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Yeast and hops questions for an IPA

waynemr

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So, I brewed up one of the Falconer's Flight Extra IPA kits from Brewer's Best a few months ago and it was spectacular. Using that kit as a base, I wanted to alter it with some extra home-grown hops I just harvested and dried the past week. I would also like to maybe bump up the ABV from 7.0%-7.5% to the 8.0%-8.5% and I am unsure if a different yeast or a sugar addition would be best to achieve that.

Here are the recipe components

    6.6 lb. Golden Light LME
    3.3 lb. Amber LME
    8 oz. Maltodextrin
    6 oz. Caramel 30L
    6 oz. Munich 10L
    Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast packet

Hops available for use

    1.75 oz Magnum pellets (10%-13% alpha)
    2.6 oz dried, whole-hop, home-grown Santiam (guessing 5%-7% alpha)
    6.6 oz dried, whole-hop, home-grown Perle (guessing 6%-10% alpha)
    1.8 oz dried, whole-hop, home-grown Hallertau (guessing 3.5%-5.5% alpha)
    7.0 oz dried, whole-hop, home-grown Centennial (guessing 9.5%-12% alpha)
    4.0 oz Falconer's Flight pellets (11%-12% alpha)

I am thinking of a hop schedule like this

    1 oz Magnum @ 60 minutes
    1 oz Falconer's Flight @ 45 minutes
    1 oz Centennial @ 30 minutes
    1 oz Perle @ 15 minutes
    2.6 oz Santiam @ flameout
    1.8 oz Hallertau @ flameout
    3 oz Falconer's Flight dry-hop
    6 oz Centennial dry-hop

Given the lower alpha of the Perle, Santiam, and Hallertau - is it even worth it to mix with Magnum, Centennial, and Falconer's Flight, or should I maybe dry-hop the lower alpha hops and add the Centennial every 10 minutes to the boil?

Ultimately, I want something in the 80 IBU range + or - 5, but at the same time I want a powerful flowery, fruity hop aroma - think a more bitter Ale Asylum's Hopalicious.

As for the ABV question, if I want to crank it up a tad, would adding more Maltodextrin do the trick? How about some cane sugar? I figure I need to get the OG around 1.078+ and FG around 1.016. So, if I get the OG higher, by adding sugar, will Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast be able to reach a 1.016 FG, or should I look to swap it out with something else?

Thank you for any comments, discussions, and advice!
 
Maine Homebrewer said:
Not knowing the alpha content of the home grown hops, I'd use them for late additions.

+1 - didn't want to be a debby downer... but it sounds like you have a good handle on the IBU you're shooting for, which will be tough to accomplish with the estimates you've laid out.  I agree you should use hops you know for IBU contribution, use home growns for late/dry hopping.

That's a lot of different hop types.  Ask yourself what you're looking for in general and from each hop.  If complexity is the answer, then you're headed in the right direction.  Once you dig into a book like "brewing classic styles", you'll

Check out a calculator like MrMalty to figure out how much yeast you'll need.

I don't know if you'll get the increase in fermentables from maltodextrin, but you can play with beersmith to sort that out.  I'd think a bit of dry malt extract in addition to the LME you have would be more effective.
 
Adding my $0.02 here.  How did the recipe you listed above finish out?  What was the final gravity and how dry was it.  If you are looking to boost the ABV based upon that recipe, I would look to your experience with it.  If is came out kind of on the sweet side, then add straight sugars.  If it came out very dry, add some DME to boost the gravity and balance out all those hop additions.

Like the others have said, I'd stick with the known %AA hops for bittering and use your home grown hops for late addition, steep/whirlpool and dry hopping.

 
My 2 cents- centennial makes an excellent dry hop.  I would save it for that . You have enough others for boil additions. And adding corn sugar near the end of boil is a great way to add boost to your  I.P.A.- apparently used by Pliney the Elder  IIPA  brewer as per an article on his clone recipe for that brew. Sounds good what you're doing there.CHEERS!
PS I made a 6.7% IPA with us-05.(MR.Fermenter head Citra IPA on the cloud) It chugged along fine. Just make sure you make a good starter or use a pint of saved yeast slurry  as this will ensure good yeast numbers. Give it time it to work.
 
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