hopslam like ipa, need help

I've made two attempts now at a late hop ipa similar to bells hopslam. What I'm having a hard time with is getting the big hop nose and flavor without overwhelming bitterness. I'm using, cascade, centennial, chinook, simcoe, citra, amarillo, and warrior, added in very small quantities, all post thirty minutes into the boil. I'm dry hopping with amarillo, cascade and simcoe, and the nose is very pleasant but not nearly as citrusy as hopslam. Both trys have been very good beers, beers that I would brew again in fact, but just doesn't blow my hair back like that first mouthfull of hopslam...btw I feel like the grainbill is very close to what it should be, color. And maltiness are right where they need to be, just the hop schedule that is giving me fits

I know you said the grain bill is good, but I thought I'd throw the idea out there that if the beer is too "malty", the hops will be more subdued. So you may want to think about retooling it as well.

I'd do the bittering at 60 minutes, and then hop the heck out of it at 15, 10, 5, 0, and dryhopping. I'd do more additions at 5 and 0 minutes than at 15, 10. I'd make sure I used some corn sugar in the boil, and try to it an OG of 1.080ish or so. I'd do 60 IBUs or so at 60 minutes, then just add the rest of the hops at the end.

Use honey not corn sugar. That's what hopslam does. I'd make the 10 minute addition the biggest of mine by far and I would concentrate on centennial and cascade for my aroma.

That's kind of the line of thinking I was following putting all the hops in post 30 minutes, you're saying I should take it one step further and go post 15, for some reason I hadn't even though of that, I'm still a fairly green brewer. Done 6 all grain batches now and about 10 extract with grain before that. Hopslam is brewed with honey, so that's probably what i'll use to up my gravity, according to my software, it is coming in at about 75 ibu in my existing recipe and is a shade to bitter for what im after. Grains used are two row, victory, munich and crystal 60. Hops are coming throug fine, its primarily just too bitter I think. If I fail adding hops later I will revamp the grain bill, thanks...you've helped jumpstart my beer mind

rjwhite41 said:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/hopslam-clone-137117/

9 pages of good info for a hopslam clone. The letter from Bells is especially helpful. Good luck and happy brewing.

Btw, it costs more to make imperial beers so that is one reason why they cost more (especially if they also have huge hop bills and/or need extended aging). Not defending the price but I buy it every year like a lot of people so I guess it's worth it to us.

Click to expand...

Here's where I directed another guy looking for a clone. It's an interesting read and will get you on the right path.

I just re-read the response from Bells. It's on page 2 or 3 and it states amarillo and simcoe, so disregard my advice with the centennial and cascade.

You could add your 60 minute hops as first wort hops. That would add more flavor/aroma and take some of the edge off the bitterness.