Treehouse Brewing Julius Clone

Treehouse Brewing Co. is a tiny brewery out in MA, very similar the great Hill Farmstead in VT. See website: http://treehousebrew.com

They currently brew the #3 IPA in America, called Julius, according to Beer Advocate: http://beeradvocate.com/lists/style/116.

I absolutely love this beer, it's full of tropical fruit, mango, pineapple, and LOTS of citrus flavors. I've asked the brewers for some hints on the recipe, especially since they claim it's made with only American hops, but to no avail. They are pretty tight lipped on this recipe I guess.

Anyone have this beer and have any ideas of ingredients for a recipe? Not sure where to even start, I'm thinking maybe citra, centennial, summit for hops? I don't get any cat pee or onion/garlic though and the citrus tastes just like tangerine or orange.

Any thoughts? I'd like to get a clone recipe started.

Here is what I've found so far (per old website blog posts):

Specs:
American IPA
6.5-6.8% ABV
72.4 IBUs
5-7 SRM

Hops:
All Citra hops
Bittering charge but mainly hop bursted
8 oz total (1.6oz/gallon)

Grain:
Flaked Oats for creamy mouthfeel?

I still have to do some digging on the malts

Really hoping to get my hands on some of this this upcoming weekend so I can try to help.... I am very excited as it sounds amazing.

I'll be there too trying to sneak a peak at any grain sacks lying around

kaz4121 said:

Here is what I've found so far (per old website blog posts): Specs: American IPA 6.5-6.8% ABV 72.4 IBUs 5-7 SRM Hops: All Citra hops Bittering charge but mainly hop bursted 8 oz total (1.6oz/gallon) Grain: Flaked Oats for creamy mouthfeel? I still have to do some digging on the malts

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Have any links for the all citra info? The website says 3 American hops. Definitely agree with citra as this beer is like mango juice.

All I can add is I saw caramalt grain bags.

Found some posts, here is one

http://treehousebrew.com/blog/an-important-note-about-saturday-8-11

Yeah thats one of the posts I saw too along with a couple others.

I didn't see the caramalt but wouldn't doubt its use in Julius, something is added to give it that beautiful orange hue. I saw Rahr sacks laying around last month when I went, assuming that is their 2-row source at least.

any one help me make a clone of this! I want to brew a rendition bad!

Just drank my first bottle. Really good stuff. Fantastic nose. Low bitterness, bright orange color, somewhat sweet, and super hoppy. My guess would be something like this...

12# 2 row
1#C60
.5# carapils

1 oz Citra @ 20
1 oz Citra @ 10
2 oz Citra @ 5
2 oz Citra @ 0
3 oz Citra dry hops

Mash @ 153
OG 1.065
FG 1.013 (tested)
Abv 6.8 (from bottle)
Yeast - 001 / 1056

So I just tapped a keg I made the other night and I swear it smells exactly like Julius...it was dry hopped with Simcoe, Columbus, and Amarillo and then keg hopped it with more Simcoe and Amarillo. I think they use those two hops (Simcoe & Amarillo) but I also think the yeast may play a role in the flavor too. The yeast I used in the batch I just made was the Yeast Bay's VT ale strain (i.e. Conan) and that may be contributing to the tropical aromas too FWIW.

I'm pretty certain is all citra - at least according to their old posts on their blog

Some info from the newest issue of Craft Beer & Brewing magazine:

Julius is brewed with a proprietary blend of hops. Lanier says many fans try to get him to reveal his secrets, but he won’t even confirm whether they guess right. “I spend a lot of time drinking Julius, evaluating it,” says Lanier. “No one really knows the blend [of hops]. It’s a blend. People try to guess and a lot of people think it’s a single hops. It’s absolutely not a single hops.”

Good info.

Looks like the recipe has evolved over time. FWIW they originally called this beer "CITRA". If you poke around their blog and go back 2-3 years, you can read about the "all citra" IPA which became Julius.

I wonder if the blend happened early on or over time to compensate for the scarcity of citra hops?

Or maybe he is just throwing everyone off haha. Either way the beer is phenomenal.

I am working on a clone (tribute) to this great beer. Figure I'll need to adjust this a few times along the way. Sticking with all Citra Hops for now. Thinking that my SRM is a bit low at 6. Thinking about maybe increasing the amount of crystal and perhaps adding a small amount of flaked oats for mouth feel. Suggestions welcome. This is 3rd in line now as I'll be doing a Brown Dog Ale clone later this week followed by a more traditional West Coast DIPA so probably won't get to this one until November anyways.

TH Julius Clone

5.5 Gallon Batch
71 IBU
6.7% ABV
6 SRM

83% 2-row
8% Crystal 40
8% Carapils

Citra - .75oz @ 60
Citra - .5oz @ 50
Citra - .25oz @ 40
Citra - .25oz @ 30
Citra - .5oz @ 5
Citra - 3oz - Dry hop 14 Days
Citra - 3oz - Dry Hop 7 Days

US-05

quaboagbrewing said:

I am working on a clone (tribute) to this great beer. Figure I'll need to adjust this a few times along the way. Sticking with all Citra Hops for now. Thinking that my SRM is a bit low at 6. Thinking about maybe increasing the amount of crystal and perhaps adding a small amount of flaked oats for mouth feel. Suggestions welcome. This is 3rd in line now as I'll be doing a Brown Dog Ale clone later this week followed by a more traditional West Coast DIPA so probably won't get to this one until November anyways.

TH Julius Clone

5.5 Gallon Batch
71 IBU
6.7% ABV
6 SRM

83% 2-row
8% Crystal 40
8% Carapils

Citra - .75oz @ 60
Citra - .5oz @ 50
Citra - .25oz @ 40
Citra - .25oz @ 30
Citra - .5oz @ 5
Citra - 3oz - Dry hop 14 Days
Citra - 3oz - Dry Hop 7 Days

US-05

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Any update on how this clone turned out?

Off topic but .... Had some Fuzzy Baby Ducks last night from NEBCO. Reminded me a lot of Julius. Seek this on out!

mhochman said:

Any update on how this clone turned out?

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Still haven't gotten around to brewing this yet. Just placed a hop order yesterday and have a couple pounds of citra en-route so hopefully I be getting this going within the next couple weeks. I'll keep you posted. Guessing I'll be brewing a few times throughout the year adjusting the recipe as I go. I'd love to try and nail this.

FWIW, tested a de-carbonated sample of Edward this weekend. pH reading of 4.41

It's not all Citra and those guys are one trick ponies, any fool can brew a super hopped IPA. It's just massive late kettle additions !

kaz4121 said:

FWIW, tested a de-carbonated sample of Edward this weekend. pH reading of 4.41

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Realize I dumped this into the wrong thread.

It may not be all Citra, but it was at one point, and its pretty evident Citra is the leading hop.

BostonianBrewer said:

It's not all Citra and those guys are one trick ponies, any fool can brew a super hopped IPA. It's just massive late kettle additions !

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TH are anything BUT one trick ponies. Have you had Good Morning, Double Shot or TWSS. While Julius is their signature beer they are producing killer brews in many styles not just IPA.

Having had this again last night, I now believe they are using a blend of hops now...this last batch had a huge marijuana dankness to it, which I've never experienced with Citra alone.

Anyone have an idea of what yeast they use? Their beers are stupid hazy.

Not sure about the yeast but I can confirm the pH of Julius is 4.50, which I measured this past weekend. I will get an FG reading later this week.

Looks like 1.012-1.013 FG from my reading last week, which is not unexpected.

Hazy due to amount of hops and lack of filtration

To summarize:

Specifications:
OG: 1.064 (source: calculated)
FG: 1.012 (source: kaz4121)
ABV: 6.8% (source: Tree House)
pH: 4.50 (source: kaz4121)
IBU: 72.4 (2012 source: Tree House and Tree House)
SRM: 5-7 (speculated)

Ingredients:
Malts:
Caramalt (speculated)
Flaked Oats/Wheat (speculated)
Hops:
Formally all citra (source: Tree House and Tree House), but three American varieties now (source: Bear Flavored) potentially Columbus, Simcoe, Summit, Apollo (speculated)
1.6 oz/gal (3.1 lb/bbl) (source: Tree House)
3.5 lb/bbl (1.8 oz/gal) (source: Rate Beer)
Yeast:
Conan (speculated)

Technique:
High Mash 154-156F (speculated)
Hop Bursted/Whirpooled (speculated)

Julius has become noticeably more "dank" since I first tried it back in 2012. I would speculate there is likely Simcoe, Columbus, Summit, or Apollo in there.

As for yeast, I wouldn't be surprised if they've switched to Conan.

I'll update the first post with the info from post #27.

edit: Can a mod help me out with updating my 2013 post#1?

kaz4121 said:

To summarize:

Specifications:
OG: 1.064 (source: calculated)
FG: 1.012 (source: kaz4121)
ABV: 6.8% (source: Tree House)
pH: 4.50 (source: kaz4121)
IBU: 72.4 (2012 source: Tree House and Tree House)
SRM: 5-7 (speculated)

Ingredients:
Malts:
Caramalt (speculated)
Flaked Oats/Wheat (speculated)
Hops:
Formally all citra (source: Tree House and Tree House), but three American varieties now (source: Bear Flavored) potentially Columbus, Simcoe, Summit, Apollo (speculated)
1.6 oz/gal (3.1 lb/bbl) (source: Tree House)
3.5 lb/bbl (1.8 oz/gal) (source: Rate Beer)
Yeast:
Conan (speculated)

Technique:
High Mash 154-156F (speculated)
Hop Bursted/Whirpooled (speculated)

Click to expand...

Awesome! Thanks for compiling all this info!

I just brewed a Sap clone with Conan, caramalt and white wheat that came out really good and I was going to try a Julius clone with Conan and a similar grist in the near future. The Sap clone came out a beautiful hazy orange but I think I need to go darker for Julius.

robopp said:

Awesome! Thanks for compiling all this info!

I just brewed a Sap clone with Conan, caramalt and white wheat that came out really good and I was going to try a Julius clone with Conan and a similar grist in the near future. The Sap clone came out a beautiful hazy orange but I think I need to go darker for Julius.

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Julius has a darker hue than I remember as well, probably closer to 7-9 SRM nowadays.

zodiak3000 said:

Anyone have an idea of what yeast they use? Their beers are stupid hazy.

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There is talk of some of those northeastern hop-specialist breweries using WY1318, which leaves a pretty cloudy beer. I've got my first batch with it (Galaxy/Simcoe pale ale) fermenting now.

Oldsock said:

There is talk of some of those northeastern hop-specialist breweries using WY1318, which leaves a pretty cloudy beer. I've got my first batch with it (Galaxy/Simcoe pale ale) fermenting now.

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Looking forward to the review once it hits your blog.

I've used Conan twice now with aggressive dry hopping (1.5oz/gal) and still don't have haze anywhere near Hill Farmstead, Tree House, or Trillium.

Oldsock said:

There is talk of some of those northeastern hop-specialist breweries using WY1318, which leaves a pretty cloudy beer. I've got my first batch with it (Galaxy/Simcoe pale ale) fermenting now.

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I brewed a Hill Farmstead Edward clone using 1318 and the yeast was too prominent from what I remember. My palate should be pretty calibrated since I was just in Burlington,VT in Feb and Edward was everywhere, but I'm interested to hear what you think.

im brewing with 1318 next week. i tried a friends 10 gallon split batch of using both 1056 and 1318. the 1318 accentuated the hop flavor/aroma in the best way possible. very juicy beer, soft palate. hazy as hell. it reminded me of a HF beer. the ester profile enhanced the hops without making it too fruity or weird like other english strains. very excited to use this yeast. also, the 1056 was good, but much more of a west coast style IPA.

robopp said:

I brewed a Hill Farmstead Edward clone using 1318 and the yeast was too prominent from what I remember. My palate should be pretty calibrated since I was just in Burlington,VT in Feb and Edward was everywhere, but I'm interested to hear what you think.

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What temperature did you ferment at? I've kept mine in the mid-60s, now creeping up into the high-60s as fermentation slows.

Oldsock said:

What temperature did you ferment at? I've kept mine in the mid-60s, now creeping up into the high-60s as fermentation slows.

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Looking at my notes - 66F ambient for the first 3 days then ramped up to 68F, but I'm only brewing in 2.5g batches.

robopp said:

Looking at my notes - 66F ambient for the first 3 days then ramped up to 68F, but I'm only brewing in 2.5g batches.

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Mine started at 62 ambient, and I've moved it up from there. Your wort temperature was likely in the 70s at peak, that could certainly skew it fruitier.

Oldsock said:

Mine started at 62 ambient, and I've moved it up from there. Your wort temperature was likely in the 70s at peak, that could certainly skew it fruitier.

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I have one of those stick-on thermometers and it never budged above the set max temperature. Also, my temp controller's probe was affixed to the fermentation vessel with insulation to better control fermentation temperatures. With that said, I was writing off 1318 but maybe I should give it another go at a lower temperature.

I was there a few weeks ago and in addition to Julius, they brewed 2 batches of Eureka their American blonde. One with mosaic, the other with galaxy. Same mango/peach frutiness in both. The mosaic was more earthy, danky, sweet pine in the nose while the galaxy was all sparkly sweet citrus. Id be willing to say Julius may have one or both of these along with citra.

Egas1949 said:

I was there a few weeks ago and in addition to Julius, they brewed 2 batches of Eureka their American blonde. One with mosaic, the other with galaxy. Same mango/peach frutiness in both. The mosaic was more earthy, danky, sweet pine in the nose while the galaxy was all sparkly sweet citrus. Id be willing to say Julius may have one or both of these along with citra.

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You can rule out Galaxy since they claim Julius is 100% American Hops. I would say probably Mosaic or Simcoe for that dankness I detect in recent batches of Julius.