American IPA Stone Ruination Clone

Wow, I kegged this today after 13 days dry hopping and what a beer! I was scared it might be too grassy from sitting on the hops for that length of time but man was it ever good! Even the warm, un-carbonated sample I tried was hands down the best beer I have made to date. Aside from the extended dry hopping (a fortunate accident), the only change I made was to substitute the Magnum with Galena, since that was the only bittering hop I had. This will definitely become a standard brew for my keezer.

Made this and was a little low on OG. It is excessively bitter. Is there a good way to sweeten it? Will time mellow the bitterness?

Brewfat said:

Made this and was a little low on OG. It is excessively bitter. Is there a good way to sweeten it? Will time mellow the bitterness?

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The hoppiness will fade, but not the bitterness. It will mellow a little bit, though. How low was the OG?

1.064. I should have compensated but i miscalculated and didnt think id be that far off. Its really just the finishing bitterness, if that makes sense.

Brewfat said:

1.064. I should have compensated but i miscalculated and didnt think id be that far off. Its really just the finishing bitterness, if that makes sense.

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Not really.

It may mellow a bit. Another thought is that more dryhopping will help. I know it sounds crazy that answer might be "more hops!" but the hoppy aroma and flavor may help to hide the excessive bitterness. If it's already bottled, then I don't have any suggestions except to see if it improves with some time.

I have it kegged so i can throw some hops at it. I have some centennial laying around.

Thanks

To anyone who brewed the extract recipe in BYO, did you actually use the Brewers 2-row, which is a mashing grain, or did you substitute something else. Yoopers recipe calls for 1lb only of crystal 20 for steeping.

What worked for you guys? I'm wanting to go and buy the ingredients and get this puppy rolling!

I'm having trouble getting Beersmith to agree on the IBU when creating the extract version of the recipe. I am setting batch volume to 5gal and boil volume to 2.5gal and getting just under 50 IBU. If I change the boil volume to 5gal (keeping the 5gal batch volume) I get a more appropriate IBU slightly exceeding 110 IBU. All other ingredient factors primarily remain the same as Yooper's recipe (using 9lbs DME instead of 8lbs to nail the OG and using WLP007 as recommended for my temp ranges).

As an experiment I tried inputting Yooper's AG recipe into Beersmith and converted it to extract 5gal/2.5gal and the corrected hop volumes were as follows:

4.17oz Magnum - 60min
2.38oz Centennial - 30min
2.38oz Centennial - 10min
2.38oz Centennial - 1min
2.00oz Centennial - Dry Hop (should be unchanged)

Would I be correct to increase the hops for the extract version to achieve the target 103 IBU?

TheSeether said:

I'm having trouble getting Beersmith to agree on the IBU when creating the extract version of the recipe. I am setting batch volume to 5gal and boil volume to 2.5gal and getting just under 50 IBU. If I change the boil volume to 5gal (keeping the 5gal batch volume) I get a more appropriate IBU slightly exceeding 110 IBU. All other ingredient factors primarily remain the same as Yooper's recipe (using 9lbs DME instead of 8lbs to nail the OG and using WLP007 as recommended for my temp ranges).

As an experiment I tried inputting Yooper's AG recipe into Beersmith and converted it to extract 5gal/2.5gal and the corrected hop volumes were as follows:

4.17oz Magnum - 60min
2.38oz Centennial - 30min
2.38oz Centennial - 10min
2.38oz Centennial - 1min
2.00oz Centennial - Dry Hop (should be unchanged)

Would I be correct to increase the hops for the extract version to achieve the target 103 IBU?

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Anything over about 90 IBUs isn't going to be detectable anyway! You can only get so many IBUs with a partial boil (since you're adding 50% water at the end, you'll dilute the IBUs 50%). The software tries to account for it, but it's not a very good estimate really.

Four ounces of magnum is ridiculous, though. I'd increase it maybe 20% if you wanted to. The later hops shouldn't be increased- those are flavor/aroma hops and shouldn't be increased for IBUs. Keep those the same.

Well, I just parsed what the term "full boil" means.
Everything works out much more sane when calculated in that way.

Thanks for the help and the recipe!

Brewing this in a couple days. Really looking forward to it!

how long did you guys primary ferment and secondary ferment? I did this one earlier today and it is in the carboy at 68 degrees. Used WLP 051. OG was 1.062.

I brew'd this one 2 weeks ago, primary for a week and secondary for a week. I'm thinking of bottling after one week in dry hop. Is this wise? Its killing me not having one in hand right now. Also I sub'd 3 oz of warrior for magnum and cascade on the dry hop. My yeast was wyeast 1272 american ale 2. og 1.070 fg after prime 1.009. I also added 1/2 oz of wormwood and 1 lbs of corn sugar 15min of boil. Thoughts?

That would be 2 weeks in the primary one dry hopping? With as much sugar as you had in this waiting longer will make it better. I plan on racking to secondary after 9 days then dry hopping for 2 weeks then legging with forced carbonation. That is enjoying in about a month from brew day. Enjoy

I never dry hop for more than a week or ten days, so I'd rack off of the hops and bottle then.

I just transferred to secondary and tried the gravity sample. It's not even done yet and it's incredible. I can already tell this is going to be one of my best batches yet!

It's hard to believe that this recipe is so simple and tastes like Stone Ruination. It's one of my favorites.

My starter is made and I'll be brewing it tomorrow. Thanks Yooper.

I just bought a six pack of this from the store the other day and it may be my new favorite beer. My one question is though how do they carbonate it?? I mean its like a soda or something almost no head.

I made this today. I came out with about 4.75 gallons in the primary. There was a TON of hops and break material in the bottom of the kettle. I was pulling so much junk through as I was racking, I gave up.

I started off with 6.5 gallons pre-boil. I'll up it next time. I may have to start using my keggle.

Oh wow, just tried one after 4 days in the bottle. This is an awesome brew. VERY close to Ruination. Even though it's still green (and not just from the ridiculous amount of hop particles I was unable to filter out), it already has that same great malt/hop balance that ruination has.

Can't wait to start drinking this one once it finishes conditioning. Thanks Yooper!

After doing some reading/research, I've decided to narrow down my ruination clone to the following two recipes.

1. Yoopers or...
2. Dec '08 BYO recipe

I will be doing a partial mash and just had some general questions about the differences between the two recipes. Here's what I've noticed

-The BYO recipe includes irish moss for the last 15min of boil
-BYO uses 1 lb briess 2-row malt and 14oz of Briess crystal malt 15L vs Yooper's 1lb of crystal 20L for steeping
-BYO shows steeping in 3qts water for 45minutes (kind of low?) then adding water to make 6 gals of wort (isn't this kind of strange?)
- What is yoopers steeping schedule?
-Hop schedule is slightly different
-Yeast BYO/Stone recommended WLP 002 vs Yoopers Pacman (I heard using WLP 007 is actually the closest to Stone's)

Just looking for a little help here in making this clone before buying all my materials. Has anyone made and compared the two recipes?

For reference, here's a link to the Dec '08 BYO clone:

http://www.stonebrew.com/news/081201/

Thanks in advance!

Just finished bottling my first batch of this recipe, and I can already tell this is one tasty brew. I filled 2 Ruination bombers I had laying around so I can do a blind taste test when it's ready.

I'm going to give this a go today.
The first and only time I've had Ruination was when I was out at Stone a few months ago.
I love this beer, but it is a little hard to find around here.

One of my favorites thanks for the recipe!!!

Drinking one of my delicious Ruination clones.:rockin:

Yooper, I'm an extract brewer at this time and really appreciate the fact that you always add an extract alternative to your recipes. I've been doing some research about hop utilization and the idea that you get less attenuation in a more concentrated 2.5 gal. boil than in a full boil. I looked at your Dogfish recipe and noticed that the amount of hops were increased for a 2.5 gal. extract boil. I looked at this recipe and notice that the hop schedule is the same for full boil, or 2.5-gal. boil. I'm still pretty new to it all and want to make sure I've got a good handle on things. Any advice or info is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I got to try Ruination for the first time a few days ago. The aroma was amazing, very floral and citrusy. The flavor however, was not what I was expecting. It seemed overly bitter to me. It is possible that I got an older bottle. It's hard to get fresh Stone beers over here where I'm at. Is Ruination supposed to be that bitter?

JonnyO said:

Yooper, I'm an extract brewer at this time and really appreciate the fact that you always add an extract alternative to your recipes. I've been doing some research about hop utilization and the idea that you get less attenuation in a more concentrated 2.5 gal. boil than in a full boil. I looked at your Dogfish recipe and noticed that the amount of hops were increased for a 2.5 gal. extract boil. I looked at this recipe and notice that the hop schedule is the same for full boil, or 2.5-gal. boil. I'm still pretty new to it all and want to make sure I've got a good handle on things. Any advice or info is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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Because 1/2 the extract is added late in the boil, it closely approximates the consistency of the full AG boil, so you can follow the recipe/hopping as indicated. Just make sure you follow the recipe and add 1/2 the extract as directed at the beginning and 1/2 at the end!

brew2enjoy said:

I got to try Ruination for the first time a few days ago. The aroma was amazing, very floral and citrusy. The flavor however, was not what I was expecting. It seemed overly bitter to me. It is possible that I got an older bottle. It's hard to get fresh Stone beers over here where I'm at. Is Ruination supposed to be that bitter?

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It's pretty bitter, but with great hops flavor too.

Ah, now I'm starting to get it. By adding half of the extract late, you keep the gravity down and the hops can do their thing. Thanks for clearing that up!!!

Trying out this recipe, using Columbus for bittering and WLP007.

For the dry hopping, I have leaf Centennial. I typically use a muslin bag tied to 2 heavy stainless steel table spoons. This keeps the hops immersed, but floats them enough that I can grab them out of the keg before I carb it.

Question for people who have made this, my plan is to go for a long primary (3-4 weeks) then rack into the kegs and dry hop (man cave should be around 60-64 degrees by then) Remove the dry hops after a week or so and then carb. Any problems with this approach? Or should I build a liquid to liquid jumper and rack under pressure to another keg?

Mayday99 said:

Question for people who have made this, my plan is to go for a long primary (3-4 weeks) then rack into the kegs and dry hop (man cave should be around 60-64 degrees by then) Remove the dry hops after a week or so and then carb. Any problems with this approach? Or should I build a liquid to liquid jumper and rack under pressure to another keg?

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That's basically how I plan to do it in a few weeks myself. Although to be honest, I'm probably not going to bother removing the DH. I wouldn't go through the trouble of that latter option unless you really just feel like trying it out .

I brewed this recipe yesterday as my first AG batch. Missed my OG by quite a bit. Came in at 1.051 and was hoping for over .070.

I think my problem is that I collected too much wort. Have to be more exact next time, but this was my first batch. I'll learn.

I finally did a side by side of the clone I brewed and the real deal.

-Clone was slightly more bitter (I got a little happy with the Magnum and ended up putting a full 2 oz in, which probably has a little to do with that.)

-The real Ruination had a slightly stronger hop aroma and flavor. Just slightly.

-The real Ruination had a thicker, more dense head, with slightly better head retention. The clone had a good head, just not quite as thick and creamy.

That was about it. Color was spot on, clarity was pretty close, with the clone having just a little haze to it, but just ever so slightly.

I don't have a judge's trained palate or anything, but these are the things I noticed.

Just poured my first draft of this and its really tasty, and i just did the extract.

Thanks yooper!!

Here's my effort, keg at 4 weeks. Attenuation a little less than expected, but still good. Beer was pretty constant close to 65, maybe needs to be a little warmer? Thought my mash was on, so maybe a bigger starter next time to drop it a couple more points:

Type: All Grain
Date: 4/16/2011
Batch Size: 11.75 gal
Boil Size: 13.95 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
28.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 93.33 %
2.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 6.67 %
4.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 75.2 IBU
5.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (30 min) Hops 20.6 IBU
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (10 min) Hops 9.7 IBU
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (1 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Misc
2 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [Starter 3500 ml] Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.069 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.070 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.91 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 7.19 %
Bitterness: 106.8 IBU Calories: 317 cal/pint
Est Color: 6.3 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 30.00 lb
Sparge Water: 8.52 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge Step Time Name Description Step Temp
90 min Mash In Add 9.38 gal of water at 160.2 F 149.0 F

Just kegged the original poster's recipe last night. Initial taste is really good, even though that this was my first AG batch.

Worst part was getting the hops out of the 5 gallon glass carboy! I was sweating like I had just finished a P90X workout!

I brewed a ten gallon all grain batch of this about five weeks ago. Its been bottled for a week. I had a pretty high efficiency so my brew finished at 8.7%. Hope its good! I used Wlp002 english ale yeast. The hydro samples were great!

This beer is getting great reviews from my friends, who all happen to be beer snobs.

This recipe is very close I think.