Imperial IPA Critique please!

[dangloverenator]

Hoping to brew this later today... Apologies in advance for the metric units, I was never able to get my head around Imperial, and have never needed to!


New Recipe
Imperial IPA

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 5.0
Total Grain (kg): 1.850
Total Hops (g): 52.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.082 (°P): 19.8
Final Gravity (FG): 1.020 (°P): 5.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 8.15 %
Colour (SRM): 17.7 (EBC): 34.9
Bitterness (IBU): 84.7 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
1.300 kg Maris Otter Malt (70.27%)
0.250 kg Crystal 60 (13.51%)
0.250 kg Munich I (13.51%)
0.050 kg Honey (2.7%)

Hop Bill
----------------
10.0 g Willamette Leaf (7.1% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (2 g/L)
10.0 g Amarillo Leaf (8.6% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (2 g/L)
8.0 g Cascade Leaf (7.8% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil) (1.6 g/L)
6.0 g Amarillo Leaf (8.6% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (1.2 g/L)
8.0 g Cascade Leaf (7.8% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1.6 g/L)
10.0 g Amarillo Leaf (8.6% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (2 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with Safale US-05

Recipe Generated with BrewMate


I'll be BIAB-ing, and wanted to keep the malt bill pretty simple to showcase the hops, but I felt like a dollop of honey would be necessary to balance out all the IBU's!

Thoughts?

 

[cheezydemon3]

Honey doesn't add sweetness, but it does add a pleasant complexity. Complexity doesn't seem to be what you wanted to "showcase".

 

[dangloverenator]

Hmm, good point. Do you think it would work in this recipe?

 

[Burgs]

Yes, I'd even increase the honey a little bit and decrease the crystal - that will keep the body lean and crisp, which will help insure it doesn't get too syrupy and barleywiney

 

[Burgs]

Oh, and add the honey either at flameout or directly to the fermenter!

 

[dangloverenator]

Yeah I was going to add it to the last 5 minutes of the boil, but BrewMate will only let me enter it as a fermentable. So what about 180g of Crystal (bringing it down to just below 10% of the grain bill) and 120g honey?

Edit: also, I want to do a "nano-brew", about 5 litres/1 gallon, but will a whole sachet of Safale US-04 be too much yeast? If so, is there any way I can use half of it and save the rest?

 

[dangloverenator]

Anyone? About to brew this bad boy!

 

[Yooper]

10% crystal is still a lot for an IIPA. I'd go with no more than 5-7%.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I like the crystal, honey is iiffy still.

 

[dangloverenator]

Currently mashing in, so sadly I'm stuck with the crystal. Still open to suggestions regarding the honey though. What do I gain/lose buy using/not using it? Also, answers to the yeast question would be much appreciated! If I hydrated it first, could I then store half of it in an airtight container in the fridge for next time? Or am I better off using the whole (11.5g) sachet in a 1 gallon batch?

 

[Skelator]

10% crystal is still a lot for an IIPA. I'd go with no more than 5-7%.

+1, and i'd even go no higher then 5%. I used 10% in a IIPA and found it to be way too sweet. Now i use 3% and its there but it lets the hops do most of the talking (which is what I, repeat I, like).

 

[cheezydemon3]

The higher the IBU's the less the crystal comes through.

I LIKE my ruination with about 2 lbs of 60L in 5 gallons.

 

[Yooper]

Currently mashing in, so sadly I'm stuck with the crystal. Still open to suggestions regarding the honey though. What do I gain/lose buy using/not using it? Also, answers to the yeast question would be much appreciated! If I hydrated it first, could I then store half of it in an airtight container in the fridge for next time? Or am I better off using the whole (11.5g) sachet in a 1 gallon batch?

You don't need the whole sachet in a 1 gallon batch, but it also doesn't keep very long. So I'm not sure what I'd do. I guess you could try saving some of it. You only need about 1/3 package.

 

[Burgs]

I still like your honey idea, but now I realize you're only talking about a quarter of a pound of honey. I used a full pound in mine and I think all it did was dry it out - I don't get any floral complexity or anything like that. Or perhaps the hops just overpower it.

 

[dangloverenator]

Nevermind: I'm confused on the size of this batch

Hahaha, sorry! Damn metric system... It's basically 5oz of honey in 1gal, if that helps.

The boil has only just begun, so I've still got a while to decide on the honey. Any other thoughts?

 

[Burgs]

Wait, I thought I was confused... then I thought I wasn't - hence the edits. So the smaller batch is getting the honey, not the 5 gallon IIPA?

 

[Burgs]

Oh, I see now - it says 5.0 L. My bad, I'm dumb.

 

[dangloverenator]

Anyone got any thoughts on the honey? Sorry to spam, but there's not long left!

 

[cheezydemon3]

I dumb too!!!

FWIW Honey imparts definite flavor.

 

[Burgs]

What % of your fermentables is the honey?

 

[dangloverenator]

What % of your fermentables is the honey?

About 7%. Worth it?

 

[dangloverenator]

FWIW, I went ahead and added the honey just before flameout (about 2 minutes to go). I also decided to add 8g of Cascade at flameout for aroma - that was all that was left in the bag so it seemed to make sense. Plus I have a terrible habit of spontaneous recipe changes...

Almost bang on the OG - I got 1.082, but I'm guessing I shouldn't be too concerned about 2 points? Used about 3/4 of the yeast sachet after reading a few threads on the subject that said even a whole sachet should be fine. I decided it's not worth keeping the rest, at least not for this batch - maybe it's something I will look into further down the line.

Now, time to wait and see what happens! Thanks for all the help

 

[Burgs]

Sounds good to me!