Best DIPA Grist & OG?

Currently dry-hopping my Pliny clone and changed nothing from previous brews . . . it's good. Nothing fancy; OG of 1.074, mash at 152, 280B cells of 1056 and a shovelful of hops.

 

I think dextrose is a MUST. Others have their opinions, but I think the drier the better. Picking the right hops to accentuate the dryness is something I try and do as well.

I think 1.080 is a good range, I mash as low as I can to convert, so around 149-150 or so, and for 90 minutes. Base malt, maybe some munich or vienna to give it some depth, and some corn sugar in the boil.

Co2 hop extract to bitter at 90 and 45, and usually drop all the green in the last 5 minutes to flame out.

Mega pitch, and low low low fermentation temp.

 

What is it that you're unhappy with, or what's the beer missing in your IIPAs?

I just did a batch with
10 pounds Am 2 row
a pound of sugar
a pound of Munich,
a pound of crystal 60

I think it came out pretty solid -- except for the citra rotting flavor.

 

Pliny and Heady are both around 1.070 OG. That seems to be the sweet spot; higher gravity makes it too boozy and detracts from the hops (unless you dry hop 4 times like PtY, I guess). Definitely about 10% sugar in the grist. No crystal! A little Munich or a fair amount of English pale if you want some malt backbone. Ferment as cool as the yeast can get the job done, ~ 60F for 1056 or Conan. And keeping oxygen away from those hops is a biggie... purge everything with CO2.

edit: mash medium-low, 150-152F.

 

That "aged" or oxidized citra flavor sucks.. It's seriously one reason I'm going to put myself on hold for using the near 2 pounds in my freezer. That, or blowing out a HUGE wasteful brew with all citra and just get it out of my way. I'm having Citra fatigue, and that old citra flavor really puts it over the top.

 

I completely understand this.. I fixed it, for the most part with this.

No Crystal. Period. I don't care if the big guys use it, drier the better for ME atleast.

Mash low.

Pitch TONS of yeast. I almost over pitch if I had the choice, to keep the yeast flavor down, and to get maximum attenuation based on my set up.

That fixed the body issue. I like a little munich and vienna in my grist myself. Keeps it from being bland ish, as a DIPA does have a little malt to speak of!

Hop wise, muddled was the main issue. For one, I moved to my newer 2013 crop recently. Noticed a bit change, so obviously, the vac seal, freezer issue isn't perfect, but I also let me 2012 get warm and even hot while I moved last year, so that could have hurt me.

Regardless- I started using extract to bitter, really, really cleaned up my bitterness. Very firm and crisp, and allowed me to keep the vegetal notes down. I also use mostly whole leaf hops in the boil. Ended up sticking to 4 varieties or less and tried to see if it would help. It did mostly, but.. purging with co2 was the biggest help. Ferment it cold as you can, as short as you can, and dryhop right at the end, purge with co2, trasnfer with co2 if you can, and keg it, and purge it. Give it a week to dryhop in the keg, and carb and you will have one of the freshest DIPA's you can get. It'll taste funny, but muted will be the last thing you think.

 

I highly suggest you simply go with a Pliny the Elder clone. Follow the grist exactly. The hops are flexible enough. Although n=1 with all the needed caveats thereof , my lone attempt at a DIPA (based on Vinny's recipe), made my top six list (link to the recipe included). The reason I deviated from the hops schedule was that I didn't want to buy all new hops when I had plenty of hops in the freezer, so I used what I had. The key is to give it a healthy bittering charge (you will need a bigger charge than you've probably ever used in any other style), then blast the living hell out of it at the end with giant shovel-fulls of hops. I only used a bittering charge and a flameout charge with hopstand, nothing between (suggested by barfdiggs). Came out fantastic.

Amazing how many BMC drinkers find my many non-BMC homebrews irresistably delicious. Funny how my PtE clone and my citra bomb from hell beers went so fast, with my (supposedly) BMC friends always having a glass of homebrew in their hand.

 

What is your water like? I find for me that if I don't add a bit of gypsum, my beers turn out the same way. Try adding some to accentuate the bitterness.

 

After I bought my first bulk hops I started doing hop stands for about 20 minutes in some heavily hopped beers. I'm pretty happy with the above bill that I mentioned. Sharp when cold and it has a nice malt backbone to it as the glass warms up. Muddled? I actually just had Sam Adams Rebel IPA for the first time this weekend. Not an IIPA, but there are 5 or 6 hops in there that I didn't really distinguish. Maybe the beauty is in the simplicity of only picking 3 or so hops that you really want to stand out. I'd do a bittering, and then a combo of maybe two hops (Centennial and Centennial).

 

^This is very good advice. A good American DIPA is mostly about the dryness, fermentation time & temperature, using a clean tasting neutral yeast and compatible hops. Be sure to focus on a good dryhop regimen as well. Also... Know thy hops... don't just use anything.

OP, the only thing I would change is the grist. American 2-row and Corn Sugar usually creates a better DIPA in my opinion than using "most" English base malts or using toasty character grains for malt depth. Pearl base malt is great, as we can see from Heady Topper but that is one of the few exceptions.

If any character malts are used, I would suggest that they are very subtle in flavor/aroma and only contribute 1-6% of the grist (total). Most of the time, I don't even bother with them. Keep it simple.

 

I find that my best DIPA's are built with a base of 50/50 Pale and Maris. I also use >5℅ crystal/specialty malt and a 3-5℅ Corn Sugar addition Depending on what hops I'm using.

But I'm more of a Stone fan than Pliny and I like to mash in high to give my beer a lot of body. The added sugar helps make the beer have a nice crisp finish, but I think the added hops and abv of any good DIPA need that nice chewy body to make them come together right.

I think if your having problems making DIPA's that you can't get enough of, you need to start making clones of beers you do like. Than you will have a better idea of what hop combinations and malt combination make your head spin.