Need Suggestions on Chainbreaker White IPA clone (It's some crazy Wheat Pils IPA)

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guinness_time

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Alright, so if you are in the Northwest and haven't tried Deschutes new "Chainbreaker White IPA" you need to. Those not able to enjoy Deschutes brews I'm sorry, not sure they are anywhere else, first time I found them was when I moved to the Northwest. So here is my dilemma. I saw this beer on a routine trip to the super market today, I saw WHITE IPA on the 12 pack and got curious. So I picked some up and let me just say, WOW. I'm a self-proclaimed IPA fanatic so when I saw "white" IPA made with wheat I was a bit skeptical. Anyway it is amazing. I don't know what it is about this beer but it could be my new favorite commercial. I've always been a fan of Deschute's beer, this just solidifies my opinion on their brews. So needless to say after having two of these amazing nectars I thought I would love to try to make something very close to this. So I googled it and went to Deschute's site and pulled up the Homebrew recipe on it. Of course you have to figure out the amounts, temps, and times for the recipe but they give you everything that is in it. The problem I'm having is I'm no good at picking hops out of a beer, I just know what I like when I brew mine. Also I've never brewed wheat anything so I don't know much about it. But anyway this is what I've come up with so far and I need some suggestions for anyone that has used these malts that I'm planning on brewing very soon and also the Coriander and Sweet Orange Peel as I've never used those either. The recipe I came up with is as follows:

8# Pilsner 2 Row (UK) (The beer is almost white so I'll go with this because it is something like 1.0SRM, Deschutes just says Pilsner Malt)
2.5# White Wheat Malt (Deschutes says Pale Wheat Malt so I hope this is right)
1# Flaked Wheat (Deschutes says Unmalted Wheat so I hope this is right)

Mashing at 154 for 75min then fly sparging with 170 degree to hit my pre-boil volume. Looking at an estimated OG of 1.056 which is what Deschutes says

For my hops I'm going with this to hit the IBU's on the website (55IBU):

.25oz Centennial First Wort Hop (I do this with all my IPA's that is why it is there)
.5oz Bravo at 60 min
.25oz Centennial at 60 min

.25oz Centennial at 30 min
.25oz Cascade at 30 min

.25oz Centennial at 5 min
.25oz Cascade at 5 min
1oz Coriander at 5 min (only doing it at this time and amount because that is what beersmith defaults too, will keep searching for how to use this)
1oz Sweet Orange Peel at 5 min (only doing it at this time and amount because that is what beersmith defaults too, will keep searching for how to use this)

The grapefruit from the Cascade isn't too pronounced in the beer but it is there that's why I'm not using too much of it in the boil. I'm planning on dry hopping with .5 oz of the Bravo I have left and another .5 oz of the Cascade.

The recipe calls for a Belgian Ale yeast so I'll pitch Wyeast 1214

I'll ferment in Primary for a week or more then do a week or two in the secondary for the dry hopping.

So that is what I've got, please bring me your suggestions if you have experience with Wheats, Orange Peels, Corriander, Belgian Ale Yeast, or any other thoughts or suggestions you may have. Thanks in advance. :ban:
 
beeboy said:
this could be my lawnmower beer this summer. I'd love a viable clone.

Well I'm getting ready to run with what I got so I'll update when available. Let me know if you find anything. Thanks.
 
you might wanna bump up the 5 min hop additions and more dry hops if you really want it to be IPAish and I think a slightly lower mash temp might give a nice dryness that I think would be desirable in this beer.
 
Noted about the hops and mash temp. You're right I'll probably drop the temp to about 150 for a more crisp beer. As for the hops that is what I came up with to keep the IBUs right about what they are suppose to be at. I'll probably dump some more into the dry hop though so good call on that. Thanks for the input. Should be brewing this in about a week when I get my Bravo hops in. Thanks again. :mug:
 
Brewed this saturday night.
Heres what I went with.


8 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Bel
2 lbs 8.0 oz White Wheat Malt
1 lbs Wheat, Flaked
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - First Wort
0.50 oz Bravo [15.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 30.0
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min
1.00 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 mins)
1.00 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 mins)
1.0 pkg Belgian Ale Yeast (WLP 550)

I'll keep you posted.
 
I brewed mine as well on Friday. I went a bit different than what I had earlier. It looked something like this.

8# Pils 2 Row
2.5# White Wheat
1# Flaked Wheat

.25 oz Centennial First Wort
.5 oz Bravo @ 60min
.25 oz Centennial @ 60min
.25 oz each Centennial and Cascade @ 15, 10, and 5 min.
.5 oz each Sweet Orange Peel and Corriander (freshly crushed) @ 5 min
.75 oz Cent and .25 oz Cascade at Flame out (did this because I decided I was not going to dry hop this one and didn't have anything else to do with the hops)

I also pitched Pacman just because I had some and was feeling rather cheep at the HBS and didn't want to spend the extra $7 on yeast.

Keep me updated on how your's turned out and I'll do the same. Should be interesting. Oh I mashed right at 150 degrees for 75 min as well. We'll see how it turns out. I'll post when available. :ban:
 
I hit 150 also but only did a 60 minute mash.
Hit my target of 1.056 on the nose.

Ya I went a bit over :drunk: 1.061. I think I should have used the top up water in the pot before I boiled, I was just a bit short of my preboil for some reason and didn't think it would throw it off that bad. This should be interesting.
 
So update on this, not sure if it's because I used Pacman or what but this thing is done fermenting today (5 days). I noticed yesterday I didn't have any activity in the airlock so took a gravity reading of 1.010 today. Gave it a taste and wow it is bitter. I'm really hoping that will subside after another week or so in the primary. I'm not even going to rack to secondary, just keep it in the bucket, cold crash, and then keg. I can't even really taste anything past how bitter this thing is. You can really taste the Cascade in it. I'm not a big fan of that hop and I fear I may have used too much in this one. My IBUs are only at like 60 or 61. But I also feel I may have made a mistake with the hops. In Deschutes "homebrew" recipe it states only Bravo, Cascade, and Centennial. However when you read the description of the brew itself they have Citra listed, which I think would really contribute to a more citrus flavor like this beer has. I thought much of it came from the orange peel but now I'm wondering. So let me know how yours came out with the yeast you used and how long yours was fermenting before it stopped. Either way I'm going to drink it but I'm probably going to order some Citra for the next batch and use that as the primary flavor hop and keep the Centennial and Cascade for strictly aroma. God I hate messing with hops. Well good luck. I'll update after the keg. :mug: This is my focus until I get it right, looks like I'll be washing a bunch of Belgian Ale Yeast.
 
I'm going to be boarding the sour train to funky town this month and I've been eyeing making a white ipa. Figured maybe I'd throw them together. Any thoughts on doing this recipe with WLP670 american farmhouse?
 
thomismydad said:
I'm going to be boarding the sour train to funky town this month and I've been eyeing making a white ipa. Figured maybe I'd throw them together. Any thoughts on doing this recipe with WLP670 american farmhouse?

Not sure how the sourness would play with the citrus in this one. I've never used the yeast but did some reading. The chainbreaker is a pretty clean tasting beer in my opinion. My first stab at this will be in the keg this weekend so I'll see how it turned out with the PacMan i pitched. Let me know how yours turns out.
 
Ok so kegged this thing last night and tasted today finally. Let me start by saying holy f'n grapefruit. I **** you not when I say this thing tastes like straight grapefruit juice. I mean I'm going to drink it, it's by no means undrinkable, but I also like grapefruit juice. So with that said let me give you a quick description. The body is perfect, the mash @ 150 I will stick with. The color is a bit off, more yellow than actual Chainbreaker so for the next batch I'm going 50/50 on the wheat and pils. It's really dry which I don't mind and I actually think the Pacman worked well in this. The hops though, oh the f'n hops. I don't like Cascade and I went a bit overboard on it. I have some Citra I got my hands on and I'm using them for my 15 and 10 min additions then using the Cascade and Cent for the 5 and Flameout on the next batch. I think and hope that will give most of the flavor from the Citra and then aroma from the Cascade and Cent which I do enjoy even though I don't like the taste. I also think I will drop the Coriander down to .25oz just because I don't want it overpowering the citrus from the orange peel. I will also pitch 1214 like I should have the first time. I'm giving it another go tomorrow, got everything (gravity and IBU's) just like Deschutes says so hopefully this one will be a bit closer. Only thing I'm missing is flaked wheat because my HBS was out but I just substituted with another pound of regular wheat malt. It may mess with the head retention and mouth feel but not so much as to make it terrible. I'm not giving up on this so wish me luck. Oh also I will not be doing a FWH on this one, just going to go with 60, 15, 10, 5, and Flameout. Keeping my fingers crossed. Cheers bitches.
 
Did you dry hop?
Tasted mine the other day (still in primary) and it was pretty nice, good balance of spice and sweet from the orange, definitely not the overpowering grapefruit you are noticing.
 
ampsman said:
Did you dry hop?
Tasted mine the other day (still in primary) and it was pretty nice, good balance of spice and sweet from the orange, definitely not the overpowering grapefruit you are noticing.

No didn't dryhop. Guessing it was the PacMan bringing out the hops. It has mellowed out after a few days in the keg. I actually like it. Not Chainbreaker but still good. I'll see how the next batch comes out with the citra and 1214.
 
I was wondering if anyone else has any more feedback on this. I'm likely going to brew something like this soon.
 
I just drank this beer for the first time a few days ago and I too was very impressed. A few opinions about your recipe:

First, the hop flavor and bitterness is really well balanced with the esters/phenols/spices yet the hop nose is really forward and overwhelming. This would suggest that most of the hops need to go in at the beginning of the boil and just near the end. I would probably do 60 mins, 15 mins. and then load it up at 5 mins to get that forward hop nose. I would get rid of your 10 minute addition all together and be careful with the 15 min. addition. Too much hop flavor and bitterness will easily overwhelm those delicate esters/phenols.

As far as the yeast goes, it tastes like a hefeweizen yeast to me but if they are saying it's a Belgian strain I think I am going to try Wyeast's Belgian Wheat 3942. I've used it before and it's very similar to what I'm tasting in this beer. You'll never get the right flavor profile using Pacman, that's for sure.
 
I live in Austin Texas and the local stores carry this beer, its great! Can't wait to try recipe, thanks for posting!!
 
I've made a version of this some time ago. Basically the grain bill is the same as any belgian wit and same with orange peel and corriander (just make sure OG is above 1.060) and hop with centennial, cascade and flameout additions of citra and dry hop with citra. I used wlp001, not a belgian yeast. When I compared mine and the deschutes, they were very close. Try flameout addition with some lemongrass also.
 
Ya I've kinda given up on this one for a bit. Getting beers ready for comps, but ill give it a go again here in a few weeks.
 
Ampsman I'm interested in trying this one on my 20 gallon system how did yours turn out?
 
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