First Time IPA - Suggestions Please

[CaptainMorgan04]

So I'm planning a starting an IPA in about a week. Haven't done one yet, so my buddy gave me this recipe. I dig high IBUs but what do you guys think about the recipe as a whole? Like I said, not much experience in the IPA world so i'm not sure what to expect.

Ingredients:
9 lb Pilsen LME
1 LB Munich Light LME
1 lb 8 oz. Caramel 40L
1 1/2 Amer. 2-row pale


Grains @ 155F for 30 min.

Hops:
1 oz. Chinook (10.5%)-60 min.
1 oz. Chinook (10.5%)-30 min.
1/2 oz. Simcoe (13%)-15 min.
1/2 oz. Amarillo (5%)-15 min.
1/2 oz. Simcoe (13%)-5 min.
1/2 oz. Amarillo (5%)-5 min.
1 oz. Simcoe (13%)-dry-hopped, 7 days
1 oz. Amarillo (5)-dry-hopped, 7 days

[BDawg]

Looks like a solid recipe, though I think that a lb and a half of crystal 40 in this is a bit high. I'd drop that to 3/4 of a lb.

Remember that this is a Partial Mash recipe, so you need strict temperature control over the pale malt.
You can get away with simply steeping the crystal and raising he munich LME to 2 lbs.
If you have a hard time getting the Munich LME, I'd just go with Pale LME instead.

You may have a hard time buying Amarillo if you don't have any yet. Not sure if Niko (http://www.nikobrew.com) is out of them but he'd be your best source if you don't already have them.

If you CAN'T get Amarillo, I'd go with a mix of Citra, Zythos, Nelson Sauvin, and/or Cascade to try to get some citrusy hop flavor in there.

You might also want to cut your 60min Chinook addition in half and add a half oz of Horizon instead, to reduce the resiny bitterness. Chinook as a late hop is awesome too (nice piney flavor and aroma), so mixing that in with anything you go with as an Amarillo replacement will work well.

HTH-

[Ozwald]

+1... mostly...

The malt bill is a little 'busy' IMO, but I like my IPA's to showcase the hops & not have too much complexity in the malt. I'm sure you can get a tasty brew out of the recipe as-is (cutting the C-40 in half as BDawg pointed out), but personally I'd cut the extract to only 1 type & probably lean towards a standard pale instead of the Pils/Munich. But that's just me & my $0.02. Come brew day, let us know what ended up in the pot & how it turns out.

[TheDarkSide]

I've also taken a cue from Tasty and put in a pound of white wheat malt in all my APA, IPA, and Brown ales. I get a nice head pouring out of my keg when I do so.

[spiderwrangler]

You may have a hard time buying Amarillo if you don't have any yet.

We are getting (presumably) 2012's in Amarillo from Hop Union, but only in cones so far.

[Ozwald]

I've also taken a cue from Tasty and put in a pound of white wheat malt in all my APA, IPA, and Brown ales. I get a nice head pouring out of my keg when I do so.

+1 for almost every recipe I've ever written. I vary the weight by recipe, but I always aim for a few percent of the grist in my non-English styles. I didn't get that from Tasty, but I'll give him credit anyways.

[PorkSlapper]

Chinook as a late hop is awesome too (nice piney flavor and aroma), so mixing that in with anything you go with as an Amarillo replacement will work well.
HTH-

Gift to my brother this year was an IPA with alot of Chinook late hopping as well as dry hopping. It blew him away, He said he loves piney IPAs so he got the whole damn Ponderosa!

-Sak

[SouthHouseBrew]

I've also taken a cue from Tasty and put in a pound of white wheat malt in all my APA, IPA, and Brown ales. I get a nice head pouring out of my keg when I do so.

+1 for almost every recipe I've ever written. I vary the weight by recipe, but I always aim for a few percent of the grist in my non-English styles. I didn't get that from Tasty, but I'll give him credit anyways.

You can sub a bit of wheat malt extract - about a pound. You can also mini-mash some wheat malt with your two row (this is a mini-mash recipe, right?).

I would take out the crystal all together. You have enough residual sweetness as it is with the LME. If you want more "malt complexity", bump up the percentage of Munich LME.

I like your hop bill! More hops never hurts