American Pale Ale Three Floyds Zombie Dust Clone

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I am cold crashing now. So those calculators are confusing.
I usually find my beers are way too carbonated.
I have read to put the temp in that it is now (40's), the highest temp it fermented at (64) and the temp while bottle conditioning (68)
I dont know what to use.
 
Add 3.25oz (weighed on a scale) and report back in two weeks.

I bet it comes out bang on

Disregard all the temp BS. It's nearly meaningless.
 
At 40F, I'd use 3.8oz. Again, that's 2.75 volumes. If you usually get overcarbed beer, you'd have to report some of your notes to us on attempts that were overcarbed. Frankly, mine were coming out undercarbed, but I was carbing between 2.0 and 2.25. When I started upping it to 2.5-2.75, I liked the results much better.

The calculator asks what the temp of your beer is at the time you're bottling it.
 
Question about the FWH addition: if I plug this recipe into Beersmith I seem to end up with a whopping 92.5 IBU, and my FWH contributes 41.8 to the total. I come closer to 65 IBU if I treat the FWH addition as a 20 minute addition, as mentioned somewhere in this thread. Is the difference between calculated bitterness and perceived bitterness from FWH really this huge? Or is Beersmith wrong?

Since there's been no complaints about bitterness in this thread, I assume I can safely brew this without ending up with something completely unbalanced, I'm just a bit confused about the IBU difference and I need some reassurance :) I plan on brewing this tomorrow.

Brewed, kegged and tasted. I think I understand now how this 'perceived bitterness' thing from FWH works, and my worries proved to be unfounded :) The bitterness is definitely there, but quite smooth indeed. I have no clue what the real deal tastes like, but I like what I'm drinking right now :mug:
 
It should be the highest temperature the beer has reached after fermentation is complete. Once fermentation is complete, no additional CO2 is introduced, it will only get released but will stay in solution if the solubility (temp dependant) allows it. :mug:

Regards, BM
 
I'd like to add something to this whole temperature/priming calculator discussion. The reason those priming calculators ask you to enter a temperature is to determine the amount of CO2 that's already in the beer before priming and bottle conditioning. Consider the following:

When the beer is done fermenting, it's saturated with CO2. It's not much at normal atmospheric pressure, but it's there. Cool the beer down and not much happens since colder beer can actually hold more CO2. But no more CO2 gets dissolved since fermentation is done. Warm the beer up and CO2 dissipates from the beer, lowering the amount of CO2 dissolved in it. Cool it down again and once more nothing changes. Same amount of CO2 as after warming it up. So the temperature the priming calculator uses should be the highest temperature the beer has reached after fermentation is done.
 
I guess no C02 comes of solution when moving fermenters, conditioning phase, adding dry hops, transfer to the secondary, transfer to bottling bucket, stirring in priming sugar, transferring to bottle.... learn something new every day I guess:drunk:
 
I guess no C02 comes of solution when moving fermenters, conditioning phase, adding dry hops, transfer to the secondary, transfer to bottling bucket, stirring in priming sugar, transferring to bottle.... learn something new every day I guess:drunk:

Of course. The priming calculator I use not only asks for temperature, but also cumulative distance moved, dry hop loss factor (Simcoe is notorious for knocking CO2 out of solution with those damned pointy leaves), auto siphon resistance/length factor and spoon vortex coefficient.

Dude, it's just a tool. Temperature swings are very easy to incorporate into a simple calculator, the things you mention are not. Is my beer going to be undercarbed because I have to move my fermenter from one wing of my mansion to another and the priming calculator doesn't take that into account? Probably not. The thing is, most calculators ask for temp input, might as well explain why.
 
Skeezer, you are in this thread a lot. Out of curiosity, How often do you actually brew this recipe? I'm dry hopping my 4th of 5th go around(ive changed the hops a couple of the times)...cant remember
 
Xpertskir said:
Skeezer, you are in this thread a lot. Out of curiosity, How often do you actually brew this recipe? I'm dry hopping my 4th of 5th go around(ive changed the hops a couple of the times)...cant remember

I usually try to keep up with the recipes I post so that's why I'm in this thread so much. I have probably brewed it eight or nine times. I haven't for a while because I've been trying to get rid of some hops other than Citra.
 
Is there a good substitute for Melanoiden Malt? My LHBS does not carry this, and not sure I want to place an online order for .5lb of grain.

Sorry if this has been addressed previously.
 
Okay, so how close is this to the real thing? I've only seen 2-3 people in the thread comment on it.

Its good.. ive tasted a freinds.. love it.. this was the one i was going to brew sunday... But no citra.. but i am getting 2 pounds of belma and was jus gunna sub out.. and no im not stalking..lol ive been trollin this thread for months now
 
Okay, so how close is this to the real thing? I've only seen 2-3 people in the thread comment on it.

It's really gonna depend on the Citra you get. Real Zombie has a good balance between citrus and fruit.

I've tasted Citra that varies wildly. My latest brew of this has a good share of Citra pellets from B3 (2011) and it is mango heavy.

This years crop of Citra from hops direct is very close to what 3 Floyd's uses IMHO.
 
mkringii said:
Its good.. ive tasted a freinds.. love it.. this was the one i was going to brew sunday... But no citra.. but i am getting 2 pounds of belma and was jus gunna sub out.. and no im not stalking..lol ive been trollin this thread for months now

I did pretty much a Belma version of this and have been really disappointed with how little hops flavor I get from that hop. Ended up adding some Cascade to the keg to brighten up the aroma a bit.
 
Okay, so how close is this to the real thing? I've only seen 2-3 people in the thread comment on it.

Ive drank many cases of the real deal and a few kegs of this. If you brew it AG and know what you are doing its close enough to quench my zombie dust thirst.
 
I am definitely going to make this for my next beer. I am torn on just doing the Extract with Specialty grain as it is the only method I have done but I am nervous about doing my first partial mash for this beer.

I will be doing as close to 5 gal as I can since I have a 5 gallon and a 3 gallon kettle. I may buy a larger one here in the near future.

If I do choose the PM method this is what I was thinking for the Grain. Thinking about a 5 lb grain bill.

2.5 lb - 2 Row
1.0 lb - Munich
.5 lb - Carafoam
.5 lb - Crystal (60)
.5 lb - Melanoiden

Extract - add 4.5 Light DME or LME (I trust liquid more than dry, just a preference)

Hops - I picked up 10 oz of Citra from a nearby store.
.75 oz at First Wort
1 oz Citra @ 60
1 oz Citra @ 15
1 oz Citra @ 5
1 oz Citra @ 1

Yeast
California Ale

Let me know what you think.
 
^Jump right in and do a partial mash with a hoppy beer, it's proably better to learn on. However, after making this recipe all grain and trying it side by side, I honestly feel you could get by with only steeping the specialy grains (carafoam, melanoidin, crystal) and use straight up Gold malt extract to hit the gravity.

I would also encourage you to replace 0.75 to 1.0 pound of malt extract with corn sugar, as you want this beer dry because the yeast will leave a lot of malt behind.

Your yeast should be Wyeast 1968 London ESB if you want the real Zombie dust.

~Adam
 
Some feedback, I brewed this beer for my 180th batch of beer a couple weeks back. I had Zombie Dust in the past, so went from memory, but I was able to drive through and get some real Zombie Dust to compare against.

I followed the recipe as written, I mashed VERY LOW because my experience with WY 1968 London ESB strain is it leaves malt behind, so you want a dry beer. I mashed 148-149F and it's exactly what I wanted for the finish in the beer.

Overall - the hop and malt flavors are very very close to the real deal. Brew this and you will be happy.

If you want to geek-out, please read below. If you want a good beer and don't want to nit-pick this recipe against the real thing, stop reading and brew it as is written! :)

Geek notes / BJCP National Level Judge Comments:

My original assumption about the recipe was correct; this clone is a bit darker than the real beer. 1.0lb of medium dark-ish specialty grain (20 SRM Melanodin, Crystal 60) is going to give you a deep gold beer, with amber hints, usually.

Even with the color, the beer is still pretty close in flavor. If you are wanting to get an exact clone, reduce the Crystal 60 to a 1/4 pound addition. Continue to mash this beer low and ferment with the WY 1968 strain.

Cheers!
~Adam
 
I pretty much low the 1968 strain, and it's no surprise this is what is used for this beer.

I will have to try this in the next month.
 
I have 2 packets 04, 1 packet 05 and wlp001, 002 and pacman in jars. So what would you use? :mug:
 
002 is the White Labs sub for Wyeast 1968 (according to RebelBrewer) - I personally like the smack packs of Wyeast lately, they've been very good to me, reducing the number of starters I have to make.
 
So I plan on brewing this up Friday - I just put it in beer smith and the ibus only came out to the low 40s. I'm really new to this program so maybe I put something in wrong but pretty sure I put in a total of 8 oz citra. Any reason why this would occur?
 
So I plan on brewing this up Friday - I just put it in beer smith and the ibus only came out to the low 40s. I'm really new to this program so maybe I put something in wrong but pretty sure I put in a total of 8 oz citra. Any reason why this would occur?

Make sure ALL your hopp additions are Citra, and make sure that you have the correct AA % in your program. If its low, it will make lower IBU's. It varys from crop to crop, and check you packaging the hops came in. The AA% should be on there.
 
I corrected the citra AA to 12.4 instead of 12.00 and it boosted my ibus to 55. As far as the mini mash/ steeping grain, I plan on doing them in the low 150s for 45-60 min. Sparge with some water at the same temp?
 
002 or s-04

002 is the White Labs sub for Wyeast 1968 (according to RebelBrewer) - I personally like the smack packs of Wyeast lately, they've been very good to me, reducing the number of starters I have to make.

I was going to add 1 packet s04 and 1 packet us05 like in the instructions. I'm not sure if that was a typo or something. Anyway, I think I'll just make a starter with the wlp002 since it was so healthy on the last batch I used it on. If there is a better suggestion, let me know. :tank:
 
I just bottled my partial mash version and its awesome, even flat. I went from 1.072 to 1.018 with s-04. I did add maybe 4oz of corn sugar late in the boil to help dry it out. I kept temps below 63 for two weeks, brought it up to around 68 for a 10 day dry hop, and then dropped temps to around 45 for three days before getting it into bottles. Can't wait!
 
I just bottled my partial mash version and its awesome, even flat. I went from 1.072 to 1.018 with s-04. I did add maybe 4oz of corn sugar late in the boil to help dry it out. I kept temps below 63 for two weeks, brought it up to around 68 for a 10 day dry hop, and then dropped temps to around 45 for three days before getting it into bottles. Can't wait!

1.018 is pretty far from dry... Thats kind of high. I know thats what the recipe states though, but I would figure this beer would finish much atleast closer to 1.011 or 1.010.
 
I estimated my yeast to be only 72% attn. level, which is the high end for the strain. I used this number because I mashed low, making a more fermentable wort, hoping to get the FG as low as possible. My calculation is 1.018 as the original posters.

I could measure the FG on my finished beer, but it's carbonated already. The beer finished to where I expected it, so I did not measure it. Why waste the beer? :)

But...if you request in the name of science...
 
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