Kit-hacking advice – double IPA

[Curtis_E_Bare]

No, I’m not entirely a lurker, just mostly. I’m looking for advice for “kit-hacking” a “The Brew House IPA” kit to an imperial/double IPA. The links appear to be not working tonight but the basics are:

The IPA kit contains 15L of wort that you are supposed to add 8 L of water, included base, dry yeast and then normal brewing procedures to produce a decent IPA. I’ve previously used the IPA base and an internet recipe to produce a decent ESB but now I’m looking to make what is becoming my favourite style (thanks to Alley Kat brewery) a double IPA.
Basically, I have ~8L to double the hops and increase the starting SG. I suppose I could just go crazy with the hops (don’t mind if I do) and grains and mash them in < 8L but a little guidance probably wouldn’t hurt. Any suggestions of how to kit-hack a Brew House IPA into a double/imperial IPA?

Ultimately I’m looking for beer hoppy enough to peel paint off the walls.

Thanks in advance.

[ajcarp]

First, lets start with the OG. Standards for an American IPA are 1.056 to 1.075, for an Imperial IPA 1.75 to 1.090. Does your recipe say what the expected OG is going to be? If it does, you can base your fermentable additions from there.
Homebrew Formulator, my brewing software, tells me that for each 1 lb of Light Malt Extract(LME) I add, the OG goes up 0.07. For example, if your recipe says the OG would be 1.060, then added 3 lb of LME and enough water to make up the 8 L you add, your OG should be 1.081. You probably don't want to go too much higher because that would probably be too high for the IPA yeast that is in your package.

Next, speaking of yeast. With this high of OG, you really want to do a starter to pitch a higher volume of active yeast.

Finally, let's look at the hop rate, really International Bittering Units (IBUs) for the beer. For an American IPA, IBUs are from 40 to 60, while for an Imperial IPA, they are from 60 to 100+. I find that most IPA kits are under hopped, so my guess for your kit is that it is really about 25 IPUs. To bump it up to above 75 IBUs from that you could add the following; 1 oz Cascade for 60 min (adds 25 IBUs), 1 oz Columbus for 30 min (adds ~ 36 IBUs). Even another 1/2 oz of another fairly high Alpha Acid (look for %AA on package) hop will not hurt. Remember the NASH motto, you can always hide your flaws with more hops.

I would also dry hop any Imperial IPA with at least 1 to 2 oz of hops, either after you rack to a secondary or in the keg (if you keg). My last one used Columbus, Centennial and Warrior.

I'm sure the others in this forum will have other great suggestions and corrections where I am off a bit. Happy brewing.

ajcarp