NuclearRich
Well-Known Member
So Vegan, have you done direct comparisons with actual HT side by side yet? Did you drink it all?
Heady Topper- Can you clone it?
- Thread starter theveganbrewer
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NuclearRich
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Also, are you including the dry hop time in the fermentation time, or are they separate? Its not quite clear anymore since your site went down. My plan is to ferment high 60s, raise to low 70s, crash to low 50s, all across a period of 2 weeks. Then transfer to secondary for 2stage dryhop for 8 days. Sound good?
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theveganbrewer
Well-Known Member
It's 28 days from grain to glass. Work backwards from day 28 to figure out when the dry hops start.
Petekiteworld
Well-Known Member
I just did a pale malt, wheat, caravienne, dextrose with lots of apollo, simcoe and amarillo, conan yeast. Not a heady clone but definitely the 2nd best beer I've ever had!
Just brewed 4.0. Everything went well except I used a new kettle and I had some black stuff floating around :O but I hope it doesn't impart any flavors. Also had a little more hot/cold break/hop get into the fermenter, I'll prolly rack off into secondary before i do the first dry hop because of all the trub im going to have:
nodrognorrab
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We are Plankton and John Kimmich of The Alchemist is the crab with the secret formula. Yes I have kids and no I'm not calling John a crab literally.
Keep hunting guys, this thread and all your hard work is good stuff.
Keep hunting guys, this thread and all your hard work is good stuff.
LOL. You waited 8 months to make your first post and it was a doozie 
Have a "Like" 
Have a "Like" 
Johnnyhitch1
Well-Known Member
How is this coming along vegan?
Dibs on first customer!!! lol
EDIT: Found the site, looks great!! Hope i didnt miss out since it says sold out...?
After brewing 5 Zombie Dust clones, I'm ready to move on to another animal: Heady Topper. I'm going to scale up the malt bill a tad and shoot for a 6 gallon recipe. I'm basing it off of Vegan's 4.0 recipe. Of course, I'm not going to end up with a clone, and I'm perfectly fine with that. I have the typical limitations in that I can't get Conan and I can't get Pearl. I could order the Pearl at least, but I'm dead set on brewing in 6 days. The hopshot is already on it's way. I read through about 35 pages of this thread, but not all, so maybe these questions have been answered:
1) Best substitute for Conan? (Yes, I know it won't be a clone since Conan is so unique) I'm thinking s-04 as it's been my go-to yeast.
2) Straight up sub the Pearl with Maris Otter or some combination of U.S. Two Row and Maris Otter?
Thanks in advance for all the hard work going into this recipe!
1) Best substitute for Conan? (Yes, I know it won't be a clone since Conan is so unique) I'm thinking s-04 as it's been my go-to yeast.
2) Straight up sub the Pearl with Maris Otter or some combination of U.S. Two Row and Maris Otter?
Thanks in advance for all the hard work going into this recipe!
hopgoblin4
Member
I would go marris only with the 04 as it seems to be agreed upon that Conan is of English origin. I'm sure not everyone will agree though!
hopgoblin4
Member
Thanks again Vegan.
Drinking my 4.0ish now and it's really good. I was lacking the Apollo. Getting it for my next brew. Was Apollo out when John started brewing Heady? I know brewers change things up over the years for various reasons.
Drinking my 4.0ish now and it's really good. I was lacking the Apollo. Getting it for my next brew. Was Apollo out when John started brewing Heady? I know brewers change things up over the years for various reasons.
I dont want to veer from this thread so would be able to PM me with a solid Zombie Dust clone? I was thinking of cloning that next.
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theveganbrewer
Well-Known Member
Try YG001 from www.yeastgeek.com or ECY29 from East Coast Yeast. It'll get you where you want to be. There are a couple of YG001 vials left and more going up on July 15th.
Thanks. Order placed. I doubt it'll get here in time for brewing on Sunday, but I'll keep it on hand for the next batch.
hopgoblin4
Member
Right on Vegan. The ECY29 is hard to come by though. I was just in Philly 2 weeks ago where he distributes and noda. Not sure what his plans are. Go with yeast geeks. If you can!
There was ample ECY29 to be had at the NHC. I picked up a vial, and I'm going to make another HT-inspired DIPA this weekend. Backing off on the Columbus this time, upping the Apollo, and subbing Mosaic for Amarillo.
I'm more interested in cloning the "spirit" of HT than actually replicating what is in the can. By this I mean an English malt/Conan-based, dry, 8% ABV ale with a ton of late-hopping that provides that signature dank/fruity hop nose.
I'm more interested in cloning the "spirit" of HT than actually replicating what is in the can. By this I mean an English malt/Conan-based, dry, 8% ABV ale with a ton of late-hopping that provides that signature dank/fruity hop nose.
i'd be concerned that 04 doesn't attenuate enough.
Let me know if you want some conan in a couple weeks. Im from madison as well. I have some in my carboy...just needs to be washed/finish fermenting.
hopgoblin4
Member
Not everyone on this thread could make the trip to the NHC I'm sure. Though this is a clone thread, some people will try and get close to it whilst saving cash with substitutes. Just how it goes. It will still be a good beer.
Just had my first Heady this past week. GF and I were on a road trip to Maine and decided to stop in Waterbury VT. I had some at the bar (the Prohibition Pig, great food, great beer) and decided to go to the brewery first thing in the morning before we hit the road.
Brewery opened at 11, we got there at 10:45, and there were already a bunch of people lined up waiting to get it. People had no problem dropping $75 for a case on the spot. One guy bought five. I decided to buy a case and I've been drinking it for the past week.
All this just to say: sub'd!
Brewery opened at 11, we got there at 10:45, and there were already a bunch of people lined up waiting to get it. People had no problem dropping $75 for a case on the spot. One guy bought five. I decided to buy a case and I've been drinking it for the past week.
All this just to say: sub'd!
Awesome, thanks!! You fermenting some Heady?
I like the flavors I get with s-04 and I want it to floc out fast. If I finish high, that's okay by me. I also bumped up the grain bill. This is just my test run anyways, until my yg01 arrives and I can order Pearl and Apollo.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I can't get apollo at either of my LHBS's. Looks like I'll just swap it with more Columbus. I am pretty sure I'll make damn good beer, even with my substitutes. Very much looking forward to having everything on hand to do the 4.0 clone to the tee, though.
Just got back from my LHBS and they had newly arrived Pearl, though they don't list it online. Score! I don't have my Conan yet, but needless to say, I'm very excited to brew my Conan-less version on Sunday!
You could also try a mixed fermentation of 04 and 05 together, get that British character and better attenuation. Cheap too.
You, sir, are a genius!
Petekiteworld
Well-Known Member
Or use nottingham
LarvalCraze
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Brewed this last weekend. Upped the grain bill a bit because I typically get 65% mash efficiency. I also used a new burner and brew pot and didn't realize how much boil off I would have. Ended up with a little less than 5 gal and a 1.09 OG. Also forgot that I had used all of my simcoe on another batch so I substituted with mosaic. After 3 days the airlock completely stopped and I didn't get any blow off (I had gotten a ton of blow off on my previous Conan trials), so I kinda thought I may have under pitched for the increased OG. Pitched a little more then took a gravity reading and was surprised that it was already at 1.01. Smells and tastes very very very close to heady. I'm psyched for this one.
Im actually just trying the yeast out on my own recipe but its similar to heady a little. Will probably try the clone sometime soon though.
Anybody have experience with direct-pitching ECY29 into a HT clone (~ 1.070ish)?
The jars are reported to contains 150 - 350B cells as is, and my jar is only 2 weeks old. Yeastcalc is telling me I need 254B cells for a 5.25gal pitch. This would seem to suggest that I would be OK just ptiching the jar as-is, but it still kind of bugs me out for a beer this big.
Any advice?
The jars are reported to contains 150 - 350B cells as is, and my jar is only 2 weeks old. Yeastcalc is telling me I need 254B cells for a 5.25gal pitch. This would seem to suggest that I would be OK just ptiching the jar as-is, but it still kind of bugs me out for a beer this big.
Any advice?
Brewed 4.0 on 6/29 and just took a sample yesterday 7/3 and it tasted delicious. Gravity down from 1.069 to 1.020 so hoping that it eats a few more points soon. Only problem I may run into is that I just put another batch in my fermenter and had to keep that cool so the heady is fermenting temp has gone down from ~67 to ~64...hopefully not enough to stall and I will raise the temps back up to 72 in a few days, maybe I will stir the yeast a little bit
HawksBrewer
Well-Known Member
Conan won't stall at 64. The first DIPA I made w/ Conan I fermented at 62F and it was finished in a week and absolutely delicious. You'll be fine, and may actually have a cleaner beer.
I've heard rumors that if you let a beer ferment at a certain temperate like 67 for a week, then lower it, it has a higher chance of stalling because it got used to the higher temp. But yea I am not too worried because Conan is a beast
What happens is that the yeast aren't as active later in the ferment. If you reduce the temps after the yeast are tired of eating all the maltose, they tend to drop out, hence the stall. One way to keep the yeast active through fermentation is to slowly raise the fermentation temp (after growth phase). This is also why in beers with a high content of simple sugars, it's wise to introduce those sugars at a later part of the fermentation.
Yep, and I am in a situation where it will be slowly decreasing in temp as primary fermentation is ending so I hope it doesn't stall in the high teens :/ Nowhere else to put the beer those, too hot in my apartment even for a swamp cooler.
sybesbrew
Well-Known Member
Brewed this beer today with a few substitutions. Subbed Maris otter for pearl, carapils for the caramalt and did a bittering charge of Apollo instead of the extract.
Racked it onto a Conan yeast cake from a pale ale.
It may not be an exact clone, but should be close enough for what I have. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out in the upcoming weeks.
Racked it onto a Conan yeast cake from a pale ale.
It may not be an exact clone, but should be close enough for what I have. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out in the upcoming weeks.
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theveganbrewer
Well-Known Member
Conan will stall around 1.018-1.020 if it has mutated or is very late gen. Had it happen twice before on test batches.
Petekiteworld
Well-Known Member
My last conan beer stopped at 1.020 actually
FATC1TY
Well-Known Member
The vial I got from you must have been late gen, as it stalled off at 1.018 exactly for me, and had a clove-belgian note to it.
Interesting to note however!
^same here
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