BIAB with my GF

[NY_HomeBrew_Student]

5g of a SN Torpedo clone is happily bubbling away after a BIAB style brew day with my girl friend.

We followed this recipe:

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Clone

5 Gallon Batch
7.5g Water
90 minute boil

14 lbs of pale malt
11 ounces of caramel 60

Mash at 152

1.2 ounces of magnum at 60 min 14%aa
1 ounce of magnum at 5 min
1 ounce of crystal at 5 min

Dryhop
.67 oz Magnum
.67 oz Crystal
.67 oz Citra

Ferment with us-05 at 68 degrees.

The few significant notes from this brew day include mashing from 150-152 for a total of 65 minutes, the 5 minute addition of magnum and crystal was done at 5 minutes after flame out, and the OG was 1.072.

Overall I do have to say the first brew day of the year went relatively smoothly and I am very happy that my girl friend enjoyed the brewing process as much as she did. A few of my friends that I have brewed with have not cared too much for the process, the wonderful smell of the grains in the mash, or the smell of the hops. I must say that she enjoyed all three and it seems like this will not be her last brew day.

Just wanted to share that my experience with this recipe and my new brew mate went well.

 

[FB12]

Sounds great! I love Torpedo, let us know how that turns out. Have you done that one before? You're lucky that your girlfriend enjoyed it! I'm heading out to the garage to brew an APA in a little while here, my wife is planning on leaving the house for the afternoon!! Oh well, i'm used to "solo" brewing! Happy Brewing!

 

[NY_HomeBrew_Student]

This was actually my first attempt at the SN Torpedo clone. I'm interested to see how it turns out especially because its the highest gravity and highest ibu recipe that I have brewed to date. I chose to follow the recipe fairly close but will probably change the late hop additions to a world pool addition at 180 degrees for a half hour the next time that I brew this.

I am lucky that she enjoyed it but I'm not that surprised because she is the one that gave me my original equipment for a birthday/christmas gift.

I've yet to solo brew. Do you find yourself dialed in or sometimes forgetting certain things?

 

[mozart4898]

This was actually my first attempt at the SN Torpedo clone. I'm interested to see how it turns out especially because its the highest gravity and highest ibu recipe that I have brewed to date. I chose to follow the recipe fairly close but will probably change the late hop additions to a world pool addition at 180 degrees for a half hour the next time that I brew this.

I am lucky that she enjoyed it but I'm not that surprised because she is the one that gave me my original equipment for a birthday/christmas gift.

I've yet to solo brew. Do you find yourself dialed in or sometimes forgetting certain things?

Can't really speak for him but I know I've brewed both by myself and with someone, and I probably almost prefer by myself. Course the only person I've ever brewed with (an ex-girlfriend) was far more interested in drinking the last batch than making the next.

I don't find I really forget things - the one thing I'll say is that I tend to take a relaxed approach to brew day. I'll frequently mash for close to 2 hours just because I'm working on other stuff at the same time. I keep a close eye on the boil and hop additions, then once I've reached flameout, it's again pretty relaxed. I try to cool things down as quick as possible but again I'll frequently be working on other stuff then too.

A brew day might last 4 hours...or like my last one, it may be around 7. I try to make sure when I brew I don't have anything I *have* to do afterwards, so if things just take longer, it's no problem.

 

[tooblue02]

I have brewed with friends and family, I think I prefer to go it alone though as I can get more things done while brewing. The garage has never been cleaner! My wife may start brewing with me after we have baby number 2 and she is able to drink again! I started brewing when she got pregnant so I could "perfect" the process before the baby was born!

 

[aiptasia]

It's a good learning brew, but if the body ends up tasting a little thin, try supplementing in a little victory, munich and/or vienna malt into the grain bill. I'm betting it's going to be missing some biscuity/bready character that is so crucial to a well balanced IPA.

 

[NY_HomeBrew_Student]

It's a good learning brew, but if the body ends up tasting a little thin, try supplementing in a little victory, munich and/or vienna malt into the grain bill. I'm betting it's going to be missing some biscuity/bready character that is so crucial to a well balanced IPA.

Have you brewed a Torpedo clone? Is that a common issue for this clone recipe? Everything that I have read and researched only uses two row and crystal/caramel 60. The only issues that I have read about for this recipe and not getting enough of the hop flavor/aroma that the commercial SN Torpedo has. Some people suggested to experiment with taking the 5 minute additions and perform a whirlpool at or under 180 for up to an hour.

Any thoughts on the clone recipe or the whirlpool technique?

Thanks for your original comment. Love learning from other people's experiences.

 

[NY_HomeBrew_Student]

Just wanted to update this batch!

Bottled this yesterday afternoon. FG was 1.015 and I used 1 oz of all three dry hops instead of the .67 oz that the recipe called for. I definitely lost a lot more beer than I am used to, most likely due to the 3 oz of dry hops. Bottled a total of 37 12 oz bottle and 4 swing tops.

I tasted the last 4 oz that was in the bottling bucket and it tasted a little sweet but spot on overall. Most likely due to the priming sugar. The aroma was amazing and powerful. The color looked exactly like the torpedo I was drinking while bottling.

Specific notes from this batch were the change of the amount of dry hops from .67 oz to 1 oz, the amount of dry hop time was just over three days (80 hours), and the amount bottled was about 4.5 gallons (maybe less).

So far, very happy with the recipe, procedure, and the overall beer!

:rockin:

 

[NY_HomeBrew_Student]

Just another update about on the Torpedo clone.

Clone on the left and the real deal on the right.

Here it is 3 weeks in the bottle. As you can see it has some haze to it but it does appear the color is pretty spot on. I'll be expecting it to clear up with time. As for the rest of the characteristics;

The smell was amazing...kinda reminded me of the overwhelming hop aroma from Weyerbacher's Double simcoe. Not the same kind of smell but definitely the intensity. This is probably due to the increase in dry hopping from .67 oz of each kind to 1 oz of each. Plus, the bottled volume was a little less than it was supposed to be.

The taste was also stellar. Not a clone because it had a little more sweetness than the original but I would actually rate it higher as a whole. Every flavor seemed a little more pronounced than I was expecting so I'm guessing the longer it stays in the bottle the closer it will get to the real thing.

The carbonation seemed perfect for this style and this was probably my best batch in terms of lacing.

Overall I am extremely happy with this recipe and the how close it is to the real thing. My guess is if I followed the dry hop schedule perfectly it would be a little closer. I actually prefer my homebrew over the original but I'm sure there is some bias and freshness to be considered.

I'll be trying at least one a week to see if and when it clears up and how it compares to the original.

This will certainly become a staple in my rotation.

:rockin:

 

[ShadyBrewer]

Nice. Looks good. I might have to give this a try.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[RM-MN]

Congratulations on your success. I'd love to have another update in a week and another the week after as your beer matures a bit more. I think you will be surprised with the changes it goes through in the next couple of weeks. Try to save at least one for 6 months and update again then with the comparison.

 

[NY_HomeBrew_Student]

Congratulations on your success. I'd love to have another update in a week and another the week after as your beer matures a bit more. I think you will be surprised with the changes it goes through in the next couple of weeks. Try to save at least one for 6 months and update again then with the comparison.

I'm looking forward to how it develops too. I always save a 6 pack for a longer period of time depending on style. Will definitely update this once a week til it's passed it's prime.

 

[RM-MN]

I'm looking forward to how it develops too. I always save a 6 pack for a longer period of time depending on style. Will definitely update this once a week til it's passed it's prime.

You might run out of bottles of this beer before that happens. I'm not sure that my stout is even at its prime now at 2 years but I'm pretty sure it isn't past its prime.

 

[NY_HomeBrew_Student]

Another update. Finally cleared up. At a friend's place so I don't have a torpedo on hand to compare it to but it looks pretty close.

Still a little more sweetness compared to the torpedo. Definitely need to compare them side to side again.

I could drink these all night.

 

[sweetcell]

booo - no pix of the girlfriend.