Imperial IPA or Barley Wine

[NotionCommotion]

I recently tried to make an Imperial IPA. It didn't taste anything like one, but it was an awsome Barley Wine. Can anyone tell me where I went astray. My recipe is posted here. Thanks!

 

[thebikingengineer]

It looks like you used a small amount of bittering hops and tons of flavor hops. I personally would have skewed it so that there was a bigger addition at the beginning and fewer additions during the boil (ex. 2 oz @ 90 min, 2 oz @ 60 min, then flavor). The way you added the hops ended up leaving you with a very high gravity beer that had a good balance of malt flavor, hop bittering, and hop flavor. IIPAs generally leave the malt flavor behind a bit for more of the latter two.

Sounds like a tasty brew though. Did it really finish that fast?

 

[brewt00l]

I recently tried to make an Imperial IPA. It didn't taste anything like one, but it was an awsome Barley Wine. Can anyone tell me where I went astray. My recipe is posted here. Thanks!

I don't see any problem with the hops if I am reading recipe correctly...your IBUs are through the roof. Though, your SG was likely rather high and require some pretty substantial fermentation/starter to attenuate well.

 

[NotionCommotion]

Thanks for the advise. Yes, it is high gravity. In fact, the final gravity was around 1.025, a little higher than I expected. I pitched with a new liquid american yeast, a new dry american yeast, and some leftover american yeast from the tertriary of a earlier beer, and then oxygenated well. I was concerned that the yeast in the later might be weak, but this evidently wasn't the case because I had health fermentation in 3 hours.

I don't know what you meant by "did it finish that fast". I should have kept in in the primary for 8 or 9 days, but only did for 7 and moved to a secondary to dry hop. There was a LOT of yeast at the end of my secondary.

The IBU's are definately up there, but the sweetness seems to balance well. I am thinking this will be a good brew to age a bit.

 

[Reidman]

I recently tried to make an Imperial IPA. It didn't taste anything like one, but it was an awsome Barley Wine. Can anyone tell me where I went astray. My recipe is posted here. Thanks!

Could just be the variety of hops you used paired with the high alcohol content.

 

[Brewpastor]

My IIPA has over 200 calculated IBUs with a 1.080 OG. I mash low in the 148 range to keep it dry. I also use very little crystal if at all.

 

[CBBaron]

Based on other comments I have read or heard on IIPAs, including the Jamil Show, I would say you need to look at trying to get a drier beer for an IIPA. Mashing at low temps, below 150F and replacing some of the extract with corn sugar should help. Ofcourse a big starter and a dry clean fermenting yeast is a must.

There is definitely some over lap with IIPAs and Barleywines and it sounds like you ended up a little on the BW side of things. I don't think you can use too many hops with an IIPA so that may be something you can do also.
Craig

 

[the_bird]

I'd concur with the recommendation for lower mash temps and to cut back on the crystal. If you want some extra malt character to the brew, try a few pounds of Munich along with the base malt. One other thing you can do is to use a modest amount (~10%) of a simple sugar - even table sugar - to add gravity while keeping the beer fairly dry.

 

[NotionCommotion]

Thanks for the advice. I will incorperate it in my next strong IPA (and enjoy my barley wine until then).