Feedback on IIPA

[DavidSteel]

Named this one "Barely Legal IIPA" because it barely meets the requirements for an Imperial IPA. I only have Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Willamette so I wanted to try and use all of these to make a pretty decent IPA/IIPA. Wondering what people have to say about it from their experience with these hops. I added the Willamette because I heard they go well with complimenting the flavor of cascades (and possibly centennial).

12lbs 2-row
1lb caramel 40
1lb victory
.5 cara-pils

1oz cascade (60)
1.5oz chinook (60)
.5oz cascade (10)
.5oz willamette (5)
.75oz cascade (5)
1oz centennial (0)

1oz cascade (dry hop) after 5 days for 7-10 days
1.5oz centennial (dry hop) after 5 days for 7-10 days
.25 willamette (dry hop) after 5 days for 7-10 days

SAFALE US-05 American Ale x2

OG: 1.078
FG: 1.020
IBU: 61.5
SRM: 11.08
ABV: 7.60

Not sure what to mash at or how long I should boil. Thoughts?

 

[DavidSteel]

Might consider adding an oz or two of chinook to the mash and maybe a 90 minute boil with chinook added at 90 and then modifying the 60 minute additions to 45 and adjuting the amount. Trying to make something close to a Pliny w/o all the hops.

 

[Dewangski1]

Where did the 1.020 FG come from? I don't think you would want to mash too much higher than normal and finish any higher than that.

Boil as long as you need to get you volume and gravity where you want.

I was curious that you aren't throwing too much hop flavoring additions in? When I make an IPA, I like to add hops about every 10 minutes. I think you will be happy with Willamette. I've used that and I've used Fuggles before in IPAs. Their spicy and minor fruity character were most noticed by myself.

 

[cheezydemon3]

That recipe would be fine, but all the comments so far make good points.

 

[DavidSteel]

Where did the 1.020 FG come from? I don't think you would want to mash too much higher than normal and finish any higher than that.

Boil as long as you need to get you volume and gravity where you want.

I was curious that you aren't throwing too much hop flavoring additions in? When I make an IPA, I like to add hops about every 10 minutes. I think you will be happy with Willamette. I've used that and I've used Fuggles before in IPAs. Their spicy and minor fruity character were most noticed by myself.

I'll probably tinker with it a little bit more. I figure if I add cascade at 45 instead of 60, it might do the trick. Any suggestions for what to add as a flavoring hop?

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I would personally just bitter with the Chinook and only an Ounce at that, and move the rest into later additions. Probably move the Cascade to 15mins & 1/2 oz of chinook at 30. I bitter my DIPA with an ounce of Magnum then at 25 minutes I alternate adding a 1/2oz of Amarillo & Simcoe every 5 minutes. Then DH with and ounce each of Amarillo/Simcoe. Comes out to about 87 IBU's. Point being, i think more late hop additions are the way to go.

 

[DavidSteel]

New hop schedule:
1.5oz chinook (60)
.5oz cascade (45)
.5oz chinook (30)
.25oz willamette (15)
.5oz cascade (15)
.5oz cascade (10)
.5oz willamette (5)
.75oz cascade (5)
1oz centennial (0)

Edit: I'm also going to change this to a 5.5 gallon batch and add 2 more lbs of 2-row to make 14 total. IBU's come out to 62.8 this way (w/ dry hop). Seems low, but that's why I'm calling it Barely Legal.

 

[user 22118]

That hopping schedule looks good, but tedious. If you think that you are going to add a 45 and a 30, then I would honestly FWH with it. I find that it makes for a really smooth hopping with flavor and bitterness and also helps me with any potential boilovers.

The .25oz of Willamette at 15 might want to be increased as they typically are low alpha and you aren't adding any real "bitter" from that much. Other than that your hops look good.

On the Grains, I would cut the Crystal down since you are also adding Carapilz. Keep the Cara malts to about 1/2-3/4 lb in a 5 gallon batch. This will keep your from having an oversweet flavored IPA. If you are looking for 1.020FG, then mash about 157-160 like Lagunitas IPA does, though if you are worried then hit the magic 155 to be able to get 1.016-1.020. If you are looking for less (which I try to when I make IPA, especially IIPA) then I would mash closer to about 152-153. I have done 151 before and it gets dry, like 1.012. Not bad if that is in balance for your water and malt profile. Check out my Easy IIPA recipe in the dropdown to give you an idea of how I like to make a simple IIPA.

Good luck sir! Let us know how this goes for you.

 

[DavidSteel]

That hopping schedule looks good, but tedious. If you think that you are going to add a 45 and a 30, then I would honestly FWH with it. I find that it makes for a really smooth hopping with flavor and bitterness and also helps me with any potential boilovers.

The .25oz of Willamette at 15 might want to be increased as they typically are low alpha and you aren't adding any real "bitter" from that much. Other than that your hops look good.

On the Grains, I would cut the Crystal down since you are also adding Carapilz. Keep the Cara malts to about 1/2-3/4 lb in a 5 gallon batch. This will keep your from having an oversweet flavored IPA. If you are looking for 1.020FG, then mash about 157-160 like Lagunitas IPA does, though if you are worried then hit the magic 155 to be able to get 1.016-1.020. If you are looking for less (which I try to when I make IPA, especially IIPA) then I would mash closer to about 152-153. I have done 151 before and it gets dry, like 1.012. Not bad if that is in balance for your water and malt profile. Check out my Easy IIPA recipe in the dropdown to give you an idea of how I like to make a simple IIPA.

Good luck sir! Let us know how this goes for you.

Do you mean to FWH with the hops at 30 and/or 45 or add a FWH? I only posted a FG of 1.020 because that's what the program I was using said it should finish at.

 

[user 22118]

I only posted a FG of 1.020 because that's what the program I was using said it should finish at.

Ahh grasshopper, much to learn have you. Change the apparent attenuation up and down based on yeast and temperature you mash at. It is most likely set for 70-75% as a general rule of thumb. I find that California yeast will go up to 85% sometimes and that Belgians can hit 97% (with help from bacteria of course). Typically though, S-04, Wyeast 1968 and WLP002 will finish around 1.016 FG almost without fail in my experience. You have to work to get it lower and you have to control the ferment well so that it doesn't go higher.

Do you mean to FWH with the hops at 30 and/or 45 or add a FWH?

I mean to take the 45 and 30 minute additions and move them to a FWH addition. So add them once you start sparging into the kettle and they will flavor your wort for the entirety of the boil. It is something I started doing to control my boil overs (13gallon pot, 13gallon preboil) and it really lends a nice flavor that I got liking.

 

[DavidSteel]

Ahh grasshopper, much to learn have you. Change the apparent attenuation up and down based on yeast and temperature you mash at. It is most likely set for 70-75% as a general rule of thumb. I find that California yeast will go up to 85% sometimes and that Belgians can hit 97% (with help from bacteria of course). Typically though, S-04, Wyeast 1968 and WLP002 will finish around 1.016 FG almost without fail in my experience. You have to work to get it lower and you have to control the ferment well so that it doesn't go higher.



I mean to take the 45 and 30 minute additions and move them to a FWH addition. So add them once you start sparging into the kettle and they will flavor your wort for the entirety of the boil. It is something I started doing to control my boil overs (13gallon pot, 13gallon preboil) and it really lends a nice flavor that I got liking.

Ah, I was just entering in the info into brewmasterswarehouse's brew-builder for a quick look at OG, SRM, IBU, batch size, and ABV mostly. I too am a bit weary about the 45 and 30 minute additions, but I'm not quite sure what to do with them yet. I want some spiciness in the flavor (that's why I wanted to add chinook at 30), and I was originally just going to use the .5 cascade @ 60 just to boost the SRM I guess. I may jus move the 45 cascade to 20 and considering doing the chinook at 30 for a FWH, but I still want that bit of spicy character of chinook in the flavor, so I'm not sure if I should move it or not. Thoughts?

Edit: to make that less confusing, I'll just write out what I was thinking
(possibly FWH .5oz chinook)
1.5oz chinook (60)
.5oz chinook (30)
.5oz cascade (20)
.5oz willamette (15)
.5oz cascade (15)
.5oz cascade (10)
.5oz willamette (5)
.75oz cascade (5)
1oz centennial (0)

 

[user 22118]

I don't know what kind of spicy you are getting from Chinook. To me it is like walking in a bitter pine forest and licking the bark of every third tree to chew on the sticky sap. It screams northwest to me. I tried dry hopping a couple of times with Chinook and it turns out a mans beer for sure. Hair on the chest and some even on the back.

Don't try to "calculate" a FWH addition as any time addition because it doesn't taste like a 20 minute and its bitterness (though measured) isn't percieved like it either. FWH is best done as another layer on your beer. If you don't have any beer calculators (not knocking the awesomeness of Bremasters Warehouse) you might want to plug the same grains into TastyBrew.com or ...there are others, blanking right now. It is good to find out what a beer will look like and the basic numbers that you can arrange as you like.

 

[Dewangski1]

For flavor, I prefer using the 30-15 min. window, adding often. Utilize that window for your majority. Your dry hops will take care of most of the aroma, but maybe some 10-5 hops will help. I don't do much FWH, so I can't speak to it or the suggestions above (but honestly, is there a such thing as a bad beer?). I typically would use my highest AAU hop for bittering and then mix it into my flavoring and use both throughout flavoring, gradually increasing the aroma hop into the aroma additions.

 

[user 22118]

there is something to be said about a whirlpool (0 min) addition as well to really make it pop. If I was professional and could only do 4 additions on an IPA I would go 60min, 15min, 5min and dry hop. It wouldn't last long in aromatics, which is why so many pro brewers add a 30 min as well, but it would be rocking on aromatics for at least a couple of months. It would be an inhouse beer. for sure.

 

[DavidSteel]

I don't know what kind of spicy you are getting from Chinook. To me it is like walking in a bitter pine forest and licking the bark of every third tree to chew on the sticky sap. It screams northwest to me. I tried dry hopping a couple of times with Chinook and it turns out a mans beer for sure. Hair on the chest and some even on the back.

Don't try to "calculate" a FWH addition as any time addition because it doesn't taste like a 20 minute and its bitterness (though measured) isn't percieved like it either. FWH is best done as another layer on your beer. If you don't have any beer calculators (not knocking the awesomeness of Bremasters Warehouse) you might want to plug the same grains into TastyBrew.com or ...there are others, blanking right now. It is good to find out what a beer will look like and the basic numbers that you can arrange as you like.

Ah, I just read a bit into FWHing and I can see what you were saying before. I think I might just take your advice.

For flavor, I prefer using the 30-15 min. window, adding often. Utilize that window for your majority. Your dry hops will take care of most of the aroma, but maybe some 10-5 hops will help. I don't do much FWH, so I can't speak to it or the suggestions above (but honestly, is there a such thing as a bad beer?). I typically would use my highest AAU hop for bittering and then mix it into my flavoring and use both throughout flavoring, gradually increasing the aroma hop into the aroma additions.

Dually noted.

Probably looks like this now:
14lbs 2-row
.75lb caramel 40
1lb victory
.5lb cara-pils

FWH:
.25oz chinook
.25oz willamette
.25oz cascade

1.5oz chinook (60)
.5oz cascade (25)
.5oz willamette (15)
.5oz cascade (15)
.5oz cascade (10)
.5oz willamette (5)
.75oz cascade (5)
1oz centennial (0)

1oz cascade (dry hop) after 7 days for 7-10 days
1.5oz centennial (dry hop) after75 days for 7-10 days
.5 willamette (dry hop) after 7 days for 7-10 days

 

[user 22118]

That to me looks much better in terms of hops. I would make sure you aren't using too much cara malts. If you are looking at 5 gallons then I would personally say you are using too much. Cut each in half and you will have a better amount to me. Otherwise it will be pretty sweet even though you are looking for dry.

 

[DavidSteel]

That to me looks much better in terms of hops. I would make sure you aren't using too much cara malts. If you are looking at 5 gallons then I would personally say you are using too much. Cut each in half and you will have a better amount to me. Otherwise it will be pretty sweet even though you are looking for dry.

Yeah, well I wanted to kinda make a mix between a celebration ale clone and maybe a little bit of dreadnaught and pliny mixed in so, I kinda wanted it to have a bit of sweetness to it but not very much. I think I'll stick with what I currently have in the grains/malt profile and tweak it if i want to make this again.

 

[DavidSteel]

Going to brew this on Saturday, looking for extra tips on the hop-schedule.

Edit: looks like this, too lazy to type out

 

[DavidSteel]

Based on the above recipe, would anyone be able to tell me what adding 1 lb of honey and 1/2+ a lb of dextrose sugar would do to the flavor and would you advise against it?