Double IPA Hop Question

[kbradford]

I have been making an extract recipe from an online vendor (won't name names), and the hop usage seems to be odd. It is a double IPA and this is the hop schedule:

Bittering (60 mins): 2oz Centennial, 2oz Chinook
Flavor (15 mins): 1oz Centennial
Aroma (5 mins): 1oz Galena
Dry Hop: 2oz Galena

Galena for dry hopping? Centennial for bittering? Is this right? I'm still pretty new to this, but they seem to have switched the Galena and Centennial uses. Maybe a typo?

 

[Joos]

havent really used galena to dry hop so I'm not 100% on the aroma but 2Oz. centenial and 2 OZ. chinnok@ 60 is going to be one really freakin bitter beer..try it.see how it comes out.

 

[s3n8]

wow, yeah... Thats gonna strip the fillings outta yer mouf.

Seriously, I would NOT follow that recipe. I have made several IIPAs and none of them have used more than 2oz for the full duration of the boil. I would use Galena for bittering, mix some of the Chinook and Centennial in for the flavor and aroma additions.

My first kit was a brewers best california IPA, and that used 4 oz of Chinook, and I added an oz of Galena that a friend gave me. It turned out good.

If it were me (completely hypothetical mind you) this is what I would do:

Bittering (60 mins): 2oz Galena,
Flavor (20 mins): 1oz Chinook
Flavor (15 mins): 1oz Centennial
flavor & aroma(10 mins): 1oz Chinook
Aroma (5 mins): 1oz Galena
Dry Hop: 2oz Centennial

 

[tarheels]

whats the OG that you are shooting for. 4 oz doesn't seem crazy for a double IPA. I would stick with the C hops for your bittering. Never used galena so can't help you there.

 

[s3n8]

Actually, on second thought, can you post the grainbill? If the OG > 1.15 it might be warranted

Edit: Tarheels beat me to it...

I still prefer a balanced bitter IPA with a lot of late addition hops though. Post the AA of your hops, and the expected OG and someone can run it though some software to see if its as out-of-wack as it appears.

 

[kbradford]

OG was 1.090. Not sure what AA of hops means. They were all pellet hops. Remember, extract kit for a newbie like me.

Also, it's way to late to change the recipe seeing as how this has been in the fermenter for two weeks now. I only started looking at the recipe closely today since I'm almost ready to dry hop.

 

[dsdrake219]

im actually drinking on a IIPA right now i made with the same hop schedule... (im going to bet we got them at the same place) .. its bitter and strong .. with alot of hop flavors.. im enjoying it. im still kinda new at this so thats best i can tell you. i would just stick with it as is.

(*note) if my calculations are right it has something like 190 ibu

 

[s3n8]

Based on the upper end of the style for OG (1.090), the original hop bill shakes out to 142 IBUs. Certainly not out of the ballpark for total IBUs, but I would certainly move some of the additions later. I really like the flavor and aroma of Centennial. I also like the flavor and aroma of Chinook. To my knowledge, Galena is a clean bittering hop. For those reasons, I would move the C hops to late addition and dry hopping. The hop bill I posted still shakes out to 123 IBU and has more hop flavor and aroma.

Like I said, its all in what you prefer. If you are looking for a very bitter brew with little hop flavor or aroma, go original.

 

[s3n8]

Well, since you already brewed it... I wouldn't change a thing.

Its gonna be great!

 

[kbradford]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Glad to hear what I made won't be totally undrinkable. And I agree s3n8, I prefer more hop flavor/aroma than bitterness. So maybe you gave me a good hop schedule for my next IIPA.