Lost my mind: brewed IIPA with 16 oz & 13 varieties of hops

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greenbirds

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I realized yesterday that there is no way I'm going to use my 8+ lbs of hops (+ a few more lbs from other sources) from hopsdirect before they go bad. So I decided to experiment.

Grain
12.00 lb 2-row Pale Malt
1.30 lb Munich 10L
0.40 lb Crystal 20L
0.40 lb Crystal 80L

Hops
0.50 oz. Zeus/Columbus 16.4% - 15 min
0.50 oz. Magnum 14.2% - 15 min
0.50 oz. Centennial 8.6% - 15 min
0.25 oz. EACH: Amarillo, Crystal, Columbus, Chinook, Citra, Centennial, Cascade, Magnum, Mt. Hood, Nugget, Simcoe, Summit, Willamette @ 10, 5, and 1 min.
US-05 dry yeast

Ok, so technically only 11.25 oz there - but all in the last 15 minutes! Nearly all were leaf, but I have some pellets for most varieties, which will work better for the 4.75 oz dry hop addition.

I targeted 5 gallons at 1.080, aware that I would have massive losses due to wort absorption by the leaf hops, cutting my yield to about 3 gallons. Wish I had a photo of how thick it was after the flameout addition; stirring it around felt like stirring a mash. The IBUs calculated by Beersmith were around 85, but I imagine that might not be too accurate.

I know I probably hit the hop-flavor-saturation point after a few ounces, but with hop prices as low as they are, I figured why not see what happens? I will update this thread once it's on tap, which, despite the estimated 8.5% abv, won't be long after fermentation finishes, since I want this thing to be consumed as fresh as possible.
 
I also overdid it when ordering hops, so to help cut down on my inventory, I just brewed a IIPA with 24 ounces. 2 in the mash, 18 in the boil (with a pound added during the last 15 minutes, 1oz/min from 15-flame out) and 4 oz dry hop.

I shot for 7.5 gallons after the boil, hoping that after primary and dry hop i'll have 5 to bottle. I'm not sure if i'll get that much, but i hope i do. The gravity sample was friggen delicious.

My IBU's came in at 185. I only used 3 varieties though: Columbus, Amarillo, and Chinook.
 
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