First Imperial IPA... what do YOU think?!

[HawksBrewer]

I'm going to be brewing an extract Imperial IPA w/ a buddy from work and splitting the yield. What do you think of this recipe, and more importantly the hop schedule?

Bambino Hop Bomber

6 lbs extra light DME
1 1/2 lbs honey
1 lb C60
1 lb Vienna

1.5 oz Nugget (60min)
0.25 oz Citra (20min)
0.25 oz Amarillo (20min)
0.25 oz Simcoe (20min)
0.25 oz Citra (15min)
0.25 oz Amarillo (15min)
0.25 oz Simcoe (15min)
0.25 oz Citra (10min)
0.25 oz Amarillo (10min)
0.25 oz Simcoe (10min)
0.25 oz Citra (5min)
0.25 oz Amarillo (5min)
0.25 oz Simcoe (5min)
1 oz Citra (flameout)

1 oz simcoe (dryhop)
1 oz citra (dryhop)
1 oz amarillo (dryhop)

Wyeast 1056

Any thoughts or suggestions???

 

[HawksBrewer]

shameless bump, brewing this soon!

 

[wncbrewer]

Hop schedule looks good, if it was me I would take out the crystal, but I like my ipa s clean and dry

 

[SouthBay]

I like the c60 in it, because it helps balance the DME and honey. I find that amarillo and citra seem to like having a bit of sweetness behind them when going for a more full bodied brew.

Then again, i dont like my IPAs clean and dry.

 

[zeekage]

You said this is an extract batch, but doesn't Vienna have to be mashed?

Also, if this really is extract and not partial mash, your gravity will probably be quite low for an Imperial since the Honey and Vienna are not already converted for you.

 

[bobbrews]

I agree this is an extract beer. What's your boil & batch size? How are you incorporating the honey?

Ease back to 8 oz. with the crystal 60 and you'll have the best of both worlds. You may also want to simplify the hop schedule a bit by combining the additions into larger lumps and not adding them every 5 minutes. That's not going to do much in the grand scheme of things. Lastly, my Imperial IPAs usually incorporate more late additions and dry hops. You have 3 and 3 here.

 

[HawksBrewer]

This is an extract w/ steeped grains recipe; my bro-in-law is in India so I don't have access to our AG equipment. Boil size will be 4 gals starting w/ a 30 min 'steep' at 152*F w/ the grains. 60 min boil adding 3 lbs of extract at the beginning of the boil and the remaining 3 lbs and the honey (actual honey, not malt - sorry for confusion) w/ 15 min left in the boil. After reading feedback and contemplating more I'm thinking about adding an extra oz of amarillo late addition. Brewing this Tuesday night so any other comments/criticism is welcome. Thanks for the input thus far.

 

[bobbrews]

That's a lot of honey. You may want to lessen the amount from 50% or else you will have a beer/mead hybrid. And please add the honey a little after flameout (when the wort is approx 170-180 F). You'll lose a ton of honey character if it's added to very hot wort, especially boiling wort.

 

[HawksBrewer]

Ended up toning this down to an American IPA instead of an imperial. Final recipe was as follows:

6 lbs extra light DME
1 lb honey
1 lb caramel 60
1 lb vienna

.3 oz nugget (60 min)
.25 oz citra (20 min)
.25 oz amarillo (20 min)
.25 oz simcoe (20 min)
.25 oz citra (15 min)
.25 oz amarillo (15 min)
.25 oz simcoe (15 min)
1.25 oz citra (10 min)
1.25 oz amarillo (10 min)
.25 oz simcoe (10 min)
.25 oz citra (5 min)
.25 oz amarillo (5 min)
.25 oz simcoe (5 min)
1 oz citra (flameout)
1 oz amarillo (flameout)

1 oz citra (dry hop)
1 oz amarillo (dry hop)
1 oz simcoe (dry hop)

Wyeast 1056 ale yeast

Ended up close to target (water volume was off by a 1/4 gallon or so) at 1.060.

This baby smelled great going into the primary... fermenting nicely as we speak.