So I want to do a NE IPA ...

FWIW, I end up with ~8.5 gallons pre-boil for my NE IPA's... I end up with about 7.5-gallons post-boil, then about 1 to 1.5gal lost to trub and hop loss... So into the fermenter, maybe 6 gallons usually...

Then after the dry hop (~usually around 8-10oz total), I get my 5-gallon into the keg.

Of course, it all depends on your specific recipe and everything. If you hop lighter, a 7.5gallon kettle will likely net about 4-5gallons into the keg.

 

Sorry, all grain brewing! Are you doing BIAB currently?

 

I tried 2 batches of NEIPA with extract. One turned out As an OK IPA, but not the juice bomb I was looking for. The other was very dark because of the extract. For the extract, don't let it boil for 60 mins as this will deeply darken the color of your finished product. Putting the extract in with 10mins left in the boil will suffice to desolve it.

How do you dryhop? Oxidization will also darken the beer and ruin the juiciness of the hops. Since NEIPAs and Zombie Dust is all about hip quality, this is an important part of the process.

I just dryhopped my first NEIPA BIAB all grain recipe and will be bottling in a couple days. My kettle is 10 gallons and I was able to BIAB with 10lbs of grain in 5 gallons of water and then sparge with 2.5 gallons. I also used some corn sugar (I think 1 lb iirc) to hit my desired OG.

 

The crowd sourced Averagely Perfect Northeast IPA recipe includes a partial mash option.

 

I'm wondering about pH of your wort as the true culprit of the darkening here (although it would be a combo of high pH & melanoidin rxns in the boil) …wondering if you should be adding some lactic or phosphoric acid with the extract to bring the pH down since the extract is already coming with its own set of ions, then your water is adding a whole nother set of ions. pH meter with acid or using RO or distilled water may be the key to your success here if brewing light colored beers with extract.
The same beer can go from straw colored to a muddy copper colored when the pH goes from 4 up to like 6...

 

I have seen this exact same thing. I have to add acidulated malt to almost every pale beer I make.

 

You may have seen adjunct grains like flaked oats or wheat in some recipes, which are used best with all-grain or partial mash techniques. Otherwise, there is nothing in this style that necessarily precludes the use of extract, and nothing that prohibits scaling a recipe to your equipment profile.

 

My NEIPA has no oats. Just adjust your water to a Cl:SO4 ratio to 1.25. I added CaCl2 and Gypsum to get that mouth feel. Also whirlpool the hell out of it. I used 10ml hopshot to bitter (not much wort is lost with hopshot since you don't have hops soaking up the sweet wort) and everything else is whirlpooled (6oz). dry hop during primary but after peak fermentation. And another dry hop addition once ferrmentation is about done. The last dry hop being for only 4-5 days. I use London Ale III

 

In my experience adding lme or Dme early in the boil gives me a darker than anticipated beer. I than added the extract late in the boil (15min) and it stayed light