Socks-Off IPA

This IPA is so-named because it will "knock your socks off", between the hops and the potential alcohol content. My wonderful spouse got me a "home-brewed" IPA kit from our local small brew store (i.e., one thrown together by the owner) for Christmas, so I decided to brew it up tonight, with a few minor modifications for what ingredients I had on hand and wanted to use up.

Socks-Off IPA

• 0.66 lbs. Munich malt
• 3.75 lbs. Pale Malt, Maris Otter
• 3.3 lbs. Briess Amber Liquid Malt Extract
• 3.3 lbs. Briess Golden Light Liquid Malt Extract
• 3.3 lbs. Briess Bavarian Wheat Liquid Malt Extract
• 3 oz. Cascade hops (whole)
• 1 oz. Hallertauer hops (whole)
• 1 oz. Sterling hops (whole)
• 1 oz. Saaz hops (whole)
• 1 tsp. Irish moss
• 2 oz. Northern Brewer hops (pellets)
• 1 package London Ale III yeast (Wyeast Labs #1318)

Steps

• I heated 3 gallons of tap water to 154° F, and steeped the grains for one hour (between 154° and 156° F). Then, I sparged the grains with one gallon of water at roughly 160° F, to bring the total volume to 4 gallons (or just a little over).
• After bringing the mixture to a boil, I turned off the heat and added the liquid malt extracts. Then, I heated the kettle back to a boil (again) and added the whole Cascade, Hallertauer, and Sterling hops.
• After 45 minutes, I added 1 tsp. of Irish moss.
• After 55 minutes, I added the Saaz hops.
• After 60 minutes, I removed all of the hops and chilled the wort. Once it had gotten down to an appropriate temperature, I added the wort to my fermenter. The volume at this point was 3.5 gallons, so I topped up with cold tap water to roughly 5.25 gallons.
• The temperature of the wort was 76° F. I pitched the yeast, sealed the lid, and let the yeast do its thing.
• Starting gravity was 1.072 - right at the upper of end of the American IPA style. BeerSmith estimates the bitterness at 59.3 IBU, color at 11.7 SRM, and ABV at 7.1%. 
• In a week or so, I'll move the mixture over to my secondary fermenter, and add the Northern Brewer pellets for dry-hopping.

In other news, I've started using the BeerSmith software to formulate my recipes. The excellent reputation of the program is quite deserved - it's flexible and friendly to extract brewers as well as all-grain brewers.