General advice for converting IPA to IIPA?

I've been brewing a fairly hoppy IPA recipe that is enjoyed by myself and several friends. I am contemplating playing with the recipe to make an IIPA but I really don't know where to start. Anyone have any hints or general guidelines in doing this? The recipe is EdWort's Bee Cave IPA but I do some hop substitutions. I still have about the same IBUs as the original.

A much larger grain bill. As you increase the SG/ABV you will be able to increase the IBU's. Worry about getting the grain bill nailed down first to come in at a OG of around 1.080-1.090 I would say. Once you have that the hops are entirely up to you, just add them into BrewSmith and see what happens

A IIPA would be higher gravity\ higher IBU beer than an IPA. I don't know the specific guidelines but they should be easy to look up. You will need to make additional malt additions and hop additions and not just substitutions. They are generally in 1.080 range or higher. Guidelines are here.

I suppose if you had a favorite IPA recipe to start with, note the percentages in the grain bill and the bitterness ratio (IBU/SG). Then, increase your grain bill maintaining your ratios (roughly), until you get the ABV category you want.

Then, do the same for your hop schedule until your IBU/SG ratio is back.

Also, remember that when you get into the higher starting gravities, you really need to oxygenate your wort well, and pitch lots of healthy yeast. A starter would be a great idea! Otherwise, use 2 or more vials of yeast ... they got a lot of work to do!

Good Luck!
--lexuschris

And remember typically IIPA are supposed to be unbalanced. Just go nuts with the hops but remember technically the human tongue cant detect anything over 70 IBU's. Even the brewmaster at Avery says their IIPA is the most unbalanced beer they make and they would not change a thing.

I keep hearing people say that an IIPA should not be balanced. Reading the BJCP guidelines it says the malt backbone will generally support the bitterness and the best examples are reasonably balanced. So why dose everyone keep saying that it should not?? I am just trying to figure it out.

sub-zero said:

I keep hearing people say that an IIPA should not be balanced. Reading the BJCP guidelines it says the malt backbone will generally support the bitterness and the best examples are reasonably balanced. So why dose everyone keep saying that it should not?? I am just trying to figure it out.

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It is what many people (including myself) enjoy. I think something like Pliny the Elder (or Sculpin) is perfect, just a huge hop character smothering a pretty dry, bland, malt base (often with a bit of refined sugar to help). It all depends on your pallet, many people would say a regular American pale ale is too bitter and not balanced, but I think most IIPAs I have are not bitter/hoppy enough.

Who cares what the BJCP guidelines have to say, unless you are entering a competition? (and that is coming from a BJCP judge).

I'll agree with Oldsock and throw in that you'll probably still do better in a competition if you smash with hop character. Remember that bitterness is only part of the equation. When I do IIPAs I make sure to do a strong bittering addition/FWH & then just blitz the last 15min/whirlpool with flavor/aroma additions and then dry-hop with a couple of ounces. Next time I'll probably do multiple dry hop additions as well. But it's up to you. Just make sure you do have a sturdy malt backbone that finishes dry, otherwise you're tending towards Barleywine territory.

Thanks for the insite

If you have a 5-6% IPA recipe you like, boosting everything by 30-50% will put you into the IIPA range. IBU/ABV ratio stays the same (although there are limits to both detection levels and actual conversion).

If you can get your hands on the summer issue of zymurgy, vinny from Russian River gives his tips for formulating a IIPA recipe. One keep thing he mentions is that since a lot of IIPA finish pretty dry, you need some really fermentable sugar to help out and he adds a 5-7% dextrose sugar to help out.

It depends on what you like. DFH 90 technically fits into the IIPA category but it's balanced, if not sweet. Stone and Pliny are on the other side of balance. Basically I'd take the IPA recipe, add 1lb of table sugar and keep adding more base malt to hit about 1.080. Then I'd increase each hop addition to get 120 calculated IBU.

humann_brewing said:

If you can get your hands on the summer issue of zymurgy, vinny from Russian River gives his tips for formulating a IIPA recipe. One keep thing he mentions is that since a lot of IIPA finish pretty dry, you need some really fermentable sugar to help out and he adds a 5-7% dextrose sugar to help out.

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I'm still learning. What does 5-7% mean?

percentage of the fermentable sugars in the recipe.