First stab at a Triple IPA

[gravity84]

Well I tried to get my pint of Pliny the Younger this year. I've had it before. It's wonderful, but this year....no luck, it's just so viral now it's insane.

Anyway, now I'm fiending for some smooth delicious hop bomb TIPA action. I've made a few IPAs before and they've come out great, but I'm just overwhelmed with picking hops and determining hop schedule for such a big beer.

Right now I'm thinking of keeping it to 3 hop varieties. Simcoe for sure. Thinking of boosting the fruity character with some Mosaic. And I need to balance all that out with some pineyness. Torn between Columbus/CTZ and Apollo. While I would consider myself a "hophead" I have grown quite weary of the super resinous lingering aftertaste of the likes of Chinook. What do you guys think, Columbus or Apollo?

I've been reading about how things like PtY and DFH120 are made and they do staggered hop additions for the dry hop schedule. I don't get why. If the point is to add fresh hop aroma, why not just add the sum total of the intended dry hops in secondary instead of stretching it out over various additions?

work in progress recipe:

fermentables:
17 lbs domestic 2 row
1 lb crystal 60L
1 lb cane sugar

Mash @ 148F for 90 minutes

Columbus 1 oz 90 min boil
Columbus 1 oz 45 min boil
Simcoe 1.5 oz 30 min boil
Simcoe 2 oz flameout
Mosaic 1 oz flameout
Columbus .5 oz flameout

dryhop schedule TBD.

US05 yeast

estimated values:
1.099 OG (based on 75% efficiency)
1.014 FG
102 IBU
9L SRM
11% ABV
1.03 OG/IBU

Comments, criticism, suggestions on this recipe are welcome. Thanks.

 

[BeerGrylls]

You may want to look into using hop extract in place of the early kettle additions. You can get the high bitterness without the harsher vegetative flavors.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Did you want me to PM my mailing address for a sixer once finished? Looks tasty. Are you putting the cane sugar into the fermenter or into the boil? I know dfh120 keeps pushing sugar every day for a while. I haven't used us05 before. How does it handle that alcohol level? Have you considered having some wlp099 on hand if you can't get FG low enough?

Something else to consider is bittering with warrior or magnum and then just focusing on that real fresh aroma/flavor layering at the end of the boil and through the dry hopping.

 

[motorneuron]

There are as many views on the subject of very hoppy beer as there are grains of sand on the beach, and nearly as many threads, so I would encourage you to search for similar stuff to get general advice.

First: This recipe will already produce a good beer. So don't take anything else too seriously.

I think it is helpful to consider what your final beer should be like. People have different ideas of very hoppy beer. Some people want to exceed the bitterness perception limit; other people want something very smooth and with a huge aroma. Some people want sweeter, and some people want drier. Some people find caramel and the associated fruit flavors distracting, and some love them. Those are all questions you should have affirmative answers to when you make your recipe. You might already know the answers; just make sure your recipe and process account for it.

For me, I like dry rather than sweet; not much caramel, but a little toast for malt backbone; and a strong bitterness, not just aroma. So I would (personally!) use very little, if any, C60, but use some aromatic or biscuit or victory instead; mash quite low; double the bittering addition (and do it only at 90 minutes, rather than 90 and 45).

Last note--I don't know why the staggered dry hop additions are suggested either. I do think that actual (i.e. commercial) brewers have suggested this, though. So I do it when I'm exceeding 3 oz of dry hops.

 

[gravity84]

Thanks for the insight! I do know a bit of what I'm after. I'm not afraid of bitterness so to speak, I'm just tired of the kind of aggressive lingering bitterness that I taste all night and sometimes into the next day when I drink it. The last IPA I made was a single hop Citra IPA and it was great, but I am kind of exasperated with fruit bomb IPAs, while I still like what fruit bomb hops add, I think I'd just prefer them to be more as an accent against pine, herbal, and citrus notes. I prefer dry, bone dry finish, and yeah, now that you mention it C60 is kind of against that mindset. I'm worried about the beer not having enough structure to support all that hop and alcohol though.

 

[ddicker60]

First, this looks fine.

Personally, I would try hop extract for the 90min addition. Less vegetal matter. Then move everything to 15 or under, a hop burst. Just something else if you wanted to try.

 

[morticaixavier]

Thanks for the insight! I do know a bit of what I'm after. I'm not afraid of bitterness so to speak, I'm just tired of the kind of aggressive lingering bitterness that I taste all night and sometimes into the next day when I drink it. The last IPA I made was a single hop Citra IPA and it was great, but I am kind of exasperated with fruit bomb IPAs, while I still like what fruit bomb hops add, I think I'd just prefer them to be more as an accent against pine, herbal, and citrus notes. I prefer dry, bone dry finish, and yeah, now that you mention it C60 is kind of against that mindset. I'm worried about the beer not having enough structure to support all that hop and alcohol though.

lots of base malt will give good maltiness. the sugar will dry it out. I'd go with your instincts and drop the c60, maybe up the sugar. Consider a touch of victory as motorneuron suggests or, my fav, munich 10L for a great bready malty backbone without crystal sweetness.
As I understand it the staggered dry hops are to avoid too much grassy flavour and aroma while maximizing hop aroma and flavor.

 

[gravity84]

lots of base malt will give good maltiness. the sugar will dry it out. I'd go with your instincts and drop the c60, maybe up the sugar. Consider a touch of victory as motorneuron suggests or, my fav, munich 10L for a great bready malty backbone without crystal sweetness.
As I understand it the staggered dry hops are to avoid too much grassy flavour and aroma while maximizing hop aroma and flavor.

does munich 10L go by another name? I found a "Dark Munich 8-10L"

re: hopshot/hop extract recommendations. I've never used it before and my LHBS doesn't appear to carry it (morebeer.com). This probably is an incorrect mindset to have, but the prideful side of me thinks using extracts and stuff is cheating though, so I think I will stick with hops for this batch.

So making small adjustments here's what I have:

17 lbs 2 row
1 lb victory
1.25 lbs cane sugar

2 oz columbus 90 min
1.5 oz simcoe 30 min
.5 oz columbus flameout
1 oz mosaic flameout
2 oz simcoe flameout

Dry hop schedule (VERY rough first draft, need to do more research on this, opinions/advice please!):

first dry hop addition after primary ferm:
1 oz Columbus
1 oz Simcoe
.5 oz Mosaic

4 days later:
.5 oz Columbus
.5 oz Simcoe

4 days later:
1 oz Columbus
1 oz Simcoe
.5 oz Mosaic

Then bottle

updated estimations:
1.101 OG
1.015 FG
106 IBU
6L SRM (Too light?)
11% ABV
1.05 OG/IBU

Again, I'm kind of shooting in the dark with this dry hop schedule. At least with boil additions I have a grasp on the quantitative nature of hop additions, I have no clue with dry hop additions though so any tips are greatly appreciated.

Contemplating adding the sugar to secondary, too, so that the yeast can eat the more complex sugars early on and tackle the simple sugars later.

 

[morticaixavier]

dark munich is the one. I love that malt.

 

[BeerGrylls]

I know you mentioned PtY and I'm not sure if you were trying to go that way, or make a clone, but Vinnie has shared his recipe for PtE here, which includes notes on PtY (but not a recipe):

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/6351/doubleIPA.pdf

For PtY or something like it, you might want to read this, which has a lot of detail about getting into crazy TIPA territory:

http://www.sudzers.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Pliny-the-Younger.pdf

 

[gravity84]

I know you mentioned PtY and I'm not sure if you were trying to go that way, or make a clone, but Vinnie has shared his recipe for PtE here, which includes notes on PtY (but not a recipe):

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/6351/doubleIPA.pdf

For PtY or something like it, you might want to read this, which has a lot of detail about getting into crazy TIPA territory:

http://www.sudzers.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Pliny-the-Younger.pdf

NICE! these are great resources, thanks!

 

[wonderbread23]

This is one that I brewed that was pretty close in flavor to the younger. IMO, the key his getting the ferment and attenuation right (92% apparent attenuation).

http://www.seattleproper.com/Recipes/youngeratheart