Imperial India Pale Ale

This is a beer that I have brewed a couple of times to somewhat simulate Rogues I2PA. There most recent version of this beer no longer has all the hops of the original, but its still a great big beer. I also have an all grain version of this beer that is pretty simple and straight forward, just send me an email and I'll forward it on. The reason I started brewing this extract version is because I often would have a whole batch gone before it was at a premium age of a year. Remember, this is a pretty big beer and the amount of hops used seem almost insane, but the results speak for themselves.

Brewer:	John Popp		Email:	jpop@aol.com
Beer:	Imperial India Pale Ale		Style:	India Pale Ale
Type:	Extract w/grain		Size:	5 gallons
Color:	13 HCU (~9 SRM)		Bitterness:	74 IBU
OG:	1.081		FG:	1.020
Alcohol:	7.9% v/v (6.2% w/w)
Water:	I use filtered city water, with about 1/3 of an ounce of Burton water salts.
Grain:	2.5 lb. British pale
Steep:	Steep grains at 153 degrees for 60 minutes. IMPORTANT NOTE, I then add the 2 ounces of cascade hops used in the boil and steep for another 30 minutes. It makes little snse why this is so effective in producing a rounded hop bitterness but I do the same when sparging all grain recipes, adding the hops before the boil.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.081	5 gallons
	9.9 lb. Light malt extract
	I don't use any Irish moss on my IPA recipes. They generally Lager a fair amount of time, so I don't see the need.
Hops:	2 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 60 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 15 min.) 2 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 15 min.) 3 oz. Saaz (3.75% AA, 15 min.) 1 oz. Cascade (aroma) 2 oz. Kent Goldings (aroma) 3 oz. Saaz (aroma)
Yeast:	1 quart starter of Wyeast 1056 to get things up and running in a hurry.
Log:	Rack to primary 1 week at 68 degrees. Rack to secondary, dry hopping with whole leaf hops, 3 ounces Saaz, 2 ounces East Kent Goldings and 1 ounce Cascade at 60 degrees for three weeks. Rack to triary fermenter lagering at 50 degrees for 2 months. If you are unable to lager, just using a primary and secondary you should be able to have good results, but I'd probably use some Irish moss in the boil to clear things a bit.
Carbonation:	Forced carbonation.
Tasting:	Big Beer with lots of hop assertiveness but not overpowering. Perhaps a little stronger than I would have liked as the OG was 1.085 and FG 1.020. Definitely good at 3 months, better at 6 months and outstanding at a year, if you can wait that long. I have brewed at least a half dozen batches of this beer and made small changes along the way. Don't worry about all the hops as its pretty difficult to overhop this very big IPA. Also remember to bottle some and hide them from yourself as with time it gets better, similar to a Barley Wine. Cheers.

Recipe posted 10/20/00.