Opinions on this hybrid homebrew recipe?

[Andymillah]

I will admit, this recipe is not 100% original. I have edited some parts and copied and pasted others.


9.3lbs Gold (light) LME
1lb white table sugar
4oz Aromatic (for steeping 30min 155-F)
12oz Caramel 60L (for steeping 30min 155-F)
8oz Victory (for steeping 30min 155-F)
1oz chinook (30min)
0.5oz cascade (25min)
0.5oz centennial (20min)
0.5oz cascade (15min)
0.5oz centennial (10min)
1oz crystal (5min)
Brown sugar for priming

Spices
- ---------------
120 Cardamom pods, (cracked slightly - just enough to open the
pods)
11 teaspoons Cinnamon chips
11 teaspoons whole Coriander
5 1/2 teaspoons whole Cloves
5 1/2 teaspoons whole black Peppercorns
11 inches fresh, peeled, sliced Ginger root (or 5 teaspoons dried
ginger chips)
4 whole orange peels

Adding Spices
- ---------------------
In a separate pot, boil all spices in approximately 1 quart of
water for 20 minutes. (You should have the spices boiling about
the same time as you start the wort boiling.)
After 20 minutes of a nice rolling boil, shut off heat, cover and
leave spices sit in water for another 20 minutes.
At 20 minutes left to the wort boil, add spice tea through a
strainer directly into wort.


Aged with bourbon infused wood

 

[Andymillah]

Would really like some opinions...

 

[mytommygundont]

Is there a reason you are going whole spices instead of crushed (crushing releases essential oils)? It seems like a lot (quanitity) of spices. I usually use fractions of teaspoons when using crushed spices. Have you tried your spice tea method before? Randy Mosher says spices should add complexity but if you can pick out individual spices, you're using too much. I generally agree with him.

At the very least I would add the tea later in the boil and probably leave out the white table sugar.

 

[daksin]

It looks like a bit of a mess honestly; you've gone the almost stereotypical new brewer route of throwing everything you've ever heard of going into a beer all into one beer.

It looks like a IIPA grist and gravity, hopped like a pale ale, and then you add enough spices to make 5-10 batches of witbier? And bourbon and oak after that?

What are your goals here?

 

[CBMbrewer]

Simplicity is key. Especially if you are just getting started.
...if it were me, I would cut out all the spices, not age it with oak and add a 60 min addition or just move the chinook to 60 minutes and increase all your later additions. This would make it fit pretty well into the style of a dipa.

 

[AgingHopster]

I brew with strange spices a lot. Some brewers hate it. Oh well, I like to experiment. Let me say you are WAY, WAY (did I say WAY too much) over board on the spice. 120 cardamon pods? Are you nuts? Eat 1 by itself, I dare ya! It's not the pod that anyway, it's the little black seeds inside. I cook a lot of Indian food so I know those spices well. The best advise I can give you is, 1) use a mortar and pestal or blade style coffee grinder and grind your spices medium-fine. That way you only ave to use 1 or 2 teaspoons total, and that's a lot even. Use fining agent if you want clear beer. 2) Use combinations with less variety. Example, make a beer with just cardamon and ginger, or cinnamon and cloves, or just cardamon, but not all those with all that amount, that's way over the top, you'll regret it. There are other flavors in your beer such as malt and hops, you don't want to create flavor chaos, you want balance and harmony. Too much going on is like a recipe with 5 or 6 grains and 6 or 8 hop varieties, inevitably it just ends up tasting like an overloaded mess. The worse thing you can do is make it to complicated. Complicated is not the same as complex.

 

[Andymillah]

I've seen White IPAs, Wood-Aged IPAs, Wood-Aged Witbiers, and even Wood-Aged White IPAs. I was basically trying to aim for a Wood-Aged Imperial White IPA. Looking again, I realize the spices are way too much. I had copied that from another source without putting much thought into it. This recipe idea I have keeps changing, so I suppose I'm asking more of an opinion on the idea I had than this actual recipe. I wanted to add the extra sugar to up the alcohol.

 

[Andymillah]

It looks like a bit of a mess honestly; you've gone the almost stereotypical new brewer route of throwing everything you've ever heard of going into a beer all into one beer.

It looks like a IIPA grist and gravity, hopped like a pale ale, and then you add enough spices to make 5-10 batches of witbier? And bourbon and oak after that?

What are your goals here?

Most of the recipe is just Hop Head Double IPA from Midwest, besides the spices, which I now realize are a rediculous amount. I basically just pushed the hop additions to late in the boil. I got that idea from hearing about how Heady Topper is full of late addition hops with little to no bittering hops. I will definitely take out most of the spices, but still have enough for a respectable wit. I've seen beers gain a lot more character from wood aging, and I'm not sure how that fact is so extravagant.

 

[Andymillah]

This is the recipe I have now.




9.3lbs Gold (light) LME
4oz Aromatic (for steeping 30min)
12oz Caramel 60L (for steeping 30min)
8oz Victory (for steeping 30min)
2lbs Turbinado
1oz chinook (30min)
1oz citra (30min)
1oz cascade (20min)
1oz citra (20min)
1oz centennial (10min)
1oz citra (10min)
1oz Coriander Seed (10mins)
1 oz Orange Peel, Fresh (10mins)
1oz crystal (5min)
1oz citra (5min)
2oz leaf (dry hop)
Aged with 40oz bourbon soaked oak wood chips

 

[mytommygundont]

Most of the recipe is just Hop Head Double IPA from Midwest, besides the spices, which I now realize are a rediculous amount. I basically just pushed the hop additions to late in the boil. I got that idea from hearing about how Heady Topper is full of late addition hops with little to no bittering hops. I will definitely take out most of the spices, but still have enough for a respectable wit. I've seen beers gain a lot more character from wood aging, and I'm not sure how that fact is so extravagant.

If you are interested in the aromas and flavors that you get from all of the late additions then you can't oak age this beer. In most cases IPAs are best fresh-like Heady Topper. Err...especially Heady Topper. If you want late addition flavor and aroma then move everything to 10 minutes or less in the boil. One large bitterness addition (45-60 IBUs) at 60 minutes is vital to make a beer this large balanced.

If you are going for an oak aged IPA, that's fine, just remove the bourbon. Actually, I really don't see how bourbon will work well with this beer at all. Also, 40oz is way too much oak. Try 2oz instead.

If you are dead set on oak aging, then save your money and use columbus or something less precious than citra. Citra is best fresh.

Experimentation is fun. I love doing things that are unexpected with beer. A wit spiced IPA is a great idea.

 

[Andymillah]

If you are interested in the aromas and flavors that you get from all of the late additions then you can't oak age this beer. In most cases IPAs are best fresh-like Heady Topper. Err...especially Heady Topper. If you want late addition flavor and aroma then move everything to 10 minutes or less in the boil. One large bitterness addition (45-60 IBUs) at 60 minutes is vital to make a beer this large balanced.

If you are going for an oak aged IPA, that's fine, just remove the bourbon. Actually, I really don't see how bourbon will work well with this beer at all. Also, 40oz is way too much oak. Try 2oz instead.

If you are dead set on oak aging, then save your money and use columbus or something less precious than citra. Citra is best fresh.

Experimentation is fun. I love doing things that are unexpected with beer. A wit spiced IPA is a great idea.

Turns out the wood "chips" I ordered was actually sawdust! Definitely a mistake there... Returned that, so I might not be wood aging afterall. I was really just hoping to make this really unique. I'll be taking this to the beach this summer and want it to really stand out. I guess the half pound of hops should do that enough anyway.

 

[Andymillah]

Unless sawdust can be used?