American IPA Mother Earth's Boo Koo IPA

[fendersrule]

One of the best IPAs of all time as far as drinkability is concerned. PERFECT IPA to get going right now before August hits hard.

You will not want to miss out on this. This is my third time making it, and I feel it is 80% of the real deal, and that percentage includes me being a perfectionist. I do open transfers, so I assume with a closed transfer that percentage would be higher.

You want to shoot for 6.5% ABV on the dot and try to land at 1.008 FG. Use US-05 as it is very neutral. For me that was 153F Mash temp. Up to 1.010 FG is acceptable, although the “spec” is 1.008.

If you have a great closed-transfer method, consider NOT using the Tangerine Peel for the boil. You will get all the citrus/grassy aromas you need from the hops. If you do an open transfer like me, the tangerine adds a lovely boost to help compensate. One correction if you do decide to use 2 OZ of tangerine is to maybe limit yourself to 7 minutes instead of 15 minutes as stated below. 1 Oz at 15 minutes will be fine as well.

Let me know if you have any questions. This recipe below was discussed with the brew-master and I decided it would be OK to share it. Notice the hop schedule comes in at the very end. This is what sets this IPA apart to create a lushy, drinkable IPA that explodes with all the floral parts, without being an overly IBU IPA monstrosity. Basically, an IPA that you cannot stop drinking.

Esentially, the 60.9 IBU should be taken with a grain of salt, because it really tastes far less. It's a hoppy beer without the bitterly part due to the very late hop additions. You may want to consider hop-standing the very last flame-out ones a little too. Just shoot for 55-65 IBU in your calculations and just kick back and enjoy!

Here is what you end up. Perfect lacing. Lovely complex aroma. Perfect head.

 

[bkboiler]

Man that looks good...makes me bummed my mt hood rhizome didnt sprout.
All i can think of when I see that beer is the scene from full metal jacket about boo-koo...

 

[Beeru]

Looks good. I think i’ll line this up for my next brew. I’ve only got crystal 20 and regular wheat, so it won’t be identical, but should do the trick.

 

[fendersrule]

Here’s a direct comparison. In a shadow (first pic), mine does appear to be more of an "amber" color. When held up to light, they appear more similar. Feel FREE to use slightly less Crystal to get more of a "straw" color. Getting the color right is very difficult on this beer...many have tried and are still trying. They do say "Cara/Crystal" is apart of the grain bill, and they do give an SRM, but when you try to match it, it seems to always come out darker. Take my recipe and just try a little less Cara/Crystal. This will no impact flavor, just talking slight color variations here.

Boo Koo may undergo filtering during the brewing process. I don't cold crash or anthing. Not sure if this impacts color.

Because of the late hops of Boo Koo (and my clone) you get the same "smooth" front, then WHAM, notes of mosiac, tangerine, grass, pine, and everything you want in an IPA without being "bitter." You just keep drinking it, because it's just the right thing to do.

On a homebrew level, it is hard to compete with the real thing. The recipe is correct, but it's a closed transfer vs open transfer thing. All the hop notes on the real Boo Koo are "fuller" on the nose, where as the home brew version are all present, just in less amounts. I truely believe this is closed transfer vs open transfer thing and would love to see some results here if you are doing closed transfers/kegging.

The "Flame out" hops are whirlpooled (100% confirmed). I basically didn't "hop stand" mine, I just put an undersized chiller in and went to work. You may want to consider to do whatever process to extract as much of the flame-out hops as possible.

Give this recipe a go. You will be thrilled with it. I've spent 1 year trying to perfect it, and at this point I am close enough where I decided to post for all to see. The brewmaster would like me to deliver him a few.

You can tell that the wheat additions are absolutely spot on giving the same head depth and retension.

Shoot for 1.008 - 1.010 FG and not ANY higher. They claim "1.008" is the official FG, but anywhere between 1.008-1.010 will do.

Clone: Left, Boo Koo: Right

 

[Shenanigans]

Looks good.
Will add it to my to my ever-growing to brew list but with Tradition instead of Mt. Hood.

 

[Bad Bubba]

On the Tangerine peel, are you just using a zest or are you throwing in the whole peel?

 

[fendersrule]

I used the dried 1oz tangerine peel pouches. You can get them from Amazon if your local HBS doesn't have them.

Or, you can just use the zest of fresh tangerines. I was just too lazy to do that!

Note about tangerine:

I highly doubt Boo Koo adds tangerine (would imagine it would be very $$$ on a production level)--I think they just get the tangerine hints from the hops noted in the grain bill. Because I do open transfers (and I didn't do any hop-stand techniques) some of the hop flavors get dimenished. Just to remind that adding tangerine is a great idea if you do open transfers but if you're really good at extracting flame-out hops and do closed transfer, it is purely optional.

If you do decide to use tangerine (it's not a bad idea), then 1 Oz 15 minutes or 2 Oz 7 minutes would probably come out pretty similar. Let your wallet decide which you'd rather go with! You're adding a hint and not making it a fruity IPA thing.

One note to mimic whirl-pooling (for those that don't know) is to throw the FO hops noted in the recipe above and let them steep for 10-20 minutes before chilling! This will impact a lot more flavor. Definitely do this!