FAIL - "Humulous Galaxy IPA"

You never really here about the failed recipes.  I have a few and thought I'd share some of my brewing disasters.

I picked up a half pound of this wonderful new, somewhat rare, hop called "Galaxy".  I got an idea to brew my first ever IPA using nothing but these Galaxy hops... all of them.  The result was a dirty, not quite pale muddy brown ale with no hop bite, burning alcohol warmth and an after-taste of mushroomed candy.  Nasty!

Ingredients/Mistakes
I've deleted the recipe from my brew software long ago, I recall using OiO Canadian 2-row, Light Munich, Crystal 110 and Chocolate Malts to the tune of almost 8% ABV.  Approximately 1.078 OG.  More IIPA territory now that I think of it.  In hindsight, the grain bill was far too complex for an IPA.  It totally masked the hops.

As stated, for hops I used all Galaxy.  A pathetic, completely overwhelmed bittering charge at 60 minutes left the beer with virtually no hop bite.  Something I crave in an IPA.  I believe I may have dabbled with a FWH addition as well.  The remaining 5oz or so were added sub-20 minutes, I believe 1oz each 5 min.  I finished off with an added 2oz dry-hop.  I recall thinking that this "hop busting" technique would give me a true sense of what the hop was about. Boy was I wrong.  All I got was this nasty, super sweet, mushroom tasting hop flavour.  Surprisingly, the brew had almost no aroma to speak of.  Maybe it was infected?  Maybe Galaxy hops taste of mushroom?  Either way, when I now hear "Galaxy hops", I shudder.

The yeast attenuated well, however it was into it's 7th or 8th re-pitch.  The process of reclaiming and washing after primary fermentations had rendered it some kind of super flocculator.  The yeast would floc out so quick, there was nearly none left to do the job of bottle conditioning.  The results left me with about 21L of flat mushroom beer.  The beer spent months in the bottle and never did get much better.

Lessons Learned
When brewing an IPA, keep it simple!  Less is more.  At least when it comes to the grain bill.  The hops need to shine.  This means a supporting malt back-bone with an assertive hop bitterness.  Don't skimp on the 60 minute addition, it should account for at least half (or more) of the recipes total IBU's.  The multi-award winning SSOS recipe uses an incredible 3oz Chinook bittering addition!   That's a lot!

The remaining IBU's should come in at the flavour charge.  Again, KISS.  One or two significant hop additions for flavour will be enough.  As stated in my post on hop schedules,  I feel a homebrewer's flame-out addition can and will contribute a fair amount of flavour.  Consider a single flavour addition at the traditional range of 10-20 min, with a supporting aroma/flavour addition at flame-out. 

Support the aroma with some additional dry-hopping and Bob's your uncle, you've got a solid IPA.