Easy Imperial Double IPA All Grain 5.5 Gallon

Found something similar but simplified the grain profile even more and dumped a truck load of hops into it. Buy 1 lb of Cascade and 1 lb of Chinook, use half of each. BAM!

Title: Easy Imperial Double IPA

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Imperial IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.062
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.085
Final Gravity: 1.024
ABV (standard): 8.03%
IBU (tinseth): 190.92
SRM (morey): 13.54

FERMENTABLES:
15 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (92.6%)
1 lb - Cane Sugar (6.2%)
0.2 lb - American - Midnight Wheat Malt (1.2%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Magnum, Type: Pellet, AA: 15, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 46.41
0.5 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 45 min, IBU: 9.94
0.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 45 min, IBU: 18.46
0.5 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 8.32
0.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 15.46
0.5 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 6.56
0.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 12.18
0.5 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 5.37
0.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 9.98
0.5 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 3.93
0.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 7.29
0.5 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 2.16
0.5 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 4.01
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Whirlpool for 0 min at 200 °F, IBU: 4.77
1 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Whirlpool for 0 min at 200 °F, IBU: 8.85
2 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Whirlpool for 0 min at 180 °F, IBU: 9.53
2 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Whirlpool for 0 min at 180 °F, IBU: 17.7
2 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Dry Hop for 0 days
2 oz - Chinook, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Dry Hop for 0 days

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Batch Sparge, Temp: 152 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 24 qt, Batch Sparge
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.5 qt/lb

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 72%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 59 - 75 F
Fermentation Temp: 66 F
Pitch Rate: 1.25 (M cells / ml / deg P)

Hi All,

So I brewed this recipe and bottled it 11/15/14. I just tried two bottles just to see how they were doing; 1 being the very last bottle of the batch and one the 8th to last.

Both had very little hop aroma, very little hop flavor, and very little bitterness.

HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE??? The beer itself is good, a nice clean malty taste but there's no hops! There's 17 oz of hops all total! What happened??

Hmmmmmmm....... I agree, that seems impossible. A few thoughts - although, I would think that there should be substantial..... or at least decent...... bitterness/hop levels in this beer.

*Your FG is listed as 1.024 - was it really that high? If it was, that is really sweet/malty - that could definitely detract from the perceived bitterness.

*Water - do you know what the mineral profile was? Water can play an important role in the perception. Ideally, you would have water that is low bicarbonate, high (200-300) sulfate and low (30-50) Chloride. Low on everything else. No chlorine.

*Tasting....... could be something as simple as having a cold, or eating/drinking something else before hand that muddled your palette.

Those are some thoughts..... but, that beer really should have loads of hop presence in it, so I don't know that my thoughts are adequate. But, I guess that is where I would start.

So FG was 1.010
Water was RO water with gypsum added.
The beer was definitely cold. That could play a factor.
Food/drink could have something to do with it but for how not hoppy this beer was that definitely wasn't the problem.

The beer Calcs out to 9.45% ABV. Don't think that has too much to do with it.

I'm quite shocked. The first one I tried literally came from me squeezing the hop trub through a paint strainer bag and bottling a beer from that. That one had a little biterness.

Thanks Braufessor!

So, just to close the loop. My brother in law and his LBS owner who was the master brewer at Boston Beer Works for years and he told him about my scenario and before he could even finish he said "oxidation. Oxidation can destroy a IIPA". Zero hesitation. Zero doubt.

My whole process though I thought I nailed. I had some air at the end of my siphon from the primary to bottling bucket. Maybe I had more than I thought? My biggest issue ever has been transferring from the primary to the bottling bucket. Do you have any suggestions? Or any other suggestions for that matter to avoid oxidation?

Thanks Brauf!

Kegging

The more you move beer, the more you are going to introduce oxygen.

Primary to secondary (maybe)
Primary or secondary to Bottling bucket
Stirring of priming sugar
From bottling bucket into bottles

All of those WILL introduce oxygen, no matter how careful you are - it is just a matter of how much.

The biggest issue would be splashing or leaks around hose connections, autosiphons, hose to spigot, bottling wand...... all of those connections have the potential to put bubbles into the liquid.

I am actually getting ready to keg right now. Beer fermented in primary only. Keep fermenters high for a day or two to let everything settle before transfer. Fermenters have spigots so that no need to siphon. Fully purge keg with CO2. Snug tubing so no leaks, gentle transfer. Dry hop in the keg in stainless mesh, purge head space with CO2.

I realize that is not possible for everyone, especially bottling. I would not secondary -to cut out one transfer (if you are). Could get some CO2 to purge bottling bucket.... that would help some. Gentle transfers and gotta make sure no bubbles are getting into the lines and as little O2 as possible while bottling. O2 absorbing caps may help a bit. Bottom line is that it is probably more about limiting O2 exposure - I don't see very many ways to eliminate it when bottling.

It is definitely a good answer to the lack of hoppiness though. Perhaps some bottles will be better than others too depending on how they filled.