Designing all Amarillo IPA

Okay, I'm in the preliminary design phases for this extract recipe and I have never developed my own recipe from scratch so I need all the advice I can get. Here's what I have so far:

4lbs Munton's Light DME
3lbs Munton's Amber DME

1/2lb Crystal 60
1/2lb Pale Malt 2-row
1oz Roasted Barley

1.5 oz amarillo for 60 min
1 oz amarillo for 15 min
1 oz amarillo for 1 min

My only thought is that I may want to increase the initial hops to 2 oz but I'm not a huge hop-head so I don't know.

Also, the specialty grains were taken from a clone recipe and I don't know what the benefit of the 2-row is since I thought that had to be mashed?

Anyway, all recommendations are appreciated. My favorite IPAs are Harpoon's and DFH 60 Minute.

What most people think of as "hops" in a beer are the flavor and aroma hop adds. Bittering hop adds tend to be large to balance the ABV and sweetness of the crystal. 1.5 oz. of Amarillo should be about the right bittering for the gravity.

2-row does need to be mashed. For that small a quantity, just aim for 154F with 2-3 quarts of water & 30 minutes. Otherwise, treat it like you were steeping. Call it a micro-mash.

JD,

I brewed a beer from a recipe I got at my LHBS recently that's very similar to your recipe. It called for 8 lbs of light LME and used 0.5 lbs of victory and 0.5 lbs of crystal malt as specialty grains. I used 1 oz of Nugget hops at the start of the boil and then 1 oz of amarillo hops at 15 minutes left, 5 minutes left, and flameout. It was a very good beer. I think that your recipe will be fine as it is unless you are looking for a really hoppy beer. Next time I might try a different hop (Simcoe maybe?) but I was very happy with how my beer turned out.

Darren

So, I'm thinking of upping the fermentables and splitting the last hop addition into two with .5oz for 5 min and .5oz at flameout. Next questions is, what yeast do you guys recommend? I have a packet of wyeast american ale II that I thought might work, but suggestions are appreciated.

If you are hoping to steep and not mini-mash, you should replace the 2-row with another specialty malt that will add a little character. Maybe a little bit more crystal. You can balance out the color by adjusting your light vs. amber dme amounts.

I personally don't like using anything but light extract. I like to get all of my color and flavor from specialty malts instead. I find it gives me more control over the final product.

I find using software like promash indispensible when formulating recipes. It will calculate IBUs and gravity and color for you. I think formulating recipes without it is like flying in the dark with no instruments.