Imperial India Amber Ale Recipe

I'm trying for a 5-gallon batch of Imperial India Amber Ale, and I'm having trouble getting my IBUs up where I want them, i.e. over 100.

Here's what I have so far; this is sorta based off of a smaller batch that I just threw together that turned out wonderful after only two weeks in the bottle:

9lbs pale DME
1lb crystal 40
1lb carapils
5oz Warrior @ 60min
5oz Cascade @ 15min
5oz Chinook @ 5min
Irish moss
Starter w/WLP001 California Ale yeast

OG 1.081
FG 1.018
IBU 64.5
ABV 8.2%

I'm happy with the OG and ABV, but as I said, I want the IBUs to be over 100. How do I do this? Just add more hops? Change the rate at which I add them?

As I understand it, generally speaking, the longer you leave your hops in the boil, the more bitterness and less aroma they will contribute. So you might consider moving chunks of your Cascade and Chinook hops further up the schedule. 5oz with 5 minutes left seems like they'd contribute a ton of aroma, but almost no bitterness.

5oz of warrior will put you way over 100 especially if you do a full boil.

On a side note, I think it will take more than 9lbs of dme to hit that OG

I got all these number from BeerSmith; I've hit similar OGs with similar amounts of extract before. Why do you say I'm not going to hit this OG with this amount of extract?

Also, I'll be doing a partial boil since I only have a two gallon brew pot.

I guess so, I haven't done extract in a while, thought it would be more I guess, beersmith is giving me about 1079 for 5 even. Usually you want to shoot for 5.5 so by the time you bottle/keg you have 5 gallons after some losses. Changing it to 5.5 moves it to 1072

Partial boils do not cooperate on bitterness very well - If you boil 3 gallons down to 2.5, and top off with 2.5 gallons of water - you'd have to hit 200 IBUs, because you're diluting with water...

Can you find a way to do a full boil? Maybe time to upgrade to 10 gallon pot and turkey frier...?

It is highly unlikely tha I'll have the money to upgrade equipment for a good while.

with 5oz of warrior I think you will be fine on the bitterness even with a partial boil.

I've got a question... not to come off as abrasive, but what makes this an imperial india AMBER ale? It looks like a fairly standard grain bill for an IIPA to me, but I could be wrong...

Well, version 1 used amber LME and no steeping grains, so that's what I called it. This recipe is version 2.

Not ever heard of an imperial India Amber Ale before..

I would be happy to change the name if someone would give me some advice on getting the IBUs up to where I want them.

Fair enough on the name I just had not heard of it and was wondering if it was an emerging style or something and did not know what the difference would be... I'm totally fine with you calling it whatever you want.

Wish I could help with the IBU's, I've never done partial boils or extract though... sorry

corwin3083 said:

I'm trying for a 5-gallon batch of Imperial India Amber Ale, and I'm having trouble getting my IBUs up where I want them, i.e. over 100.

Here's what I have so far; this is sorta based off of a smaller batch that I just threw together that turned out wonderful after only two weeks in the bottle:

9lbs pale DME
1lb crystal 40
1lb carapils
5oz Warrior @ 60min
5oz Cascade @ 15min
5oz Chinook @ 5min
Irish moss
Starter w/WLP001 California Ale yeast

OG 1.081
FG 1.018
IBU 64.5
ABV 8.2%

I'm happy with the OG and ABV, but as I said, I want the IBUs to be over 100. How do I do this? Just add more hops? Change the rate at which I add them?

Click to expand...

How are your handling the crystal and carapils grains? Are you steeping them?

Yes, I am planning to steep the crystal and the carapils.

Doing partial mashes definitely makes it more difficult to make a more bitter beer- like an IPA or IIAA (as in this case)- because you have to boil a higher volume. If you cannot afford to step up to a bigger kettle right now, do it the cheap and mostly easy way- just use two kettles (I'm assuming you're using your stove top anyway). You can pick up smaller (20Qt) stainless steel stock pots pretty cheap at places like Big Lots, kitchen stores, and the internet.

With two kettles, just split the volume and hops between them. The biggest problem you'll have is cooling them because I assume you usually just pour the hot wort into your fermenter with cold water to make up the difference and cool the wort to pitching temp. If u have an immersion wort chilller, you're fine. If not, there won't be room to add much cold water after your dual-kettle boil. Do some ice-baths in the sink and make sure you put lids on your kettles so that airborne bacteria and bad things don't get in. Get wort to temp., pitch yeast, and wait...