Doubling Up Ingredients?

[NothingRhymesWithCurtiss]

Has anyone tried making a double IPA, Stout... by simply doubling their ingredient quantities, but sticking to the same amount of H2O? I picked up a bunch of single-gallon all grain mixes that were clearanced down to practically nothing, and am toying with attempting this. (Not sure if I should double the amount of yeast, though?)

Please let me know if you've tried this, and how it worked out. And if this is straight-up a dumb, newbie, idea, just say so.

Thanks!

 

[btbnl]

Depending on the kit, doubling might be pushing it ... two 7% IPA kits would give you something monstrous (though in practice reduced mash efficiency and the yeast crapping out would likely prevent you from getting the full 14%).

1.5 kits sounds more realistic for a "double" IPA. If you've got a bunch of them, why not do a comparison? 0.5 kit session pale, 1 kit regular IPA, 1.5 kit double IPA ... it would be an interesting experiment in mash efficiency, fermentation and recipe balance. You could either divide the grains and mash separately or try a partigyle.

 

[chickypad]

You're better off IMO just finding a recipe that is tailored for a higher gravity beer. Besides the fact that a double IPA is not actually double the ABV, it may just not result in a good recipe. You'd likely end up with too much of certain specialty malts - maybe too much crystal in the "DIPA", or overdo the dark roasted malts for the stout. If you want to tweak a kit you can get help with that if you post the recipe and describe what you want to change, but I wouldn't advocate just doubling up.

 

[mrgrimm101]

I say go for it. One of my favorite Double IPAs is Double Crooked Tree by Dark Horse Brewing here in Michigan. They take the recipe for their Crooked Tree IPA and literally double every ingredient except the water. The Crooked Tree is 6.5% and their Double Crooked Tree is about 12%.

If you are going to try this then I would think you want to double the yeast as well.