Stone IPA Clone Comparison - You pick the real one!

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2 week in primary and into the keg with 2oz of Centennial in tea balls. Finished @ 1.014 after starting at 1.063. Now the hard part - waiting...
 
OK - I know I am just responding to myself - but this beer is ridiculously fine 16 days after brewing. Hoppy but smooth from the FWH.

I love this hobby. FFS SWMBO took a sip and complimented the beer!
 
the real stone is probably the one on the right. ive had a lot of stone IPA and never seen a cloudy one. so yeah, the one on the right
 
I brewed this last night and cant wait to try one. Quick question: was the Pale - US 2 Row? I hope so....thats what I picked up at LHBS.
 
Ok I changed this a bit after brewing your version, which was awesome but I feel the need to tinker based in the day season whathaveyou SO, here goes... I brewed on good Friday so I call this the Roman Nailer IPA, basically a stone with some he-brew added in and a few hop substitutions to bump up the citrus notes... Here goes, let me know how yours fairs.

Roman Nailer IPA - 10 gal batch half it for 5 gal - all grain

22 lbs American 2-row pale malt
.75 lb 60L Crystal malt
.75 lb 40L Crystal malt
1 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine Malt

Hops: whole cone measurements here - half if you use pellet hops
2 oz Magnum 16.7% 90 min
2 oz Citra 14% 20 min
1 oz Centennial 6% 5 min

Yeast:
Wyeast 1098 activator pack - english ale yeast
Substitutions ( I've been told but haven't tried)
White Labs WLP007 (the James bond of yeast) WLP005, 001 work too I guess

Mash:
Infusion fly sparge
Stepped mash - 133 degrees added grain -> hold for 30 min -> raise to 153 and hold for 15 min -> raise to 168 and hold a couple mins then sparge with 174 degree water for 30 min
.........
This method was so efficient I was able to pull 13 gal of wort and I ran another 5gal through and made a batch with the tailings the next day I added 1 lb of date sugar and made a 4.7% ABV light pale ale

The Boil:
90 min - use hop schedule above
At the last ten min add 2 tabs (10 gal remember) of whirloc or irish moss and 1 tsp of yeast nutrient

I cold break with a wort plate chiller - just use your method - but break it quickly

Remember to aerate well... I just pour the ale pails from one to another 5-6 times from like 2-3 feet over the pail back and forth tills it's foamy

Ferment: this will surprise you
68 degrees in my kitchen in a dark corner
5 days done. I hit my target gravity
Transfer to secondary -> wait 2days
If there is no sediment or negligible -> keg
If it's still active give it another 3 days -> keg
I have had both happen usually in colder seasons - I assume I was low on my temp a bit

Kegging: I rarely bottle if I do tho I pull a
Gal and add 2.5 oz of priming sugar by weight and bottle 3 liters for put up and keg the rest for drinking

So I force carbonate:
I put it in the keg charge it up to 30psi and refrigerate to 40 ish - buy then it has taken on like 15lbs off the pressure -> then I set the pressure to about 27psi and rock it for 20 min -> then park it for 3 days

Longer it site the better it gets but it only ever lasts a week or so that's why I put three liters away for the co-lec-tion

Enjoy!
Chris
 
Definitely the one on the right is the real Stone...I'm drinking one right now...and not to be mean, but yours looks like a hefe. :ban::ban:
 
Mine is on the right. The left was a bad bottle of Stone.

You had almost 4 years to nail it - not being mean of course.;)
 
Just poured my 1st bottle of this and it's very good already. It's only been in the bottle for a week. Cant wait to try again in a few weeks. Great recipe.
 
Just brewed this up tonight. I added an oz of cascade at flameout to up the citrus aroma. Hope it turns out decent.

Thanks for the recipe Ed.
 
I realize that the recipe is posted several times within this thread. It would be great though if it could be added to the first post to stop the hunting game. Thanks
 
The multi post of the recipe is others chiming in this no my staple brew. I removed the rye and increased the 2 row to 23lbs that increased the abv to 6.8% from about 5.8-6% ...Monday I am going to add a cara 90 and a black patent malt 1/2 lb each to make it a Black IPA I'm brewing on MLK day so it will be called NWipA :) try it out and let me know. Happy brews
 
Just bottled this...verdict on sample, amazing! Hit 1.066 right on target but mashed around 154 so ended at 1.013- 7.3% abv. 1st time incorporating munich malt in a brew but it really ties the 2 row and crystal together. Can't wait til a few weeks roll by!
 
Does this have a really bitter or smooth finish? I tend to prefer a nice hoppy prelude with a smooth (not bitter) finish. If this is not -any suggestions ?
 
Brett3rThanU said:
To me it has a really clean bitterness with a smooth finish. This is my house IPA.
Click to expand...

Velvet smooth! The Warrior makes the bitterness super clean and present upon first sip, then it fades into flavor- the spicy/flowery taste of Centennial. Then the malt really comes through on the finish. It was my first time using munich in an IPA and it did wonders for the hop/malt balance.
 
I'm brewing this recipe this weekend! It will be the first time I brew an IPA and the first time I dry hop. My LHBS has real Centennial and not "Centennial Type" for the first time also. Should be a good one!
 
Ok, so i just kegged this and it is really good. However, it definitely does not have the hoppy power of the real Stone or even Ruination. Any suggestions or input? Anyone else feel the same? How can I get a little more hoppy punch but still maintain the integrity of all the flavors the beer should have per the recipe?
 
oasisbliss said:
Ok, so i just kegged this and it is really good. However, it definitely does not have the hoppy power of the real Stone or even Ruination. Any suggestions or input? Anyone else feel the same? How can I get a little more hoppy punch but still maintain the integrity of all the flavors the beer should have per the recipe?
Click to expand...

Consider checking your water profile- there may be something in there hindering your hop progress.
 
This beer rocks ! let it condition for at least 2-3 weeks you will be amazed......
I would like to add 1oz of citra as I really like the citrus hint. Any suggestion on when to add to the boil?

Also this is interesting I bottled 2 gallons and kegged 3 gallons....the bottled beer has just a little more body than the kegged beer and is a little darker, any input on this and why ??

ry%3D400


thank you...
 
Brewing this today with whole leaf Centennial harvested last month. Bittering with CTZ since I don't have Magnum on hand. Hoping for something close to the original Stone IPA.
 
bamcisman said:
Brewing this today with whole leaf Centennial harvested last month. Bittering with CTZ since I don't have Magnum on hand. Hoping for something close to the original Stone IPA.
Click to expand...

Which recipe you using? Stone has changed their original IPA so many times it's hardly recognizable. The latest iteration on the website lists:

Magnum
Chinook
Centennial
Azacca
Calypso
Motueka
Ella & Vic Secret

It's hard to believe they'd combine 8 different hops into one single brew. More than likely they just substitute similar hops depending on what's commercially available at any given time, that still produces a good beer. Any combination of more than four different hops in a single beer ends up showcasing none and muddling them all, at least IMHO. I went through my archived recipes and found two different iterations from 2012 that I think are more representative of the original Stone IPA, very much like @EdWort's OP on this thread. It used more Crystal malt (20L and 40L) resulting in a darker and sweeter beer which was more popular at the time than today's drier Pales and IPAs which are lighter color and generally not as sweet.

The trend in hops today seems to focus more on "juicy" hops as well (the new Stone hops list for their IPA reflects this trend), whereas 8-10 years ago the rage was all the piney, resinous hops along with that new kid on the block: Citrus. The first three hops on the list above still pay homage to that tradition, but the last five satisfy the demand for "new and improved" to keep relevant and match the competition.

Call me old fashioned, but I was a big fan boy of the original Stone IPA, just as I still think Sierra Nevada PA, Bell's Two Hearted and Vinney's Pliny the Elder are unsurpassed by anything that came before or since. Both my Stone IPA brew logs from 2012 show Magnum for bittering, Centennial for late flavoring and aroma, and an outlier, Ahtanum for aroma in the steep/whirlpool. I have to think that was the hopping model Stone used at the time because I have rarely used Ahtanum since then for any other beer, not because I didn't like it though.

So now this 'necro' thread has gotten me all hot and bothered to go Old School and brew this thing. Great. One more thing to put on my list of "Beers I Have Nowhere to Store."
 
Brooothru said:
Which recipe you using? Stone has changed their original IPA so many times it's hardly recognizable. The latest iteration on the website lists:

Magnum
Chinook
Centennial
Azacca
Calypso
Motueka
Ella & Vic Secret

It's hard to believe they'd combine 8 different hops into one single brew. More than likely they just substitute similar hops depending on what's commercially available at any given time, that still produces a good beer. Any combination of more than four different hops in a single beer ends up showcasing none and muddling them all, at least IMHO. I went through my archived recipes and found two different iterations from 2012 that I think are more representative of the original Stone IPA, very much like @EdWort's OP on this thread. It used more Crystal malt (20L and 40L) resulting in a darker and sweeter beer which was more popular at the time than today's drier Pales and IPAs which are lighter color and generally not as sweet.

The trend in hops today seems to focus more on "juicy" hops as well (the new Stone hops list for their IPA reflects this trend), whereas 8-10 years ago the rage was all the piney, resinous hops along with that new kid on the block: Citrus. The first three hops on the list above still pay homage to that tradition, but the last five satisfy the demand for "new and improved" to keep relevant and match the competition.

Call me old fashioned, but I was a big fan boy of the original Stone IPA, just as I still think Sierra Nevada PA, Bell's Two Hearted and Vinney's Pliny the Elder are unsurpassed by anything that came before or since. Both my Stone IPA brew logs from 2012 show Magnum for bittering, Centennial for late flavoring and aroma, and an outlier, Ahtanum for aroma in the steep/whirlpool. I have to think that was the hopping model Stone used at the time because I have rarely used Ahtanum since then for any other beer, not because I didn't like it though.

So now this 'necro' thread has gotten me all hot and bothered to go Old School and brew this thing. Great. One more thing to put on my list of "Beers I Have Nowhere to Store."
Click to expand...
I'm brewing Ed's version, just with more hops. For 4 gallons (3 in the fermenter) I buttered with .75 CTZ, then 1.5 Centennial at 15 and 0 minutes. I'll dry hop with 2.5 Centennial and .5 Chinook. I've seen a video where Greg Koch from Stone said in the original they relied heavily on Centennial for the dry hop and had a small amount of Chinook as well.

About a week ago I had a hankering for an old school West Coast IPA. I Googled it and a pic of Stone IPA popped up. I was like "I need to brew this" as their new IPA and Ruination don't do it for me anymore. They're not bad beers, just not what I wanted. This pic really did it for me.
 

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bamcisman said:
I'm brewing Ed's version, just with more hops. For 4 gallons (3 in the fermenter) I buttered with .75 CTZ, then 1.5 Centennial at 15 and 0 minutes. I'll dry hop with 2.5 Centennial and .5 Chinook. I've seen a video where Greg Koch from Stone said in the original they relied heavily on Centennial for the dry hop and had a small amount of Chinook as well.

About a week ago I had a hankering for an old school West Coast IPA. I Googled it and a pic of Stone IPA popped up. I was like "I need to brew this" as their new IPA and Ruination don't do it for me anymore. They're not bad beers, just not what I wanted. This pic really did it for me.
Click to expand...

Good call on the small Chinook charge. I might try that since it's easier to find than Ahtanum, and brings more to the dance with regards to aroma/flavor. Thanks for the tip.
 

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