[hoser]

Re: Simcoe. As a pro-brewer that can't get a contract for simcoe until next year it pains me to see anyone waste it as a bittering hop. It's like when my wife uses my Basil Haydens in a whiskey sour. But it's your hop, use it where you want. But use more finishing hops for sure. If you're not sure you like simcoe then bump up the centennial and amarillo.

+1, seems like a waste since you are only trying to achieve IBUs/bitterness and not flavor/aroma from adding the Simcoe at 90 minutes.  Why not use a low cohumulone hop like Magnum or Warrior to achieve the same IBUs without wasting a flavor/aroma hop that is EXTREMELY hard to get right now, professional or amateur.  Trust me, with that many hops in an IIPA, no one will notice the Simcoe being absent with a substitiution.  Maybe take it out all together and just bump up the Warrior at 60 min to get the same IBUs or move the Warrior back to 90 minutes and eliminate the 60 minute addition all together?  I get that you are possibly basing the recipe somewhat on Pliny, but when Vinny released that recipe, Simcoe was cheap and easy to get.  Also, Russian River use hop extract now for the bittering additions, per Vinny (actually most large pro breweries now are using hop extract for bittering).  So, even Vinny has eliminated the 90 minute Simcoe addition in his own recipe.  Just a thought....