Help with Fruity Imperial IPA Recipe - Advice, Critique

[BrotherBock]

No stranger to brewing, but haven't tried the IIPA yet. Looking to IIPA that is very fruit hop forward, but with a slightly sweet malt backbone. Hoping American Ale II will accentuate the fruitiness from the hops even more. Thought some victory and honey malt would add complexity to the malt so that there is something more than just hop flavor.

To those who've done IIPAs before (and are good at them) - What do you think? Will I get what I want with this recipe?

Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)
Original Gravity: 1.086
IBU (tinseth): 91.69
SRM (daniels): 12.28

FERMENTABLES:
11 lb - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (72.1%)
1.5 lb - American - Victory (9.8%)
1.5 lb - Cane Sugar (9.8%)
0.75 lb - American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (4.9%)
0.5 lb - Canadian - Honey Malt (3.3%)

HOPS:
0.65 oz - Columbus for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 15, IBU: 32.16)
6.5 oz - mix of citra, cascade and centennial distributed evenly at the
20,15,10,5,0 markers
1 oz - mix of citra, cascade and centennial dry hop 7 days
2 oz - Nelson Sauvin for 7 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop (AA 12.5)

Mash @ 150
Wyeast - American Ale II 1272

 

[yso191]

I like where you are going with this. It is how I approach IPA's whether imperial or not. The only thing I would question is whether you are accomplishing anything with all the late additions. Some more experienced brewers may argue with me on this point but my thinking is that hops do two things: bittering and flavor/aroma. 60 minute additions do the bittering, one or two late additions will handle the flavor/aroma. So what I do is a 60 minute addition, and two late additions: a 5 or 10 minute addition coupled with a hop stand after the boil. Since hop oils are so volatile I give them every chance to survive into the fermenter. Some hop oils boil off below 100*! But the kilning of hops occurs above that, so most hop stands are done at ~140-150. That will minimize the loss of oils as well as stop the formation of any DMS.

I'd love to try some when you're done!

Steve

 

[EyePeeA]

Your recipe will work, but some tweaks would help it be even better. Most notably, cutting the Victory and Corn Sugar in half. You could even go with 2-3% Victory. Too much Victory will be very nutty and take away from the hops. When you make these adjustments, you want to replace any of these losses with base malt.

I don't particularly care for heavy use of Maris Otter in my AIIPA's as it can yield a fuller, richer body and flavor compared to American 2-row. But it will still work out, so use it if you have it.

I recommend starting with a 90 minute boil, adding no hops for the first 30 minutes, then adding 2.5 oz. Columbus. This will ensure a good hot break and drastically limit polyphenol saturation, which you want to avoid because it contributes to a harsher beer. 30 minutes after your 60 minute addition, add 1 oz. Columbus at 30, which will help to offer added character and round out the bitterness.

Turn off the heat and begin the chilling process to target a whirlpool of about 160 F. Add 4 oz. mixed Citra, Cascade, Centennial. For the dryhop, another 5-6 oz. mixed Citra, Cascade, Centennial, and Nelson in two stages, e.g. 3 oz. and 5 days in primary, 3 oz. and 5 days in secondary or however you want to swing it. Follow this up with a cold crash and gelatin.

With a 150 F mash temp and a healthy 1272 starter, this will give you an amazing and fruity IIPA.

 

[BrotherBock]

The only thing I would question is whether you are accomplishing anything with all the late additions.

I guess my logic was that by adding hops the whole way through the typical flavor/aroma time frames, that I'd be getting a wider spectrum of hop flavor and aroma. Also, I thought this way I'd be getting about 66% of the bitterness from late additions. And that that would mean more hop flavor than would be achieved if I had 50% or whatever of my bitterness from the 60 minute addition. Is this logic flawed?

 

[EyePeeA]

It's not that complicated. For optimum hop character and potent aroma, add the hops as late as possible. For the highest amount of bittering power, add the hops early. Layering your additions at different times is okay to an extent, but there comes a point where you are just muddling up flavors, making it more complicated than it needs to be, and wasting hops.

 

[BrotherBock]

cutting the Victory and Corn Sugar in half. You could even go with 2-3% Victory. Too much Victory will be very nutty and take away from the hops.

I don't particularly care for heavy use of Maris Otter in my AIIPA's as it can yield a fuller, richer body and flavor compared to American 2-row. But it will still work out, so use it if you have it.

Yeah, I may just go with American pale 2-row. As far as the Victory goes....Is 90+ IBUs not enough to balance the malt bill I've proposed? At that point I figured the hops weren't gonna have any trouble shining through. I was hoping the Victory would give some extra character to the malt bill that is often subdued by hops in many IIPAs.

I wanted to make sure it finished low, thus the 1.5 lbs of sugar. If I do less will I have trouble getting down to a slightly sweet gravity....1.014-1.016 (1.018 wouldn't bother me either for a IIPA)? I've heard American Ale II isn't necessarily a heavy attenuator.

 

[hopstupid]

I think you should just try this one

tried & true fruit bomb Gold Medal winner

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/kern-river-citra-dipa-343603/

 

[BrotherBock]

I think you should just try this one

tried & true fruit bomb Gold Medal winner

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/kern-river-citra-dipa-343603/

Thanks, I looked at this one. I'll have to take another look and use some percentages as a basis. I'm definitely want to use an original recipe rather than recreate one. But gold medal references are great.

 

[BrotherBock]

After reading everyone's advice and sort of following some of it, here's what I'm gonna end up brewing.

Boil Time: 90 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7 gallons
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.086
Final Gravity: 1.022
ABV (standard): 8.35%
IBU (tinseth): 89.12
SRM (morey): 9.26

FERMENTABLES:
11.5 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (73.7%)
1.1 lb - American - Victory (7.1%)
1.5 lb - Cane Sugar (9.6%)
0.75 lb - Canadian - Honey Malt (4.8%)
0.75 lb - American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (4.8%)

HOPS:
0.5 oz - Columbus for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 15, IBU: 24.66)
0.75 oz - Columbus for 30 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 15, IBU: 28.43)
0.5 oz - Cascade for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7, IBU: 4.17)
0.5 oz - Centennial for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 10, IBU: 5.96)
1 oz - Citra for 10 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 11, IBU: 13.11)
0.5 oz - Cascade for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7, IBU: 2.29)
0.5 oz - Centennial for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 10, IBU: 3.28)
1 oz - Citra for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 11, IBU: 7.21)
0.5 oz - Cascade for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 7)
0.5 oz - Centennial for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 10)
1 oz - Citra for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 11)
3 oz - Nelson Sauvin for 7 days, Type: Pellet, Use: Dry Hop (AA 12.5)

MASH STEPS:
1) Temp: 150 F

YEAST:
Wyeast - American Ale II 1272