Need Help Tweaking a Cascade IPA Recipe

[Nysh]

New member here, so first off, hello all! I've been brewing for about a year now and am just about to brew my first partial mash beer.

I just received a Cascade Pale Ale Partial Mash kit from Midwestern Supplies. I decided on a whim that I wanted to beef it up a bit and turn it into a Cascade IPA, so I went to my local homebrew shop and picked up an extra two pounds of light dme, some 40l crystal, and 2 extra ounces of cascade hops.

Here's my grain bill now:
4lb American 2-row
3.3lb Gold LME
2lb Light DME
8oz Carapils Malt
8oz 40l Crystal Malt
8oz 10l Caramel Malt (this came with the kit - I picked up the 40l Crystal based on a friend's recommendation and decided I'd just throw them both in)

Now, I've got 3 ounces of 7.1%aa cascade pellets and 2 ounces of 8.7%aa whole leaf cascade hops. I'm looking for some advice on how to run my hop schedule. Here's what I was thinking:

2oz 7.1aa cascade pellets @ 60min
1oz 8.7aa cascade leaf @ 15
1oz 8.7aa cascade leaf @ 5
1oz 7.1aa cascade pellets in secondary for 7 days

Does this seem like a good schedule? Anyone have any changes they might suggest? Also, is it advisable to use the 10l Caramel Malt when I'm also using 40l Crystal? I only planned on using them both simply because I've got them, but if any experienced brewers think that the addition of both the caramel and crystal malts could be a detriment, please feel free to say so.

 

[JonK331]

Looks okay except I would probably dry hop with the leaf hops.

 

[Nysh]

Really? I know I've read somewhere that pellets are better than leaf for dry hopping. If this is not the case then I will switch out the pellets for some leaf.

 

[JonK331]

Yeah you can do it either way but I find it to be a bit easier to filter out the whole hops. I'm not a huge fan of pellets in general though.

 

[Kraghed]

Are you fermenting in a bucket or a carboy (or racking to a carboy secondary?). If you use a bucket, then a hop bag and leaf hops = easy mode. If you use a carboy then pellets are a damn site easier to deal with.

I have dry hopped with both. I haven't been able to tell much of a difference taste wise. But hey, use whatever makes you happy and makes good beer

 

[Nysh]

Primary will be in a 6.5gal bucket and Secondary will be a 5gal Better Bottle.

 

[DavidSteel]

Leafs would be better for dry hopping if you don't want sludge all over the place. The only modification I'd make would be to add an oz or so at flame-out, but the dry-hop may do what you want so it's your choice.

 

[Nysh]

Thanks for the info! I'm thinking about just doing 1.5oz at the 60min, so I might just add that other half oz at flameout.

 

[DavidSteel]

Thanks for the info! I'm thinking about just doing 1.5oz at the 60min, so I might just add that other half oz at flameout.

Sounds perfect, breh

 

[android]

no worries about using both crystal malts, that should give you a nice bit of crystal flavor and color.