Struggling with IIPA hop schedule/choices

[Dolomieu]

So I brew a session IPA regularly but have yet to do a IIPA. I have taken the pliny grain bill and am trying to through together a hop schedule based on the Pliny recipe. I found my self added a bit of this a bit of that which i thought was just getting out of hand. My wife likes the dank side of IPAs so thats kind of what i'm going for here. Any input from you season IIPA brewers would be greatly appreciated. I'm only doing a 5 gallon batch so not a big deal if I really miss the mark but figured i would ask for some help/guidance/reassurance that i'm on the right path.

Thanks

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 8.02 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
End of Boil Vol: 6.52 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 5.50 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage

13# 8oz 2 row
10 oz carapils
10 oz cry 40l

99 g Columbus 90min 149.9 ibu
21 g columbus 45min 27.3 ibu
28 g Apollo 30min 37.5 ibu
71 g Amarillo 0min
28 g Centennial 0min

1st dry hop 7 days
28g cent
28g cbus
28g amarillo

2nd dry hop 5 days
7g cent
7g cbus
7g amarillo

 

[jahdub]

That's a lot of amarillo. Sounds like it'll be pretty delicious. I'm a big fan of a large bittering addition and the rest as flameout hops w/ a long hopstand. Tons of flavor / aroma.

If you're going for something like pliny, you might want some simcoe.

 

[Brew_G]

I'm no expert, but that seems like a buttload of Columbus for bittering! All told, you're looking at over 200 IBUs, so I'm wondering if you're just wasting hops by hitting it with such a massive bittering addition. Your call, of course, but it does seem a bit overboard. If you're going for dank, maybe move some portion of the Columbus to a flameout addition.

 

[Dolomieu]

I don't have any simcoe in house. I basically swapped out one simcoe addition for a apollo and the rest for Amarillo. I realize the amount of bittering is a lot but this is from Vinnie's article.

 

[douglasbarbin]

The Apollo will give you dank, so good choice there. I would add something with a little pine (Simcoe, Chinook, Mosaic) to go with it because I like that character.

I agree about the Columbus. That is definitely a huge bittering charge and I don't know how smooth it will be with that much CTZ for 90 minutes. Personally, I would FWH with half that amount of CTZ (or less) and move a lot of the hops to the end of the boil or the hopstand/whirlpool.

 

[kanzimonson]

Sounds great, just brew it. You'll get a billion opinions on hop schedules asking a question like this. I'll say that your recipe will be mostly citrusy with some dank background.

 

[Dolomieu]

I knew I would get a lot of opinions. I know that it should come out pretty good since this recipe came from vinne and I really made two tweaks due to what hops I have on hand. I'm about to mash in, so I have about an hour to tweak it but I think I will just brew it.

 

[bragona71]

sounds yummy!!!! I would love to try this.. I am also a fan of simcoe I have a RR 2 hill 56 clone fermenting now all simcoe hops its amazing. for IPA I also like the late additions and flame out for me it seems to be a smoother finish. so maybe it will smooth out the the high bittering from the boil.. just another opinion

 

[kanzimonson]

Do it! I also recommend a nice hopstand at the end of the boil for hella hop flavor.

 

[Dolomieu]

I'm about 25min into the boil. My over all plan was to brew this similar Pliny iipa and then do the same with the heady topper, which is bigger on the late additions than Pliny. Again this my first iipa, I don't usually like having such big beers around, but I have so many hops in the freezer I can't think of a better way to use them.

 

[bobbrews]

Here's what I would have done:

87% 2 row
4% carapils
4% crystal 40
5% corn sugar at knockout

12-15 ml HopShot @ full rolling boil 90 min (or equivalent value of high alpha pellet hops)

25-40% total recipe hops by weight at 155-165 F @ Hopstand, for 30 min

2-stage, 8 day total dryhop with 40-50% total recipe hops by weight


The amounts of the hops you use for the hopstand can be tweaked according to the character you seek more of, e.g. Amarillo is full of floral grapefruit and tangerine, Centennial is fruity and citrusy, Columbus is citrusy and dank, Apollo is a stronger version of Columbus basically.

The dryhop can be equal amounts of Columbus, Amarillo, and Centennial.

 

[Dolomieu]

Thanks. I just cut the boil. Going to whirlpool 15 min then add another oz of columbus as I start cooling while whirlpooling and toss it in the ferm chamber. I knew there would be a lot of opinions on the hop schedule for a beer like this which is why I was struggling to come to a final schedule. I appreciate all the input, in the end I got in touch with my brewing Yoda and decided to stick with what I had but add a touch more Columbus in the whirlpool. In the end it will be beer..a very hoppy bitter beer... Just like my bull terrier so I'm dubing this Ruca the Terrible.

Thanks again. Next week I'll be putting those late addition comment into action with a heady like hop schedule and Conan yeast.