[redzim]

Happy New Year All.....  great snow-day for brewing here in the Northeast....  got JZ's West Coast Red Ale on the boil right now....

Planning to do JZ’s American IPA sometime soon, and he calls for 1oz of Horizon 13% at 60m, 1oz of Centennial 9% at 10m, 1oz of Simcoe 12% at 5m, and 1oz of Amarillo 9% at 0m.  Of those hops, I currently only have Centennial in stock, and usually use Magnum as my go-to bittering hop for American ales, so I think I could sub that for the Horizon with little effect….  But what can I sub for the Simcoe and Amarillo?  Northern Brewer and Midwest don’t have Simcoe in stock, and NB doesn’t have Amarillo either….  In my freezer I have (in addition to Cent and Magnum)  Willamette, Cascade, Hallertau, Czech Saaz, and Tettnang.  Any suggestions for how to get a decent IPA out of these?  The only one above 6% AA is the Cascade, everything else is low-alpha and so I assume will not be too hot in an IPA.  I could just make a Magnum and Cent IPA but wouldn’t that be boring?  Or not…. Help appreciated.

-red

[richardt]

I'd add the cascade.

Without knowing what IBU's you're targeting and how many ounces of each hop you have on hand, it's kind of hard to say. 
But, I think you're asking more along the lines of what combos might work.

I'd go with Magnum for bittering--very clean (60-90 minute additions).
Focus on flavor with Centennial (aka "super cascade") and Cascade (e.g., additions between 15-30 minutes)
Focus on aroma with Centennial and Cascade (options: add at last 5 minutes, at knockout, after temps get below 180-190 (the flash-point of many of the hop oils), and/or dry hop in secondary).

Willamette is minty-woody.  Might work, might not.  No personal experience with it.  Let's see what others suggest.
I'd save it for a SMaSH beer. 

IMO, Hallertau, Saaz, Tettnang hops belong in a different beer--I'd save them for the Continental lagers and pilsners and saisons.

[Mark G]

Definitely add the Cascade. Combining Centennial and Cascade is one of my favorite hop combos in IPA's and APA's. Subbing out Simcoe and Amarillo for them will give you a much different beer, but still very tasty. And I agree, the other hops you mentioned probably wouldn't mesh well.

[redzim]

Without knowing what IBU's you're targeting and how many ounces of each hop you have on hand, it's kind of hard to say. 
But, I think you're asking more along the lines of what combos might work.

I have plenty (6 to 16oz) of each of the hops I mentioned.

And I'm targeting approx 64 IBUs since that is what Jamil's recipe is.....

FWIW my Cents are 8.8%, my Cascades 6.0%, and my Magnums 12.1%. 

-red

[Mark G]

If it were me, I'd keep it simple and add 1 oz each of Cent and Cascade at 10 min and then another oz of each at flame-out. That gives you 28.9 IBU's. Then the balance of your bittering would come from adding 0.54 oz of Magnum at 60 min for another 35.3 IBU's. Total IBU's = 64.2. 

[jlap]

I brewed JZ's IPA a few years ago and was pleased with it at the time.  It makes a tasty beer but I don't think it's one of his kick ass recipes.  He uses a pretty good dose of crystal malt and I found that it didn't come across as bitter or hop forward as I would have liked.  This could be a difference between our systems/processes.  On my system, I would slightly increase the IBU and add a dry hop if you want to go with his grain bill.  Alternatively, you might replace some crystal malt with base malt and keep the hops the same.

As others have said, Cascade and Centennial is a classic combo.  I use 3oz total/6 gal in the last 15 minutes with another 2oz dry hop.

[alikocho]

I have a question on this one as well, as I don't have any Horizon in, and am unlikely to lay hands on it in the UK. Would warrior work as a substitute, or would it overpower things?

[jlap]

Warrior or Magnum would make a fine sub for Horizon.  Both give a pretty clean bitterness and reduce the hop load in the boil.  The Warrior I have are something ridiculous, like 17.2 % AA.