Will this recipe land me in IIPA territory? Feedback

[SamHain]

Disclaimer..This will only be my 5th batch...

I had a thread going about an IPA recipe I was working on but wanted to start over fresh and get some other opinions and didnt want the comments in that thread influencing any opinions. I wanted to make something similar to DFH 90 Min IIPA. I don't want to make a clone, I want my own twist on it. I took a lot from THIS awesome clone of DFH90.

So my goal is to make my own 90 min IIPA....


1)Will this recipe land me in IIPA territory?
2)Will the 1/2# of Victory and the 2#'s of Amber DME make it something else?
3)Also is my choice of yeast OK? Getting cooler fermenting temps will be tough with my house so I thought the US05 would be a good choice.

Recipe Type: Partial Grain
Yeast: US05 pitched @74
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):3wk @ 68
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp):1wk @ 70
Tasting Notes: Dead on 90 minute clone

1lb 2-row (crushed)
½ lb Amber Malt(crushed) Note this is not Thomas Fawcett Amber-I wanted something different.
½ lb Victory Malt (crushed)
Mash 2 gal @ 152 for 40 mins
-Add 2.5 gallons of water to mash.
-Add 6 lbs Light Dry Malt Extract and 2 lbs Amber Dry Malt Extract
-Add 12 OZ of Cane/Corn Sugar

Mix 1 oz of Warrior,2 oz of Simcoe and 2 oz of Amarillo hops together in a bowl, then place .5 oz's of mixed hops in 10 separate cups.

Bring wort to a boil… add 1 cup of mixed hops every 10 mins starting at 90
At 15 mins add 1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min)
Stop at 90 mins cool brew to 74 with frozen 1/2 gallon blocks then top to 5 gallons if needed. (I dont have a wort chiller yet)
Oxygenate
Pitch US05 yeast at 74.
Ferment @68 degrees for 3 weeks

5 Day dry hop in Primary:
2 oz. Amarillo hops
2 oz. Simcoe hops
2 oz. of Cascade Hops

Remove hops and let beer sit for another week....then bottle and sit for 3 weeks.

 

[smiller]

I would sub the amber for something like caramel 20L or 40L, and maybe add 1/2 lb carapils for body. Victory malt is fine. Since you are only boiling 2.5 gal of water, not as much bitterness will be imparted to the beer, since the boiling wort will be really high gravity (the higher the gravity, the lower the alpha acid utilization of the hops). I recently made a double IPA and used something like 8 oz of bittering/flavoring hops plus 3 oz aroma hops, and this was with a full-volume boil. To get double IPA bitterness, you are going to need way way more hops than you listed. Also, you may want to try more exact hop additions, rather than just mixing them and adding 0.5 oz at a time. Try using WLP001 and pitching at 68-70 degrees.

One more thing...DON'T add frozen blocks of water to the cooling wort, you are just asking for infection (refrigerators and freezers are teeming with bugs). Instead, until you have a wort chiller, make an ice bath in your sink and set the boil kettle into the ice bath, making sure not to get any into the wort. That will allow you to chill it in around 30 mins. Add the remaining water (~2.5 gal in your case) to your carboy, add the chilled wort to that, and pitch your yeast.

 

[SamHain]

Thanks for he input smiller. Heres my alternate hopping schedule below. Also is 30 min to long for the cold break. The water and sealed containers I use are always sanitized and boiled.

Oh and your right about the hops....I forgot I doubled the dry hops...Ill change that in my OP.

Alternate hopping schedule...

90 minutes: .50 oz Warrior

75 minutes: .25 oz Warrior

60 minutes :,25 Warrior

45 minutes: .25 Simcoe, .50 Amarillo

30 minutes: .25 Simcoe, .50 Amarillo

15 minutes: .25 Simcoe, .50 Amarillo
Irish moss 1 tsp

10 minutes: .25 Simcoe, .50 Amarillo

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

What will your OG and IBU's be? I would bitter with Warrior and then alternate additions of Simcoe and Amarillo later in the boil. You should also do bigger additions, 5oz will be a bit on the light side for a IIPA. Also, I wouldn't pitch your yeast at 74, you want to pitch a little closer to your fermentation temperature, so pitch at 68 if you can. I like to pitch at 65. Consider bottling right after the Dry Hop, seems to me you would lose some aroma just sitting around. If you are wanting to age it a bit, then let it sit first, then Dry Hop it.

 

[bobbrews]

Glaring observations I see...

-Why are you mashing 2 lbs. of grain in 2.5 gallons of water? It should be more like 2.5 quarts of water. Is this what you meant?

-I strongly suggest a full volume boil, especially for this beer.

-Avoid Amber DME. Use Extra Light or Light DME only for best results. Don't use more Amber malt with Amber DME.

-"add 1 cup of mixed hops every 10 mins starting at 90"... You don't even have a cup of hops.

-For better results, you can cut the dryhops to 3.5 oz. and dryhop for 10-12 days.

-To land in IIPA territory, you may need another lb. or two of Light DME.

-As far as your yeast question goes... in the link you provided, the author says:

"If you can't find WLP007, use WYeast 1098 - Dry Whitbread, or Safale S04. Definitely use WLP007 if it's available, the yeast character is dead on."

-If you're fermenting at 68 F, then pitch at 68 F... why pitch at 74 F?

 

[SamHain]

I didnt know that about the yeast...Ill pitch at 68. bobbrews by cups I mean containers not the measurement. As far as the type of yeast...I thought all those yeasts were best used below temps I could easily reach. Maybe Im mistaken, Ill research the yeast more.

 

[smiller]

Yeah, you definitely want to pitch at the temp you plan to ferment. Like I said before, I would recommend WLP001 Cali Ale yeast if you want the feel and dryness of a West Coast double IPA. And yes, mash with about 2.5 qts for that much grain, pour it into another pot after mashing, put the mesh grain bag in a strainer, and rinse them with another 2-3 quarts of water at ~170F into that pot. Then bring your boil volume up to 2.5 gal with more 170F water and bring to a boil.

I did some rough IBU calculations based on an expected OG of 1.070 (about right for a double IPA) and considering a 2.5 gal boil (with a 5 gal end product). This would effectively make the gravity of your small boil wort 1.140, so when it is cut with the remainder in the carboy you have 1.070. Based on this, this is the hop schedule I recommend (same as your post above, just with the amounts different).

90 minutes: 1.50 oz Warrior

75 minutes: .5 oz Warrior

60 minutes : .25 Warrior

45 minutes: .5 Simcoe, .75 Amarillo

30 minutes: .5 Simcoe, .75 Amarillo

15 minutes: .25 Simcoe, .50 Amarillo
Irish moss 1 tsp

10 minutes: .25 Simcoe, .50 Amarillo

I upped the bittering and earlier flavoring hops a bit, but trust me, with a wort with that high of a gravity, you will need them. bobbrews is right, though, if you can get a bigger pot (at least 30 qts) and do a full boil, that would be best. You'll get a better tasting beer, and you won't have to spend as much on hops.

 

[SamHain]

That's awesome smiller. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that.

Thanks to everyone else too. It's interesting that I get so many different replays on what to do. I guess, other than the science behind the brew, it's all going to come down to taste and experimentation. Im sure that no brewer ever brewed their first batch and decided that it was already perfected.

 

[smiller]

Glad I could help! Happy brewing!