Hop-Goblin Imperial IPA

It's a great time to be a homebrewer, the emerging styles and access to raw materials is greater now than ever.  With my pallet changing to the more drinkable/sessionable styles of beers over the last couple of years my brewing style has reflected that.  (Of course there are a couple of exceptions to this, like my higher gravity 4C's Rye IPA.)  My ongoing Session Ale project and always tweaking my whirlpooling on my lower gravity IPA's have created some great beers that were not possible even 5 years ago. 

Sometimes you just want to reach in the fridge and grab a big old high gravity beer.  Since I've found that keeping one of these on draft usually ends in me drunk for 2 weeks I've restricted this to style of beers to bottles.  With my "BeerGun" I can now bypass the bottling bucket mess and just keg as normal.  Once I'm at my desired Co2 pressure in the keg I can just clean the bottles and pressurize them with ready to drink beer.  This added benefit has changed the way I look at bottling beer.

For this Imperial IPA I wanted to"Go Back to Basics" and create a beer that is classically simple.  Big Cascade and Columbus hops with a minimal amount of Bravo/Columbus for bittering.  The plan for this beer is to have them in bottles year round while tweaking my recipe, brewing this about every 8 months to keep a fresh batch always moving through my system.

Hop-goblin

Imperial IPA

Type: All Grain	Date: 6/17/2012
Batch Size: 6.00 gal	Brewer: Chris Lewis
Boil Size: 6.87 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 13 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 68.53 % 2 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 10.15 % 2 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 10.15 % 9.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3.05 % 9.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 3.05 % 8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.54 % 1.00 oz Bravo [15.50 %] (90 min) Hops 37.1 IBU 1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (90 min) Hops 33.5 IBU 0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 4.7 IBU 0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (30 min) Hops 12.0 IBU 1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (5 min) Hops 6.2 IBU 1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.5 IBU 1.20 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc 1.20 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Misc 12.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc 8.0 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 2.54 % 1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 35 ml] Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.089 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.079 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.020 SG	Measured Final Gravity: TBA SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.08 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: TBA %
Bitterness: 96.1 IBU	Calories: TBA cal/pint
Est Color: 13.6 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Full Body	Total Grain Weight: 19.20 lb
Sparge Water: 3.17 gal	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Full Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp 60 min Saccharification Add 24.00 qt of water and heat to 152.0 F over 15 min 151.0 F 10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2)	Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 21.6 PSI	Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F	Age for: 14.0 days
Storage Temperature: 40.0 F
Fermentation Notes
Starting fermentation at 63 for a week.  This should keep the wort around 65/66.  Then I will free rise to 68 for a week.
Created with BeerSmith

Brewday Pictures:

My Son is always on the lookout for spent grains

Mash water ready for my grains

Great boil and color

Some fresh Bravo Hops