Feedback on Imperial IPA recipe (extract)

[MaxSpang]

EDIT: Read the updated recipe in the #8 post

Trying my hand in formulating some recipes (thanks to Beer Tools) and thought I might try an Imperial IPA - love the stuff!

Here's the recipe:

Size: 5.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 261.87 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.078 (1.070 - 1.090)
Terminal Gravity: 1.020 (1.010 - 1.020)
Color: 12.11 (8.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.74% (7.5% - 10.0%)
Bitterness: 107.0 (60.0 - 120.0)

Ingredients:
1 lb Crystal Malt - Steeped for 20 minutes at 160 degrees
1.0 lb Dry Light
9.3 lb Liquid Light Extract
1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 oz Amarillo (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 oz Amarillo (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 45 min
1.0 oz Willamette (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
0.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
1.0 ea White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m




Any ideas/suggestions/comments? Think it'll be tasty? Should I dry hop more?


Thanks!

 

[mountainbrewdude]

Im still fairly new, but I think you need another ounce of hops maybe. I just made an iipa and used 9 ounces, dry hopping with 2. bottles it yesterday and it was amazing. Maybe another .5 at 10 minutes
and .5 dry hopping.

 

[MaxSpang]

Thanks. Perhaps another .5 of the Wilamette and then dry hopping with .5 more Cascade?

Sounds good to me

 

[barroomhero1234]

Make sure you use proper pitching rates

www.mrmalty.com

 

[Oldsock]

I'd go even heavier on the hops than mountain suggested. Say 3+ oz each at the end of the boil and for dry hopping. I'd also lean towards more pungent varieties than Cascade/Willamette, for example Amarillo/Columbus would make a good pairing.

For the malt your biggest concern is not leaving the beer too sweet. I'd swap out the pound of DME for 1 lb of table sugar. I'd also consider reducing or dropping the crystal malt.

It all depends what sort of beer you want, I like my DIPA to be all about the hop aroma/bitterness.

 

[bknifefight]

Your hop additions seem all over the place.

1.0 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 oz Amarillo (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 oz Amarillo (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 45 min
1.0 oz Willamette (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
0.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added dry to secondary fermenter

There is no real need for a 45 or 30 minute addition, if you ask me. They will be all bitterness and no aroma or flavor so I would cut down the amounts get all your IBUs from those additions at the 60 minute mark. Then I would up your 10 minute and dry hop additions.

 

[PurpleJeepXJ]

+1 to bknifefight... Google Hop Utilization as an image and there is a graph that will help. you will see that there is no real need for additions between 30-45min. If you want more bittering then I suggest going with more from the beginning and then worry about flavouring and aroma as late additions.

 

[MaxSpang]

Make sure you use proper pitching rates

www.mrmalty.com

Thanks! Looks like I need almost a 1-gallon starter

For the malt your biggest concern is not leaving the beer too sweet. I'd swap out the pound of DME for 1 lb of table sugar. I'd also consider reducing or dropping the crystal malt.

It all depends what sort of beer you want, I like my DIPA to be all about the hop aroma/bitterness.

I might be wrong, but wouldn't 1 lb of table sugar give it a cidery taste?

Your hop additions seem all over the place...

..There is no real need for a 45 or 30 minute addition, if you ask me. They will be all bitterness and no aroma or flavor so I would cut down the amounts get all your IBUs from those additions at the 60 minute mark. Then I would up your 10 minute and dry hop additions.

Thank you, I looked up the chart. I updated my recipe, does this seem like it's going to be a little better?


EDIT: RECIPE ON POST #13

Plus some Irish Moss

 

[Oldsock]

I might be wrong, but wouldn't 1 lb of table sugar give it a cidery taste?

Nope, plenty of Belgian brewers use sucrose for 20%+ of their fermentables without issue. It is an old homebrew urban legend back when people were using loads of sugar, old extract, junky yeast, no boil kits.

My most recent DIPA has 1.25 lbs of sugar (combo of cane and corn) in 5 gallons. I added it after the first few days of fermentation to let the yeast bring the gravity down a bit first.

 

[MaxSpang]

Nope, plenty of Belgian brewers use sucrose for 20%+ of their fermentables without issue. It is an old homebrew urban legend back when people were using loads of sugar, old extract, junky yeast, no boil kits.

My most recent DIPA has 1.25 lbs of sugar (combo of cane and corn) in 5 gallons. I added it after the first few days of fermentation to let the yeast bring the gravity down a bit first.

If I was to swap out the DME with table sugar, would I add it to the boil or after fermenting for a few days?


And I'm not sure I want to mess with making a fairly large starter with the liquid yeast, I think I'm going to use 2 packets (11.5g) of dry yeast instead. Probably either Safale US-05 or Nottingham.

 

[Oldsock]

If I was to swap out the DME with table sugar, would I add it to the boil or after fermenting for a few days?


And I'm not sure I want to mess with making a fairly large starter with the liquid yeast, I think I'm going to use 2 packets (11.5g) of dry yeast instead. Probably either Safale US-05 or Nottingham.

Either way would be fine since your gravity isn't crazy. Mine was 1.084 pre-sugar, so I wanted to cut my yeast a break.

Dry yeast is a fine choice, especially since they are so attenuative. Mine ended up at 85% apparent attenuation, which is about right for my tastes.

 

[MaxSpang]

Thanks! Here's the updated recipe, I think this works out a lot better:

Size: 5.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 256.06 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.076 (1.070 - 1.090)
Terminal Gravity: 1.019 (1.010 - 1.020)
Color: 11.66 (8.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.57% (7.5% - 10.0%)
Bitterness: 120.6 (60.0 - 120.0)

Ingredients:
1 lb Crystal Malt - steeped for 20 min at 160 degrees
1.0 lb White Table Sugar (Sucrose)
9.0 lb Liquid Light Extract
1.5 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.5 oz Amarillo (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
.5 oz Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 oz Willamette (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
.5 oz Amarillo (8.5%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
1 oz Cascade (5.5%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
1.0 tsp Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05 (23 g total)



I decided to keep the Crystal malt in there for added color, ABV, and OG/TG