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I'm thinking about brewing this in a couple of weeks. I'd like to get some opinions before I go ahead and start buying the ingredients. Any input is greatly appreciated!

Centennial Headrush DIPA
Est. Efficiency: 75%
1.075/1.011, 8.4% ABV
77 IBU, 7 SRM
60 minute boil, 5.5gal batch

Fermentable Amount
2-Row 11.5 lb 79 %
Amber 1.0 lb 6 % (Edit: Reducing Amber by 0.5lbs, increasing 2-row by 0.5lbs)
Carapils 0.5 lb 3 %
Crystal 30 0.5 lb 3 %
Dextrose 1.0 lb 6 % (Late Boil)

Hop Amount Time Use Form AA
Centennial 1.0 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 10.5%
Centennial 3.0 oz 10 min Boil Pellet 10.5%
Centennial 3.0 oz 5 min Boil Pellet 10.5%
Centennial 5.0 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 10.5%

Dry Hopping
Centennial 2.0 oz 7 days Dry Hop Pellet 10.5%
Centennial 2.0 oz 10 days Dry Hop Pellet 10.5%

Mash: 60 min Saccharification Rest @ 149F
Yeast: US-05

Aiming for big late-hop additions with lots of flavor and keeping the bitterness down a bit. I had originally planned it out as an IPA but bulk rates for hops forced my hand :p

I read something earlier today about adding dextrose to the boil and that you shouldn't estimate that as a percentage of your grain bill, but I didn't find the blog post very helpful in explaining why. I'm aware of this pitfall but not sure what it would mean for my beer. I figure adding 1lb of corn sugar at 5 or 10 minutes should dry it out nicely, though?

Thanks, guys!

If you're trying to dry it out with the dextrose, why are you adding the carapils? It seems like they'd just cancel each other out.

amartin wrote:If you're trying to dry it out with the dextrose, why are you adding the carapils? It seems like they'd just cancel each other out.

Probably a boost in abv?

Yeah I wanted to bump the ABV, but I also have 0.5lbs of Carapils leftover that I figured I should use up. I should still get some of the head retention effects if I use both, right?

Also I heard Vinnie from Russian River has been doing it for years. He's probably wrong, though :p

evanisnor wrote:Yeah I wanted to bump the ABV, but I also have 0.5lbs of Carapils leftover that I figured I should use up. I should still get some of the head retention effects if I use both, right?

Also I heard Vinnie from Russian River has been doing it for years. He's probably wrong, though :p

Nailed it for head retention.

You will get a lot of flavor from the amber malt so make sure that's what you want

Yes, I hear it's really intense so I figure 10% should be plenty. I haven't used it before, though. I've read that Dogfish Head 90 has around 7% Amber and I love the hell out of that beer.

Do you think I should dial it back a bit?

evanisnor wrote:Do you think I should dial it back a bit?

I'd dial it back to around 5%, but I prefer my DIPA's to have a pretty simple malt bill. The one I make somewhat regularly is just 93% 2-row and 7% C-15.

Thanks for the advice. I've adjusted the post to swap 0.5lbs of Amber for another 0.5lbs of 2-row.

Does anyone think I'm foolish for dumping in 8oz of hops in the last 5 minutes?

evanisnor wrote:Thanks for the advice. I've adjusted the post to swap 0.5lbs of Amber for another 0.5lbs of 2-row.

Does anyone think I'm foolish for dumping in 8oz of hops in the last 5 minutes?

If you're after big aroma, that's how you'll get it

evanisnor wrote:
Does anyone think I'm foolish for dumping in 8oz of hops in the last 5 minutes?

Sounds about right for a DIPA with lots of hop aroma!

evanisnor wrote:Thanks for the advice. I've adjusted the post to swap 0.5lbs of Amber for another 0.5lbs of 2-row.

Does anyone think I'm foolish for dumping in 8oz of hops in the last 5 minutes?

10oz.whirlpool and 4oz at 5 min in the IRA we did last weekend and I wished after we'd done more

Awesome! I was going to whirlpool this but I wanted to keep it simple.

Planning on brewing this on the 23rd or the 24th. I'll report back. Thanks for all the input!

How did the brewday go?

With the depressing realization that brewing a high gravity beer BIAB-style is a silly idea. Attempted a double IPA, probably ended up with a session IPA.

Also, I think it might be infected. While dry hopping it I noticed a bunch of marble-sized bubbles and a few yeasty specks sitting on top. I'm not entirely sure it's gone off, so I'll wait to find out. Didn't bother taking a picture. :/

I'll try this recipe again someday when I have the right equipment.

I use malt extract to brew really high gravity beers when I know my efficiency won't be as good. I usually brew the beer with grain to about 1.060 or so and use extract to bump up the rest.