The Hoptopus

The Hoptopus

Style: Imperial IPA OG: 1.085
Type: All Grain FG: 1.010
Rating: 4.0 ABV: 9.83 %
Calories: 272 IBU's: 69.59
Efficiency: 70 % Boil Size: 6.35 Gal
Color:***13.3 SRM** Batch Size: 5.50 Gal
Boil Time: 60 minutes
*
Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
(none)
*
Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
13.00 lbs 68.42 % Pale Malt (2 Row) US 60 mins 1.036
2.00 lbs 10.53 % Weyermann Vienna Malt 60 mins 1.038
1.50 lbs 7.89 % Crisp Crystal Light 45L 60 mins 1.035
1.00 lbs 5.26 % Honey Malt 60 mins 1.037
1.00 lbs 5.26 % Weyermann Munich II 60 mins 1.038
0.50 lbs 2.63 % Rice Hulls 60 mins 1.000
*
Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.00 ozs 13.82 Cascade 30 mins 7.10
1.00 ozs 22.18 Citra 30 mins 11.40
1.00 ozs 10.47 Citra 10 mins 11.40
1.00 ozs 11.20 Simcoe 10 mins 12.20
1.00 ozs 5.76 Citra 5 mins 11.40
1.00 ozs 6.16 Simcoe 5 mins 12.20
1.00 ozs 0.00 Simcoe 0 mins 12.20
1.00 ozs 0.00 Citra 0 mins 11.40
1.00 ozs Simcoe 7 days 12.20
*
Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.0 pkg California Ale White Labs 0001
*
Additions
(none)

Mashed at 154 for 60 minutes. Batch sparged. OG was calculated with 70% efficiency.

Very malty IIPA bursting with hop flavor. Very refreshing. Simcoe and citra worked well together in this guy.

Here's the finished product. Cleared up really well after a week. This picture doesn't have too much light, but the beer came out really pretty and tasted very good. My favorite batch I've ever made.

First post from a long time lurker.

I've been looking at this recipe for a while now. I like my IPAs with a malty edge and strong hop flavor without all the bitterness, so I think this would be a good recipe for me.

Did you notice a strong honey flavor in this beer? I like the idea of 1 # of honey malt.

I'll be brewing this batch up tomorrow.

Cheers

My mouth is watering right now!
Don't think my 9 gallon kettle can handle this BIAB style. May try this in a 1/2 size batch instead.
Thanks

jookoo said:

First post from a long time lurker.

I've been looking at this recipe for a while now. I like my IPAs with a malty edge and strong hop flavor without all the bitterness, so I think this would be a good recipe for me.

Did you notice a strong honey flavor in this beer? I like the idea of 1 # of honey malt.

I'll be brewing this batch up tomorrow.

Cheers

Click to expand...

I was actually told from the people at my LHBS that this beer would come out cloyingly sweet (in retrospect I think they were just trying to get me to buy some more hops from them), but I think it came out exactly how I wanted it. I put a lot of thought into the grain bill and I could definitely taste all of it.

I was drinking a lot of hopslam and SN torpedo at the time I was making this recipe up. It definitely has a lot of hopslam characteristics with the maltiness, high ABV, and simcoe hops, but it also has some torpedo characteristics with the citra hops.

To answer your question, yes, I could definitely taste honey at the end of every sip. Definitely not overwhelming honey, but the same honey taste you get at the end of every hopslam taste.

Beer-lord said:

My mouth is watering right now!
Don't think my 9 gallon kettle can handle this BIAB style. May try this in a 1/2 size batch instead.
Thanks

Click to expand...

yea i'm not too sure a BIAB could handle this recipe. maybe try picking up some LME and substituting it for the two row. i bet all the specialty grains could fit in your bag. then again, i'm not much of an expert on BIAB.

i was able to brew this guy up using an 8 gallon brew kettle. if you have a mash tun, it's definitely possible.

All cleared up

I am actually brewing this beer this weekend. It is also my first attempt at all grain, and I am pretty excited.
I know opinions vary on the amount of strike water used for mashing. Anywhere between 1-2 quarts per pound of grain. I was thinking of 1.25 qts per pound, but wanted to know how much you used?

Also I have an extra oz of cascade hops that I purchased a couple weeks ago and was thinking of adding it as a 60 minute hop addition. What are your thoughts on that and do you think it would make much of a difference at all?

Thanks for reading.

Cheers

congrats on moving to all grain...i promise you won't look back.

it all depends on your system when determining mash water volumes. i use a 1 qt/lb ratio for my MLT and do a hybrid sparge.


as for the 60 minute cascade addition, it's all about your personal preference. i really enjoy beers with a complex malt background which is why i added 5 different types of malt in this recipe. by adding a 60 minute hop addition, you're going to up the IBUs which may shield the malt complexity with bitterness. on the other hand, it'll also balance it a bit more.

Brewed it today and I think it went well for my first all grain batch.
I did add the cascade hops at 60 just to see what would happen.
I ended up with a OG of 1.065 though. Don't know why. Any reasons you can think of?

I think it should turn out good in the end though.

Cheers

a lot of brewers who are new to all grain struggle at first with getting high and consistent efficiency values. the recipe i provided would produce a 1.085 OG assuming the brewer had an efficiency of 70%.

it looks like your process yielded around a 50-60% efficiency this time. don't sweat it. you'll get better with your process as you gain more experience. there are tons of useful threads on this site that discuss ways to increase your efficiency. my barley crusher and BierMuncher's hybrid sparge technique (discussed in the All Grain and Partial Mash forum) are mainly what helped me get consistently high efficiencies.

don't worry though...your beer may be a little more on the hoppy/bitter side as opposed to the malty/sweet side, but i'm sure it'll be delicious.

well it's finally fermented out, cleared up, and kegged, and i must say that this beer is absolutely fantastic.

a little on the malty side as described earlier but bursting with hop flavor. the simcoe and citra are both extremely present in this beer. almost tastes like someone mixed a SN Torpedo and a Hopslam together.

very bold in flavor. the hops and malt definitely jump out at you.

definitely will be brewing this again. i'll probably bottle a couple just to save throughout the summer.

brewski- how do these beers do with age? thanks again for the recipe.

jookoo said:

well it's finally fermented out, cleared up, and kegged, and i must say that this beer is absolutely fantastic.

a little on the malty side as described earlier but bursting with hop flavor. the simcoe and citra are both extremely present in this beer. almost tastes like someone mixed a SN Torpedo and a Hopslam together.

very bold in flavor. the hops and malt definitely jump out at you.

definitely will be brewing this again. i'll probably bottle a couple just to save throughout the summer.

brewski- how do these beers do with age? thanks again for the recipe.

Click to expand...

glad you liked this so much!

as for age, i wish i could tell you otherwise, but this does absolutely horrible with age. i just popped open a bottle last night that i transferred from the keg. it's been sitting in my fridge for about 3 months, and there was absolutely no hop aroma. really depressing actually.

i suppose this is true with a lot of IIPA's.

What's the recipe for extract. Looks fantastic!!!

Did you dry hop starting at 2 weeks taking the primary fermentation to 3 weeks or did you start the dry hopping at 3 weeks for a total of 4 weeks in the frementor?

Thanks

TRIPLEMSU said:

What's the recipe for extract. Looks fantastic!!!

Click to expand...

hm, i'm not an extract expert, so let me try and figure this out for you.

i've read that the honey malt must be mashed. would you be capable of performing a partial mash?

it's looking like you'll have to substitute malt extract for the two-row, vienna, and munich and partial mash the crystal and honey malts.

give me a day or so, and i'll post a partial mash recipe for ya.

Jbatten22 said:

Did you dry hop starting at 2 weeks taking the primary fermentation to 3 weeks or did you start the dry hopping at 3 weeks for a total of 4 weeks in the frementor?

Thanks

Click to expand...

i dry hopped in a secondary as soon as my gravity readings in the primary were consistent for ~2 days.

you don't necessarily have to transfer your beer to a secondary in order to dry hop, but it's very beneficial you dry hope once fermentation is complete. when fermentation is still occurring, the yeast continue to blow of gaseous CO2. this gaseous CO2 carries hop aroma with it and out of your carboy, thus weakening your hop aroma.

so if you've had consistent gravity readings, you're ready to dry hop.