Imperial IPA recipe

It will be brewed on Saturday. I plan to collect 12-14 gallons of wort and boil down to 5 or so. How does this look?



Sorry about the scan, I didn't really want to retype it.

Why are you collecting so much wort to start with? I am facing a similar situation - I plan on brewing my second IIPA a week from this Saturday. I didn't take good readings the first time I brewed one. I think I missed my OG slightly, but nothing major. When brewing an IIPA, should you always collect so much wort?

I'm trying to extract as many sugars as I can from the mash, otherwise I can't get an OG that high. I figure I'd collect the normal 14 gallons (I do 11 gallon batches), then boil down to concentrate th sugars. If some one has a better way, PLEASE let me know. Otherwise I have a 3-4 hour boil ahead of me.

That seems like a really long boil...

For a 5 gallon batch with 20# of grain to mash, maybe try a thicker mash at 1.2 qt/lbs or 6 gallons at dough-in. You'll probably collect 3.5 gallons on the 1st runnings. Then a single batch sparge of 3.5 gallons, and you'll collect 7 gallons in all.. Then, a 90 minute boil should take you the rest of the way there...

..or something close to that.

Good luck!
--LexusChris

This is just my take on it, but if you get all 1.133 of your gravity from grain, you're going to end up with a beer that tastes more barley wine than Imperial IPA, especially with a target FG of 1.033. As long as that is what you're going for (an extremely thick, sweet Imperial) then so be it, but if you're looking for something a bit drier don't hesitate to reduce your grain bill a bit and use corn sugar or honey to boost your gravity.

The other dilemma I see is that a beer that big is going to take a very long time to carbonate (assuming this is going into bottles), and an even longer time to age and mellow out given the huge grain bill. However, Imperial IPA's are best consumed fresh in my opinion, when the hop aroma and flavors are at their peak.

If I were brewing it, I would aim for an O.G. of closer to 1.095 mashed at a low temp like you have listed, and with a decent amount of that gravity contributed by highly fermentable sugars (honey or corn sugar), say around 18 gravity points. That will give you the ABV without the cloying residual sweetness.

Either way, let us know how it turns out.