Brewing American IPA

So I finally brewed again. A few things have happened to my brewing situation since I last brewed: I took the CA bar exam for the second time (because I am a retarded douche failure) and I missed out on the deadline to brew for BAM's 1 quarter 2012 "style of the quarter" competition due to studying for said exam.

But here's the skinny on the IPA I will be sending to a handful of competitions. I like really fruity "new school" hops like simcoe, citra, et al. And I have tended to blend lots of these hop varieties in pretty complex ways in my hoppy beers. The results have been good, but Nathan Smith's presentation at January's BAM meeting convinced me to try a simpler hop schedule. So this batch's flavor/aroma is really zeroed in on two of my favorite hop varieties: Nelson Sauvin (from New Zealand), and Amarillo (from Washington). I also used some Summit hops as FWH and some Columbus as 90 min bittering hops - but those shouldn't feature too strongly in the flavor/aroma of this beer.

Nathan Smith's presentation also involved a mini-presentation from Mike "Tasty" McDole on Whirlpooling, so I tried my hand at that, though this is a tad difficult with my system. Well, here's the recipe:

Recipe: Strange Days IPA
Style: 14B-India Pale Ale(IPA)-American IPA

Wort Volume Before Boil: 15.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 13.00 US gals
Volume Transferred: 11.50 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 11.50 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 10.50 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.055 SG
Expected OG: 1.064 SG
Expected FG: 1.013 SG
Expected ABV: 6.7 %
Expected ABW: 5.3 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 107.4
Expected Color: 5.7 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 78.5 %
Mash Efficiency: 77.0 %
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 64 degF

Fermentables
US 2-Row Malt 22lb 0oz (75.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
Canadian Vienna Malt 6lb 0oz (20.7 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Light Carastan Malt 1lb 0oz (3.4 %) In Mash/Steeped

Hops
US Summit (14.0 % alpha) 95 g Bagged Pellet Hops used First Wort Hopped
US Columbus(Tomahawk) (12.9 % alpha) 55 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 80 Min From End
NZ Nelson Sauvin (12.2 % alpha) 180 g Bagged Pellet Hops used 10 Min From End
US Amarillo (10.9 % alpha) 100 g Bagged Whole Hops used At turn off
NZ Nelson Sauvin (12.2 % alpha) 100 g Bagged Pellet Hops used At turn off
NZ Nelson Sauvin (12.2 % alpha) 100 g Bagged Pellet Hops used Dry-Hopped
US Amarillo (10.7 % alpha) 100 g Bagged Whole Hops used Dry-Hopped

Yeast: White Labs WLP001-California Ale

Mash at 149 degF for 60 mins

Recipe Notes
After fermentation is complete, add whole Amarillo dry hops to primary fermentation vessel for 5 days, then rack into kegs with Nelson dry hops for 5 days, then filter/jump into serving kegs.