Any advice for a rookie IIPA brew?

brewski08 said:

honey malt isn't very fermentable, so i'd include that in your 0-10% portion of your cara/crystal grain bill. i've actually read that honey malt is a medium colored crystal malt (perhaps 45L?). i would say it adds similar tastes that medium colored crystal malt would rather than a honey taste. i think if you'd like to get the hopslam honey taste, you either should prime with honey or simply back-sweeten (kill the yeast, then add the honey so it won't be fermented) your beer with it.

as for your yeast, i'm in that ever decreasing pool of brewers who puts a lot of faith in my yeast. they're tough little buggers, and i know they like my beer A LOT (perhaps even more than i do!). i've never made a starter, and i probably never will. i once pitched a vial of WL001 in a big beer (1.095 OG) without a starter; everything turned out fine...in fact, everything turned out better than fine! that beer was delicious! never even had a stuck fermentation.

because of this, i think 1 pack of S-05 is plenty for any 5-6 gallon batch of beer. in fact, i think two packets would be over pitching.

if i were you, i'd pitch 1 pack of S-05, and if you realize you have a stuck fermentation, pitch a little bit of the other pack. however, i think 1 pack should suffice.

Click to expand...

I kinda like the idea of adding honey after ferm. Ill be back with a new recipe soon.

Brewenstein said:

I'd keep the 17 pounds of grain. It is an imperial IPA so it is supposed to be big. Remember that efficiency usually drops with bigger beers, so you may well not get 70% unless you sparge more and boil more. Don't be afraid to boil for 2 hours. My IIPA had an OG of 1.098 and is 9.7% ABV. BJCP guidelines are just that - guidelines. Don't be afraid to stretch them if you want. It's your beer .

Click to expand...

Do you use beersmith? I just started using it. If I were to up the boil for more sparge I'm assuming BS numbers would adjust accordingly for water volume and such?

I guess it could be used for protein shakes. They cost about $40 at any Fred Meyer or whatever. I'd buy one just for aeration. Or buy one for anything kitchen. They are indispensable tools! And it's made my brew day so much more fun.

dooman333 said:

Whoa, didn't mean to hit send button right there haha, damn iPads. Anyhoo, my beers have lacked malty flavor and have, let's face it, sucked. (prob a lot to do with my lack of yeast knowledge at the time). I have no problem cutting it back. And I really like the idea of a pound of hops. I guess I'm looking for a somewhat fool proof way to get me a founders double trouble, Sqatters Hop Rising, Hopsickle kinda beer. I like the lighter colored IIPAs. Not so caramel looking. Lots of sparge water, easy pitching yeast kinda day. I still need that breathing room for slip ups. I feel I have been rushing beers and under pitching my last brews so that should be better now. I'm rushing this post as I'm on my way out the door so bare with me.

Click to expand...

I have found major lack of malty flavor in my IPA and IIPA recipes as well. I found that crystal / caramel are just too soft to accent a big hoppy beer so I changed over to using Munich 10L or 20L. It has a stronger and crisper malt profile than caramel / crystal and I never brew a pale or IPA without it now.

If I were to alter your recipe, I would just throw in a pound of Munich 10 (given you want a lighter color) along with the 0.5 of caramel because it would help bring out more malt flavor to balance the hops without adding a sweet character that covers them up.

As far as oxygen goes:

Hit a hardware store--go find the aisle with the blowtorch equipment. they usually have bottles of propane and similarly-sized bottles of oxygen. buy a bottle of oxygen, then hit the pet store and buy one of those aquarium diffusing rocks and tubing. The tubing should be big enough to fit on the end of whatever comes with the oxygen bottle.

sanitize everything, drop rock connected to tubing in, and voila.

I saw it done on a youtube vid, and thought that was FRICKIN GENIUS.

Recipe: DOOIIPA
Brewer: Doo
Asst Brewer:
Style: Imperial IPA
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 8.46 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.76 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.089 SG
Estimated Color: 9.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 121.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.7 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 73.7 %
2 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 10.5 %
2 lbs Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3 10.5 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.6 %
1.00 oz Pacific Jade [13.00 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 5 30.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 10.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 13.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 20.0 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 9 -
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 10 -
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 11 6.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 12 12.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 13 7.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 14 12.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 15 2.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 16 5.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 17 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 18 0.0 IBUs
2.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 19 -
8.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 20 2.6 %
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Day Hop 21 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Day Hop 22 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 231.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 24 0.0 IBUs
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 19 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 6.581 gal of water at 157.7 F 148.0 F 90 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.27gal, 4.63gal) of 168.0 F water

Notes:
------
Need: Nylon Hop Bag couple glass marbles
Use mixer on drill then shake before pitching.
21 day Primary
2 dry hop additions in secondary
1 on transfer day and 1 after 4 days
crash cool for 5 days before kegging

Any better? Lower IBU, lower OG, balanced hop schedule, I bought an aerator, I have Pacific Jade and Glacier in my fridge so im using them instead of warrior, 2 packs of S-05 instead of 3liter starter of 1056, added honey malt and some cara. Vienna maybe? anything look outa place. Also the Beersmith stat: Post Boil Volume of 6.75gal worries me a bit. should I lower my total batch?