I read an article today that mentioned you should stick to 4-5%(of the grain bill) specialty grains with IPA’s.
Would this also apply to extract brews? The reason I ask is that the last two recipes I made included about 10% specialty grains used as seeping grains (~1.5 lbs DME, 2.5 ounces of specialty grain).
I always assumed it was making an extract recipe better by using them.
That’s bull. You can do whatever you want to do. Inspired by John Maier at Rogue, I often use far more specialty malt than that. Seldom less than 10%. There are no rules, no numbers you have to follow. What you have to do is have a reason for everyhting you put in the beer and a knowledge (or at least expectation) of how it will contribute to flavor.
Keep in mind that it’s very common for extract to have specialty malts on it already.
Thanks Denny. I’ve asked this before but just to confirm based on what you mentioned above…you said that extract can have spec grains in it already. Can I brew a decent extract pale ale without using grains? Previously someone mentioned it would be better to use grains.
+1 the only reason to follow any set of rules is if you want to make the same beer the guy/gal that wrote the rule is making.
experiment, make mistakes, make meh beers, and gawd aweful beers, and amazing beers, and bizarre beers. add 20% crystal malt and 10% table sugar (i’ve had this and it’s quite good in a low gravity english ‘real ale’ type beer).
Take good notes both while brewing and while drinking and learn. those flavors will burn themselves into your mind and you will eventually be able to know ahead of time what the beer will taste like more or less.
you’ve got an advantage in that, only brewing 1 or 2 gallons at a time, your investment in each batch is low so if it turns out really terrible you don’t have to drink it all.
+1 to doing whatever the heck you think seems right. Don’t ever take any one person’s word for anything, including mine. 
I think what those specialty grains are would be more important that the % of grist. And also, how it’s balanced by bitterness, of course.
Maybe. You;d need to get a list of what’s in the extract from the manufacturer. In general, though, it’s best to get the “cleanest” extract you can (usually something like extra light DME) and add your own specialty grains. OTOH, the Northern Brewer rye LME is formulated to make my Rye IPA recipe without adding anything to it. I do recommend using sugar with it, though, to increase the fermentability.
Or mine!
ESPECIALLY Denny’s! 
Can, might, if you want, whichever, experiment, creative, these are all words typically used by rebellious people who undermine the authority of a well structured beerocracy. I encourage it.
+1 to doing it how you like. In paler IPAs I prefer to limit specialty grains normally to get a dry finish (being a West Coast style fan) , but I use a higher amount of crystal in amber, Celebration-type IPAs, American Brown , and others. It’s not hard to mash a couple or three degrees lower when using a higher % of specialty, to end up with the same FG as someone who used less crystal. Also, the right amount of gypsum and (of course) more hops can balance a malty beer, too. Lots of ways of getting there !
I like that! I have to find out for myself most of the time even if it is the hard way.
when you say “limit”, do you avoid them all together in that case?
No. I like to use ~ 5% crystal for West Coast style IPAs such as RR Blind Pig and others that finish drier (ie., less sweet). Just depends on what I’m shooting for. Some IPAs I use a higher %, as said.
There is a pretty big variety of specialty grains out there, and they will give you different flavors in your beer. Personally I don’t like to have very much crystal malt in an IPA (5% or less), and that is with an all-grain recipe. The reason for this is I don’t like my IPAs to be too sweet. I have noticed that it can be difficult to get an extract beer to attenuate as fully as you might like, and if that is the case, adding a lot of malt that is also not that fermentable would probably be a mistake for an IPA (again for my taste).
If you are asking for advice about personal taste, I wouldn’t put 10% crystal in an extract IPA, but if you were using some more toasty type specialty grains like munich malt or melanoidin malt then you might be ok.
One thing I will advise caution with is that extract is generally less fermentable than an all-grain grist. When combining large amounts of crystal malt with extract you may end up with a beer that doesn’t finish as dry as you’d like for an IPA. I think you should be fine in the 5-10% range for crystal malt(especially a lighter colored one), but you may want to sub in about 5-10% simple sugar to help dry it out a bit.
If you don’t mind doing a mini-mash, Victory (about 5%) and/or Munich (up to 20%) are other nice ways to add some malt complexity to your IPA without worrying about keeping it from drying out.
Would I sub out extract for that sugar or replace the crystal with sugar? Also, are you talking corn sugar or table?
Usually you would sub sugar for base malt since you’d still want the flavor of the specialty grains. You can use corn or table sugar for the same effect. Or rice syrup.
Edit: I meant extract, not base malt.
I replace some of the extract with plain old table sugar.
I use however much crystal I need to get the flavor I want and dry out the beer through hopping, yeast choice and water treatment.