Mini IIPA; an oxymoron too far?

[bob3000]

I'm planning on doing a series of low gravity brews. I got inspired by some of the recipes on "shut up about barcley perkins" for 1.030 beers with about 70 IBU's and got thinking would it be possible to get some off the character i associate with IIPA into a low gravity brew.

I'm looking for something at around 3%abv with huge hop flavour with a big body and nice mouthfeel. i want the colour to be light to medium amber.

Here's what I'm thinking:

Marris otter base
1lb of dark cyrstal

Mash at 158f

A crap load of centenial

Maybe some oats for mouthfeel and some malto dextrine?

Any thoughts?

 

[CosmicJam]

I have always wanted to do this too! I'm not really sure how to do it. I was thinking to take an IIPA recipe and keep the IBU/SG ratio the same while using the same amount of crystal and just drop the base malt so there will be heaps of unfermentables. Mashing warm is a good call.

I'd like to hear what others think too

 

[scottland]

I did that with a recent pale ale(1.054). I didn't bitter it as heavy, 1oz total of Simcoe, Citra, and Amarillo mixed at 60min, but then I hopped it VERY heavily late. Like 4oz in the last 15min of Simcoe, Citra, and Amarillo.

It's not what I hoped it would be. The aroma is incredible, but the flavor is very one-dimensional. The hops completely dominate. It's very good, but it would be better with more alcohol to balance the hops. Now, I say more alcohol, but not the 10% plus that I see some IIPAs have. I personally love the IIPAs that start around 1.070 and finish dry.

 

[skibb]

I'm not sure with a 1.030 gravity that you could get 70 ibus into your beer. A lot of IIPAs aren't about the bitterness aspects of the style, but more focused on the hop flavor and aroma (take Hop Slam for example, 10% but only 60 ibus). I would probably try to focus more on that end with a lower alcohol beer like the one you are planning.

In regards to getting a fuller mouthfeel with such a small beer as this, just having a bunch of hop resins from massive dry hops/late additions/hop-backs can add a the mouthfeel you may be looking for.