Imperial IPA (For Advanced Homebrewers) Recipe

By
Joe Postma
Joe Postma
Joe Postma is an experienced homebrewer with a passion for craft beer.  He guided beginners through the basics of homebrewing through a series of features in the Serious Eats “Homebrewing” column and developed craft beer recipes for homebrewers of every skill level.  
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Updated August 09, 2018
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This is an all-grain recipe designed for advanced homebrewers. It's based on Avery Brewing Co's Maharaja. If your mash tun is not large enough to hold all 16.5 pounds of grain, you can substitute light dry malt extract for a portion of the 2-row malt. Use a ratio of 0.65 pounds of dry extract for each pound of malt removed. The malt extract should be added after the sparge as the wort is heating to a boil.

The OG of this recipe should be around 1.087, and the IBUs are well over 100. Dry hopping should take place in secondary fermentation for at least 5 days but not longer than 7 days.

Recipe Details

Imperial IPA (For Advanced Homebrewers) Recipe

Active 5 to 7 hrs
Total 504 hrs
Makes 5 gallons

Ingredients

  • 15.5 pounds 2-row malt
  • 0.5 pounds Victory malt
  • 0.5 pounds crystal 120L malt
  • 1.25 ounces Columbus hops - 60 minutes
  • 1.25 ounces Centennial hops - 30 minutes
  • 2 ounces Simcoe hops 10 minutes
  • 2 ounces Centennial hops - 10 minutes
  • 4 ounces Simcoe hops - dry hop
  • 2 ounces Centennial hops - dry hop
  • 2 ounces Chinook hops - dry hop
  • 4 liter starter of American yeast (White Labs WLP001 or Wyeast 1056) or 1.5 packages of dry American yeast.

Directions

  1. Mash-in the 16.5 pounds of grain to 150°F using 5 gallons of water at about 161°F (1.2 quarts of water per pound). Stir for 2 minutes to prevent balls of grain from clumping together, creating a consistent mash.

  2. Cover the mash, only uncovering to briefly stir every 20 minutes. Heat 5.25 gallons of sparge water to about 185°F.

  3. After mashing for 60 minutes, mash-out and sparge. You should have 7 to 7.5 gallons in the kettle. Allow the wort to come to a boil and add 1.25 ounces Columbus hops.

  4. After boiling a total of 30 minutes, add 1.25 ounces Centennial hops.

  5. After boiling a total of 50 minutes, add 2 ounces Simcoe hops and 2 ounces Centennial hops.

  6. After boiling a total of 60 minutes, remove from heat and chill using a wort chiller. Transfer to a carboy and take a gravity reading

  7. Oxygenate thoroughly and ferment at 65° to 68° for 7 to 14 days until complete. Transfer to secondary carboy and dry hop with 4 ounces of Simcoe, 2 ounces of Centennial and 2 ounces of Chinook for 7 days.

  8. Bottle or keg for a medium level of carbonation. Drink fresh for best results.

Special equipment

8 gallon kettle (or bigger), homebrewing equipment setup with mashtun

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