IIPA Recipe Feedback Wanted

[IvanBrew]

I have brewed a Three Floyds ZD clone three times now. It has become a favorite of mine and many of my friends.

For ref, the original recipe is here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/three-floyds-zombie-dust-clone-303478/#post3776118

My most frequent partner in crime when consuming this beer is my next door neighbor. He loves the stuff, but would like to get a bit more grapefruit into it. He also loves IIPA's, so I've decided to experiment.

The idea is to create a house IIPA recipe with a very similar hop flavor to ZD. I'm going for more alcohol and trying to amp up the grapefruit while staying true to the ZD roots.

I've got a recipe worked up, but find sometimes the details get distracting, so I'm gonna stick with general goals for this post.

I'm maxing out my mash tun with the current recipe, so I'm planning to leave the grain bill exactly as-is and add DME and Invert sugar to get the add'l gravity. I'm toying with adding these to the fermenters at high-krausen rather than adding to the boil. My thinking is to let the yeast chew through some of the sugar before overloading them.

For hops, I want to a gentle shift from the original recipe, not a big jump. I'm thinking of an Amarillo/Citra blend rather than just Citra. Because I want the shift to be subtle, and Amarillo has higher beta acid content, I'm thinking along the lines of 3:1 or even 4:1 Citra.

I'm also thinking about switching out the bittering hop for Magnum, pretty much "just cuz."

So, if you've stuck with me this far, what do you think?

 

[Brewmex41]

I like the idea of boiling the extract and adding later. I do that often.

I personally don't like bittering ipas with magnum. All my magnum bittered ipas fell about a mile short of my expectations. But that's just me.
I love amarillo/citra but I tend to throw simcoe in the mix to even out the super tropical and citrusy notes from the first two with a little earthy and hint of grapefruit from the simcoe.

Update us often!

 

[IvanBrew]

I tend not to like the spicy tones as much as the pine and citrus, but it's something that'd be fun to experiment with

How do you feel about Warrior as opposed to Magnum for bittering?

 

[Brewmex41]

I tend not to like the spicy tones as much as the pine and citrus, but it's something that'd be fun to experiment with

How do you feel about Warrior as opposed to Magnum for bittering?

Then you're not gonna like the habanero I was going to suggest lol

If you want to use magnum, that's fine, I was just saying that for me personally, its too clean for my Ipas. I throw it in beers like porters and Hefs where I don't want that Ipa bitter bite. Warrior is a good choice!

 

[IvanBrew]

To be honest, I don't have strong feelings on the bittering hop. I've seen people complain about Citra's flavor when used as a bittering addition, but I've used it in the ZD clone multiple times now without complaint.

I'm entertaining switching the bittering hop in the IIPA recipe only because my total hop bill is going to increase substantially. Warrior or Magnum might allow me to use less of a scarcer hop like Citra without masking it's flavors.

I'm also planning on getting 2/3 or more of my IBU's from late additions, so the FWH addition will be relatively small.