iipa recipe critique

[inthesound]

Just realized I haven't made a legitimate imperial IPA. I put together a recipe on hopville, but knowing how my efficiencies run, I wanted to ask some questions about yeast choice, pitch rate, and the recipe itself.

14# 2-row
.5# 40L
.5# wheat
.25# victory
.25# munich

2oz challenger (pellets)@60
1oz colombus (leaf)@30
1oz chinook (leaf)@15
.5oz golding (leaf)@10
.5oz willamette (leaf)@10
1oz amarillo(leaf)@5
1oz citra (leaf)@5
1oz simcoe (leaf)@5
1oz zythos (pellet)@5

dryhop
1oz amarillo
.5oz chinook
.5oz colombus
1oz zythos
.5oz golding
.5oz willamette

northwest ale yeast (wy1332)

hopville says my og should be 1.086, fg 1.027 with an abv of 7.9%

I understand I want to mash low at 151-152 to keep the beer dry and not overly sweet, but also I think I want my final gravity considerably lower than 1.027! The last beer I used northwest ale yeast dropped me from a projected fg of 1.021 to 1.016, and I suspect I could have let it go even longer, but it went into a keg after two weeks. Or should I use wy1056 instead? I really liked the use of the northwest ale yeast, but I'm worried with a high gravity beer (I haven't brewed anything above 7.5% abv) that I'll totally **** up my target gravity of 8.5 if my f.g. ends up too low, or my efficiency is under 70%.

Also, does anyone feel like that amount of wheat will lighten the mouth feel, or should I say screw it? I absolutely do not want to add any sugar to this recipe, either.

I typically hit anywhere from 72-78% efficiency, but the efficiency on these high gravity beers swings the abv in such a huge way.

Help!

 

[bobbrews]

The grist is good, but a tad more Wheat and Munich wouldn't hurt. Mashing at 151 F is fine.

Shoot for:

1.070-1.075 OG
1.012-1.014 FG

The hop bill needs simplification. I would recommend a simple 60/30/0/DH schedule. Start with a 90 minute boil and don't add any hops until 30 minutes into the boil. Stick with Columbus, Chinook, Simcoe, and a dash of Amarillo for citrusy, piney, dank, and complex. Or use Columbus, Simcoe, Zythos, and a decent amount of Amarillo and Citra for something more fruity, tropical, citrusy, and simple. Use about 12 oz. total recipe hops.

WLP090 San Diego Super yeast starter (check mrmalty.com for pitch rate info)

 

[daksin]

Hopville is pretty bad at calculating FG, as is all software. I wouldn't worry about it. With a fermentable wort, pretty much every yeast will outperform their specs if you pitch the correct number of cells, oxygenate, and control your temperature. The recipe looks good, I would move your 30m addition to 20 for better flavor, and I don't think you'll get much out of 0.25lb munich malt, but it's not hurting anything either. You can either bump that up or leave it where it is. I say use the Northwest ale yeast.

 

[inthesound]

Thanks guys.

Yeah, the 5 minute hop additions are really flameout additions. I'll look at tinkering with the wheat/Munich. I want it to be just malty enough that the alcohol doesn't feel too heavy for the body. I had some of new belgium's rampant the other day, and its body is just too light for me (also not crazy about the peachy hop aromas).

It's possible I don't even like iipa's, but dammit, I'm gonna try to brew one that I will like.