Try the very same IPA recipe we used in our hopback vs. knockout hops test (developed by Taylor Caron), and let us know how your results compare to ours.
ALL-GRAIN
OG: 1.070
FG: 1.016
IBUs: 75
ABV: 7.3%
MALT/GRAIN BILL
20 lb (9.7 kg) Rahr Pale malt
2 lb (907 g) Weyermann Light Munich
1½ lb (680 g) Weyermann Acidulated Malt
1 lb (454 g) Weyermann Vienna Malt
1 lb (454 g) Castle Biscuit Malt
½ lb (227 g) Gambrinus Honey Malt
HOPS ADDITIONS
2 oz (57 g) Calypso pellet FWH (before the boil)
2 oz (57 g) Nugget pellet at 10 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Centennial pellet at 5 minutes
2 oz (57 g) Kent Golding pellet at 5 minutes
1 oz (28 g) each Citra, Amarillo, and Centennial whole leaf hops in the HopRocket for half of the runoff
1 oz (28 g) each Citra, Amarillo, and Centennial leaf in the kettle for the second half of the wort (allow to steep for 15 minutes)
DIRECTIONS
Mash for 60 minutes at 152°F (67°C). Collect 12.25 gal (46.4 l) and boil for 90 minutes.
YEAST
White Labs’ Essex Ale Yeast (#WLP022)
BREWER’S NOTES
This recipe features a clean, bright hop profile with notes of citrus and melon, but was not as bitter as some might like. For more bitterness, move the Nugget hops up 5 minutes and pull the Calypso hops down to 60 minutes. The malt is delicate with subtle complexity, but again if bitterness is your goal, then dial the honey malt back a touch. To avoid slow knockout runoff, pull most of the kettle hops out before adding the final hops. Scaling up to 12.5 gallons (47.3 liters) should yield closer to 10 gallons (37.9 liters) in the keg (the whole leaf hops do absorb a significant amount of liquid).