Getting back to basics

Experimental Grapefruit hops (2014 crop) have some grapefruit flavor, but also some lime notes with some garlic and onion as well. I would say cascade is a more grapefruity hop than exp. grapefruit.

 

I've always found chinook really grape fruity as a Dryhop

 

Yea I agree with that. Chinook finds its way into a lot of my recipes.

 

180 IBU, back to basic IPA? With grapefruit and 4 oz centennial prior to 30 minute boil mark is going to be a bitter bomb, IMO. If it were my beer my hop schedule would look as such:

0.5 oz centennial @ 60 min
1 oz centennial & 1 oz citra @ 10 min
1 oz centennial & 1 oz citra @ 5 min
1 oz citra and 1.5 oz centennial dry hop after 5 days.
totals = 4 oz centennial; 3 oz citra

 

I brewed an IPA last year using Centennial, Citra, Cascade and Amarillo. I utilized a 1 oz 60 minute centennial addition and it was bitter to a fault, not bad but just too bitter; that's why I laid out the IMO, as I can only imagine that some folks don't mind that sharp bitterness. I've never added a 45 minute addition, ever. I feel you can get better flavor/aroma by moving those 2 oz later in the boil. I've found the 10, 5 and flameout additions are so key for great flavor/aroma. Also, and this is all my opinion, I think you'll make a better beer cutting the 45 minute addition and adding more to dry hop.
Cheers!

 

This section of the book everyone keeps telling you to read covers it:
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/hops/how-are-they-used

 

This recipe looks horrendous. I can't tell if you are trolling us or not

 

Each additional IBU is harder to achieve than the last one, so 180 IBUs is pretty much impossible for homebrewers. It's much more likely that you'll top out at around 100 IBUs. Also, my understanding is that any hops added before 30 minutes will contribute all bitterness and virtually no flavor. So if you really want a beer this bitter (more power to you), you could save yourself a bit of money and just do 3 oz of Centennial at 60 minutes and skip that 45 minute addition. I didn't run the IBU calculation, but the difference in bitterness between doing 4 oz split between 60 and 45 minutes versus doing 3 oz at 60 minutes is unlikely to be anything that would be noticeable IMO.

 

2 ounces of Centennial at 60 will make that beer undrinkable. I would go for about 1/6th of that and add the rest to the dry hop

 

I guess it depends on a person's taste. Some people love the hop ****. Personally, I wouldn't touch this brew with a ten-foot pole.

 

Hard to say, but I don't think he's trolling. I do think he only wants his questions answered directly, without anything else helpful being added. It's going to be a long journey to good beer, I expect.

That's right, each additional IBU is more expensive than the last. And 180 IBUs are completely impossible by boiling hops.

It's not that the calculator is off per se. It's that the Tinseth IBU model itself isn't very accurate above 65 IBUs or so. At 180 calculated Tinseth IBUs, you're probably looking at real IBUs in the low 80s. But you'll be using a lot more hops to get into that range than you needed. Those extra hops will affect the flavor and aroma (possibly in a good way, if that's your thing), but they are doing little for actual IBU levels.

 

Trillium had FPPA cloned for BYO. Their bittering charge amounted to approx. .25 ounces when I last made it. take that for what it is worth.

 

Feedback on the posted recipe has been giveth. Make the brew you posted. If it doesn't turn out as you like, come back to the above posts and diagnose where it may have gone wrong. If it turns out as you wanted, you better hope you took notes of brew day, so you can attempt to recreate without having to make another forum post.

 

Do you have a local home brew club? Local clubs can be a great resource for beginners. We have big brew days where newbies can come out and brew with experienced brewers and learn the ropes. Something like that may be beneficial for you.