First Partial Mash, how's my recipe? (IPA)

Hey guys! I'm starting my 3rd batch this Sunday and I'm doing my first partial mash; I'm very excited, I found extract recipes left me feeling like my beer wasn't living up to my standards. It's not that I look down on extracts, but to me, it seems like the difference between instant mashed potatoes and homemade mashed potatoes; I guess using that metaphor, a partial mash is somewhere in between.

Anyway, I used a brew recipe builder online to kinda figure out what I'm going for, it's sort of a IIPA. Here's what I got:

Batch size: 5.5 gallons
Boil size: 5 gallons
OG:1.088 (according the the calculator) FG: 1.022
(target) ABV: 8.71%
SRM:11-12
Boil Length: 60 minutes
Conversation: (playing it safe cause it's my first partial mash I'm gonna say 50%, but it may well be higher.)

(Note: I have 1.5lbs of Carapils, 2lbs of White Wheat, 5lbs of 2-row, 3lbs of Amber DME, 2lbs Light DME, and 1lb of Turbinado- that's the total of all my ingredients; they've been purchased)

1.5lb American Carapils
2lb American White Wheat
1lb UK-Crystal 50L
5lb American Pale 2-row
3lb DME-Amber
1lb DME-Light
.5lb Turbinado(In Gordon Strong's book "Brewing Better Beers" he says that adding brown sugar makes the alcohol have a "dryer" taste, so I figured I'd give it a try.)

Yeast: California Ale yeast WLP001

(Here's my hop list, quantity and the time of the additions; however, I'm totally open to changing around my hop schedule)
1oz Simcoe 13% AA
2oz Magnum 14.1%AA
2oz Columbus 13.9%
2oz Amarillo 9.2%

Hop Schedule:
1oz Magnum 14.1%AA at 60 minutes
1oz Columbus 13.9%AA at 60 minutes
.5oz Simcoe 13%AA at 30 minutes
1oz Amarillo 9.2%AA at 15 minutes
1oz Amarillo 9.2%AA at 5 minutes

I've never Dry hopped my beers, since it's an IPA (more of a DIPA) I'm thinking of dry hopping with:

1oz Magnum
.5oz Simcoe
1oz Columbus

I will be adding 4.5oz of hops to my boil, and dry hopping with 2.5oz.

I will be bottling my beer(I've successfully bottled one batch, and it wasn't to bad) . Due to me being a broke as college student, a keg system is totally out of reach; for right now at least. Can't wait till I can get some Cornies! I'll probably just use 3/4 cup of corn Sugar, as that's done me well in the past, should I change my priming method for this recipe?


I'll be following steps similar to this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/

Please let me know your thoughts! This is the first of my own recipes, I'm probably making mistakes somewhere. I live on the West Coast, so I'm shooting for a beer with a massive hoppyness and high ABV. I've also read, and experienced, beers that use alittle bit of wheat get a really nice mouth feel, and "creaminess", am I using to much? Will my beer be to sweet with all the crystal and dextrine malt? Should I skip the Turbinado(pure brown sugar, for those who don't know)? How's my hop schedule look?

None of my friends are homebrewers (trying to get them as hooked as I am though!) so I don't have anyone who's experienced with brewing to bounce ideas off of, help me out guys!

Recipe looks ok to me. One thing I might suggest is drop the amount of carapils to .5lb or .75lbs. You have the wheat and crystal that'll give you body, might be a little much with that much carapils. Also make sure to make a good size starter for this, looks like a pretty high grav beer. Good luck with the mash hope everything works out for you :rockin:

Sweet! I will totally drop the amount of carapils and use leftover Light DME for a yeast starter.

I wouldn't recommend ever using amber DME, especially in a beer like an IPA. There is "other" stuff in an amber DME, like crystal malt and Munich malt. But you don't really know, so you could be doubling up on crystal malt without knowing it. I'd use light (or extra light) always, and use specialty grains for the color and flavor, just as I would in an all-grain batch where I use light base malt and then specialty grains for color and flavor.

I'd definitely leave out the carapils, since there is already crystal in the recipe and amber DME besides. It's going to be way too much crystal malt.