I'm way ahead of the game right now in terms of beer supply. I have ten gallons in primary and I think I will have carbonation on my first amber ale with the Cali V yeast by tonight. That may not pan out tonight, but soon enough it will be carbonated. I also have that all-beligian malt IPA that turned out cloudy and a little boring.

It is hence time for an Imerial IPA. I've been waiting and waiting to do this but the time was never right. I wanted a supply of homebrew around before starting on this because I didn't want to be find myself drinking two 9% beers everyday. I wanted even to be able to bottle rather than keg the beer. (This last bit bugs me just a little since I fear the vagaries of natural carbonation and dislike the use of keg space just to carbonate before bottling.)

Anyway, what's the goal of the Imperial IPA I plan? The goal is to make a malt backbone that will stand up to a huge but smooth hop profile. The hops are the dominant feature of the beer, but it's the malt that makes those hops good.

I haven't decided on a hop bill exactly. There will be a 60 minute addition of .5 ounces of Chinook. I don't want the chinook character of the beer to be extreme, just there. Let's first wort hop (it's supposed to do a make a less astringent hop character) 1.5 ounces of cascade hops FHW? An ounce of centenial at 15 minutes. 2 ounces of cascade at 1 minute. 1 ounce of cascade or centenial dry hopped. Magnum hops to bring the beer to 100 IBU, addition at 60 minutes.

Here's the proposed grain bill:
12# american 2-row
3# american vienna
1.25# 20 L crystal
.5# 40L crystal
1# victory

Sound like that's gonna do it?