first IPA (cross between Deschutes Chainbreaker and Red Chair)

Hi all,

My father-in-law and I will be brewing our first IPA this weekend, and I'm working out the details of the recipe. We've never brewed an IPA before, and wondered if I could float a few questions past this august crew!

As my title suggests, we're big fans of Deschutes, and are aiming for a cross between Red Chair and Chainbreaker. From what I've been able to piece together on the web, that indicates a recipe involving the following:

About 60% pilsner malt (question: can all or some of this be replaced with 2-row pale?)
30% wheat malt
10% either flaked oats, wheat or rye

Mashed around 54degF.

1 oz coriander at 10 min
1 oz citrus zest (at 5 min? flameout? and what citrus? One suggestion I read was a combo of tangerine and grapefruit)

A wit yeast. (Will Safale T-58 do the trick?) Cloudy final product preferred within reason.

Hop schedule:
(Unfortunately, my HBS's varieties are rather limited....)
1/2 oz Chinook bittering for 60 minutes
2.5 oz Centennial "hop burst" at 15 min
1 oz Cascade dry hop
Aim is to get around 55 IBUs.

Thoughts?

Typical practice is a 90 minute boil when your recipe is high in pilsener malt. That extra 30 minutes helps to drive off any remaining Dimethyl Sulfide. It can be replaced with 2-row if desired for a 60 minute boil. Or you could use both of those as needed... And I think you meant mash at 154 F? Not 54 F, right?

For an aromatic IPA, low in bitterness, you'll want to use about 5-7 oz. total hops for a 5 gallon batch (most of those hops added late to stave off bitterness and boost aroma). Your current schedule seems good if you add another small 20 minute addition along with a substantial whirlpool addition. Add another 2 oz. to the dryhop and you're set.

Wit yeast isn't typically used for a IPAs, but that doesn't mean you can't experiment. And from what I know about spices and zests, I think you add spices during the last 5 minutes of the boil and fresh zests at flameout. 1 oz. seems like a lot for the spice, but okay for the zest.