Loose Cannon: A brew-off!!!!!!!!

Boston and I are brewing these this weekend (actually I'm starting mine now)...so it would be appropriate to de-classify the recipes I guess.

You up for it bro?

I'm heating mash water....

Yes, please declassify your recipe. I like this beer a lot.

If you ain't got Palisade why bother?

If I don't get too fuct up at poker tonight I will be brewing tomorrow AM. I will post my recipe this afternoon.

FYI: Here is the criteria for which Dude and I based our recipes. Both batches will be critiqued in April following the Raleigh Beer Fest. I think it would be interesting to drink it with & without the randall


Loose Cannon Hop3 Ale


ABV: 7.25%
Malts: Crisp English Pale, Carapils, and Munich
Hops: Magnum, Centennial, Chinook, Amarillo and Palisade
Loose Cannon Hop 3 Ale - called Hop 3 (hop cubed) ale to reflect the enormous amount of hops in this beer: over 3 pounds per barrel! Also the beer is hopped 3 ways - in the kettle, in the hop back, and dry hopped. Winner of the Overall Best of Show Award in the Maryland State Governor's Cup 2005 Competition and voted the #1 IPA by Mahaffey’s Pub. We are very excited about this new product and have decided to make this beer available year round!

Sounds like a fun competition between you two. Do you guys have any OG, color or IBU guidelines to help formulate the recipe? Or are you just going to try to get as close as possible from the ingredient list and color from the bottle?

Whooo!

It's cool that you guys figured it out- I hear the guy who runs that brewery is sort of a jealous guardian of his secrets...

(But it's a Baltimore brew- so yeeee-ha! Support your local brewer!)

I figured my OG (1.074 IIRC) based on 7.25% ABV. Color & IBU I SWAG'd

P funky said:

Whooo!

It's cool that you guys figured it out- I hear the guy who runs that brewery is sort of a jealous guardian of his secrets...

(But it's a Baltimore brew- so yeeee-ha! Support your local brewer!)

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You wasted your 500th post on this thread? What were you thinking?

Boston said:

You wasted your 500th post on this thread? What were you thinking?

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I've seen a LOT worse 500th posts...

Here's the winning recipe:

Loose Cannon Cloner
14-B American IPA

Size: 5.5 gal
Efficiency: 80.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 241.77 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.072 (1.056 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.018 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 8.2 (6.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 7.15% (5.5% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 149.21 (40.0 - 72.0)

Ingredients:
11.0 lbs Optic Pale Ale Malt
2.0 lbs Munich Malt
0.5 lbs Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
0.5 lbs Torrified Wheat
0.5 oz Warrior (16.0%) - added first wort, boiled 60.0 min
0.5 oz Chinook (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 45.0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe (14.0%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
0.5 oz Amarillo (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
0.5 oz Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe (14.0%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
0.5 oz Sorachi Ace (13.7%) - added during boil, boiled 20.0 min
0.5 oz Amarillo (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
0.5 oz Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe (14.0%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
0.5 oz Sorachi Ace (13.7%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
0.5 oz Amarillo (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
0.5 oz Cascade (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe (14.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
0.5 oz Sorachi Ace (13.7%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 ea White Labs WLP051 California Ale V
0.5 oz Amarillo (10.0%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
0.5 oz Cascade (5.8%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
0.5 oz Simcoe (14.0%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
0.5 oz Sorachi Ace (13.7%) - added dry to secondary fermenter

Schedule:
Mash @ 150 deg for 60 mins

Boston said:

You wasted your 500th post on this thread? What were you thinking?

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Ha, I sort of forgot what I was doing... but my 501st is now posted in its proper place... (sigh).

Dude, looks like you're cleaning out you freezer of all your leftover hops. Warrior? Sorachi Ace? Pffffftt!! What, no Maraschino cherries?

Automatic DQ for not following brewery ingredient guidelines.

The winning recipe will be published when I get home this afternoon.

Have you put it in the recipe database.

orfy said:

Have you put it in the recipe database.

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Not yet because neither of us have brewed it yet. I guess we can put the winning recipe in the database later on, but for now we won't clutter it up iin case the beer blows donkey dick.

I a little surprised at the lack of use of the Database.

orfy said:

I a little surprised at the lack of use of the Database.

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The lack of use in general, you mean?

I've been hesitant to put too much in there because I haven't been terribly satisfied with some of my recent brews, except the IPA. I know how to fix the smoked porter, but until I re-brew it, I hestitate to put it up. I think it's actually better if the database is smaller, but it's all high-quality recipes.

I may push people in the BeerSwap (DEADLINE IS MIDNIGHT TONIGHT) who have particularly well-reviewed brews to put them in the database.

Wow..I'm already f'in this up....WTF? Missed my mash temp by 8 degrees. Fixed it with some boiling water.....if this is a sign of things to come for today.......UGH.

I bet the ambient temp (34 F. ?) is messing you up. Just like it did last weekend?

Boston said:

I bet the ambient temp (34 F. ?) is messing you up. Just like it did last weekend?

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I nailed my mash temp last weekend.....course I only had 4 lbs of grain..today I had what, 14?

"MORTAR IN THE RED BARN"

LOOSE CANNON CLONE


Style: India Pale Ale
Type: All grain Size: 5.5 gallons
Color: 7 HCU (~6 SRM)
Bitterness: 86 IBU
OG: 1.072 FG: 1.018
Alcohol: 7.2% v/v (5.7% w/w)
Grain:
2 lb. 6 oz. British Pale (M & F Maris Otter)
12 lb. 2 oz. American 2-row (Breiss)
8.0 oz. German Munich (Weyerman)
8.0 oz. Carapils (Briess)

Mash: 69% efficiency

Boil: 90 minutes SG 1.057 7.0 gallons
1 TSP IRISH MOSS
Hops:
0.5 oz. MAGNUM (First Wort Hop) (14% AA)
0.5 oz. CENTENNIAL (FWH) (9% AA)
0.5 oz. AMARILLO (FWH) (8% AA)

0.625 oz. CHINOOK (12% AA, 60 min.)
0.75 oz. MAGNUM (14% AA, 60 min.)

0.5 oz. CENTENNIAL (9% AA, 30 min.)
0.5 oz. AMARILLO (8% AA, 30 min.)

1.0 oz. AMARILLO (DRYHOP)
1.0 oz. PALISADE (DRYHOP)
Yeast: SAFALE #56 DRY YEAST

If nothing else, I like the name

Looks real nice. I picked up some Loose Cannon last weekend, guess I know what I'm cracking open tonight!

You can't change your recipe now--but the color is WAY lighter than I expected. I sparged an extra half gallon so i could boil (and caramelize) a little bit to darken it and give it a faint underlying sweetness--without crystal, and the fact that I mashed lower than I wanted to--mine will need it. This brew will test my mettle as a brewer, I think. We'll see how good I can brew on the fly.

the_bird said:

If nothing else, I like the name

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I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention

the_bird said:

If nothing else, I like the name

Looks real nice. I picked up some Loose Cannon last weekend, guess I know what I'm cracking open tonight!

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What did you think of it? I have to admit I was disappointed when I tried a bottle of it after we had it at the cask ale tent. Still really good though!

todd_k said:

What did you think of it? I have to admit I was disappointed when I tried a bottle of it after we had it at the cask ale tent. Still really good though!

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I liked it, but wasn't completely overwhelmed. It's not top-5, but I'll definately buy it again.

I just got back from the taphouse where it is on tap. Holy crap I love that beer. The aroma is jsut so out of this world.

BTW, I had a Stone Smoked Porter off of draft tonight--VERY underwhelming. I detected no smoke at all. It was a good porter, but I wanted smoke. A while back I gave the bottled Stone Smoked Porter the nod over my own, but looking back mine was definitley better than the one I had tonight. Thought you'd like to hear that bird....I know you like the Stone Porter.....

Dude said:

I just got back from the taphouse where it is on tap. Holy crap I love that beer. The aroma is jsut so out of this world.

BTW, I had a Stone Smoked Porter off of draft tonight--VERY underwhelming. I detected no smoke at all. It was a good porter, but I wanted smoke. A while back I gave the bottled Stone Smoked Porter the nod over my own, but looking back mine was definitley better than the one I had tonight. Thought you'd like to hear that bird....I know you like the Stone Porter.....

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Have you had the Alaskan Smoked Porter? I can't remember. I like the fact that Stone isn't overwhelming, it's not a rauchbier, it just has some subtle aroma. I know you LOVE the smoke, you'd love the '06 Alaskan (if you haven't had it yet).

the_bird said:

Have you had the Alaskan Smoked Porter? I can't remember. I like the fact that Stone isn't overwhelming, it's not a rauchbier, it just has some subtle aroma. I know you LOVE the smoke, you'd love the '06 Alaskan (if you haven't had it yet).

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I have not had it, and I'd kill for it. I'd love to do a commercial swap with the right coast guys who can get it, but we really don't have much intrigung beer here that they can't already get. I know I'd love it. I can't have enough smoke. :rockin:

I have three bottles - can I pick who you'd kill?

the_bird said:

I have three bottles - can I pick who you'd kill?

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Ummm....that depends!

Is it a 12 oz. bottle? I have an oaked AB that you'd prolly love, seeing you are becoming such a hophead.....

Bombers. I have two '05s and one '06 (from all accounts, the '06 was smokier than usual). I can get AB up here, but I can't remember if the good store have the oaked one this last time (I've seen it there before).

the_bird said:

Bombers. I have two '05s and one '06 (from all accounts, the '06 was smokier than usual). I can get AB up here, but I can't remember if the good store have the oaked one this last time (I've seen it there before).

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How about an oaked AB (or another of your choice that you can't get and I can) and a St. George's Russian Impy Stout for a bottle of either the 06 or 05?

FWIW, the St. George's stout is simply the most awesome beer I've ever had. My bottles are like gold. I have about 10 left. I guarantee you will love it.

My Loose Cannon is still chugging away in the primary. Gaseous emissions smell good.

Any update on these beers? I'm hoping to try my hand at a Loose Cannon clone in the next month and was wondering how Dude and Boston's recipes are turning out. The wife of a coworker of mine had this beer when she was out with us recently and said that I had to brew this, and she'd pay for half the ingredients and help out with the brewing and CLEAN UP (and she'll take half the beer).

pjj2ba said:

Any update on these beers? I'm hoping to try my hand at a Loose Cannon clone in the next month and was wondering how Dude and Boston's recipes are turning out. The wife of a coworker of mine had this beer when she was out with us recently and said that I had to brew this, and she'd pay for half the ingredients and help out with the brewing and CLEAN UP (and she'll take half the beer).

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My Loose Cannon clone turned out very nice. It could pass for the bottled version of LC, but certainly not the cask-conditioned version we sampled in Durham last October. I've been hitting the keg pretty heavily the last couple of weeks, I hope there's some left for the Raleigh Brewfest Afterparty at Walker's Taproom & Discotheque.

Mine is closer to the cask conditioned version--WAY grapefruity. We'll see....

I got a PM from oster99 asking me how my attempt turned out so I thought I would post my recipe in this thread.

I was VERY pleased with how my attempt turned out. Side by side versus the bottled version, I and my friends liked mine better. Mine was kegged. The one bar in town that had it on tap ran out so I couldn't at least do a comparison in one day, but based on my taste memory, mine was more similar to the kegged version.

I'll be brewing this again this spring, but will probably back off on the base malt so it is not quite so potent.

OG 1.072 FG 1.012 7.9% ABV, 72 IBU
White labs 001 yeast (Cal. Ale)

5 gal batch (into the fermenter)

10.5 lbs Pale male (Optic)
1.5 lbs Munich
0.5 lbs Carafoam
0.5 lbs Carastan (34 degrees L)

Mash at 153 F

.25 oz each of Amarillo, Centennial and Magnum - FWH
.125 oz Chinook - 60 min.
.25 oz Magnum - 60 min.
.5 oz each of Amarillo and Centennial - 10 min.
.5 oz each of Amarillo and Centennial - 5 min.

1 oz each of Centennial and Palisade - Dry Hop

pjj2ba said:

I got a PM from oster99 asking me how my attempt turned out so I thought I would post my recipe in this thread.

I was VERY pleased with how my attempt turned out. Side by side versus the bottled version, I and my friends liked mine better. Mine was kegged. The one bar in town that had it on tap ran out so I couldn't at least do a comparison in one day, but based on my taste memory, mine was more similar to the kegged version.

I'll be brewing this again this spring, but will probably back off on the base malt so it is not quite so potent.

OG 1.072 FG 1.012 7.9% ABV, 72 IBU
White labs 001 yeast (Cal. Ale)

5 gal batch (into the fermenter)

10.5 lbs Pale male (Optic)
1.5 lbs Munich
0.5 lbs Carafoam
0.5 lbs Carastan (34 degrees L)

Mash at 153 F

.25 oz each of Amarillo, Centennial and Magnum - FWH
.125 oz Chinook - 60 min.
.25 oz Magnum - 60 min.
.5 oz each of Amarillo and Centennial - 10 min.
.5 oz each of Amarillo and Centennial - 5 min.

1 oz each of Centennial and Palisade - Dry Hop

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That looks nice!!!!!

Thanks for the reciple pjj2ba! I tried Loose Cannon less than a month ago and loved it. I searched HBT and here we are! Here are my notes in case anyone gets something out of it, I haven't reviewed many beers but this is my first worthwhile attempt. I'll follow with notes from how I made it.

Tasting notes:
I don't know how old the commercial example was when I compared on 8/23/10, but they came out pretty close! I'll start off by mentioning the water was surely different. The commercial example was pretty clear, you could definitely see carbonation bubbles. Mine appeared to be the same copper color but hazy, probably due to recent racking, floating yeast, keg trub, and/or hop haze. I did not use any keg finings. Aroma of the commercial example is not hoppy, but familiar, ah the unmistakable aroma of malt extract being boiled (no I didn't mix up the samples). Aroma of mine is mildly hoppy, centennial shines through. Mine might have slightly more lacing on the glass. The commercial example tastes more sharp than mine, mine tastes smoother. Mine tasted very similar to the commercial example when it was colder, probably to where I would not know the difference solely by taste if you handed me a new glass. I tried a 3 way blind smell/taste test and noticed it was fairly easy to pick them out correctly. As my sample warms up, I think it tastes more orangy or something, but the commercial sample does not. Definitely picking up the amarillo now. Suspended yeast in my example is probably affecting the taste. All in all very similar, I will not hesitate to enjoy this keg!

Brewing notes:
(This is going to make me sound like a train wreck but oh well. Its good documentation so I can learn from it next time. Morbid curiosity anyone?)
Orig recip calls for 72 IBU, unknown hop AA. Adjusted for my hops AA. Also, orig recip claims 7.9% abv but recipe doesn't seem to follow. Author wishes to "back off on the base malt so it is not quite so potent". Commercial offering is 7.25% but I scaled base malt to 7.5% because I was mistaken. Guessing at ferm temp and schedule. Orig recip called for 1056, I ended up using a 1L starter of Rogue Pacman due to brewday circumstances. Used 1 oz of 14.4% magnum by mistake instead of the 13.6 I had intended to use. Measured out approximated amounts for Mosher's Ideal Pale Ale water additions with the assumption that my RO water had no minerals. Saved 1/3 of additions for BK(sparge) but forgot to add in the boil. (I've only done water additions twice now and its not a habit yet. The whole time I felt like I was forgetting something.) Ended up with around 5.5gal in a 6gal PET carboy, a good amount of hops got racked, and a little wort left over in BK. Used fermcap-s in the carboy but it still spilled out a little. Raised temp for d-test when the bubbling was slowing. On day 12 I was going to add the dry hops but the outside of the carboy and the airlock was disgustingly moldy from being in a closed water bath container. Instead I racked it to a secondary with a bag of hops already in it. The primary had a ton of yeast, it seemed like almost a gallon and some of it got racked into the secondary because I was not being careful. 4 days later due to time constraints I racked into a keg, only got 4ish gallons. Taste was strange, somewhat unpleasant, almost salty. Carbed and cooled to see if it improves enough to serve, otherwise I was going to put it aside for a while. After a day and a half I tasted it from the keg and it tasted great! Maybe it was just green or I'm not used to warm IIPA.

pjj2ba said:

I got a PM from oster99 asking me how my attempt turned out so I thought I would post my recipe in this thread.

I was VERY pleased with how my attempt turned out. Side by side versus the bottled version, I and my friends liked mine better. Mine was kegged. The one bar in town that had it on tap ran out so I couldn't at least do a comparison in one day, but based on my taste memory, mine was more similar to the kegged version.

I'll be brewing this again this spring, but will probably back off on the base malt so it is not quite so potent.

OG 1.072 FG 1.012 7.9% ABV, 72 IBU
White labs 001 yeast (Cal. Ale)

5 gal batch (into the fermenter)

10.5 lbs Pale male (Optic)
1.5 lbs Munich
0.5 lbs Carafoam
0.5 lbs Carastan (34 degrees L)

Mash at 153 F

.25 oz each of Amarillo, Centennial and Magnum - FWH
.125 oz Chinook - 60 min.
.25 oz Magnum - 60 min.
.5 oz each of Amarillo and Centennial - 10 min.
.5 oz each of Amarillo and Centennial - 5 min.

1 oz each of Centennial and Palisade - Dry Hop

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Tried Loose Cannon early this past summer and it was so delicious. I finally got a change to make a clone at the first of Oct. It was carbed up a couple weeks ago and I've been sampling some since, but in the last few days this beer has really come into its own. Not a perfect clone... color perfect, bittering hops, malt balance and tast very close. I think it's the dry hop that is the most different, but very good. I get a black cherry aroma from Loose Cannon, but mine is tropical fruitish like Mango.

Holy mackeral pie, this is the best beer I've brewed and maybe the best IPA I've tasted. It was my first time that first wort hopping was attempted, so maybe that's why it stands out from every other beer I've done in my short 1 year hobby. I've glad the 10 gal batch was done because another keg is waiting after this one is complete. Thanks for the recipe and you all have to try brewing it.