Mr. Citrus's Citrusy Citrus IPA- Am I going overboard?

Hi Everyone.

Brewing up this IPA this weekend and I am going a touch out of my comfort zone when it comes to my hops (normally a simcoe/columus kind of guy). I am adding what I believe could be a slightly responsible amount of hops but, at the same time, I am going for a olfactory bulb crashing citrus IPA. That being said, I am looking for some feedback concerning my hop additions.

Grain bill: super simple, but tried and true.
12# 2row
0.5# C-120

Hops
0.5oz Columbus @ 60 (25IBU)
1.0oz Citra @15 (12IBU)
1.0oz Comet @ 5 (6IBU)
1.0oz Mandarina Bavaria @ 5 (5IBU)
1.5oz Citra @ 0 (9IBU)
1.5oz Comet @ 0 (5IBU)
1.5oz Mandarina Bavaria @ 0 (5IBU)
0.5oz Columbus @ 0 (3IBU)

Dry Hop- 5 to 7 days
Cascade 1oz
Citra 1.5oz
Comet 1oz
Mandarina Bavaria 1oz

Total hops- 13oz

Mash in at 152
2g CaCl2 2g CaSO4
WLP001
kegging

OG- 1.063
FG-1.011
SRM- 9
IBU- 70
ABV-7.0%

For those not familiar with 2 of those hops:
Comet- Zest, grapefruit, orange, lemon, and a touch dank-8.5% AA
Mandarina Bavaria- Tangerine and citrus- 7.2% AA

Would love to hear some thoughts.

what are you asking? whether that amount of hops is a bit off the deep end?

grain bill looks good, but I would definitely add/sub in some cane sugar to dry it out. This is especially important in IIPAs/DIPAs. Speaking of which, is this supposed to be a regular IPA or double? because 7% is definitely regular territory, but your sig says IIPA

Looks great to me. Definitely something I would drink. The only thing I would suggest is maybe splitting the 0 min additions and using them in a hop stand/whirlpool for about 30/45 minutes. But will taste great in my opinion just the way you have it

m00ps said:

what are you asking? whether that amount of hops is a bit off the deep end?

grain bill looks good, but I would definitely add/sub in some cane sugar to dry it out. This is especially important in IIPAs/DIPAs

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More or less, yes, I am asking if it is a little off the deep end, I know this probably isn't ridiculous for say a NE IPA, but I wanted opinions.
Would you consider this an IIPA/DIPA? I know its a bit big for a regular IPA, but I wasn't thinking it would classify as imperial. *EDIT* Yeah, I need to update my sig. This originally was going to be an IIPA with just more bittering hop, but then I decided I would prefer something a little more crushable, and when it came time to change the late edition hops I thought..."why the hell not, lets leave it the same"

I get what you are saying about drying out the beer, but what would you be looking for the FG to be then? 1.008 or so?

TimH said:

Looks great to me. Definitely something I would drink. The only thing I would suggest is maybe splitting the 0 min additions and using them in a hop stand/whirlpool for about 30/45 minutes. But will taste great in my opinion just the way you have it

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What I am basically doing is a hop stand. I just throw all hops in loose and don't take them out, they get filtered out when I drain into the fermenter. I wish I had whirlpool capabilities without standing there stirring lol.

m00ps said:

what are you asking? whether that amount of hops is a bit off the deep end?

grain bill looks good, but I would definitely add/sub in some cane sugar to dry it out. This is especially important in IIPAs/DIPAs. Speaking of which, is this supposed to be a regular IPA or double? because 7% is definitely regular territory, but your sig says IIPA

Click to expand...

1.011 is plenty dry @ 7%... I just need to try one of your IPAs and see if it's more of a hop cider.

KyleWolf said:

More or less, yes, I am asking if it is a little off the deep end, I know this probably isn't ridiculous for say a NE IPA, but I wanted opinions.
Would you consider this an IIPA/DIPA? I know its a bit big for a regular IPA, but I wasn't thinking it would classify as imperial.

I get what you are saying about drying out the beer, but what would you be looking for the FG to be then? 1.008 or so?



What I am basically doing is a hop stand. I just throw all hops in loose and don't take them out, they get filtered out when I drain into the fermenter. I wish I had whirlpool capabilities without standing there stirring lol.

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When you throw them in at 0 min its still at 212 degrees I was suggesting you should throw half at 0min then throw in the other half in at 170 let stand 30/45 min then continue to cool.

Psylocide said:

1.011 is plenty dry @ 7%... I just need to try one of your IPAs and see if it's more of a hop cider.

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I agree 1.011 is plenty dry and will lend more towards that (juicy) quality I assume your going for

Looks delicious! I have to agree with moops though. If I am using 13oz of hops on a 5 gallon batch, I'll usually add 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of honey to it once krausen starts to drop. Maybe dry it out a bit more, and to get my money's worth. Lol!

With that much hops I certainly wouldn't back down on OG, and I think the a FG above 1.010 will feel nice and drinkable.

I have been playing with a little wheat or oats in my IPAs lately and I love the way they turn out. This one was particularly good, although it was a lower gravity than you're targeting:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/267441/mountain-man

BeardedBrews said:

With that much hops I certainly wouldn't back down on OG, and I think the a FG above 1.010 will feel nice and drinkable.

I have been playing with a little wheat or oats in my IPAs lately and I love the way they turn out. This one was particularly good, although it was a lower gravity than you're targeting:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/267441/mountain-man

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I have been seriously considering adding flaked oat or just flour (because it's easy) and turning this into an NE IPA.

That or be silly crazy, use a wit yeast, hit it with tangerine peel, coriander, mandarin zest and boom White IPA.

If I go the NE IPA route, I think I would get significantly lower my water chemistry altering additions.

Maybe something like
50ppm Ca
15ppm Mg
50ppm Na
30ppm Cl
150ppm SO4
This is my regular tap water with 3g of CaCl2 in 5 gallons

KyleWolf said:

I have been seriously considering adding flaked oat or just flour (because it's easy) and turning this into an NE IPA.

That or be silly crazy, use a wit yeast, hit it with tangerine peel, coriander, mandarin zest and boom White IPA.

If I go the NE IPA route, I think I would get significantly lower my water chemistry altering additions.

Maybe something like
50ppm Ca
15ppm Mg
50ppm Na
30ppm Cl
150ppm SO4
This is my regular tap water with 3g of CaCl2 in 5 gallons

Click to expand...

Id go either way. White IPAs are pretty tough to nail IME. Usually the hops take over and its just a citrusy IPA with a bit of yeast tang, or its a hoppier witbier. Mine tend towards the former due to my absurd hopping tendencies. Lately ive been blending a wit yeast with Conan to get it IPA-level dry

Flaked wheat or regular wheat goes into every one of my IPAs

Mouthfeel and Yeast are going to be the things that take this from a beer with citrus to an explosion of tropical awesomesauce ale.

There is a fine line there before you tip over into a wit, and I don't think the world needs another blue moon. I'd add a bit of wheat and then be more creative than 001 on the yeast. WY 1026 fermented warm (70), try a Kolsch yeast like WLP029, or anything to accentuate the sweetness that is expected with the citrus.

BeardedBrews said:

Mouthfeel and Yeast are going to be the things that take this from a beer with citrus to an explosion of tropical awesomesauce ale.

There is a fine line there before you tip over into a wit, and I don't think the world needs another blue moon. I'd add a bit of wheat and then be more creative than 001 on the yeast. WY 1026 fermented warm (70), try a Kolsch yeast like WLP029, or anything to accentuate the sweetness that is expected with the citrus.

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What would you think about these options:

Wyeast 1318-London III (apparently THE strain for NE IPAs)
Wyeast 1332- Northwest Ale (I am guessing pretty much Pacman?)
Wyeast 1450- Denny's Favorite 50- reviews say it leaves a soft "chunky" mouthfeel
Wyeast 2565- Kolsch- Because you suggested it and I get where you are coming from.

I may be edging towards the Denny's Favorite 50 unless I hear otherwise.

I like 1318, or you could use a saison yeast and itll make the IPA/IIPA decision for you. Or both

KyleWolf said:

What would you think about these options:

Wyeast 1318-London III (apparently THE strain for NE IPAs)

Click to expand...

1318 was one I thought about adding to the list but I've never brewed with it. I'm with Moops on that being a nice pick.

Tons of people love Denny's too, I don't think you would go wrong there.

Don't be afraid to split the batch either, it sucks to run out of the 2.5 gallons that tasted better, but you speed up your discovery significantly.