Double IPA recipe - would love thoughts and feedback

[GoodDogBadDog]

I was thinking about creating a IIPA and based on some reviews of beers I enjoy, I ended up with the recipe below. My system has about 60% eff so numbers are typically a little higher than normal, but the numbers seem to have this hit all the style guidelines for a Double. Hoping to get a nice citrus/floral nose with a strong bitterness backbone to support just over 9%.

5 gallon batch
82% 16lbs Maris Otter Pale
5% 1lbs Crystal 15L (may need to use 20L)
5% 1lbs Crystal 40L
5% 1lbs Flaked Oats
3% 0.5lbs Table Sugar

** mash 148F 90m **
** 90m boil **

1oz Summit First Wort
0.5oz Summit 90 minutes
0.5oz Summit 60 minutes
0.75oz Amarillo 5 minutes
0.75oz Centennial 5 minutes
0.75oz Citra 5 minutes
1oz Amarillo 1 minutes
1oz Centennial 1 minutes
1oz Citra 1 minutes

thinking of using US-05 or WLP090 (I drive by Whitelabs every day)


0.5oz Amarillo Dry Hop 7 days
0.5oz Centennial Dry Hop 7 days
0.5oz Citra Dry Hop 7 days

then
1oz Amarillo Dry Hop 7 days
1oz Centennial Dry Hop 7 days
1oz Citra Dry Hop 7 days

My calculator shows:
OG 1.090
FG 1.019
Color 12.1° SRM
Bitterness 113.7 IBU (tinseth)
BG:GU 1.26
9.2% ABV

 

[Yooper]

I think it's too much crystal malt, but I didn't figure out the percentage. I'd cut the crystal to 5-7% at the most. You can add a pound or two of sugar to help keep the body light. .5 pound is ok, but you could use more and take out a pound or two of the maris otter.

I'm not a fan of flaked oats in lighter bodied beers, and I think in a DIPA it would be very weird. Oats give this slick creamy, almost oily, mouthfeel. I wouldn't use them here. I'd use something for head retention and body if you felt you need it, like flaked wheat or torrified wheat or carapils, but you certainly don't need it with the amount of crystal you have and the amount of hops. The body probably needs to be lighter, and not heavier. You should get crazy good head retention from all of the hops and malt in the recipe.

Even with all the dryhopping, I'm still of fan of bigger late hop additions in the boil, and I would go with something like 60/15/5/0 (the 0 being whirlpool hops) and of additions of at least one ounce until the last and make that one 2-3 ounces. .75 ounces late in the boil for the additions are pretty light.

My favorite IPA/IIPA yeast has been WLP001. It clears the beer better than S05, and it enhances hops character without muting the malt flavor. I like that one better than either choice, although WLP0090 is fine.

 

[GoodDogBadDog]

Thanks for the insight. The malts are all 5% of the recipe. I'll make notes about the added sugar and reduced MO after the first batch. Just to see what the difference is.

I've never used oats in an IPA before either, but I'm finding that some of the IPA's I do enjoy, use oats in them, so I figured I'd try it out.

The .75 hop additions are .75 of each hop, so the 5 min addition is 2.25oz and the 1 minute addition is 3oz. My goal was to let those floral/citrus hops shine while letting the summit provide the bitter backbone.

 

[kingwood-kid]

If you're using Maris Otter as your base malt, then you could make a very good beer with your grain bill being 100% MO, or even 3:1 MO:2-row. Grain of salt: I don't like crystal malts very much and avoid using them in most of my beers. Yooper's 5-7% is the consensus view, but let me point out that a beer with an OG of 1.090 will have a lot of residual sugars. The alcohol skews the gravity readings, but you will actually have roughly the same amount of sugars a 1.045 beer has before fermentation.

There's not much difference between adding your hops at 60 minutes vs 90, only 1-2 IBUs for .5oz Summit. I'd just add however many IBUs worth of Summit all at once. I think you have the right hops for the flavor you want, but for a beer this big, I think that Yooper is correct about needing them in larger amounts.

 

[Glynn]

I would ditch the crystal 40 at the very least.

 

[GoodDogBadDog]

How about something like

5 gallon batch
80% 16.5lbs Maris Otter Pale
5% 1lbs Crystal 15L (may need to use 20L)
5% 1lbs Flaked Oats
10% 2lbs Table Sugar

** mash 148F 90m **
** 90m boil **

1oz Summit First Wort
1oz Summit 90 minutes
1oz ea Amarillo, Centennial, Citra 5 minutes
1oz ea Amarillo, Centennial, Citra Flameout then hopstand for 15 minutes
1oz ea Amarillo, Centennial, Citra Flameout then hopstand until 170 then chill

Settling on WLP090 (I drive by Whitelabs every day)

0.5oz Amarillo Dry Hop 7 days
0.5oz Centennial Dry Hop 7 days
0.5oz Citra Dry Hop 7 days

then
1oz Amarillo Dry Hop 7 days
1oz Centennial Dry Hop 7 days
1oz Citra Dry Hop 7 days

My calculator shows:
OG 1.090
FG 1.018
Alcohol 9.2% ABV
Color 8.8° SRM
Bitterness 120 IBU (tinseth)
BG:GU 1.34

11 oz total in boil
4.5 oz in dry hop

I'm trying to stay within the 14C (IIPA) guidelines as much as possible, and with a low efficient setup (I was @ 50% last brew) I need to add a bit more grain than normally would be used.

 

[kanzimonson]

I think your second recipe is much better, but honestly you may not need any crystal. Maris Otter adds so much malty flavor that the crystal may be superfluous. It's also a little less attenuative, but I see you're subbing in some sugar so that's a good idea.

I use an English ale yeast in my beers (going for Lagunitas style). My DIPA is 35% maris, 35% two row, 20% wheat malt, and 10% sugar.

Your hops look good. I suggest a long post-boil steep before chilling. Like 30 minutes. If you've never done a "hopstand" like this, it's unreal the amount of hop flavor it adds.

 

[SiriusStarr]

I definitely agree with what has been said; second recipe is better. You just didn't need that much crystal. I am a bit leery of the of the oats, but if you do it I'll be curious to see how it goes. I like to use some wheat in my DIPAs for the mouthfeel/head retention, so I'm curious to see how the oats will work.

 

[GoodDogBadDog]

Your hops look good. I suggest a long post-boil steep before chilling. Like 30 minutes. If you've never done a "hopstand" like this, it's unreal the amount of hop flavor it adds.

I'll look into and give it a try.