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I am some way into my first brew and I'm having ideas above my position!
I've decided that if possible I would like to construct the ingredients for my next batch on my own. Any tips on how to get these results would be greatly appreciated:
Thanks in advance!
I use The Recipator for estimating gravity, IBUs, and color. This tool provides general ranges for various styles, including IPAs. You should notice the style guidelines for IPA top out at about 7.5% ABV. If you want something a little stronger you'll need to add some extra fermentables and I'd recommend boosting the IBUs in the same proportion. (I.e., if you bump your OG up to 1.080-1.090, you'll also want to bump IBUs to 70-75 or so.)
BYO has a great hops guide for picking varieties appropriate styles. If the hop you pick isn't available on Recipator, no worries, just pick any hop in Recipator plug in the hop's AA rating into the form.
I also recommend Ray Daniels' book, "Designing Great Beers." It provides some excellent information about which grains and hops are commonly used in a wide variety of beer styles for both commercial and homebrew recipes.
A fellow turned me onto Brewtarget to help me calculate the specifics of my batches. It's also has some sample recipes to start with. Might help you.
The best way to really start developing your own recipes is by getting (and reading) Brewing Classic Styles. In my opinion, this is one of the best recipe books because it not only has excellent recipes, but also has insights on how the recipes were built and what you might do to tweak it.
Incredibly invaluable resource to own. The single best brewing book I've ever purchased - I think I recommend it once a week.
