hairy eyeball clone feedback

My first attempt at cloning as I can't seem to find anyone else's recipe. I'm sure I'm way off, but I thought I'd start somewhere and see what improvements and suggestions others can make. I plan to keep trying this until I get something close to the real thing or even better. It will take a while, but I've got time. I used the Brown Shugga and Censored Can You Brew It recipes to give me some ideas, and then just sort of went from there. MY IBUs are a tad lower, and I think I need a little more variety in the hops, but I haven't tasted Hairy Eyeball in a while, and I don't remember that much about the hops. Not sure about 90 minute boil or not, but Brown Shugga clone has a 90min boil. Thanks for any suggestions.

6 gal.

Est Original Gravity: 1.091 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.023 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.86 %
Bitterness: 53.1 IBU
Est Color: 37.3 SRM



17.5 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 56.91 %
2.75 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 11.13 %
1.5 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 8.35 %
1 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5.57 %
0.5 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.78 %
0.25 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.34 %

1 oz Nugget [13.00 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 34.0 IBU
1 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 14.4 IBU
0.50 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (30 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
1 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (1 min) Hops 0.4 IBU
0.50 oz Nugget [13.00 %] (1 min) Hops 0.6 IBU

Yeast: WLP002 or WLP007

I haven't had this one in a long time, but I can give you some general advice. I think 2.5 lbs is too much dark crystal for just about any recipe, it will overwhelm the other flavors with dark fruit. I'd go with ~.5 lbs of either C120 or Special B, and then mix in some medium crystal 60-80 for a softer caramel character.

I don't remember the beer having much hop aroma, so I'd probably back down the late additions. Otherwise looks like a good frist attempt.

You can try emailing the brewer to see if you can get some more info. Good luck.

Thanks, I've honestly never used either C120 or Special B before, so this is exactly the kind of feedback I needed. I'll probably try this next weekend. I'm hoping to sort of keep coming back to this recipe and tweaking it and brewing a new version every couple of months, and hopefully come up with something that tastes good in the same way.

I've read that Lagunitas does not give out info to homebrewers, so I haven't tried writing them yet. I figured maybe I'll save that until I have a specific question (such as hops), instead of just "how does this look?" and maybe they'll be more willing to give me an answer.

BTW, I decided to use a lot of C120 based on BYO's clone of Gonzo Imperial Porter, which I think has a nice dark fruit character and has a similar OG. Still, I'm going to cut back, as I don't want to overdo it on my first try.

You certainly could use a pound of C120 if you want that big dark fruit character, Special B gets overwhelming quicker for me so i wouldn't go that high with it.

Any thoughts on the Munich? I'm wondering if maybe I should leave that out the first time around, so it's easier to tell what I'm getting from the dark malts? Maybe a little wheat instead, since Lagunitas seems to have a little wheat in every recipe I've seen?

On the same note, I think I'll just go with a pound of C120 and no Special B.

~3 lbs of Munich won't add much to a beer this big/complex, it is essentially just a slightly toastier version of pale malt. Some wheat wouldn't hurt, but I don't think it will add much (you shouldn't have head issues in a beer with that much malt). Hope it turns out well.

So here's what I ended up with. I'll report back in a few months after I taste it. My initial tasting suggests it's more of a stout, but that's not such a bad thing. I'll probably keep trying to make this every so often, making adjustments. If anyone else has any ideas or tries anything of their own, please share! Also I thought I had Nugget hops, but couldn't find them, so I ended having to make some last minute subs with lesser AA% hops. I'm still wondering about the 10 min additions, but it should be interesting.

5 gallon recipe (note previous was 6 gallon):
Est Original Gravity: 1.089 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.028 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.99 %
Bitterness: 62.9 IBU
Est Color: 34.9 SRM


15.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 80.54 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 7.79 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3.90 %
0.50 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 2.60 %
0.40 lb English Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 2.08 %
0.40 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.08 %
0.20 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.01 %

0.40 oz Perle [7.70 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 10.2 IBU
1.25 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 17.9 IBU
1.25 oz Williamette [4.70 %] (90 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 19.5 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (20 min) Hops 6.4 IBU
0.40 oz Williamette [4.70 %] (20 min) Hops 3.2 IBU
0.40 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (10 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops 3.8 IBU
WLP002 Yeast

Here's an update for anyone interested:

After 6 days, my WLP002 yeast cake has already got this baby down to 1.025. I tasted it and it seems more chocolatey than anything. I'm not real experienced with tasting high gravity beers after a week of fermentation, but I think I've made a good imperial stout/old ale hybrid but probably nothing like the hairy eyeball. It's been awhile since I've tasted the real thing, but once the new bottles are on shelves, I'll have something to compare.

I'll probably leave this on the yeast for 3 more weeks and then bottle and let it bottle condition for at least 3 months before I crack one open (I can dream, can't I?) Although I'm open to suggestions regarding how to condition this monster.

Any updates? Have you tried this recently?

Thanks for the brave attempt by the way.

I noticed the Est Color: 37.3 SRM.

That would make sense as to why this turned out close to a stout. You've got Chocolate Malts and Roasted Barley to add color and roast flavor. In addition, you've got some pretty high colored Crystal Malts in there to darken it up even more.

I have it bottled. Tasted more like Gonzo Imperial Porter at bottling; haven't opened one yet. I think I will wait until Lagunitas gets Hairy Eyeball on the shelves, I will stock up so I can make comparisons over the next few months. I'll keep you updated.

Okay tried my first one. It's definitely still got some melding to do. I'd say a little too tangy/fruity at this point, but again I can barely remember what Hairy Eyeball actually tastes like. I'd guess it's still somewhere between Gonzo and Hairy Eyeball. Regardless I think I've got a pretty nice beer if I can wait on it. Wish I could tell you more, but at this point it still seems like it's got some growing up to do.

I'm going to try this again this weekend, after 7 months in the bottle. I've tried it a few times since my last post, and it's definitely much more of an imperial porter than hairy eyeball (which I didn't think tasted as good this year as the previous). I'll hopefully post more thoughts soon, but if you're wanting to make Hairy Eyeball, definitely tweak the recipe and reduce/remove the roastier malts.

I seem to remember these barley wines, or whatever you would call them, by Lagunitas as having that super early hop addition backbone, but with a malt character that blows your mind. How was the attenuation on this? I would guess that the WLP007 might have worked better, since it goes higher in abv, but since I am not well versed in making beers this big, I do not know how sweet that would leave the resulting beer.

Also, if you are trying to recreate this beer, I would advise 1/3 or less of the original amount of chocolate or other dark malts...of course it seems like you figured that out, but at the same time, I don't recal much chocolate in the flavor of that beer.