Racer 5 Recipe

Bear Republic Racer 5 has to be my favorite beer. It's a rather good IPA with the perfect amount of bitterness and excellent hop flavor. I've found a clone recipe from BYO, but it just doesn't seem right to me so I modified it a little (mainly the hops). Here's the description straight from Bear Republic's web site.

"Racer 5 - This is a hoppy IPA. Did I say hops? Your brewer is a hop head! This is a full bodied beer using American grains. The goal was to create a base for showing off the unique floral qualities of two Pacific Northwest hops, Columbus and Cascade. Columbus is a new hybrid High Alpha Acid hop used mostly for bittering, but used heavily as an aromatic in this bold brew. Cascade is the balance that ties the malt and bittering hops together. It is a true specialty ale and is our brewer's statement on this style... og 1.070, ABV 7.0%, IBU 69"

Here's what I came up with based on 70% efficiency:

12 lb 2-row
1 lb Crystal 20L
1 lb Wheat Malt
.5 Cara-pils/Dextrine

1.25 oz Columbus @ 60 min
1.00 oz Cascade @ 15 min
1.00 oz Columbus @ 5 min
1.00 oz Columbus @ Flameout
1.00 oz Columbus Dry Hop

WLP051 with a 1 liter starter

OG: 1.071
SRM: 6.3
IBU: 70.2

I was thinking I'd mash at 151F. Comments, suggestions please?

Did anyone try this recipe? Seems less expensive than the other Racer 5 clone recipes taken from BYO (i assume)

Bear Republic is here in my town. I love it and have a 12 pack in the refrig.. After tonight's bottle, I was soaking the label off it and actually took the time to read it.

It says that it is a "bottle conditioned ale"... "real ale is alive, yeast is good"...

So, does this mean that there is yeast in the bottle? Sounds like it. If I wanted to use some if this to create a starter.. how would I do it? Does it make sense? I guess I could go to the brewery and hope they might give me some yeast.

I'd mash around 154-155. I just had one yesterday, there good body on that one, 151F might not get you there.