American IPA Hopslam Clone

I entered this into the 2010 World Expo of Beer Homebrew contest and it scored 42 out of 50 and received Honorable Mention. Carbonation was the difference in placing and getting the HM. Both BJCP certified judges claimed that it tasted a lot like Bells Hop Slam but I thought nothing of it. I had a little bit left in my keg a few weeks ago and had one side by side with Hop Slam and I must say I was shocked at how close the two were. I honestly wasn't trying to clone the beer, just making an IIPA with my favorite hops and experimenting with honey malt (Thanks BierMuncher!). I have brewed this three times and it is an AMAZING IIPA for hopheads such as myself. I was hesitant to post this because my other recipes weren't very well received. I tried another Hop Slam today and was blown away at how close the two were and since there was a buzz on HBT about Hop Slam I figured I'd share my recipe. Hopefully someone will convert the recipe for extract, but unforunately I don't have much experience in that area and I don't trust the "easy button" on BeerSmith.

Now I know that some of you purists are going to say, but there isn't any honey in this beer, it's not a clone, WTF! Well I can assure you that the combo of the honey malt (which I prefer hand over fist when it comes to honey flavor) and the corn sugar will result in a dry beer with a BETTER honey flavor! Those of you who try to brew this may very well want to dry hop the daylights out of it and that's fine. I, however, did not see the need but don't forsee it hurting anything!

Enjoy, I know I have

Boil Size: 7.11
Boil Time: 60 min
Taste Rating(out of 50): 42.0
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00
Mash Temperature: 150 F
Mash Time: 60 Minutes
Yeast Starter: 1 vial of WLP001, 1000mL stepped to 2000mL, stepped to 4000mL
**Yeast was about 1 month old, starter size may vary***

**Efficency was calculated @ 70% Brewhouse***
Est Original Gravity: 1.098 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.021
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 10.05 %
Bitterness: 138.2 IBU
Calories: 458 cal/pint
Est Color: 8.8 SRM

14.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 70.73 %
3.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 14.63 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.44 %
0.50 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 2.44 %

1.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [15.20 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 45.3IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [12.70 %] (60 min) Hops 27.5 IBU
1.00 oz Chinook [12.40 %] (45 min) Hops 24.7 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [11.50 %] (30 min) Hops 19.1 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [11.00 %] (15 min) Hops 11.8 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [9.40 %] (10 min) Hops 7.4 IBU
2.00 oz Amarillo Gold [9.40 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
2.00 oz Simcoe [12.70 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
3.00 oz Simcoe [12.70 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 tab Whirlfloc (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1.10 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.40 lb Honey (0.0 SRM) Sugar 4.88% *** OR *** 1.00 lb Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 4.88 % (Boil 10.0 min)
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale

NICE!! Thanks for sharing. I think I saw on Bells site they dry hop with tons of Simcoe. Either way, looks solid, and I'd like to try cloning this myself sometime soon. Drinking one as I type and its mighty tasty!

Edit: How do you suggest to improve the carb?

chapa said:

Edit: How do you suggest to improve the carb?

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Leave it kegged/bottled longer than two weeks I rushed this one so that I could enter it into the competition. Since its 10% it really needs more time to carbonate. I knew I was flirting with disaster but thats the price you pay I suppose.

Also, If you have a hopback I suggest using the flame out hops in there rather than just throwing them into the kettle.

I find it interesting that you got what you say is close to HopSlam, but is over 2x as bitter (IBU wise), as what Bells says, (see here).

I've always thought Hopslam to be way above 60 IBU, so I tend to believe you....gonna have to brew this up!

shortyjacobs said:

I find it interesting that you got what you say is close to HopSlam, but is over 2x as bitter (IBU wise), as what Bells says, (see here).

I've always thought Hopslam to be way above 60 IBU, so I tend to believe you....gonna have to brew this up!

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There is no way that HopSlam is only 60 IBU's. Heck, there are regular IPA's that are 60+ IBUs. Even if that e-mail came from Mr. Bell himself, thy tastebuds don't lie.

Nice job on the 42 out of 50!!

This will be my next brew for sure! Thanks for the recipe.

jkahrs595 said:

This will be my next brew for sure! Thanks for the recipe.

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I got to thinking about it today, and if people brew this up I don't see why you can't replace the sugar with honey! Give it a try and add the honey to the last 10 minutes of the boil

when did you add the corn sugar?

motobrewer said:

when did you add the corn sugar?

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Last 10 minutes of the boil, dissolved in a pint of boiling water.

If I'm replacing the 1lb of corn sugar with honey, it's not just 1:1 is it? I'm assuming I'd need a little more than 1lb of honey to hit the same OG?

jkahrs595 said:

If I'm replacing the 1lb of corn sugar with honey, it's not just 1:1 is it? I'm assuming I'd need a little more than 1lb of honey to hit the same OG?

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Correct, you need 1.4 lbs to give you the same OG. Put it in last 10 minutes of the boil

I brewed this recipe (using honey instead of corn sugar) and had my first taste of it tonight when I was taking a gravity reading. WOW! It's only three weeks old now and it tastes almost exactly like the real Hopslam... maybe even better than the original.

I added the dry hops tonight and I can't wait to get this kegged. Thanks for the great recipe!

Just kegged this baby up after a week of dry hopping. Put it right next to a real Hopslam and the color was spot on. It tastes amazing. For the record, I was lazy and just used the lb of corn sugar per the original recipe posted, and decided not to mess with the honey.

I'll definitely be brewing this recipe again. Maybe I'll try the honey next time, we'll see.

Seven said:

Thanks for the great recipe!

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You're welcome! May you enjoy a many pints! I'm glad to see that others are having great success with this recipe! I really need to make a batch of this again! So stoked that others have brewed this up and are enjoying it!

Hi all, please excuse all grain noob question, but how much water per lb of grain do you use for mash, and the sparge? If I follow mashing instructions I have read it is 1 to 1-1/4 quarts per lb grain for mash, then a half gallon per lb for sparge. If I use that as a guideline then I get like a min of 15.0 gallons of water for boiling, for a 5 gallon batch.? Am I way off or has the efficiency been considered and additional grain added? I am attempting this as my first batch over weekend, and the water volume is giving me some concern.

I used 1.25 quarts/per pound and it comes out to 6 gallons of water in your mash tun. I use a little more than this as I fill the space below my false bottom and then add the water I need for the mash. The type of sparge you perform will determine how much more water you will need to hit a pre-boil volume of 7 gallons. I use the fly sparge method and will prepare another 7-8 gallons of water to sparge with. So for me this recipe would require 14 gallons of water. So you're calculation is not that far off I suppose. The efficiency is set @ 70%.

I brewed this last night and checked this morning and thanks to the nice starter I had was bubbling away. Due to the lack of Simcoe I substituted for the Falconers' Flight. I plan to secondary when gravity reaches correct level and dry hop for some days with the FF. Super Excited. Thanks for posting!

Is there an extract version for this?

schweaty said:

There is no way that HopSlam is only 60 IBU's. Heck, there are regular IPA's that are 60+ IBUs. Even if that e-mail came from Mr. Bell himself, thy tastebuds don't lie.

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I have talked to a brewer at Bell's, he swears that 60-ish IBUs is correct. He said that because there is so much hop flavor and aroma, people think it's a lot more bitter than it actually is. This beer was designed to have as much hop character as possible without overwhelming bitterness, that is why some people who normally don't like IPAs or IIPAs like hopslam.

Hi guys! (popping the cherry here).

I've actually been reflecting on the low-IBU of hopslam ever since I read an email from the head brewer @ Bell's. I think it makes a lot of sense. IBU does not indicate how many hops are added to the brew, after all, it only indicates how early the hops were added. Right?

Compare, for example, the difference when you add 5oz of 10% Centennial hops to a 5-gallon boil

60 minutes: 271 IBU
30 minutes: 208 IBU
10 minutes: 98 IBU
5 minutes: 54 IBU
1 minutes: 11 IBU

You can see how drasticly this simple example changes when you change the addition time. I know us brewers already understand the relationship between IBU and how long the hops are boiling, but it makes me think a lot about the relationship HopSlam has with the hops. We already know most of the smell and taste comes from late additions, and HopSlam has aroma and taste out the wazoo. But what about bitterness? What if HopSlam simply slams the hops all in at the last minute, making an incredibly hoppy beer that has very little bitterness. It's kind of neat when you think about it. Deceptive, even.

It makes me really want to brew up a few different batches of Maris Otter / CaraPils and vary only when the hops are added. I actually have a freezer full of 1lb of hops (centennial / cascade / magnum) but I only brew 1 gallon at a time. Maybe I'll experiment with this on a small scale. I couldn't afford to drop 20oz into a 5 gallon brew, but I think I can handle 4oz into a 1gal brew I bet the Centennial will be perfect for this (I'd need too much cascade and the magnum isn't known for its aroma, but for its smooth bittering properties).

Take care,
Blaine

Thanks for this post schweaty. I brewed this up about 6 weeks ago and just served it at my sons birthday party on Saturday. It was a huge hit. People commented on the nice grapefruit taste and the great hop flavor. It was nice and dry but there was a slight sweetness from the honey malt. Due to the hop shortage I threw cascade in there instead of simcoe. I wouldn't change anything in this recipe and I can see why you got the 42 out of 50!

Recipe looks awesome will brew this in January your mash temp seems a little low I may take it up to 153 or 155 but we shall see.
Thanks for posting an awesome looking clone cannot wait to try it.

moonpig said:

Recipe looks awesome will brew this in January your mash temp seems a little low I may take it up to 153 or 155 but we shall see.
Thanks for posting an awesome looking clone cannot wait to try it.

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I wouldn't. This is an IPA and should be mashed lower for less unfermentables.

Ok I will do this first batch lower and see how it looks

jacobmarley said:

Is there an extract version for this?

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I threw the ingredients in beer calculus and here is what I came up with. Keeps the proportions right, and assumes a 70% efficiency.

10 lb 12 oz Pale Liquid Extract (70%)
2 lb 2 oz Vienna Malt (14%)
12 oz Caramel 20 L (5%)
8 oz Gambrinus Honey Malt (3%)
8 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3%)

12 oz Honey (5%) (late addition for flameout)

Estimated OG: 1.098
Estimated Final Grav: 1.025
SRM: 10

Estimated abv 9.7%.

Not sure what to do about the SRM, or the hops that are FWH in the all grain.

Can anyone else help out??

Goterdid said:

I brewed this last night and checked this morning and thanks to the nice starter I had was bubbling away. Due to the lack of Simcoe I substituted for the Falconers' Flight. I plan to secondary when gravity reaches correct level and dry hop for some days with the FF. Super Excited. Thanks for posting!

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How did the FF sub work out with this? Im looking to brew up an IPA without the bitter bite. This sounds like a contender! Thanks

The 2 oz Amarillo and the 2 oz of Simcoe that you have listed as 0 boil minutes Hop Steep. How long do you steep these and I assume this is done at the end of the boil at flame out.

booherbg said:

Hi guys! (popping the cherry here).

I've actually been reflecting on the low-IBU of hopslam ever since I read an email from the head brewer @ Bell's. I think it makes a lot of sense. IBU does not indicate how many hops are added to the brew, after all, it only indicates how early the hops were added. Right?

Compare, for example, the difference when you add 5oz of 10% Centennial hops to a 5-gallon boil

60 minutes: 271 IBU
30 minutes: 208 IBU
10 minutes: 98 IBU
5 minutes: 54 IBU
1 minutes: 11 IBU

You can see how drasticly this simple example changes when you change the addition time. I know us brewers already understand the relationship between IBU and how long the hops are boiling, but it makes me think a lot about the relationship HopSlam has with the hops. We already know most of the smell and taste comes from late additions, and HopSlam has aroma and taste out the wazoo. But what about bitterness? What if HopSlam simply slams the hops all in at the last minute, making an incredibly hoppy beer that has very little bitterness. It's kind of neat when you think about it. Deceptive, even.

It makes me really want to brew up a few different batches of Maris Otter / CaraPils and vary only when the hops are added. I actually have a freezer full of 1lb of hops (centennial / cascade / magnum) but I only brew 1 gallon at a time. Maybe I'll experiment with this on a small scale. I couldn't afford to drop 20oz into a 5 gallon brew, but I think I can handle 4oz into a 1gal brew I bet the Centennial will be perfect for this (I'd need too much cascade and the magnum isn't known for its aroma, but for its smooth bittering properties).

Take care,
Blaine

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I went my my local beer shop and noticed sold by the single bottle is a brew my Mikkeller (hopefully spelled correct). They are doing this very thing. They are selling 15 or 20 different beers all brewed with the same base malts, but each one uses a different hop. They gave the impression that the same amount of hops were used for bittering, aroma and dry hopping. I only picked up 3 to test. They were $5 each so I couldn't pick up as many as I wanted. It really gives a good example of the flavor of each hop. So far Amarillo gives me what I was looking for. I think I will use some centinnial as well in my next IPA.

DHUKILL said:

I went my my local beer shop and noticed sold by the single bottle is a brew my Mikkeller (hopefully spelled correct). They are doing this very thing. They are selling 15 or 20 different beers all brewed with the same base malts, but each one uses a different hop. They gave the impression that the same amount of hops were used for bittering, aroma and dry hopping. I only picked up 3 to test. They were $5 each so I couldn't pick up as many as I wanted. It really gives a good example of the flavor of each hop. So far Amarillo gives me what I was looking for. I think I will use some centinnial as well in my next IPA.

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I also just saw one of these Mikkeller brews online, haven't tried them. I'll have to get my hands on some. Thanks!

Brewed this back in November and served over Christmas to the family. Not a single person had anything bad to say and I was very pleased with it myself. Thank you for the great recipe!

put this on the keg a couple of days ago and it turned out great. Bought a Growler of the original Hopslam- it is the beer on the right. Mine is not as clear, that may still come with settling but I really do not care about clarity- IT TASTES GREAT, sorry about the bad picture quality

Thank you for the recipe- job well done

Is that grain bill right? I have to lower the base malt to 13 Lbs. to get the SG of 1098. Hopslam is a 10% abv beer and this comes out to 11.5. Is Beersmith just wrong or am I missing something? I did set the efficiency to 70%.

Scratch that, I had it set for 5 gallons instead of 5.5.

I have to say that this recipe looks fantastic. Congratulations on getting that score! Ill be trying this out in the next few weeks and putting it on tap. It would be awesome to do a side by side comparison brew with honey vs sugar by splitting the wort but ill give it a go with corn sugar first.

Thanks again for the recipe, cant wait to brew
-Higgy

we are kegging our Hopslam and Two hearted this week... cant wait

Great looking recipe!

I brewed this last weekend via BIAB. Due to the large grain bill (and probably my own brewing errors) I only got 50% Brewhouse efficiency. Also, I have no idea what my SG was. I dropped my hydrometer between the mash and the end of the boil....

I'm assuming that my SG is around 1.070 (I also added an extra pound of sugar to try and make up for my lackluster efficiency). I accidentally boiled a bit too much off and ended up with slightly under 5 gallons. I followed the hop schedule up to this point but don't know if I should add the dry hops. I tasted the wort when putting it into the carboy and it seemed very sugary and bitter. It's starting to taper down it's fermentation and I would add the hops somewhat soon.

Also, I'm fermenting it in a 6 gallon carboy but don't have a secondary (my only secondary broke while transferring wort last month... lost 5 gallons of a nice ipa). How long should I leave it in the primary? Should I purge it with co2 every so often?

Thank you for the great recipe!

msu09 said:

Great looking recipe!

I brewed this last weekend via BIAB. Due to the large grain bill (and probably my own brewing errors) I only got 50% Brewhouse efficiency. Also, I have no idea what my SG was. I dropped my hydrometer between the mash and the end of the boil....

I'm assuming that my SG is around 1.070 (I also added an extra pound of sugar to try and make up for my lackluster efficiency). I accidentally boiled a bit too much off and ended up with slightly under 5 gallons. I followed the hop schedule up to this point but don't know if I should add the dry hops. I tasted the wort when putting it into the carboy and it seemed very sugary and bitter. It's starting to taper down it's fermentation and I would add the hops somewhat soon.

Also, I'm fermenting it in a 6 gallon carboy but don't have a secondary (my only secondary broke while transferring wort last month... lost 5 gallons of a nice ipa). How long should I leave it in the primary? Should I purge it with co2 every so often?

Thank you for the great recipe!

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Wow, that had to be one big bag of grains! After fermentation slows up I would air lock it if it isn't already. No need to add C02, all the oxygen on top has been purged with fermentation. I would still dry hop, that won't add bitterness but rather that nose full of hops you want. Document your recipe and procedure, you might find out it's awesome and want to make it again.

I made 10 gallons of this on Sunday and 5 ended up on the ground. A moment of silence please.

arondee said:

I made 10 gallons of this on Sunday and 5 ended up on the ground. A moment of silence please.

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No !

arondee said:

I made 10 gallons of this on Sunday and 5 ended up on the ground. A moment of silence please.

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My head is bowed