Wanted Threefloyds Gumballhead clone

Gumballhead 5 gallon AG clone (modified recipe from Beersmith)

6lbs 9oz Red Wheat
1lb Torrified Wheat
1lb 8oz Caravienne
5lbs 8oz Pale (2row)

.4oz Amarillo (FWH)
.25oz Amarillo 60min boil
.5oz Amarillo 15min boil
1.25oz Amarillo 5min boil
1oz Amarillo 1min boil

Wyeast 1968 (one pack, no starter)

1.7oz Amarillo Dry Hop 10 days in secondary
Fermented between 65-68F for about three weeks.
Bottle carbed with about 4oz of corn sugar for batch

I changed the amounts of the hop additions, the yeast to 1968 and added the torrified wheat. The BeerSmith recipe I found did not say how many days to dry hop, so I guessed.

I bottled 5 gallons of this and have like 12 left. Time to rebrew...

I won't say that recipe is a clone, but if you like the original I believe you will like the version I posted.

Giving this a whirl tomorrow.
Read on another thread that gumball head for not have any caravienne and I was out of it, so here is what I am going with for 10g
12 wheat
10 2 row
1 c30
1 aromatic
1 oz Amarillo - First Wort
0.5 oz Amarillo - Boil 60.0 min
1 oz Amarillo - Boil 15.0 min
2.5 oz Amarillo - Boil 5.0 min
2.00 oz Amarillo - Boil 1.0 min
1 pkg 1968 for 5 g
1 pkg S04 for the other 5 g
3 oz Amarillo - Dry Hop - 7 days

milldoggy said:

Giving this a whirl tomorrow.
Read on another thread that gumball head for not have any caravienne and I was out of it, so here is what I am going with for 10g
12 wheat
10 2 row
1 c30
1 aromatic
1 oz Amarillo - First Wort
0.5 oz Amarillo - Boil 60.0 min
1 oz Amarillo - Boil 15.0 min
2.5 oz Amarillo - Boil 5.0 min
2.00 oz Amarillo - Boil 1.0 min
1 pkg 1968 for 5 g
1 pkg S04 for the other 5 g
3 oz Amarillo - Dry Hop - 7 days

Click to expand...

Looks good to me. Let us know how it turns out...

milldoggy said:

Giving this a whirl tomorrow.
Read on another thread that gumball head for not have any caravienne and I was out of it, so here is what I am going with for 10g
12 wheat
10 2 row
1 c30
1 aromatic
1 oz Amarillo - First Wort
0.5 oz Amarillo - Boil 60.0 min
1 oz Amarillo - Boil 15.0 min
2.5 oz Amarillo - Boil 5.0 min
2.00 oz Amarillo - Boil 1.0 min
1 pkg 1968 for 5 g
1 pkg S04 for the other 5 g
3 oz Amarillo - Dry Hop - 7 days

Click to expand...

Make sure you use red wheat, not white wheat. Three Floyd's puts carafoam in just about everything. I'm not too sure about the crystal or aromatic malts either, that seems out of character for this beer. When I brew my clone I use red wheat, 2 row, carafoam, 1968 and a buttload of amarillo and it usually turns out pretty close. Good luck, I'd love to hear how this goes

Yes, i am uaing red wheat, avangard to be exact. The other forum insisted on aromatic and not caravienne. A common sub for caravienne is c20, which I had c30 on hand. So I figured I do a little of each. Been a while since I had the real thing, but I will post my results

I just transferred mine into secondary and it was the strangest thing...when I popped the fermenter lid it smelled pretty bad. Of the 10-12 beers I've made thus far (I'm still relatively new), this one smelled the worst. Aromas of pine sap and danky armpit BO. Anyone have a similar experience with the aroma between primary and secondary? I tasted it, and it seemed okay, so I'm hoping the 1.5oz dry hops will fix the stank.

In my beers defense, it's still "green", and I'm sure it will evolve.

The other odd thing is that my FG seems to be lower than predicted (mine is reading 1.004. Any idea what I may have done for this to happen? I forgot to check the temp so it was probably way colder than 70 (came from cold cash in fridge). Also, I think I may have used white wheat by mistake. How greatly will that throw off the flavor from what it was intended to be?

I'll keep u all posted.

Chris

Here's a clone recipe for Threefloyd's Gumballhead as formulated by my LHBS. The people at Adventures In Homebrewing in Ann Arbor are the Yodas of homebrew!

Threefloyd's Gumballhead Clone Recipe:

Original gravity: 1.053
Pre-boil gravity: 1.049
Final gravity: 1.014

IBUs: 30

ABV: 5.1%

Grain Schedule:

6 Lbs American 2 Row
4 Lbs Wheat
1 Lb Aromatic

Mash Techniques:

Single Infusion: 152⁰F Until Conversion (Usually 60 Minutes)
Kettle Mash Tun: Mashout to 170⁰ then Sparge with 170⁰ Water
Cooler Mash Tun: Sparge with 190⁰ - 200⁰ Water

Hops Schedule:

0.5 ounce Amarillo @60 minutes.
1 ounce Amarillo @ 15 minutes.
0.5 ounce Amarillo @ 5 minutes.
1 ounce Amarillo @ end of boil
1 ounce Amarillo for dry hopping @ secondary fermenter.

Yeast: White Labs 001 California Ale (67⁰ - 70&#8304, Wyeast 1056 American Ale (60°-72°)

Michigan_Wolfman said:

Here's a clone recipe for Threefloyd's Gumballhead as formulated by my LHBS. The people at Adventures In Homebrewing in Ann Arbor are the Yodas of homebrew!

Threefloyd's Gumballhead Clone Recipe:

Original gravity: 1.053
Pre-boil gravity: 1.049
Final gravity: 1.014

IBUs: 30

ABV: 5.1%

Grain Schedule:

6 Lbs American 2 Row
4 Lbs Wheat
1 Lb Aromatic

Mash Techniques:

Single Infusion: 152⁰F Until Conversion (Usually 60 Minutes)
Kettle Mash Tun: Mashout to 170⁰ then Sparge with 170⁰ Water
Cooler Mash Tun: Sparge with 190⁰ - 200⁰ Water

Hops Schedule:

0.5 ounce Amarillo @60 minutes.
1 ounce Amarillo @ 15 minutes.
0.5 ounce Amarillo @ 5 minutes.
1 ounce Amarillo @ end of boil
1 ounce Amarillo for dry hopping @ secondary fermenter.

Yeast: White Labs 001 California Ale (67⁰ - 70&#8304, Wyeast 1056 American Ale (60°-72°)

Click to expand...

I think as those mash temps you wont have water left. Probably even melt your mlt.

Can't say I've tried it, since it's an all grain recipe, but those were the temperatures as posted on AIH's website. I agree, it does seem a little high.

1520 F. A little high? Water boils at 212f

milldoggy said:

1520 F. A little high? Water boils at 212f

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Yeah, color me confused.

I dont think the recipe posted is accurate. The one on the first page is what I agree with. I've made a gumballhead clone, which I slowly tweaked into my own hoppy wheat, but this is what I started with. I definitely know Three Floyds uses red wheat and caravienna. The hop schedule, just do what you want but be sure to hopburst it. Hopstand wouldnt hurt either

6 lbs. - Wheat Malt
5 lbs. - 2-Row Pale Malt
1 lb. - Caravienne Malt

Supposedly, they use an ENGLISH yeast. Not sure which one would be the closest though

Gofastr1 said:

Three Floyds reports Gumballhead as 35 IBU and 5.6%ABV. Have you guys with ~27 IBU recipes noted much difference in bitterness or aroma?

I'm going to brew 10 gallons in the next few weeks, and put half on mango in a secondary.... anyone else have experience fruiting up a gumballhead?

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I got busy and haven't yet brewed... so a bump on these questions.

Regarding fruit (mango, in particular) I have previously brewed an IPA, my adaptation of Bell's Two Hearted (IBU ~ 67), with mango that came out fantastic. I put about 2.75# of fresh frozen mango in the primary at day 9 when beer was basically finished (gravity of 1.013) and bucket temp of ~64F; this kicked off a slow fermentation and four days later, the mango was barely detectable. I subsequently crashed at about 49F, racked to secondary and added about 1.75# of more fresh frozen mango. After another three days, the mango flavor was perfect, so I racked to keg. A taste of the mango slices left in secondary proved all the flavor had been extracted.

So, a third question related to second above: Does anyone think the mango added at end of primary, in primary, added anything subtle that would be missed if I just upped the mango addition in secondary and skipped that added in primary? I'm thinking for the mango version of my Gumball Head clone I'll just to the secondary addition, and probably scale the quantity back to give the same #mango/IBU ratio as I did for the IPA.

milldoggy said:

Giving this a whirl tomorrow.
Read on another thread that gumball head for not have any caravienne and I was out of it, so here is what I am going with for 10g
12 wheat
10 2 row
1 c30
1 aromatic
1 oz Amarillo - First Wort
0.5 oz Amarillo - Boil 60.0 min
1 oz Amarillo - Boil 15.0 min
2.5 oz Amarillo - Boil 5.0 min
2.00 oz Amarillo - Boil 1.0 min
1 pkg 1968 for 5 g
1 pkg S04 for the other 5 g
3 oz Amarillo - Dry Hop - 7 days

Click to expand...

Drinking it now, wife said it is one of the best I ever did. Very good beer, nice balance. It has the sweetness I like in my hoppy pale ales. 1968 is better than s04. Just barely. Will brew this again

Here is my most recent attempt ( dry hopping now)

10Gal

OG 1.054
FG 1.012

IBU 38

12# 2 Row
8# Red Wheat
1# Caravienne

All Amarillo

1.75oz @ 60min
1.25 @ 15min
1.25 @ 5 min
2oz @ Flameout
5oz Dry Hop

1968 with appropriate starter

What are your thoughts about using Nottingham at around 68 degrees for a yeast on this beer?

Thank you in advance,

Swifty

Swifty said:

What are your thoughts about using Nottingham at around 68 degrees for a yeast on this beer?

Thank you in advance,

Swifty

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In my opinion Nottingham can throw some off putting flavors at higher temps. I prefer to keep it around 64F which keeps things pretty clean but still contributes a bit of English "twang".

Finally brewed my ~13g attempt at GBH:

Red Wheat - 50%
Rahr Two Row (because I had it) - 41.5%
Caravienne - 8.5%

Mash @ 152-153F

Amarillo (8.2% AA)
0.75oz @ first wort
0.75oz @ 60m
1.5oz @ 15m
3.85oz @ 5m
3.15oz @ 1m

OG = 1.055

Split into two fermentations of ~ 6g each:

Ferm A
1 smak pak of 1968 - London ESB
68-69F for 21d, then 72-74 for a planned 10d (this ferm slowed down a bunch; think my smack pak was ~ 4 mos old... so it's still going)
rack and dry hop w/2oz. Amarillo

Ferm B
1 smak pak 1332 - Northwest Ale
68-69F for 21d
rack and add 1 & 3/4# diced and previously frozen mangos, dry hop w/2oz. Mosaic at 40F for planned 7 days.

Both will be kegged and ready for an early October "Wheat and Greet" party a brew buddy is planning...

Brewing this one up today. Only have 4oz Amarillo on hand, so will have to play around with the hop schedule.

Trying it out with Marris Otter instead of the regular 2 row. Will be using 1968, the FFF house yeast.

ruascott said:

Brewing this one up today. Only have 4oz Amarillo on hand, so will have to play around with the hop schedule.

Trying it out with Marris Otter instead of the regular 2 row. Will be using 1968, the FFF house yeast.

Click to expand...

This has been crashed and into the keg. Not really sure how the MO will play with this, but wanted to try it out. Will be doing first samples tonight. I also dry hopped with Amarillo + Columbus.

ruascott said:

This has been crashed and into the keg. Not really sure how the MO will play with this, but wanted to try it out. Will be doing first samples tonight. I also dry hopped with Amarillo + Columbus.

Click to expand...

This has come out very tasty, and certainly would be really close to the real deal if I'd used a bit more Amarillo.

The MO gives it a very full body to this, in,a good way. That combined with the 1968 certainly gives it a bit of an English flavor profile.

ruascott said:

This has come out very tasty, and certainly would be really close to the real deal if I'd used a bit more Amarillo.

The MO gives it a very full body to this, in,a good way. That combined with the 1968 certainly gives it a bit of an English flavor profile.

Click to expand...

I drank this side by side with a real Gumball last night. The color was dead on. The taste was almost identical, with mine being just slightly fuller bodied/maltier which I attributed to the Maris O. Was actually a perfect winter version of this recipe. I also dry hopped with Columbus + Amarillo. And used magnum for bittering.

The keg is being drained very quickly.

If anyone wants to clone it perfectly do the

6 lbs. - Wheat Malt
5 lbs. - 2-Row Pale Malt
1 lb. - Caravienne Malt

WY1968

But try it with MO if you want something equally tasty with just a bit more fullness.

I want to brew some wheat beers for the Summer.
Might give this one a whirl.
Do you think WLP005 British Ale yeast would be OK for this?
I have a 25Kg sack of pale wheat so I want to use that up rather than buying some red wheat. Is there anything I could/should add to the grain bill to make up for the difference between red and pale wheat?

Thanks!

Just used jongrafto's recipe posted on the first page for my first BIAB and nailed the OG. Pretty excited to see how this turns out.

Summer is here, so time for 10G of GBH clone. I have 3lbs of Amarillo on deck ready to go

As stated, the recipe above is dead on. Go with WY1968 to get as close as possible, but I've made with US05 with good results.

I brewed this one today in my Grainfather. I used white wheat and WLP001. I also moved all the late edition hops to a whirlpool/hop stand for 30 minutes. OG is 1.054.

I think I will take a stab at this next week. I have some hard red light munich wheat I want to try to get involved, although I'm thinking it would be overkill at 50% of the grain bill. It's 9 degrees SRM. The malting company suggested keeping it in the 10-20% range, so I may do that and sub white wheat for the other 30-40% of the grain bill. Would make for a little darker beer, I'm thinking.

I've got bulk C10, C60 and C120, but no Caravienne. This recipe with caravienne comes out to 5.79 Lovibond. If I sub the 1LB of caravienne for .75LB C10 and .2LB C60 I get 5.74 Lovibond. Would this mixture of C10 and C60 be a good substitute for caravienne here?

ruascott said:

I drank this side by side with a real Gumball last night. The color was dead on. The taste was almost identical, with mine being just slightly fuller bodied/maltier which I attributed to the Maris O. Was actually a perfect winter version of this recipe. I also dry hopped with Columbus + Amarillo. And used magnum for bittering.

The keg is being drained very quickly.

If anyone wants to clone it perfectly do the

6 lbs. - Wheat Malt
5 lbs. - 2-Row Pale Malt
1 lb. - Caravienne Malt

WY1968

But try it with MO if you want something equally tasty with just a bit more fullness.

Click to expand...

What was your OG/FG with 1968? Three Floyds lists theirs as 5.6% ABV. Brewer's Friend predicts 69% attenuation, so I could hit 5.6% if I shoot for an OG of 1.060 and end up at 1.018. Something tells me the 1968 might attenuate down a bit further, however.

Took a stab at brewing a variation of this today. Was shooting for 1.053 but it dumped rain during my boil so I only hit 1.046. I went a little higher on the IBUs at 38 so hopefully it's still in balance.

Epos7 said:

Took a stab at brewing a variation of this today. Was shooting for 1.053 but it dumped rain during my boil so I only hit 1.046. I went a little higher on the IBUs at 38 so hopefully it's still in balance.

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I took a refractometer sample today, and it's down to 1.012. That gives me 73% attenuation. Ideally I'd like it a little drier as my OG was a little low, but that's not bad! I used Wyeast 1968. Sample smelled and tasted great.

It's only been a week since fermentation started, but I think I'll cold crash tonight. Krausen dropped a few days ago, and it's been sitting on dry hops for 3+ days at 68F for a diacetyl rest.

Bottled yesterday after a two day cold crash, 11 days after brewing and 10 days since fermentation started. Smelled and tasted awesome! A hydrometer sample shows it finished at 1.011, so it's about 4.7%.

Has anyone fruited this yet? Granted i know it wouldnt be a clone, but I'm thinking of doing this with citra/mosaic for a nice hoppy wheat beer for the fall. Then fruiting half of the 10g batch

Anyone try this bottled with a fast turn around? We are having a largish party and I like to brew for the parties we throw, but I think the turn around may be tight.I have a little over 5 weeks until this will be served. If I do a large pitch and bottle fast could this be ready to serve that soon or will I be serving up sub optimal brew because I'm trying to rush it?

I'm thinking 1 week primary followed by 4 days dry hop followed by 3 weeks in bottle and then 2 to 3 days to chill down. Its tight but...possible??

I plan to dry-hop w/ the amarillo hops for 5-7 days in a muslin bag in the primary, after fermentation has completed. I'm using US-05 for yeast.

Can anyone suggest to me if I should cold-crash prior to dry-hopping?

I've read on other threads on this site that having lots of floating yeast in the beer during dry hopping can absorb some of the hop aromas, decreasing dry hop effectiveness (i.e. I should therefore cold crash prior to dry hop)...

On the other hand, I've also read that yeast is an important characteristic of american wheat beers, and if one wants to brew this to style, it should probably be kept largely in there (i.e. don't cold crash).


Recommendations for this particular recipe? Thanks....

Preparing to brew this next week, here is the recipe I plan to follow:

AG Gumball Head Wheat SG1.052 FG1.012 - 6 gallons
6lbs Red Wheat Malt
5lbs 2-Row Pale Malt
1lb Cara Ruby

Hop Scheduling 27 IBU
0.25oz Amarillo First Wort Hop
0.25oz Amarillo 60 min
0.50oz Amarillo 15 min
1.25oz Amarillo 5 min
1.00oz Amarillo 1 min
1.50oz Amarillo Dry Hop (after primary finishes, dry hop for 7-10days)

Yeast WLP002 ENG Ale 2L starter

Mash at 153f 60 minutes (1.30qt H20/lb), batch sparge to volume
Pitch at 68f, fermentation 65f
Cold crash for a day, plan on bottling this one

FranklinBrewer said:

I plan to dry-hop w/ the amarillo hops for 5-7 days in a muslin bag in the primary, after fermentation has completed. I'm using US-05 for yeast.

Can anyone suggest to me if I should cold-crash prior to dry-hopping?

I've read on other threads on this site that having lots of floating yeast in the beer during dry hopping can absorb some of the hop aromas, decreasing dry hop effectiveness (i.e. I should therefore cold crash prior to dry hop)...

On the other hand, I've also read that yeast is an important characteristic of american wheat beers, and if one wants to brew this to style, it should probably be kept largely in there (i.e. don't cold crash).


Recommendations for this particular recipe? Thanks....

Click to expand...

I plan on cold crashing, Ive done it with my NEIPA clones and they come out flavorful as expected and close to the commercial brew. The proteins will bind the oils from the dry hops (simplified) but a cold crash doesnt seem to impact them, just large particles like hop and yeast clusters. Plenty of yeast will make it into the bottles for conditioning.

Here's the recipe I've been using and it comes out good, I have never had it side by side with Gumball head. I make my Daughter a batch for Christmas or her Birthday when we are going to up north at that time of year and she has never turned them down.


5 lbs Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 50.0 %
3 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 35.0 %
1 lbs Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 3 10.0 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.0 %

0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 14.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 7.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 2.9 IBUs

0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 9 -

• 1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs

1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days

Bottled this yesterday. OG was 1.053, FG 1.012, smell and taste samples point to success in cloning; cant detect any off flavors at this point but fwiw my tastebuds. That gumball taste is so strange, but it is good. Love the vibrant golden-orange color of this too, wish I had taken a better pic. Decided this would do well in bottles versus keg, so bottled it with pink caps. Pushed the limits of my 6.5 carboy with the 6 gallon batch, started with an orange cap + blow off tube, then switched to a bung + air lock.

triethylborane said:

Bottled this yesterday. OG was 1.053, FG 1.012, smell and taste samples point to success in cloning; cant detect any off flavors at this point but fwiw my tastebuds. That gumball taste is so strange, but it is good. Love the vibrant golden-orange color of this too, wish I had taken a better pic. Decided this would do well in bottles versus keg, so bottled it with pink caps. Pushed the limits of my 6.5 carboy with the 6 gallon batch, started with an orange cap + blow off tube, then switched to a bung + air lock.


View attachment 549420 View attachment 549421

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OOOOhhhh, very nice.
How come you got that one short bottle in the back right though?

Coincidentally, I bottled mine yesterday too. First beer i've ever made. I skipped the steeping grains since I didn't know what those were a few weeks ago, hahaha. Now I'm more educated. Hopefully it'll still be good.
I used US-05.
OG 1.052
FG 1.010

Not sure this tastes like a gumball. Also, i've never had 3F's gumballhead, so I am not sure if my tastebuds even have the capability to detect that particular type of delicious taste from within a beer.

I got 45 bottles out of my 5 gallon batch because of lots of trub. Looks like you beat me by 36oz.. Cheers!!!