TastyMcD wrote:I wouldn't back down too much on the 120 as a big part of the character of this beer is the 120 contrasting with the unique Chinook bitterness. You may want to back the mash temperature down to 153 or 152 if you're willing to give up some mouthfeel in exchange for fermentability. That said, it's a pretty hoppy beer so a higher FG just puts the beer more towards balanced instead of hop forward.
Tasty
I agree with Tasty here. Especially considering you are using so much extract in an IPA. Typically, extracts are highly fermentable, and you are left with a pretty boring/thin malt flavor if you don't back it up with something sweet. And with that much hops, you are going to need as much sweetness as you can get to help balance it out. One nice thing about big hoppy beers though, is if it is too hop forward at first, you can always sit on it and age it a bit until some of the hop forwardness drops out. Even letting it sit a couple more weeks can make a world of difference. Smoke beers are sort of the same way. At first, they may not seem so smokey, but as the hops start to drop out, the smoke starts really building. I got a Smoked robust porter that I have been sampleing from a batch that is a year old. At first, the smoke wasn't real big, but present. But now after a year, it is like a glass of bacon and not much hops.
<see, it's getting better.
BN Army
