Fair enough. I may increase my bittering addition to get more like 50 IBUs, 30 is a bit low. Interestingly, the WeldWerks recipe I posted does about 0.6 oz of Citra, Mosaic and El Dorado as a FWH, and then flameout and whirlpool hops, and they calculate their IBU as 55. But I know that IBU measurement is tricky stuff. Thanks for the input. On an unrelated note, I am bottling this beer (no keg setup yet)...according to this thread bottled NEIPAs often turn to brown sludge after a couple weeks. Going to brew it this weekend anyway, we'll see what happens I guess!
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=597557&page=12
Long overdue update on this. I made my NE IPA, 3 gallon batch. Mostly 2-row, plus about a pound of white wheat and flaked oats, and a little bit of carapils. Sorry I don't have the recipe in front of me. Mashed at 149 F. Bittering was magnum, then whirpool/dry hop was a mix of Mosaic and Vic Secret. Yeast was Wyeast 1318. I don't have the best temp control to keep my carboy cool, so the temp did go all the way up to 72 F.
Brew day was Sunday April 30. 8 days after brew day I bottled it (on May 8), it was done that quick! After one week in the bottle it was tasting gooooood, but undercarbed. After 2 weeks (May 14) it was perfectly carbed.
Now about 2.5 weeks later, I sadly only have one bottle left. But, it is STILL holding up well in the bottle. No brown sludge, no nothing. The flavor has perhaps dropped off slightly at most, but I can't even really tell that. Good aroma, although I screwed up by adding some of the dry hop before high krausen started, so some of the aroma was lost. It is smooth and flavorful, nice grapefruit and citrus tones from the Vic Secret and Mosaic. Nice mouthfeel from the water profile and the oats/wheat, although I wouldn't have minded it a little thicker/more mouthfeel. Next time I think I'll increase the oats and wheat, and increase the chloride amount. I may also mash higher, at say 152 for more body.
I shipped some to my brother-in-law in Boston who can get Trillium etc, and he said it was one of the best NE IPAs he's ever had. A local friend here in Denver also said it was one of the best he'd had, commercial or homebrew. And to top it off my homebrew club had a meeting at Cerebral Brewing in Denver last night, who make some of the best NE IPAs around here (and yes, there are lots of good brewers of NE IPAs in Colorado, see WeldWerks). The head brewer/owner Sean there talked about their process, and I brought in some of my NE IPA to try. Sean really liked it, thought it was well made, so that was validating. And other people in the club liked it a lot too.
So, boasting aside, the point is that it is possible to make a solid NE IPA no matter your setup, even if you're bottling. Just when you're bottling make sure your process is swift and precise and NO SPLASHING. Don't let the fact that you can't keg discourage you from making this style. I was apprehensive about it given what I'd read about bottling these, but I had no issues.
Here's a pic from a bottle I opened about 2 weeks ago.
