Taking a swing at an IPA

Thoughts? Comments? I just meandered through my LHBS online supply and came up with this:

10lbs. Maris Otter
1lb. Honey Malt
1lb. Caramel/Crystal 40L

1oz. Brewer's Gold 8.1 AA (60 min)
1oz. Challenger 7.5 AA (60 min)
1oz. East Kent Goldings 5.0 AA (30 min)
1oz. Yakima Kent Goldings 5.2 AA (10 min)
1oz. Yakima Kent Goldings 5.2 AA (Dry hop 7 days)

2 Packages US-05 (rehydrated)

OG 1.062, FG 1.017, 63 IBU, 6% ABV, according to this online recipe builder: beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe

It will be my second brew. I basically read flavour descriptions and it thought it sounds good. I still need to calculate strike and sparge volume/temps. Anything glaringly wrong with it, or does it look like a go?

I think it works. It falls under the American IPA guidelines and it seems like the color would be right.
I would probably consider putting in 2 oz. of hops to dry hop, but that is just me.

Maybe more finishing hops between 20min and 0min. That is more towards an english IPA with that hop selection, but I'm sure it will be tasty!

I would move the last two hop additions to later. You probably want at least one addition between 5:00 and 0:00.

I think 30:00 is too early to get flavor or aroma, too late to get most of the bittering potential. Maybe just move that addition to 20:00.

Thanks for the suggestions! I've edited the hop schedule as such:

1oz. Brewer's Gold 8.1 AA (60 min)
1oz. Challenger 7.5 AA (60 min)
1oz. East Kent Goldings 5.0 AA (20 min)
1oz. Yakima Kent Goldings 5.2 AA (10 min)
1oz. Yakima Kent Goldings 5.2 AA (5 min)
1oz. Yakima Kent Goldings 5.2 AA (Dry hop 7 days)

One packet of S-05 will be enough. Save the other one for your next beer!

Hovercar said:

Thanks for the suggestions! I've edited the hop schedule as such:

1oz. Brewer's Gold 8.1 AA (60 min)
1oz. Challenger 7.5 AA (60 min)
1oz. East Kent Goldings 5.0 AA (20 min)
1oz. Yakima Kent Goldings 5.2 AA (10 min)
1oz. Yakima Kent Goldings 5.2 AA (5 min)
1oz. Yakima Kent Goldings 5.2 AA (Dry hop 7 days)

Click to expand...

Looks good!

Sounds tasty. I've never used honey malt, but I'm tempted...

from what I read when asking about honey malt 1lb of honey is prob more than enough; i was told 1/2 lb is pretty good amount, adding 1lb of crystal may be a bit too sweet; YMMV of course

I've used the honey malt and it can be so me pretty potent stuff. Especially with a full lb of 40L I'd imagine you're going to have a fair amount of sweetness to the beer. Of course if you're looking for some sweet to go with that bitter then hey, rock on, I just like a little bit drier of IPA's. As always, YMMV.

Regarding the sweetness: Yes, I'm certainly going for it, but I don't want to go overkill. Will this be 'somewhat sweet' or possibly overboard? This brew is actually for my father, and he always leans towards highly hopped brews with a mild sweetness to them (but not to any great excess).

If the honey plus crystal is going to be overly sweet, maybe I'll drop the crystal and toss in another pound of maris otter... hmm...

i think that the honey malt is gonna set this brew off. i don't think that it will add as much sweetness as honey would. if plain honey is used, only late in the boil will it impart a honey flavor or sweetness, it would bump alcohol up. honey malt will definately add a sweet flavor to this brew, it will also add phenomenal aroma with the kent goldings late hops. if it were me i would add 2 lbs of honey malt. you are getting 37 gravity points per gallon per pound of malt with the honey malt. if your mash tun is 82%, you are only adding 6 points over the whole 5 gallon batch. i am definately gonna put this on my "to brew list". this is gonna be good. kudos.

1 lb honey and 1 lb cara40 is gonna put you at 16.6% crystal malt giving you a lot of unfermentables. Which depending on your tastes could end up overly sweet. Either drop the amounts down or mash really low (148-9). If you want to play with honey malt, I would drop the cara40 and go for soomething like 90% marris, 10% honey malt and mash at 150*. That will give a good background for your hops