Cigar City Jai Alai Clone

I was in Orlando with the Family for vacation. I picked up a Sixer to enjoy in the hotel. Boy was it delicious. I am definitely brewing some of this since I don't think I can get it in the Cleveland area.

I am going to try this recipe as well in a week or two - and being near CCB I will do a side by side with fresh Jai Alai. Last 6er of Jai Alia I had last week was (2) weeks in the can.

My experience is that the draught version is significantly better that the cans, so if you like the cans, try hard to find a bar/restaurant with "the real thing".

hylander0 said:

I was in Orlando with the Family for vacation. I picked up a Sixer to enjoy in the hotel. Boy was it delicious. I am definitely brewing some of this since I don't think I can get it in the Cleveland area.

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hylander0 said:

I was in Orlando with the Family for vacation. I picked up a Sixer to enjoy in the hotel. Boy was it delicious. I am definitely brewing some of this since I don't think I can get it in the Cleveland area.

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I wish we had distro of CCB in Ohio

I brewed this last Friday. Used a decent size starter and it went crazy! Can't wait to get it in the keg.

didnt know if anyone had a more up to date clone recipe as i just stumbled across this one

the new stats to jai alai are

ABV: 7.5%
OG: 18
IBU: 70
SRM: 17

so it got a bit darker from what it was at the beginning of this thread

I just had my first try of this beer while I'm on vaca here in Venice, FLA and I will be brewing up this recipe when I get home!

I have friends that live in Tampa that brought me some up to Central PA to try. It's delicious, and I've found it locally in 6 packs and even on tap once! Sbartelski is correct, it's great on tap! Found out of can get it in a keg in Harrisburg too!

Spanish Cedar is an absolute must. It is the signature flavor and aroma you need to make a clone. I'm still trying to figure out how long to age it on it but I found a good source for spanish cedar chips and shavings. Obviously the spirals are the best, but I can't imagine a clone getting the twist it needs without the spanish cedar.

I know that's been held out as a variant, however, when we were there last year, during very a very pointed Q & A, there was no mention whatsoever of this sitting on any type of wood. Not saying they don't do it, just saying there was no mention of it.

beernbourbon said:

I know that's been held out as a variant, however, when we were there last year, during very a very pointed Q & A, there was no mention whatsoever of this sitting on any type of wood. Not saying they don't do it, just saying there was no mention of it.

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As far as I know the Spanish cedar is only added for the 'humidor series's releases of Jai Alai

I've had many Jai Alai's as they're one of my favorite beers, and I live in Tampa. My first few clones were good, but they lacked that flavor and aroma of a fresh jai alai. I found the cedar and the very first batch smelled and tasted nearly exact at bottling, and I hadn't changed anything to the recipe besides adding the cedar for a week in secondary. I know the humidor series for sure uses it, but I strongly believe the basic jai alai also utilizes the cedar. For me, it's just become a part of my clone recipe. Jai Alai has a very unique spicy flavor and aroma, and I've only achieved it by using spanish cedar.

Any thoughts on when to dry hop? The standard after fermentation or during fermentation NE IPA style?

Brewed this a few days ago and fermentation is just starting to die down. To me, Jai Alai seems to be a bit of a cross between a west coast and a NE style IPA.

myelo said:

Any thoughts on when to dry hop? The standard after fermentation or during fermentation NE IPA style?

Brewed this a few days ago and fermentation is just starting to die down. To me, Jai Alai seems to be a bit of a cross between a west coast and a NE style IPA.

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This is a more conventional dry hopping schedule, although I believe they do it at 50 degrees.

Is the 2019 Jai Alai different from the older ones. I measured 1.009 FG from the can. If anything my hydrometer may be reading high I thought.

It also has a 65 IBU and SRM of 17 down from 70 and up from 10 from 2013/14.
BTW OG of 18 for the 13/14 recipe ? Let me see what that means.

Thanks.
Srinath.

Jokester said:

Is the 2019 Jai Alai different from the older ones. I measured 1.009 FG from the can. If anything my hydrometer may be reading high I thought.

It also has a 65 IBU and SRM of 17 down from 70 and up from 10 from 2013/14.
BTW OG of 18 for the 13/14 recipe ? Let me see what that means.

Thanks.
Srinath.

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Having had it only a few months ago, the 17 SRM seems....high. Very high actually. That would push it well into amber territory, which it definitely was not.

17 brix would put it at 1.070 and 1.009 would put it at about 8% ABV which is a bit of a departure from the labeled/stated 7.5%. IBU level is "whatever", especially a difference of 5.

https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/beer/jai-alai-ipa/
https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Jai-Alai-UPC-Sales-Sheet-PRINT-1.pdf

They have said it as 17. And OG of 17 -I'll try running those numbers in the calculator.

Thanks.
Srinath.

I posted this on the other thread -
As near as I can tell the 2019 version of cigar city's Jai Alai seems to be -
OG of 1.061(calculated with Mr good beer's calculator), FG of 1.009 (that I measured) but could be higher than actual which may be 1.005 due to co2 deflate not being complete or temp I measure vs their mash temp etc, ABV of 7.5 (written on the can). That would get its carb count at 13.1, OG of 14.98 plato (and they said 15), and fatsecret says its 12gm carb in 12 oz - Mr Good beer with those numbers says its 13.1 (close enough - because nothing else even gets this close).

I will watch the video and calculate if I can.

The Jai Alai mystery needs to be solved huh. I suspect the Spanish cedar is adding to the tannins and likely oils that likely increase its FG as well. Like whiskey is higher gravity than Vodka's .91 or so.

Cool.
Srinath.

If its OG was 17 (listed on the can) that = OG of 1.070, to ferment to 7.5% abv, it will have a FG of 1.014 and that means 7.5% abv and 21.3 gm carbs in 12 oz.
I hyper ferment it to .994 and its 6gm carbs in 12 oz and 10% abv.
Cool.
Srinath.

Jokester, how are you getting it to finish that low? I've been Brut'ing all my beers and the best I've done is .998.

The starting point is Jai alai from a can - as in the master @ CCB himself made it. So I am starting with the monalisa. Then I "improve" it. LOL.
I add amg300 to it warmed in kitchen sink by putting cans in it and hot tap water, and turbo 24 yeast. Then wait till airlock stops bubbling 3-4 weeks. Its sitting in a house set at 72 F in a big 5 gal bottle with a small lid and plugged with #6 rubber plug and airlock. Essentially its air exposure is near 0, its not in a open top bucket. I guess that helps me with some contamination issues.
As far as I have calculated JA started out at 17 plato, 1.07 sg. So 1.014 and 21.3 gm carb and 7.5% abv is where it shows up as beer. Then .994 is 6 carbs in 12oz and 10.1% abv. On top of a yeast cake from a previous batch, it will likely hit that in a month. The 0 carb number is .986 and 11.2% abv. I wish I could get it there, but then again I freeze concentrate it further down to a higher abv, maybe it doesn't matter.

Cool.
Srinath.

I'm not sure what part the yeast plays in it as well, but I add turbo 24 yeast but not a whole lot, just 1 teaspoon or so, and the part amg plays as well, the yeast used in ale typically stops well short of fully dry, but I think its still more than 7.5% abv. I suspect they stop it at 7.5 in the interest of time, and to minimize the risk of it going bad or developing other problems. Also they may not want the "brut" taste so the flavor profile dictates the recipe as well.

But my Brut-ized jai alai is fantastic so much so that now I feel the freeze concentrating step isn't even a big improvement. In effect it leaves it hard to drink without a seltzer as a mixer.

Cool.
Srinath.

Jokester said:

https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/beer/jai-alai-ipa/
https://www.cigarcitybrewing.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Jai-Alai-UPC-Sales-Sheet-PRINT-1.pdf

They have said it as 17. And OG of 17 -I'll try running those numbers in the calculator.

Thanks.
Srinath.

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Look at the beer and then look at some SRM charts. My guess is somebody gave them color as EBC and they put it on web site as SRM. No way they would do that to the color of this beer.

eric19312 said:

Look at the beer and then look at some SRM charts. My guess is somebody gave them color as EBC and they put it on web site as SRM. No way they would do that to the color of this beer.

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100% this. It’s definitely in EBC. Approx 7-8 SRM which is true to what it looks like from a fresh can.

Just brewed a riff on this. Same malt bill but using a slightly different hop combo with Lalbrew New England yeast. Looking forward to the results.

Check out this recipe kit. The second link has the complete recipe for it.

https://www.homebrewing.org/Jai-Alai-IPA-Clone-All-Grain-Recipe_p_10534.html
https://www.homebrewing.org/assets/images/Recipe_Instructions_2019/22130.pdf