Pliny the Elder cloned down to an IPA instead of IIPA.

Not to insult a great beer! But, has anyone attempted to tone down the Pliny clone and make an IPA instead an IIPA? I LOVE a good IPA, but IIPA's get to be too strong for me to really enjoy. I really want the same essence of the Pliny hops and character, but want a little lighter.. I'm looking for something around an OG of .065/.066, IBU's in the high 60's..

Do you think if I just cut the malt by X percent across the board incrementally to get me at the lower gravity then do the same for the hops would get me in the ball bark? If anyone has done it, do you happen to have a recipe? What do you think of the idea, beside that I want to ruin a great beer?

I'll run it through beersmith later to give an idea of what I'm thinking.. I want something around 6.5% abv. I'll be using DME also..

I would look up Blind Pig by Russian River. Pliny is their big name and biggest seller but Blind Pig is the IPA that started it, and it is amazingly tasty. Its abv is around where you want yours to be, I can go check a bottle downstairs to give you an exact number.

You should check out Tasty McDole's Pliny light APA recipe.. I think the OG is around 1.060(ish).

If you look at the Pliny recipe, it has a large dextrose addition (table sugar). I would just leave that out and you should have exactly what your looking for. The Sugar adds nothing but alcohol so it will be in 1080-90 area.

The sugar really help dry the beer out which I feel is necessary for imperial IPAs. When I make Pliny my OG is around 1.070 to start and try to get 85% atten. to get the alcohol abv. to match pliny.

Thanks for the suggestions, I checked out both blind pig and tasty ipa.. Here's the attempt I came up with.. I left in the corn sugar to give it a touch drier finish, although the small amount may be negligible? The idea is to have the essence of the Pliney on a diet, I kept the main proportions, only toned down to .067 OG and 67 ibu's (vs 278.6++) Opinions? Could I be pushing the hops since it doesn't have the IIPA backbone?

Recipe: Pliney the Slim
Style: American IPA
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Estimated OG: 1.067 SG
Estimated Color: 16.7 EBC
Estimated IBU: 66.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7 lbs 1.6 oz Light Dry Extract (15.8 EBC) Dry Extract 87.38 %
2.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (78.8 EBC) Grain 1.54 %
7.2 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC) Grain 5.54 %
7.2 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 EBC) Sugar 5.54 %

0.35 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 14.7 IBU
0.70 oz Warrior [15.00 %] (60 min) Hops 33.9 IBU
0.25 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (45 min) Hops 9.6 IBU
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (30 min) Hops 8.7 IBU
0.25 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (0 min) Hops -

0.25 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 Hops -

0.25 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 Hops -


Est Original Gravity: 1.067 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.48 %
Bitterness: 66.8 IBU

I think that should get you in the ballpark you are looking for. I believe Pliny dry hops twice, which is what it looks like you are doing in your recipe. You can probably cut back to a single 7 day dry hop if you are looking to reduce the hop presence and bitterness from Pliny.

Pliny's attraction is its ability to get maximum hop bitterness and flavor but still making a balanced beer. My question is, are you still trying to get max IBU and flavor but with a lower alcohol beer? Because I don't really think it's possible. The hops need the extra alcohol and malt.

So what I'm thinking you really want is an IPA made with the same hops as Pliny. I wouldn't scale the recipe down proportionately like it seems you've done - I'd just take another classic IPA hopping schedule and sub in the Pliny hops.

The reason I got thinking about all this is because I see the multiple bittering additions you have, and the very tiny flavor/aroma additions. For an IPA most people are using at least two additions of 1oz each in the last 20 mins.

But maybe I'm presuming too much about what you like in Pliny...

kanzimonson said:

Pliny's attraction is its ability to get maximum hop bitterness and flavor but still making a balanced beer. My question is, are you still trying to get max IBU and flavor but with a lower alcohol beer? Because I don't really think it's possible. The hops need the extra alcohol and malt.

So what I'm thinking you really want is an IPA made with the same hops as Pliny. I wouldn't scale the recipe down proportionately like it seems you've done - I'd just take another classic IPA hopping schedule and sub in the Pliny hops.

The reason I got thinking about all this is because I see the multiple bittering additions you have, and the very tiny flavor/aroma additions. For an IPA most people are using at least two additions of 1oz each in the last 20 mins.

But maybe I'm presuming too much about what you like in Pliny...

Click to expand...

Your accurate on my thinking, I'm looking for a similar hop profile in a lighter easier to drink brew.. I'm not really interested in the max ibu's, i want the bursting hop aroma and flavor.. Looking at it again, it does seem it's going to be going be very bitter, losing most flavor & aroma qualities, then I'm dry hopping the crap out of it for the aroma.. I don't think the flavor would match the aroma in this attempt. It would probably smell awesome and taste like crap

I think I'll take your suggestion substitute the Pliney hops with a classic schedule.. Do you think the malt bill is OK to support an IPA as is? Maybe I should just go ahead and drop the sugar in increase the DME..

I think aiming for a 1.062-67 beer is the way to go for an IPA, no corn sugar needed if you're using Cal Ale yeast.

For this beer, since you'll still be relating it to Pliny, how about juicing the hops a little more than a typical IPA - say .5oz of each of the three finishing hops at 20min, 10min, and 0min.

Then stick with the dry hops you were planning. Maybe even boost the dry hops to 10g each so you're at least hitting 2oz total dry hops. I don't put less than 2oz dry hops in my IPAs.

if you ever have a chance to try Russian Rivers IPA (not blind pig, just the standard IPA) you will think you are having pliny lite. Same hop profile, just softer in flavor. it starts at 1.064, 62IBUs and is only 6.5%abv. Its an awesome beer. I would think you could take the pliny clone recipe and scale way back the bittering addition and cut back the finishing hops and dry hop into more standard IPA territory and end up with a fantastic beer.