Hoptimum Clone

Thinking about doing a Hoptimum clone and I get my ESB brewed and an throwing around this recipie. What do you think? The only problem I see is not knowing the New Proprietary Variety they use, and how I could Torpedo the Citra & Chinook.


15.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 73.17 %
3.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 14.63 %
1.50 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 7.32 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
2.75 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 80.6 IBU
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (15 min) Hops 6.7 IBU
1.00 oz Warrior [15.00 %] (15 min) Hops 15.6 IBU
2.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops
2.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.120 SG

Est Final Gravity: 1.030 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 11.85 %
Bitterness: 102.9 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint

Wow no views in 4 hours?

i'm no expert, but will give you a bump. looks reasonable to me, from my memory of hoptimum. damn good beer. why did you put it up at 11.85% abv? i would scale back to sierra's claim of 10.4, probably will have a hard enough time getting it to finish low and dry enough as it is...

If I drop the base malt to 13# then it will be estimated at 10.6 abv. Im not to worried about the abv, just worried about replicating the "oiliness" mouth feel of the beer.

checked a little more -

if you're looking for a true clone i'd scale back - SN shows OG of 1.095, FG 1.0175. what makes that beer so awesome is how well the alc is hidden.

they also claim they use citra - it has a pretty unique flavor, I think it's pretty reasonable to find online if you can't find it local. same with golden promise. good luck and report how it goes.. would love to try this myself

just do the torpedo adds at flameout, wait til it cools a bit and add them and let them sit for awhile. as for the new hop, id guess falconers flight

I love this brew and would be very curious to know the outcome...hence, my search for 'Hoptimum' in the Recipes forum. Good luck with the brew!

dcp27 said:

as for the new hop, id guess falconers flight

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I think its an actual experimental type, one not available commercially yet.

Has anyone tried this recipe? I just picked up my first 4 pack this weekend and I really liked it. Any additional feedback would be great.

I do have a question. What so you guys think of doing this only whole hops vs not? I know the beer is supposed to be only whole but I usually only go with pellets, it wastes less beer.

Is there a recipe posted in this thread? I'm using the iPad app and don't see one. I picked up a four pack of this over the weekend and would really like to try my hand at a clone.

joshstokes122 said:

Is there a recipe posted in this thread? I'm using the iPad app and don't see one. I picked up a four pack of this over the weekend and would really like to try my hand at a clone.

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So, magically after posting this, the recipe is now visible in the iPad app. Just curious - what does the white wheat do for your malt profile?

joshstokes122 said:

Is there a recipe posted in this thread? I'm using the iPad app and don't see one. I picked up a four pack of this over the weekend and would really like to try my hand at a clone.

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It's the original post, on the same page as yours.

Ok, first things first, you need way more bittering hops. Hoptimum is an insanely bitter beer. I'd use 4oz of Magnum at 14%, maybe even 4.5oz. Not kidding.

Secondly, assuming this new proprietary hop is the same one in ruthless, I've heard it's a lot like Citra, just less heavy on the tropical fruit. So I'd use like 60/40 Simcoe/Citra, say:

1.8oz Simcoe/1.2oz Citra @ 15min
2.4oz Simcoe/1.6oz Citra @ 0min
2oz Simcoe Dry Hopped
2oz Citra Dry Hopped
1oz Chinook Dry Hopped

The Torpedo is a hop/wort recirculating device. It recirculates wort through a 'torpedo' of hops, post fermentation. DON'T add your 'torpedo' hops at flameout. Just dry hop with them.

Yes, this recipe uses more pounds per barrel of hops than SN probably uses. Their hop utilization is much, much higher at the scale they brew at. I feel like that would get you close.

Third, much less wheat, a little more Munich. Do like 7.5% Munich, 2% wheat.

My wife surprised me on Easter with a 4pk and it was delicious. I hope someone can formulate a good clone recipe, as I would love to have this on tap.

Dcmpres said:

My wife surprised me on Easter with a 4pk and it was delicious. I hope someone can formulate a good clone recipe, as I would love to have this on tap.

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My girlfriend got me one too last weekend. She also said it made something taste like hops ;-)

scottland said:

Ok, first things first, you need way more bittering hops. Hoptimum is an insanely bitter beer. I'd use 4oz of Magnum at 14%, maybe even 4.5oz. Not kidding.

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That's what I am talking about. Not enough bitter beer out there.

I think it was originally one of their Beer Camp series:
http://sierrabeercamp.com/#/camp-beers

it's #19 and this site gives you quite a few specs on the beer

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This should be a good place to start, though the hops may have changed slightly as of then. Ask Sierra Nevada! They are insanely helpful to home brewers!

It's been awhile. Has anybody come up with a repeatable clone recipe for Hoptimum? I've seen several recipes on sites like Hopville, but they vary to such a great degree that i have very little confidence in thier accuracy. I absolutely love Hoptimum and its over the top "hop bomb" flavor. If I could find a reliable clone recipe, I would be on that like white on rice.

The big problem cloning hoptimum, is that we don't have the experimental hop HBC366 they use. Word is that it might be out next year, but there's still no name for it yet.

Beyond that, the advice I gave last year( a few posts up) still holds true. I just don't think you'll be able to do any better than 'close' until you can get your hands on HBC366

Any update on this?

Would love to have a clone on tap during the months its not on the shelves...

Anyone know a contact at SN?

HBC366 is available from a few places on line. Try the clone recipe I posted above and see how close it gets you. I don't think anyone has taken a good stab at this, so you're walking into uncharted territory.

The changes I'd make to that recipe I wrote a year ago would be:

4oz Magnum @ 90
1.5oz Simcoe @15
1.5oz HBC366 @ 15
2oz Simcoe @ 0
2oz HBC366 @ 0

First dry hop: 1.5oz Simcoe plus 1.5oz HBC366
Second dry hop 1.5oz Citra plus 1oz Chinook

That with the grain bill listed in the OP should get you pretty close. You'll have to tweak the ratios of hops and malt from there

Fantastic and thank you for your input. I contacted SN about a clone recipe and they said they have gotten many requests for one but haven't had the time to come up with one yet for homebrewers. So if I ever hear back from them I'll be sure to share.
In the meantime I will try this out as soon as I can and report back, been too busy to brew lately, wedding planning is occupying too much of my free time!

Sure would be nice to purchase some HBC366 but it is no where to be found I think.
EDIT : One more thing . the second dry hop . What exactly does that mean ? Also why use citra and chinook when hoptimum is dry hopped with simcoe and hbc366 and not just up the amount of simcoe/hbc366 ?

One more thing to add in . , Bitterness . 4 oz of magnum according to beersmith makes this 172 . Hoptimum is 100 which is very close to the op of 102 with 2.75 oz

MarcusKillion said:

Sure would be nice to purchase some HBC366 but it is no where to be found I think.
EDIT : One more thing . the second dry hop . What exactly does that mean ? Also why use citra and chinook when hoptimum is dry hopped with simcoe and hbc366 and not just up the amount of simcoe/hbc366 ?

One more thing to add in . , Bitterness . 4 oz of magnum according to beersmith makes this 172 . Hoptimum is 100 which is very close to the op of 102 with 2.75 oz

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Oh vey.... I don't feel like going into too much detail, but to sum it up, bitterness calculators don't work once you get over 100 calculated IBUs. Look up the Pliny the Elder clone. It clocks on at a like 240 calculated IBUs. Pliny is about 92 IBU in reality. Sometimes it takes a lot of hops.

Citra and chinook are the hops Sierra Nevada uses in their torpedo. The torpedo is an inert-gas fired device that recirculates the beer through a tank of dry hops.
Unless you have something to recirculate your finished beer through a tank of hops, I'd recommend dry hopping with those.

You could probably get away with 3oz of magnum. I'm not sure, since I haven't brewed this, but that's a good stab at it.

Thanks for the information scottland . that is something I will remember in the future when adjusting bitterness .

Agreed thanks Scottland... I plan on having lots more time this fall to do some brewing and I will be sure to test this out as soon as all the hoptimum is dried out for the 2013 season! Thanks again for the input!

Has anyone tried this yet? If so, how did it turn out?

Thanks!

No , but I looked at the recipe while drinking a Hoptimum and it tasted great

Thanks for nothing! Haha. I might have to brew this soon with the recipe listed above and give it a shot. Having 5 gallons of this sounds pretty great.

Has the HBC 366 hop hit the market yet? Does it have a final name now?