Ballast points sculpin IPA

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Wow! Brewed it 6 days ago, took a gravity today and drank the sample. Awesome beer! This will be my go to ipa from now on, assuming I can get the hops
 
I assume steeping grains are not required for this brew? I haven't yet done an extract brew that didn't include some type of steeping grains.
 
Also, if I figure out the O.G. of the extract version based on using DME, I come up with slightly less than 1.060. In order to get to the target ABV of 7.0%, that means the final gravity reading would need to be less than 1.010. Where am I going wrong here? Based on what people are saying, the O.G. should be around 1.065 and with a target abv of 7.0, that would mean the F.G. would fall somewhere between 1.012 and 1.016.
 
I did this clone as an all grain BIAB. Seemed to go well but I missed my targets: OG = 1.065 instead of 1.076. I pitched the recovered yeast from a fresh bottle of Sculpin IPA (I guess I lied when I said I would use WLP001 unless that is what this is, some say its WLP028).

The day after I brewed I tasted my first bottle of Red IPA that I did with recovered Stone IPA yeast and it was horrible. I suspected from the tastes on transfer to the secondary and to bottles. Strong taste of apple cider vinegar and rubber. Made me very nervous. I suspect the problem was the yeast I recovered. There were very few viable yeast from that bottle.

Well, this one is wonderful. 6 days after pitching I am down to 1.090, exactly the amount below my target FG that I was below my target OG. And the beer tastes great. Hoppy, dry, malty goodness (flat and warm but who's complaining).

So, I'll toss the Stone yeast and try that one again. The Sculpin yeast is a keeper.

My mind is blown. These guys use clean & easy to acquire yeast. Just buy a vial & starter it. Plus there's no guarantee you get the house strain (if any) from the bottle.
 
beerandloathinginaustin said:
My mind is blown. These guys use clean & easy to acquire yeast. Just buy a vial & starter it. Plus there's no guarantee you get the house strain (if any) from the bottle.

I have by now used this yeast to brew more than ten batches of beer. IPA, black IPA, RIS. I have also rescued yeast from Pranqster and a few others. I always grow big starters and all have gone very well except for the old bottle of Stone IPA which I tossed. Most bottle conditioned beers are conditioned with the brewing yeast. One should used fresh bottles for recovery. I always colony purify and confirm there is no contamination. I then stock the yeast using proper methods.

So, I ask, why is your mind blown?
 
I guess I just associate dreg harvesting in my own brewing with getting things I can't get from liquid yeast. Jolly Pumpkin's wildness, strains of Brett, new saison yeasts etc. Seems easier to grab a $7 vial of Cali 001 when that's what I need.
 
Well, I can grab one of a dozen or so stocked 50 ml vials of concentrated yeast and do an overnight starter for free any time I want. Just like my own White labs. Admittedly, not everyone has the resources to do this. I should also say, I am not sure that Sculpin yeast is WLP001. Do we know for sure? I'm sure its not critical but may affect outcome. Just made one of my favorite IPAs using it. In fact, I called it Brewitt's Favorite IPA. :mug:
 
The recipe they give out in the store recommends WLP001 IIRC but I didn't take that to mean that is what they use in the store. White Labs stocks proprietary yeast for some breweries, Stone for example. Nevertheless, I'm sure it is certainly very close to the same thing.
 
I haven't put the time into putting a clone recipe together for this, but I can tell you everyone's gravitates are waayyyyyyyy off. It's a 1.063/1.008 beer.

Sculpin is extremly dry. I'd say that hitting a terminal gravity of 1.010 or lower is your number one priority with the grain bill. I'm assuming they mash very low, and add carapils to give the beer body. WLP001 seems fitting due to the desired attenuation.

The hop bill for any other brewery sounds ridiculous, but keep in mind that ballast point grew out of a homebrew shop, so they need a full selection of hops in stock for their home brew customers. Personally, I'd see no problem with simplifying the bittering addition. Maybe .75oz Warrior and .5oz CTZ.

The rest looks about right. People overestimate the necessity of of flameout hops in this beer. It has a massive dry hop character, so I'd guess it looks pretty close.

Again, adjust the target OG and FG, and the recipe looks pretty dead on
 
My clone gives 1.065 OG and 1.007 FG and I think it hits pretty close to the mark. Typically I get 80-84% attenuation with yeast recovered from the bottle. It's my go to yeast and is like or the same as 001.
 
Sounds like you're right on the money then.

I saw 1.014 as a FG posted earlier in thread (last year), and just wanted to point out that's 6 points higher than it should be.
 
i said i had the recipe last night when i woke up this morning my inbox was filled soo here u go I got this recipe from the ballast point its a extract recipe i have yet to make it but used parts that i liked from it to create something new this ale is a more citrus like Ipa but with a kick let me know how it comes out CHeers:mug:

EXTRACT:
6 lbs Dried light malt extract (DME)
1 lbs corn sugar

HOPS
60 minutes
.50 oz warrior
.50 oz Magnum
.25 oz northern brewer
.25 oz columbus

30 minutes
.50 oz crystal
.25 oz centennial
.25 oz Simcoe

0 minutes
1.0 oz Amarillo

DRY HOP
2.0 oz of Amarillo
2.0 oz of Simcoe

YEAST
White labs california Ale yeast wlp001

I'm thinking about giving this a go in a week or so. I recently tried Sculpin for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I think I'm in love. We have a new store in town with 60 beers on tap for growler fills and I keep buying the Sculpin. I just can't get away from it.

My concern is that I'm not set up for a full boil yet. My current kettle is only 3.5 G so I can get away with a 3 G boil if I pay attention. With the decrease in IBUs by using top-off water, am I wasting time trying this before I can do a full boil? Or should I just make a 2.5 G batch? Even with a 2.5 G batch I imagine I'll have to top off a little due to boil off.

Thoughts? Thanks!
 
the beeradvocate recipe IPAAAA posted, which people seem pretty happy with, is giving me over 100 IBUs (Rager: 114! Daniels and Tinseth are just under 100)

Ballast Point website lists Sculpin' at 70 IBUs.

what's the deal?

When I've had the commercial beer, it's been plenty bitter, super dry, and has a lot of hop flavor. Would love to replicate it given the cost here on the East Coast. But should I be adjusting the hopping to get closer to 70 IBUs?
 
what's the deal?

When I've had the commercial beer, it's been plenty bitter, super dry, and has a lot of hop flavor. Would love to replicate it given the cost here on the East Coast. But should I be adjusting the hopping to get closer to 70 IBUs?

No, that's correct. IBU formulas don't work for West Coast IPAs. Pliny calculates at like 240IBU (Rager), where in reality it's around 90.

So just ignore what the formula says, and carry on.
 
I know this is an old conversation, but I wanted to post the following Hop information. This was provided to me by Ballast Point on Monday. No, they did not provide a hop schedule, just the list.

Mash hops: Simcoe
Boil: CTZ, Chinook, Cascade, Northern Brewer, Centennial, Galena, Amarillo
Dry Hop: Amarillo & Simcoe
 
i said i had the recipe last night when i woke up this morning my inbox was filled soo here u go I got this recipe from the ballast point its a extract recipe i have yet to make it but used parts that i liked from it to create something new this ale is a more citrus like Ipa but with a kick let me know how it comes out CHeers:mug:

EXTRACT:
6 lbs Dried light malt extract (DME)
1 lbs corn sugar

HOPS
60 minutes
.50 oz warrior
.50 oz Magnum
.25 oz northern brewer
.25 oz columbus

30 minutes
.50 oz crystal
.25 oz centennial
.25 oz Simcoe

0 minutes
1.0 oz Amarillo

DRY HOP
2.0 oz of Amarillo
2.0 oz of Simcoe

YEAST
White labs california Ale yeast wlp001


Does anyone have a recommendation for the dry hop? Spread it out, or all 4 ounces at once? Duration? Any thoughts will be appreciated. :tank:
 
Does anyone have a recommendation for the dry hop? Spread it out, or all 4 ounces at once? Duration? Any thoughts will be appreciated. :tank:

I would spread it out. You'll get the same dry hop character, just more of it. I like 4-7days per addition, but do whatever you've had success with in the past.

It'll taste like sculpin either way.
 
I would spread it out. You'll get the same dry hop character, just more of it. I like 4-7days per addition, but do whatever you've had success with in the past.

It'll taste like sculpin either way.

I racked to the secondary on top of all 4 ounces right away. Then rouse them every few days for a week. I keg it once everything has settled, usually on about day 8 or 9. I have made this recipe 5-6 times both all grain and extract and it turns out outstanding each time, just like the real thing. I put the all grain version up next to the real thing awhile back, closed my eyes and had the wife give me a smell/taste of each and I honestly couldn't tell which was the real thing, the recipe is that good! Cheers!
 
I have brewed a similar recipe with good results. I like to dry hop between 5 and 7 days for maximum aroma. Longer seems to have no advantage, shorter seems to give less punch.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll probably split it in two, half for 7-8 days and the other half added for 4-5 days.
 
A couple weeks ago I tasted a Grapefruit Sculpin at the Ballast Point tasting room in San Diego. I honestly thought it was one of the best IPAs I have had. The grapefruit zest dramatically enhanced and reinforced the citrus notes of the dry hop. Although not made with the Sculpin recipe, I am going to dry hop my current IPA with Cascade, Simcoe, Centennial and Grapefruit Zest! The amount will be an experiment but I am really looking forward to it. Grapefruit is off my own tree.
 
Do you need to do anything to the grapefruit to avoid contamination? Could you do this in primary, or does it need to be done in secondary?
 
Do you need to do anything to the grapefruit to avoid contamination? Could you do this in primary, or does it need to be done in secondary?

Well, I just took two grapefruits, washed them, dipped them briefly in iodophors, and then zested them both. I put the zest in the hop bag with my dry hops and dropped it into my wort. Hope its enough. I'll report back when I'm drinking it.
 
I added the zest from two large grapefruits. I will taste it in a couple days and see if I want to add more. I didn't really have any idea how much to use.
 
Sweet, grapefruit zest! Let us know how it turns out!

I've been experimenting with fruit / herbal teas at flameout for some added "uummpphh" on aroma and it works. The fresh zest sounds fun!

Cheers,
~Adam
 
well its been in the primary for 5 weeks with last 2 weeks with dryhops. kegged this 2 days ago and put on gas last night. gonna tap it this weekend, this beer smells really good i can't wait!!!! and ive got 10 gallons of it :)

the brew day went awsome, hit all the numbers perfect and it feremented down to 1.012 which is 7.3-7.5% abv!!

has anyone else brewed this? results?

What was your Mash profile and did you sparge? Also how long do yo recommend I leave in primary and dry hop for secondary if I am going to bottle? And how long left in bottle for fermentation?

Thanks
 
I bottled the grapefruit IPA after 10 days of dry hop (and dry zest), a few days longer than I had intended. The aroma was still of nice sweet zest, like it was after 5 days but perhaps a little milder. The taste is a grapefruit sweetness and noticeably bitter both from bittering hops and zest. The grapefruit bitterness is sharper than the typical bittering hop. I think the two grapefruits worth of zest was a good call, although a bit more sweetness would be nice. Perhaps decreasing the bittering hop and increasing the zest would strike a nice balance but I am not sure.
 
I have all the ingredients for Sculpin. I will be brewing in the next month. This is one of my favorite beers!
 
I brewed the sculpin using Beantown's recipe. This was my first ever homebrew. Turned out awesome. My brother now wants to brew it. I told him, lets brew 2 batches at the same time and I ill add some grapefruit to mine. I am also going to run the flame out hops through my hoprocket. My question is, would it be a good idea to add the grapefruit zest or rind to the small chamber that comes with the hoprocket or just use the zest in secondary? Thanks.
 
Brewing the grapefruit version this week. Unfortunately don't have any Amarillo. Gonna substitute Cascade. Also going to use my Hop Rocket instead of putting hops in at flame out along with the zest of one grapefruit. I will put the second grapefruits zest in the secondary.
 
I haven't put the time into putting a clone recipe together for this, but I can tell you everyone's gravitates are waayyyyyyyy off. It's a 1.063/1.008 beer.

Sculpin is extremly dry. I'd say that hitting a terminal gravity of 1.010 or lower is your number one priority with the grain bill. I'm assuming they mash very low, and add carapils to give the beer body. WLP001 seems fitting due to the desired attenuation.

scottland is right, I took a gravity reading of some Sculpin and it was 1.00875 so you'll want to start at 1.062 and shoot for 85.2% ADF for 7% ABV. I asked someone from home brew mart about the 20% caramel malt in the recipe and he said they are using ~15% now.
 
+1 on the post above, I did this beer using the 1.062 OG and a very low mash temperature. I mixed Mosaic hop into the mix, but kept the amount and timing the same for the 60/30/0 hop additions.

I was told not to worry too much about the specialty grains, just make it light enough to let the hops shine. I came up with the following, but if you don't have Mosaic, just adjust the beer until you get 51 IBU for 60 minute, 15 for 30 minute and go big on the knockout and dry hop. :)

6.0 Gal Batch
7.0 Gal PreBoil
72% Mash Effy
OG 1.062
FG 1.009
IBU 77

12 lb American 2-Row
1 lb Carapils
1 lb Crystal 10L
0.25 CaraMunich
Mash 148-149F

1.0 oz Amarillo - Mash Hop (9 IBU)
1.5 oz Mosaic - 60 min (51 IBU)
0.6 oz Mosaic - 30 min (15 IBU)
1.4 oz Mosaic - 0 min / Whirlpool
1.0 oz Amarillo Dry Hop
1.0 oz Simcoe Dry Hop
(Optional: I added 2.0 oz Mosaic Dry Hop)

Wyeast 1056

Awesome beer.

~Adam
 
Hello forum, first post.

Did a 5 gallon batch with the original, extract only recipe last night. I'm very new to all this. I have previously done an IPA kit my girl got me for Valentines day, but that was my first brewing experience. This site is a great resource and I think I've found most the answers to my noob questions. Sculpin, Green Flash Palate Wrecker, and SN Hoptimum are kinda my big three favorite beers, I figured this recipe will probably be a good place to start.

I'm in the Vegas area and a local shop, U Bottle It, was very helpful and had the full range of hop varieties. Planning to dry hop around 7-10 days in to fermentation.
 
Hello forum, first post.

Did a 5 gallon batch with the original, extract only recipe last night. I'm very new to all this. I have previously done an IPA kit my girl got me for Valentines day, but that was my first brewing experience. This site is a great resource and I think I've found most the answers to my noob questions. Sculpin, Green Flash Palate Wrecker, and SN Hoptimum are kinda my big three favorite beers, I figured this recipe will probably be a good place to start.

I'm in the Vegas area and a local shop, U Bottle It, was very helpful and had the full range of hop varieties. Planning to dry hop around 7-10 days in to fermentation.

The extract version is absolutely delicious, you will love it. I would recommend only dry-hopping for 7 days, max. If you leave it any longer, you can really pull some grassy flavors which detract from the beer. Make sure to quietly stir the beer in the secondary on day 2 and 4 of the 7 day dry hop to get the hops touching all the beer. I have really noticed a big improvement in the strength of the aroma of my beers by doing this. After the hops settle (day 6), I usually cold crash for a day to get most of the hops to settle to the bottom, then keg (usually force carb because I am too impatient to wait because it's so damn good!)
 
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