Bend Brewing Co.’s Hophead Imperial IPA clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.079 FG = 1.017 IBU = 100+ SRM = 6 ABV = 8.7%

Ingredients

16 lbs. (7.3 kg) 2-row pale malt
8 oz. (0.23 kg) crystal malt (30 °L)
4.4 AAU Saaz hops (first wort hop) (1.1 oz./31 g at 4% alpha acids)
19 AAU Chinook hops (90 min.) (1.6 oz./45 g at 12% alpha acids)
16.2 AAU Northern Brewer hops (5 min.) (1.8 oz./51 g at 9% alpha acids)
1.8 oz. (51 g) Cascade hops (0 min.)
1.5 oz. (43 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) or White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) yeast (2.5 qt./~2.5 L yeast starter)
3⁄4 cups corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step

Mash at 155 °F (68 °C) for 60 minutes. Total boil time is 90 minutes, adding the first wort hops to the brewpot during the sparge phase. Once the wort comes to a boil add the Chinook hops. Wait 85 minutes then add the Northern Brewer hops. After turning off heat, wait five minutes then add the hop stand Cascade addition. Stir the wort vigorously then let settle for 15 minutes before chilling. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C). Dry hop for seven days before bottling or kegging.

Extract option: To get the specified level of bitterness, you can either perform a full-wort boil or perform a partial boil and add half the dried malt extract in the final 15 minutes of the boil. Replace all the 2-row pale malt with 8.5 lbs. (3.9 kg) light dried malt extract, added at the beginning of boil (or split if doing partial boil). Steep the cracked crystal malt in the brew water as the water is coming up to a boil. Remove the malt when the water hits about 170 °F (77 °C). The boil and fermentation schedule are the same as the all-grain version.