I am going to brew a single-hop IPA tomorrow. My recipe is:

5.5 gallon batch

Malts:

13 lbs. Am. 2-Row
.5 lb. Am. 60L Crystal
.25 lb. Am. 20L Crystal

60 min boil
Amarillo (10 %AA)
.25 oz @ 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 15 mins
.5 oz @ 10 mins
1 oz @ 5 mins
1 oz Dry Hop in Primary

Yeast: WLP051 California V Ale Yeast

I my intentions are to make a psudo-continuous hopped IPA.

If I cut out the middle hop additions and upped the early and late additions, would I be able to get similar results?

Thanks and Happy Brewing!

Dave

While you might get similar results, you get a different character from the hops depending on where you use them. I've only really used Amarillo as a late/dry hop and love the flavor and aroma.

The recent IPA I did using both of the Hop Union blends (Falconer's and Zythos) was bittered with about 75% of the calculated IBUs from the 60 min addition, 20% at 20, 5% at 5 and then 2oz. at 0min (20min whirlpool) and 2 oz. for a 10 day dry hop. Impressions are that the bitterness seems lower than calculated because so much of the hoppiness is just big aroma.

I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong, just giving you another approach to move more of the hops toward the back end.

I am appreciate the feedback!

Thanks!

With how hard amarillo hops are going to be to get in the next year or two I wouldn't waste any of them on bittering additions. Leave them for flavor aroma. Personally i havent noticed anything special by continuous hopping. I do like to overload in the last 10-15 minutes of the boil.

Thanks! I was just wondering... if I used a little bit of something like Apollo @60 minutes, I could take 2 oz or so of Amarillo and ad that in 2 or 3 additions between 15 minutes and 0 and get similar results?

This is all for future reference. I brewed this beer last night.

Thanks again!

If you go big additions in the last 20 min, you may end up getting most of the way to the IBUs you're looking for, depending on the alpha of your hops and where you load it. Looks like you've got 5 oz in the recipe, you could play around in your software and see what you get if you put them in late addition. With 1 oz additions at 20, 15, 10, and 5, you'd be getting an end loaded version of the 'semi-continuous hopping' and that would probably put you in the 40+IBU range with your specs... perhaps a bit on the low side, but you could shift them around or bump some up with another ounce or so... If you are looking to do a single hop beer with something like Amarillo, I do think you want to focus on late additions, where it may take more hops to get the bitterness you want, but you'll be using those hops to get the aromas and flavors the variety is known for...

I had about 8 ozs of it last night after bottling, it's really fucking good! I'll let you all know how it turned out when it is fully conditioned.

Happy Brewing!

Dave