Here's a Pliny the Elder recipe...

[BeaverBarber]

I'm brewing this right now as a double IPA entry for the Brewing With Style show. I'm going to have the brewcasters evaluate the results. In Mitch Steele's book about brewing double IPA, it is said that the key is to use ingredients and processes that let the hops shine. This means limiting or eliminating any crystal malt, using lower conversion-rest temperatures, and long rest times. Vinnie Cirluzo (Russian River head brewer) is an advocate of using dextrose as a key component of his double IPA recipes. He is also an advocate of using English base malt as an alternative to using crystal or Munich malts. This technique is designed to get more malt character in the beer without conflicting with the hops. For those of us who really want a Russian River beer, this could help you make your own. I believe the key is a US 2-row/English 2-row blend. To look at the Pliny recipe in Mitch's book, it's hardly any different than anything any of us has brewed in the past. I believe the key is in the ingredients; specifically the 2-row. Here is the recipe for my first Pliny attempt based on the recipe outlined in the book:

OG 1.069
FG 1.011
67% mash efficiency

53.0 % 8.00 American Two-row Pale (Great Western) 36.1 2.6
4.0 % 0.60 British Crystal 45L (Fawcett) 2.5 4.4
6.0 % 0.90 Dextrose (Corn Sugar) 5.0 0.2
4.0 % 0.60 CaraPils 2.4 0.2
33.1 % 5.00 British Two-row Pale (Fawcett-Optic) 23.1 2.3
15.10 69.1
Hops
% Wt Weight (oz) Hop Form AA% AAU Boil Time Utilization IBU
41.1 % 1.15 Columbus Pellet 15.4 17.7 90 0.238 57.3
8.9 % 0.25 Simcoe Pellet 13.0 3.3 45 0.204 9.0
10.7 % 0.30 Centennial Pellet 10.5 3.2 30 0.171 7.3
10.7 % 0.30 Amarillo Pellet 7.0 2.1 20 0.135 3.8
8.9 % 0.25 Simcoe Pellet 13.0 3.3 20 0.135 6.0
8.9 % 0.25 Cascade Pellet 6.6 1.7 20 0.135 3.0
10.7 % 0.30 Centennial Pellet 10.5 3.2 20 0.135 5.8
2.80 92.2


My 20 minute hop additions are really flameout additions that are going to be whirlpooled for 20 minutes.

Dry hop at 0.5 oz/gal with equal proportions of Centennial, CTZ, and Simcoe pellets. Russian River uses a double dry hop where they use 25% of the first dry hop rate for their second dry hop. I believe the reason for this is that they add their first dry hop at the end of primary fermentation which scrubs out a large portion of the dry hop character. Then they add a smaller portion after fermentation because an equal portion would give harsh results.

Wyeast 1056. Fermentation temp 68.

Mash temp is 152.6 (67C)

This is what I'm gonna send in to the show.

[BeaverBarber]

Well...I ended up with a slightly lower OG than I'd hoped at 1.068, which is 17 plato for the pretentious among us. Also worth noting, I added the dextrose sugar with 10 minutes left in the boil along with Servomyces and a Whirlfloc tablet. I managed to stay sober tonight so all should turn out well.

[BeaverBarber]

I ended up fermenting this at 65 degrees (58 ambient) and couldn't take it any higher because I thought it was going to explode; it kind of exploded anyways. 2 week old 1056 is kind of a beast. Mash temp was 149. OG 1.068; FG 1.008.

Tasting notes...
I've never had Pliny the Elder so I can't compare it to the real Pliny, but a few things are obvious about my homebrew version of this beer. The hop profile is full of pine and somewhat dominated by Columbus; it's a little citrusy, but only in the background. It's bitter, but somehow the bitterness creeps up on you because the malt kind of keeps the bitterness in check. It's insanely drinkable for a beer that's 7.9% ABV, and it's very balanced for such a hop bomb of a beer. This beer is no less drinkable than the average 5% ABV beer, and I believe that's what sets it apart from other imperial IPAs.

Ingredient notes...
Thomas Fawcett makes a distinctly English-tasting malt, but I can't really say that I taste it even though I used such a large quantity; it just comes across as the standard American 2-Row, Munich blend, but it's more fermentable. The dextrose sugar is key because I believe one of the biggest things about this beer is that it starts at a relatively low OG for the style, but the ABV and drinkability are dramatically increased because it finishes very dry. I like to dry hop while the beer is still fermenting to scrub out what I perceive to be any unwanted flavors. 1st dry hop went in at 1.018 for 3 days and the 2nd dry hop went in the fermenter at 1.012 for 3 days. I do recommend trying this recipe.

[craft brewing]

ive been looking at the online recipe by Pliny brewer, Its weird because it calculates out some ridiculous IBU but measured is around 70. I took the recipe and altered it and am curious to know what your colour worked out at? Also how much in total did you dry hop for? I thought your 20 additions may have been bigger - did you get the flavour? Also any grassiness? and what was your strike temp?

at that fg Id be concerned too thin for the hops?

[ScottyB-Brewing]

Those are the hops I use most, mainly the centennial and amarillo, I probably centennial in just about every recipe I've done.

[crashlann]

Great post, thanks. Its my wife's favorite beer. I will try this.