Advice on Trillium Congress Street IPA clone

[csklr]

So I'm planning to do a ~5 gal BIAB batch of an approximate Congress Street IPA clone in the next week or so. I've been using these two threads and the page for the beer as some loose guidance, and I have a rough recipe that I've created. This is actually going to be my first BIAB brew--up until now I've only done extract. Anyway, I'm just looking for some general critique on the recipe as it stands. Here's what I've got:

Grain:

• 10 lb 2-row malt (68%)
  
• 3 lb white wheat (20%)
  
• .75 lb caramel 20L (5%)
  
• .5 lb dextrose (3%)
  
• .5 lb carapils (3%)

Hops:

• 1.5 oz columbus @ 60min
  
• 1.5 oz columbus, 6 oz galaxy dry hop

Not entirely sure about yeast, maybe Conan/Vermont Ale? Using that in Brewer's Friend, this comes out to 7.2% ABV, 77 IBU for a 5.5 gal batch.

Again, any critique/comments are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[CHansen6]

I will admit I've only had their beer a few times, and regrettably not Congress St., but I've been looking to do something in line with some of their other beers. One thing that I've seen alluded to quite a bit from reading some of JC's comments around beeradvocate, is that they seem to make use of hop glycoside reactions to liberate the extra fruity flavors and aromas. I believe Conan is one of the yeasts that excels at this, so that'd be a solid choice. There are some other english yeasts that will probably work too like wyeast 1318. I believe the madfermentationist has some info about this on his website (northeast IPA stuff), and also an article in BYO earlier this year.

Add the hops as fermentation is slowing, but still active. The brewer from Trillium said they add the dry hops as one addition, but using two additions has worked wonderfully for me in the past. Maybe one as fermentation slows, and the other as the beer is racked to secondary or cleared. Up to you. I found I got a better aroma by splitting the additions, but that also directly contradicts what JC said.

I've only had one hoppy beer without any late boil/flameout/whirlpool additions. I thought it was really missing something in the taste. Granted, it also used a much more conservative amount of dry hops. I would personally have a hard time leaving all late hop additions out. According to the Congress St. specific thread (post 35), it says that the brewer stated that only columbus is used in the boil. It doesn't say that there are no late additions. I would suggest backing the 60minute addition off maybe .5oz, and adding a flameout/whirlpool addition of a couple ounces of columbus. Maybe a small 10min addition too.

 

[csklr]

Okay, thanks for the help. I think I'm going to end up using Wyeast 1098. As for the hop additions, I'm going to change it to 1.25 oz at 60 min and .75 oz at flameout (both Columbus).

 

[m00ps]

I wouldnt use wyeast 1098. I think 1318 or Conan is key for these juicy "northeast" IPAs. Also, where is your flameout addition? Id grab another 6oz of galaxy

 

[csklr]

I heard somewhere that WLP007 and Wyeast 1098 are the same strain. Do you know if there's any truth to that? Also, in a Fort Point Pale Ale recipe from BYO, the yeast called for was 007 or 1098, and I think that came from JC himself.
As for the hops, I've read several notes that Trillium has moved all of their late hop additions in their Street IPAs to the dry hop, and those are the right amounts in the dry hop, too. So I'm going to stick with that.

 

[pugsly07]

How did this come out?

 

[Bugs318]

How did this come out?

Yes! Would love to hear more of your final process and results!

 

[JonM]

Sub'd. A Boston friend just sent some of this to me and it was awesome.

 

[skibb]

JC on a number of occasions has stated they use a very flocculant yeast - there is a lot of speculation they use WLP007, though with them adding sugar in their IPA recipes, and terminal being around 1.013, I would think they are using 002 or the like.

 

[jmaessen]

I've had a chance to chat with the brewer about process. It's definitely WLP007 they're using (except in their Saisons). Wish I'd asked more about pre-mash water treatments – they're using MWRA water (covers a lot of Eastern Mass.) without filtration, which is a pretty soft starting point.

 

[yesjenks]

Had this beer and it was awesome! Want to make a clone. Can anyone share their findings/advice on the recipe listed by OP?

 

[bbohanon]

I would search for "Trillium", or "Treehouse" or "Northeast IPA" threads on this site. There are SO many threads on this style of beer here that are miles long in both recipes, theory, science and experimentation of how their beers are made it would bury you in reading for a week.

Anytime Trillium or the like is mentioned, there ain't no easy or short reply.

Some great NEIPA threads for reference:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=623221
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=568046
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=517721
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=437096

I would just use some of these recipes/grain bills, techniques, and loop in the hops they mentioned are used in the Trillium beer and see what you get with it..

 

[yesjenks]

Thank you for your response! Got some reading to do. . . . cheers.