First Imperial IPA

[tritch]

Hey everyone,
I haven't made a recipe yet but was looking to try to make a big imperial ipa and wanted to get some opinions on it before making it. I wanted to keep it as simple as I could but hope it still would give off a great flavor.

Brew Method: Extract
Style Name: Imperial IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 3 gallons
Boil Size: 3 gallons

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.086
Final Gravity: 1.024
ABV : 8.09%
IBU : 133.08
SRM : 6.88

FERMENTABLES:
5 lb - Dry Malt Extract - Extra Light (74.1%)
0.75 lb - Corn Sugar - Dextrose (11.1%)

STEEPING GRAINS:
1 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 15L (14.8%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Warrior, Type: Pellet, AA: 16, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 73.62
1 oz - Magnum, Type: Pellet, AA: 15, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 53.04
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 6.42
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days


YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05

 

[Bramstoker17]

Here's what I would do in your shoes. First, drop the crystal, or at least greatly reduce it, I'm talking a couple ounces tops for a 3 gallon batch. Extract will already have some unfermentables in there, you don't really want to add much more for a DIPA. I like to keep my crystal additions at 5% or less, usually less for DIPAs. Second, more hops! Id seriously at least double your late addition and dry hops, even in a three gallon batch. As it is now, its probably going to be somewhere between a DIPA and a barleywine. I know from experience from this happening on the first couple DIPAs I made, and the results, while drinkable, will be disappointing.

Hope that helps!

 

[tritch]

Thank you. I am going to have to put this off for a while because my LHBS ran you off cascade and they wont be in for a few more weeks.

 

[FatDragon]

Thank you. I am going to have to put this off for a while because my LHBS ran you off cascade and they wont be in for a few more weeks.

What's the point of the mid-boil Magnum? At 30 minutes with a hop that's known exclusively its bittering properties, I don't see the point. I second the advice to at least double your aroma hops and possibly your dry hops as well.

There's always online brew shops for the hops if you'd rather not wait...

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I know that is an estimated FG but that is way to high. If you want it to be hoppy then get it down to 1.012 or 1.010. I'd do 2 dry hop additions. 1 oz in each addition and do it for 3-4 days each.

RE: The comment about magnum above. Here is some info on the variety: https://www.hopunion.com/magnum/ Magnum is loaded with oils. It is usually considered a bittering hop. You could drop that addition and use something else or move it to 60 and move your 60 to FWH. Lots of options. Just don't fall victim to "this is the way it is and that is how it goes" thinking.

 

[bobbrews]

1) Your boil volume and batch volume are the same. If you're only brewing 3 gallons, which is easier to cool than 5 gallons, then why not do a full wort boil without any top off water? This will help make a better Extract IIPA with greater hop utilization, which means less wasted hops / more bang for your buck.

2) Your Crystal 15L is currently nearing 15%. Cut that to 5% for a better, drier IIPA, which is more to style with greater drinkability. The corn sugar can be adjusted to the 6-10% range with good results and a dryness level that certainly will yield an FG as high as a cloying 1.024.

3) If not already doing, add all of your corn sugar at flameout. Add half of your DME at flameout. This will result in a paler beer with better hop utilization. DME has already been "cooked". You don't need to boil the full amount for 60 minutes. Just use enough to establish a basic wort at boil start of about 1.040-1.050.

4) Revamped hop schedule/amounts based on a 3 gallon batch:

Start boil at 60 minutes... wait for hot break... then...

0.50 oz - Magnum, Boil for 50 min (added to a rolling boil)
0.50 oz - Magnum, Boil for 20 min

^This should give you smooth bitterness and offer enough IBUs for the batch size without wasting any aromatic hops, or using more hops.

1.50 oz - Cascade, Post-Boil Aroma Steep
1.50 oz - Cascade, Dry Hop for 5 days
1.00 oz - Warrior, Dry Hop for 5 days

^This should provide plenty of pleasant hop flavor and aroma. It will be a citrusy IIPA.

Magnum is a great bittering hop. Warrior too, but it has more aromatic potential than Magnum. There are a few commercial breweries that successfully use Warrior in their dryhop to add a citrusy element. I think it would pair well with Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, or a combo.

 

[tritch]

Thank you everyone for your input. I was trying to just kinda guess based on similar recipes and this helped a lot.

I only have a 4 gallon kettle so that is why I can't do full volume. Maybe I will scale down and just try this as a one gallon brew instead so I can do a full boil.
How much would I expect to boil off if I did a one gallon batch so that I wouldn't need to add any water to top off?

 

[norcalhomebrewer]

In my double IPAs I've been dropping the 60 minute and doubled up the late hops. I usually use at lease 4 oz of hops in flameout for 5gallon IPAs and at least 4 oz in the dry hops.

 

[bobbrews]

If you have a 4 gallon kettle, you can definitely do a 3.6-ish gallon boil to yield a 3-ish gallon batch. <--- this might not even require a full 60 minute boil. You have to learn your individual boil off rate. It varies slightly for all of us depending on our setup.

^I regularly did this when I first started brewing indoors and all I used to use then was light dme, sugar, and light crystal. Never had a boilover. You'd be surprised how minimal and quick the hot break is when using mainly dme. Worse comes to worse, you can split the wort into two kettles and straddle two burners per kettle. This can also make cooling easier on a budget. Fill a tub with ice water and set the two kettles filled with 1.5 to 2 gallons of wort each.

 

[JordanKnudson]

I think there is a bit of confusion about the batch size. Are you making a 3 gallon batch (i.e. 3 total gallons of beer), or are you making a 5 gallon batch using a concentrated boil with top-up water in the fermentor. This is going to affect several of your variables, most notably your OG. An earlier poster said that your estimated OG was way too high, and he's right -- for a 5 gallon batch. If you put this together in BeerSmith or other software that gives you an estimated OG and told it you were doing a 3 gallon batch, it would give you different numbers than it would if you were topping off with water for a 5 gallon batch (in other words, diluting your wort).