomp a 75 GU, 78 BU wort down to appealing IIPA territory without some sugar. For perspective, Pliny is 71/92, and several of those 71 come from dextrose.

Exactly, and Pliny gets down to 1.012 if I remember correctly. Personally, I'd add sugar to every IIPA, but at the minimum, i'd recommend mashing this beer between 148 and 150.
 
So I'm thinking about keeping the hop schedule and maybe dropping the carapils altogether and bringing the honey malt down to .5 lb 2 row down to 12 lbs and adding a pound of honey I have kicking around. With this change do you think I should still change the mashing temp?
 
any comments on the mash temp with the grain alteration?
 
two things,
1) If you add the honey into the boil, while it will help bring down the FG, it won't do nearly as much compared to adding the honey during primary, this will REALLY drive the FG down.

2) If you decide the add the honey during the primary, I just want to warn you that it REALLY brings out a lot of honey taste, I made an American Honey Amber, and added 1lb of orange blossom honey into primary. It might as well be a honey beer.

So, I guess my suggestion is put your mash around 151-152 (this is what I use and always end up around 1.010 FG for my 1.060-1.070 beers), and maybe split the honey half into the boil and half into primary.

Then again, this isn't my beer, so just take my suggestions with a grain of salt. Hopefully they will help you decide what to do.
 
2) If you decide the add the honey during the primary, I just want to warn you that it REALLY brings out a lot of honey taste, I made an American Honey Amber, and added 1lb of orange blossom honey into primary. It might as well be a honey beer.

So, I guess my suggestion is put your mash around 151-152 (this is what I use and always end up around 1.010 FG for my 1.060-1.070 beers), and maybe split the honey half into the boil and half into primary.

Then again, this isn't my beer, so just take my suggestions with a grain of salt. Hopefully they will help you decide what to do.

Thanks a lot. I'm wondering if the strong honey flavor in primary came from it being orange blossom. I wonder if you used a lighter honey like basswood or wildflower, if it would be more subdued.

I think I will take the suggestions about halving the honey malt and adding the honey during the boil. The mashing temp will be brought down to about 152 as well as the carapils will be dropped altogether.

thanks everyone for the input.
 
Your 20min hops would do well as FWH...about the same utilization but better flavor.

edit: same perceived bitterness, but better flavor
 
Your 20min hops would do well as FWH...about the same utilization but better flavor.

edit: same perceived bitterness, but better flavor

hmmm that would be interesting to try but for the first time I think I'll keep the hops in the boil.
 
Thanks a lot. I'm wondering if the strong honey flavor in primary came from it being orange blossom. I wonder if you used a lighter honey like basswood or wildflower, if it would be more subdued.

I think I will take the suggestions about halving the honey malt and adding the honey during the boil. The mashing temp will be brought down to about 152 as well as the carapils will be dropped altogether.

thanks everyone for the input.

Orange Blossom is the only honey I ever use, so I imagine you could be right, but I wouldn't know, I also use it in both the honey amber and honey rye saison, but the saison I add it strictly to the boil, and I can say, the distinction is very obvious.
 
Dont mash at 155....152 is as high as you need to go. I would go with 150 personally. To me, drying out the beer is the difference between the beer being a DIPA and being a hoppy barleywine.

I think going all base malt with a splash of honey malt (.25-.5lb max), mashing lower in the 150-152 range, and adding the honey will get you the flavor you want. If you add the honey to the boil, add it at flameout. I would actually add it while the beer is chilling so to hold onto as much of the aromatics as possible. Maybe add it when the beer has gotten down between 150-170. Enough to sterilize it, but the beer will be chilling so you wont lose as much aroma. Think of it as a whirlpool hop addition. Same concept.
 
I'm not exactly adding the honey to get honey flavor. It's just a pound of simple sugar I have kicking around. Honey also doesn't exactly need to be sterilized. It's naturally antibacterial.
 
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