IPA recipe(s) critique

[ShemRahBoo]

In order to do a full boil I want to do two 2.5 gallon IPA batches. What I am looking for are hop aggressive in your face IPAs. Not mouth puckering bitterness, but more of the hop punch/flavor characteristics. I also want to experiment with two hop profiles. To do so I am going to use the same base recipe, just different hopping schedules. (remember these are 2.5 gallon recipes)

3.5# extra light DME
.25# 40L crystal (steep)
.5# table sugar

.5oz centennial (60 min)
.5oz centennial / .5oz simcoe (10 min)
.5oz centennial / .5oz simcoe (5 min)
.5oz centennial / .5oz simcoe (flameout)
1oz centennial (dryhop)

.5oz simcoe (60 min)
1oz citra (10 min)
.5oz simcoe / .5oz citra (5 min)
.5oz simcoe / .5oz citra (flameout)
1oz citra (dryhop)

IBU's on both to around 75. Going to use US-05. Is this too much sugar? I want good attenuation and a dry finish. Also what do you think about the hops. Too much? Too little? Overall recommendations are needed, I really want two great IPA's whose flavor stands up to quality commercial examples.

 

[mb2696]

That's about 10% sugar by extract which is a bit high, but you might need it with the DME to finish as dry as you'd like. Hops look great to me!

 

[dlester]

To get flavor you need to extract oils without bitterness. 75 IBU is in your face harsh, which is fine, but it sound like that isn't what your looking for.

Try a good ale recipe that you like, set the IBU at 25-35, then add all your hops the last 20, 10 minute and flame-out. I did this and it was awesome. My IBU was 35, which is strong, but not IPA in your face harsh strong. It would be classified as an ale, not an IPA, but has an easy IPA taste and feel.

Cheers

 

[ShemRahBoo]

i guess i want both than, I want to keep the bitterness around 70 IBU. I am not sure of how many of the hops should go in late rather than early.

 

[dlester]

I suggest all hops at 30, 20 and 10 minutes to extract the hop oils and flavor. It will be a hell of a lot of hops, but it will rock the house. It will be similar to Pliney The Elder. Bitterness is at 60 min, while flavor and aromatics are 30 and less.

You should brew the Pliney recipe for your first batch, it's a favorite of mine.