Black IPA - My First All Grain!

[Wemet]

I brewed my very first all grain recipe about five weeks ago. I tried a Black IPA (Black Betty Black IPA from Beavertown Brewery) from the LCBO and was inspired to try and make my own. I used the limited information posted on the brewery's website and made some tweaks based on research and preference. It's been three weeks since bottling and the beer is really starting to taste awesome. I used a huge amount of Galaxy hops (nearly a pound), so the aroma is an earthy, citrusy punch in the face! Here's a couple of pictures and the recipe for your reference.

Black Hop 74 - Black IPA:

OG - 1.070
FG - 1.011
ABV - 7.69%
IBU - 74
SRM - 32.75

Fermentables:

12.5lb - Canadian 2-row
0.75lb - Carafa II
0.5lb - Crystal 90L
0.5lb - Carapils
0.25lb - Chocolate

TOTAL: 14.5lb

Hops (All Galaxy):

22g - 60min
15g - 30min
15g - 20min
50g - FO
100g - 7 Day Dry Hop
105g - 5 Day Dry Hop
50g - 3 Day Dry Hop

Mash Schedule:

Mash at 155F for 60min
Batch Sparge at 170F

Yeast:

Wyeast - American Ale 1056

Fermentation:

Fermented at 68F for 10 days
Fermented at 70F for 4 days

 

[kanzimonson]

Looks tasty but damn that's a lotta hops. Do you kinda feel like it's diminishing returns after a certain amount? I try not to use more than 3oz of any one hop for any one addition, and usually keep it to 2 or less.

I once made a DIPA with a bunch of random hops in the boil, and then dry hopped with 2oz cascade. After 5 days I thought it was lacking in aroma so I put another 2oz of cascade in and it seemed to barely increase. Based on this and a couple other incidents, I'm trying to diversify my additions more.

 

[Wemet]

I think you're probably right, however, before adding the 3rd dry hop, I opened a bottle of Black Betty IPA (the inspiration for my homebrew) to compare the hop aroma to mine in the fermentor. I found that they were about the same (however, it could just be my untrained sense of smell), so I figured another dry hop addition would be a good idea, seeing as how the aroma would diminish over the course of the weeks that I'm drinking it. Right now, being so fresh, the hop aroma is pretty potent but I think, given a few more weeks, it will mellow out quite a bit.