Opinions on Magic Hat #9 Clone

[kiblerjd]

I'm brewing a magic hat #9 clone tomorrow. I have brewed them several times in the past and have never been super happy with the results. Unlike every other time, I now use brewing software, which helps immensely on hitting the target values for the real beer.

From the Magic Hat Website this beer uses Pale/Crystal Malt, Apollo and Cascade Hops, 5.1ABV, 20IBU, and 8SRM.

Anyway I have seen many recipes on here, and the one I like the best is the can you brew it version https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/can-you-brew-recipe-magic-hat-number-9-a-175571/. The problem is that none of these recipes come out to fit the real numbers when I put them in the software.

So I slightly modified the recipe and I want to get opinions or comments. My LHBS didn't have Columbus so I went with Warrior because I have seen many clone recipes use this hop as well. Also I only got .25 lbs of 80L because I thought that was all I needed to get 8SRM, turns out I needed more and I don't want to drive all the way back, so I used the 60L I had laying around. Next time I will only use 80L.

9lbs 2-Row
.25lbs 80L
.25lbs 60L

0.25oz Warrior for 60min
0.5oz Cascade for 30min

4oz Apricot Extract in the Keg

With this recipe I get 5.1ABV, 25IBU, and 6.9SRM.

I'm also using California Ale yeast because I have a ton of it that I just pulled from my last batch of beer and its FREE.

Please let me know what you think. It looks good to me but I want to see if I'm missing anything.

 

[Sbarnard80]

Going to follow this one. #9 is one of my favorites. Will have to bring this up further in the rotation.

 

[kiblerjd]

Brewed it today and my numbers turned out spot on. I think this will be a good one. I may try to get my hands on some apollo next time and i'll probably just use 80L too. I don't know where i saw it but i heard magic hat uses 80L. My thought is i would have to use less crystal malt to get the same SRM so the flavor impact would be less.


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[kiblerjd]

Kegged today and i think this may be a winner. Hard to tell because i know from the past it takes a few weeks for the apricot to settle down and taste right. So i'll give it a taste in a few weeks and let everyone know how it turns out of interested. I'll tell you the color and bitterness seem spot on.


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[kiblerjd]

Just to follow up this tasted like rat piss. I think i got a bad batch of apricot extract because even after a few months the beer tastes "fake". The base beer was probably great but the apricot ruined it. Ohh well.


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[Shuasha]

Why did you use 2-row instead of Maris Otter?

Also, did you use apricot extract or apricot flavoring? The "flavoring" tastes fake, the extract is generally good. I ended up using 2.5 oz or so in a 5 gallon batch last time and it was about perfect.

You can also split the batch and use blueberry or some other flavor for fun.

 

[BohWarden]

Does anyone know how this would look as a partial mash recipe? Im tryna ball on a budget here.

 

[Shuasha]

Somebody else will have to do the conversion, but there is now a Maris Otter liquid malt you can use. There's really not much else in this besides a small bit of Carmel.

 

[kiblerjd]

Why did you use 2-row instead of Maris Otter?

Also, did you use apricot extract or apricot flavoring? The "flavoring" tastes fake, the extract is generally good. I ended up using 2.5 oz or so in a 5 gallon batch last time and it was about perfect.

You can also split the batch and use blueberry or some other flavor for fun.

Crap i bet you are right. I meant to buy extract but i bet i mistakenly bought flavoring. You are totally right. Sounds like i'm dumping the keg and trying again. I have Apollo hops to use next time as well. Thanks for mentioning that because i totally never would have thought of it.

To answer your other question I used 2 row because i had 55lbs of it. Do you think it would make a huge difference?

I can look into converting this recipe to extract but it will take me some time as i don't do this very often.

 

[Shuasha]

Maris Otter is a different flavor than normal 2-row. Definitely use that instead.