Green Flash Hop Head Red?

Bob was reading on Beeradvocate, and thought the Green Flash Hop Head Red sounded like the perfect beer. On Green Flash's website it says:

Hop Head Red Ale
Resinous hop character and bitterness balance the rich carmel malt base. We took it a step further and Amarillo dry-hopped the brew to 45 ibu's, creating refreshing and savory hop flavors and aromas. Is it red IPA? That's your call.



"Resinous" hop character makes me think of chinook, so I would assume that's the bittering hop, or at least a good one to use. Amarillo would be the flavor and aroma. The website says 6% ABV and 45 IBUs.

I've never had this beer, does the "rich caramel malt" taste seem like a sweeter beer, or is it a raisiny caramel malt taste, like with crystal 120? I was thinking if it's a red ale, it must be a darker crystal.

For malt, I was wondering about using 7-8 pounds of two-row and adding some Munich malt for malt flavor and sweetness. Lots of crystal 120- maybe as much as a pound. I think I'd go with an OG of 1.058 or so, and use a clean American ale yeast.

Has anybody whoever tasted this beer got any input? It's hard to come up with a recipe trying to recreate a beer you've never had! Thanks!

Something I've noticed from BYO recipes submitted by breweries is that most of them have ~ 1.5lbs. of crystal in them. Seems that commercial breweries are using a much higher % of crystal than homebrewers.

Does that beer sound similar to Red Seal ale to anyone but me?

Hop Head Red is my go to pub beer at the moment.

To my taste buds, it seems more raisiny in character than malty sweet and has a very deep red color. I agree with choice of higher amounts of crystal 120L. The website description doesn't emphasize how aggressively dry-hopped this brew is. The amarillo aroma practically punches you in the face.

Thanks for tackling an interpretation of this brew yoop, I've been looking around for a clone for a few weeks now. Looking forward to hearing the results!

Hmmmm- lots of amarillo dryhopping, then. Ok, here's what I got so far:

7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 65.22 %
3 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 26.09 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 8.70 %
0.75 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 36.9 IBU
-
0.50 oz Amarillo [9.50 %] (10 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo [9.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.9 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.50 %] (1 min) Hops 1.3 IBU

2.00 or 3.00 oz Amarillo [9.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops

I use 1.5 pounds of crystal 120L in my Arrogant Bastard clone, and I like the dark raisiny character, so I think almost 9% in this brew would be ok if it's not a malty sweetness that's in there.

Looks great! I'm making this recipe the next on the to-brew list and see how the Yooper Hop Head compares to the commercial variety.

Thanks for the inspiration and recipe.

I'm going to make this next week, but I have never had the original so I don't think it'll be any sort of clone at all! I love amarillo hops, though, so why not give it a try?!? I'll also report back when it's done.

Yooper,
if my local store has it In stock [i got one there like 9 months ago], I can send you one Monday.
Not sure it will get there before your brew day tho.

Wendy

Green flash is very nice to homebrewers. I bet if you email them, they'll help out a lot. probably won't give you every detail, but I think they'd give you the grain bill, and maybe hop varieties.

midfielder5 said:

Yooper,
if my local store has it In stock [i got one there like 9 months ago], I can send you one Monday.
Not sure it will get there before your brew day tho.

Wendy

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I just saw your post! I'm sending you a PM! Thanks.

Brewed up this recipe on saturday and it's currently fermenting away. I'll post pics and my hop schedule when I have the final product!

In for an update on this, how did it turn out yoop? Has anyone tried to get any info from greenflash? Hopefully they are more helpful than Lagunitas

GC89 said:

In for an update on this, how did it turn out yoop? Has anyone tried to get any info from greenflash? Hopefully they are more helpful than Lagunitas

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I never made it- I got distracted by brewing for some summer parties and have been working on cream ales.

The next beer might be this one, though. Now we can wait for Rushis' results!

I brewed this on May 24th. I'll let you know how it turns out. I've never had the real thing, so can't compare.

Well, I've been drinking this for a couple days, and all I can say is that its a great beer. I love the dark crystal character. The malt flavor is just what I've been trying to get, and the chinook/amarillo combo is great. I've never had Green Flash's Hop Head Red, but if it's similar to this I'd buy it like I buy Two Hearted (and I could probably support Bell's entire operation). This is also the first beer I've brewed, out of 17 batches, that my wife and friends don't believe I made. I think the only thing I will change next time is upping the chinook to 1-1.25 oz. Then there should be more for me, as my wife isn't generally an IPA fan. All in all, great brew. Thanks for the recipe, Yooper. I loved your house pale so much that I was willing to take a shot at this, and it paid off big time! Definitely being brewed again.

i just had a few small glasses of hop head red at the pub last night. it was out of a firkin though. i got an email about it friday but it's already deleted, can't remember what he said they hopped it in the firkin with. may have been centennial.

anyway, out of the cask it was thick, resiny, and a little sweet, low carbonation and very hoppy but very smooth. not much bitterness. it was clear and it wasn't very dark.

when i've had it from the bottle it seems less hoppy, less sweet, drier and toastier.

I made this mid summer this year upon my brothers request. He lives in San Diego, and i live in Minneapolis. I'd never had it before. He said that my version was almost spot on, but that the real HHR has a thicker mouth feel. When I brew again, I'll be mashing a little bit higher at 156 to achieve that thicker mouth feel! My Mash effeciency is about 68% so you may need to adjust the grain if you get better effeciency. This is the best beer I've brewed out of 24 batch's and I'm about to do a 10 gallon batch of this. It's frickin fantastic!

Amarillo Red Ale

Green Flash Hop Head Red Ale Clone
% LB OZ Malt or Fermentable
62% 8 0 American Two-row Pale
23% 3 0 Munich Malt
8% 1 0 Flaked Oats
2% 0 4 American Crystal 120L
2% 0 4 American Crystal 40L
2% 0 4 American Crystal 80L
0% 0 1 Chocolate Malt
12 13
Original Gravity
1.052
Final Gravity
1.010
Color
14° SRM / 27° EBC
(Copper to Red/Lt. Brown)

hops
60 mins 1.0 Chinook
10 mins 0.5 Amarillo
5 mins 0.5 Amarillo
1 min 1.0 Amarillo
dry hop 3.0 Amarillo
7.0
Bitterness
63.7 IBU / 13 HBU

Yeast
Wyeast American Ale II (slow airlock activity 8 hours later)

Alcohol
6.0% ABV

I think Chuck Silva said in a recent Southwest Brewing News that it has some Carafa III in it, probably only a small amount. Maybe sub Carafa III for your chocolate? Probably not a big difference IMO.

I've been thinking about this beer as I heard great things. I finally got to try it on my SD to SF brew tour over the xmas break and it's a solid beer, not insanely awesome but a good solid beer. I like their west coast IPA a bit better.

Yeah man. That's a good idea. I finally tasted one for real. i think that they definitely have some Special B in there too. Prune/dark fruit flavors are in there, and I think sub-ing some of the Crystal out for Special B would get you closer. I put an updated recipe on my blog (I haven't brewed it yet though).

Maybe not Special B...maybe just go with all Crystal 120 for the crystal portion

nppeders said:

Yeah man. That's a good idea. I finally tasted one for real. i think that they definitely have some Special B in there too. Prune/dark fruit flavors are in there, and I think sub-ing some of the Crystal out for Special B would get you closer. I put an updated recipe on my blog (I haven't brewed it yet though).

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Where's your blog at? I'd be interested in checking out your recipe you posted.

Irrenarzt said:

Where's your blog at? I'd be interested in checking out your recipe you posted.

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Hey Man,

You can check my blog at www.dankbrewingcompany.blogspot.com

***Keep in mind that my Hop Head Red Clone was something I started before ever even tryed it an actual GF Hop Head Red as I'm in Minnesota. Just thought it would be cool to try something similar and drink some Hoppy red beers with the fam. I finally tried a Hop Head Red, and it was much more "dark fruity" then I had realized. I haven't brewed it again since...but I'm sure I will. If you don't like that raisin, dark fruit flavor in your beer, you might actually like my first versions better then you'd like Hop Head Red. The hops profile is very similar though...IMO.

Cheers!

Nick

Irrenarzt said:

Where's your blog at? I'd be interested in checking out your recipe you posted.

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Here are the posts I did on that one...

http://dankbrewingcompany.blogspot.com/2010/05/amarillo-red-ale-outdoor-brew-night.html

http://dankbrewingcompany.blogspot.com/2010/09/harvest-reaping-red-ale.html

and after I finally tasted a GF hop head red
http://dankbrewingcompany.blogspot.com/2010/11/green-flash-hop-head-red-ale.html

**If you brew a version of this, let me know how it turns out.

Cheers,

Nick

Thanks man, I appreciate it. This is in my queue but unfortunately I won't get any time to brew until late february as all my weekends are booked up through Valentine's day...

I really like this beer (the original). I haven't tried making the clone. I'm thinking of using this recipe as a starter tomorrow. But I think I want to add a little rye to the recipe. I want the rye flavoring, without it overpowering the other notes. Any suggestions on how much you'd add?

I think I'd probably stick to somewhere around 10-15% if you really want to taste it, but I've never used it. I know Denny's RyePA he uses something like 18% rye. For this recipe, just substitute some of the base malt for Rye. Cheers! Nick

Yo par383...did you brew this with Rye. Curious to hear how that turned out as I think it will add a really cool complexity. Let me know if and when you have an update. Cheers,
Nick

My plans of brewing last month got scrapped, so I haven't made it yet. I'm definitely brewing next weekend, though. I'm still going to try adding a little rye. I'll keep you posted.

nppeders said:

Yo par383...did you brew this with Rye. Curious to hear how that turned out as I think it will add a really cool complexity. Let me know if and when you have an update. Cheers,
Nick

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Finally tasted the finished product. It turned out great. I tasted it next to the Green Flash Hop Head Red and Founders Red Rye PA. It turned out a little closer to the Founders than the green flash (as expected), though, not as hoppy - probably because I couldn't find the Amarillo hops. I substituted with Cascade. I also had a 3 lb can of Breiss Light Malt Syrup just lying around, so I added that to boost the alcohol. All in all, it's very good pale ale.

As you recommended, I substituted rye for some of the base malts. Here's the recipe I used.

Grain
6.5 lbs American Two-Row Pale
3.0 lbs Munich Malt
1.25 lbs Flaked Rye
1.0 lbs Flaked Oats
.25 lbs Crystal 120 L
.25 lbs Crystal 80 L
.25 lbs Crystal 40 L
1 oz Chocolate Malt

Hops:
1 oz Chinook
5 oz Cascade (3 oz - dry hop for 1 week)

Primary - 2 weeks, Secondary - 1 week, Bottled - 2 weeks

ABV = ~9%

Sounds like a tasty beer. I need to try that Founders Red Rye. I think if you want it to be closer to Hop Head Red it definitely needs the Amarillo hops, and probably 1/2 lb of Special B or so.

i live and brew in san diego where this hop head read was born. i f'ing love the fact that some of the best beers come from my home town! i live walking distance from pizza port/port brewing and got stone brewing 10 minutes away(without traffic)
i gotta say i have tried to brew this "hop head red" a couple times and ive gotten close in my opinion. my first try was to sweet, 2nd time wasnt enough carbonation.. its tough to duplicate these kind of "specialty" styles of west coast brews.. trial and error my friends. just keep playing and tweaking untill you like what you got in your bottle! prost!!

Yo. Dagobrewer...what is the recipe you used? I'm hoping to brew this again soon as it's usually a fall seasonal for me. I was just in san diego visiting my brother and drank a bunch of hop head red and reinforced the fact that I really love this beer.

I gotta say thoug...Green Flash IPA is fantastic, and Pizza Port Mongo is ridonculous! You are lucky to be in San Diego. At least I have Surly and New Glarus! I had a great time visiting The Lost Abbey as well.

More importantly...what recipe did you do when you thought it was the closest to the real deal?

Bump. Who brewed and how did it turn out?

T

I've made this a few times. It's my favorite recipe. I like to add a little rye to my recipe, but I've also made it without and it turned out well (see my post on page 3 for the recipe I used). Amarillo hops are hard to find around here, so I used Cascade once. It turned out good, but I'd make sure I find Amarillo if I can. It's a huge difference. I buy it by the pound and freeze it.

par383 said:

I've made this a few times. It's my favorite recipe. I like to add a little rye to my recipe, but I've also made it without and it turned out well (see my post on page 3 for the recipe I used). Amarillo hops are hard to find around here, so I used Cascade once. It turned out good, but I'd make sure I find Amarillo if I can. It's a huge difference. I buy it by the pound and freeze it.

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How does it compare to hop head red? I have a lb of 2011 Amarillo so I'm looking for a good version of this recipe.

Hopville . "Green Flash: Hop Head Red Ale Clone" American Amber Ale Recipe

This recipe will get you very close! I'm about to brew this again! Cheers! Brew it and let us know what you think.

Cheers!
Nick

for those curious on this brew. I took a photo of the brewers info page at GF. It said they use Dehusked Carafe and dark malt (120 as u have guessed)

bittering hop = nugget
flavor hop = nugget /amarillo
aroma = amarillo

intersting...maybe replace the chocolate malt with the Carafa. Any other insights fromt he brewers info page...mash temp? other malts? base malt?

Holy ****, Yoop! I live in Iowa, and we just got this in. It was a couple years ago, but the beer I brewed from your recipe was sooo close. This is the new version, so it is a little bit more bitter, but other than that it is dead on. You are a hell of a cloner! Oh, it is awesome, too. If you don't get it in the UP message me and I'd love to send you a 4 pack.

I degassed a sample and took a gravity reading. FG: 1.020

Brewing an Red IPA based off this, over the weekend. Thanks for bumping this thread! Weighed out the hops today, man do I love the smell of Amarillo!