Hopslam Clone...

I put in bottle Saturday. Tasted great. High hopes. Will post results.

bottling lhbs version friday. gonna brew up the recipe a few posts up next weekend hopefully

Sleepyemt,

Do you prefer your extract version or your all grain recipe better? Which is closer to the actual taste of Hopslam? Is the extract recipe easier?

LandoAllen said:

Sleepyemt,

Do you prefer your extract version or your all grain recipe better? Which is closer to the actual taste of Hopslam? Is the extract recipe easier?

Click to expand...

I've never done the extract, only the all grain.... That was converted for someone as a favor. However if you can do the all grain, you can control the degree of fermentability, getting possibly lower that extract. In terms of a easier recipe, extract wouldn't fake as long...

More important would be your pitching rate and a good oxygenation...

cmac4408 said:

I put in bottle Saturday. Tasted great. High hopes. Will post results.

Click to expand...

Any update?

update?

Sleepyemt said:

This one was the recipe I settled on. is it a exact? .... probably not So very Close though. I'd probably up the Amarillo a little at the dry hop. 6g recipe.It is a regular in my house now.

12.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent 1 -
16 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 85.9 %
9.6 oz Caramel Malt - 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.1 %
9.6 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.1 %
1.50 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [3.50 %] - First Hop 5 16.8 IBUs
1 lbs 8.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 6 7.8 %
1.50 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 22.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [6.90 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 14.4 IBUs
1.20 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9 11.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 10 14.1 IBUs
0.80 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil Hop 11 5.3 IBUs
0.60 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 12 3.3 IBUs
2.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 13 -
3.25 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0

Click to expand...

Can you give more details on your mash schedule and temps you used? Did you do a protein rest? Did i read it right that you mash and boil for 60 min? How much wart did yo have before and after the boil? I assume you racked to secondary and cold crashed? What was your OG and FG? Any extra advice or tips would help.

What was the purpose in using dextrose instead of honey? I think I missed that somewhere after reading this whole thread...

Sorry I am asking so many questions. I've searched long and hard and your recipes seem to be the only ones with some sort of feedback and positive results...Hopslam is one of my favorites but nearly impossible to get in my area because the stores all sell out in days. And you can forget trying to find a bar or pub that has it on draft.

LandoAllen said:

Can you give more details on your mash schedule and temps you used? Did you do a protein rest? Did i read it right that you mash and boil for 60 min? How much wart did yo have before and after the boil? I assume you racked to secondary and cold crashed? What was your OG and FG? Any extra advice or tips would help.

Click to expand...

I do a single infusion temperature mash Aiming for 149 degrees, until you get conversion, ~ an hour. I boil for 90 Minutes ~8.75g, and get a good rolling boil, this recipe is for 6 gal. post boil, and after trub loss, cooling loss, and dry hopping loss It is 5 gallons into the keg. Og of 1.087 is what your aiming for, Before you secondary make sure your at FG, I generally get 1.012 - 1.010, then secondary and dry hop additions for 7-8 days, then cold crash and gelatin for fairly clear beer. Big yeast starter (see Mr Malty) and a healthy dose of O2 will help a lot towards attentuation.

These specs are for my system though, its what works for me with ~ 70% Efficiency, you'll need to change it to your system. I have 2 10g igloo coolers, and a 10g kettle. My fermentation is temperature controlled.

LandoAllen said:

What was the purpose in using dextrose instead of honey? I think I missed that somewhere after reading this whole thread...

Click to expand...

With the hone malt in there and the fact that honey will ferment almost 99% out, I find the sugar an acceptable substitute, and a little cheaper. I've brewed with both and find it almost indecipherable....

LandoAllen said:

Sorry I am asking so many questions. I've searched long and hard and your recipes seem to be the only ones with some sort of feedback and positive results...Hopslam is one of my favorites but nearly impossible to get in my area because the stores all sell out in days. And you can forget trying to find a bar or pub that has it on draft.

Click to expand...

Ask away my brother! just leave feedback, I look forward to your results... I was hoping to hear about others results but they seem to have been lost, lol. I cant speak for bottling this beer, with so much hops you may need to redose with yeast at bottling... I seem to recall a BN podcast about yeast being stressed when their are lots of hops.
Hopslam is also one of my favorites, and with some of the area liquor stores jacking up the price its easier this way...

Hope this helps!!! Let me know what else I can answer

Sleepyemt did you use the gypsum because your water is soft? I use city water and have a water softener so I have really soft water. I have yet to start this brew bc I have been waiting for my temp controller to arrive in the mail and ill have to wire it all up. It's taking forever to arrive...I should have known better than to buy it off eBay from someone in China.

LandoAllen said:

Sleepyemt did you use the gypsum because your water is soft? I use city water and have a water softener so I have really soft water. I have yet to start this brew bc I have been waiting for my temp controller to arrive in the mail and ill have to wire it all up. It's taking forever to arrive...I should have known better than to buy it off eBay from someone in China.

Click to expand...

Ouch! Good luck with the temp controller! It will help when it does come in. Yes, the water here is really soft, I was advised by my lhbs to add gypsum it'll help with the hops... I can't really advise on how much for your water, but it has helped with mine.

I think you'll love the recipe

So I finished building the temp controller and I'm very pleased with it. I brewed up a 3 gal recipe using your recipe. I bumped up my grain by about 10% to account for my efficiency though. And I used organic honey instead of the corn sugar.

I made a starter using the yeast harvested from 12 bottles of Bells Two Hearted. I pitched the yeast last night and I have a strong fermentation going on today. I had the temp set to 63 so the yeast could take off a bit better but I'm about to set it to 58 I think.

My mash temp was right at 150-151 for a solid hour. I used a water bath inside a cooler to keep my pot set at the right temp and it worked great!

Pre-boil SG. 1.065
Post-boil SG 1.084

If this finished around 1.010 I should be sitting around 9.8 ABV which is pretty close.

LandoAllen said:

So I finished building the temp controller and I'm very pleased with it. I brewed up a 3 gal recipe using your recipe. I bumped up my grain by about 10% to account for my efficiency though. And I used organic honey instead of the corn sugar.

I made a starter using the yeast harvested from 12 bottles of Bells Two Hearted. I pitched the yeast last night and I have a strong fermentation going on today. I had the temp set to 63 so the yeast could take off a bit better but I'm about to set it to 58 I think.

My mash temp was right at 150-151 for a solid hour. I used a water bath inside a cooler to keep my pot set at the right temp and it worked great!

Pre-boil SG. 1.065
Post-boil SG 1.084

If this finished around 1.010 I should be sitting around 9.8 ABV which is pretty close.

Click to expand...

Awesome! Looking to hear how it goes for you, with mine I think I ran around 64, and bumped it up toward the end of fermentation, trying to help it attenuate as much as possible. I think you'll enjoy it, let me know either way!

I forgot to mention that I did a small experiment where I poured some of the wort into the 2 liter starter bottle I had and its fermenting in my apartment at 85-89 F just to have a comparison in the taste between the two. I just thought it would be interesting to try.

Sleepyemt - did you age/condition for any length of time before dry hopping? Transfer to secondary?

LandoAllen said:

Sleepyemt - did you age/condition for any length of time before dry hopping? Transfer to secondary?

Click to expand...

I think I left it on the yeast for a week after fermentation, then to a secondary for dry hopping...

How's it coming lando?

Funny you asked... I just bottled it last night. That taste test during bottling was amazing! I was half tempted to drink part right there. But I decided to be patient and wait till its carbed up. It was very smooth and didn't taste like like it had that much alcohol content to it. Great hoppy aroma. The low bit of sweetness balanced the bitterness well.

Also the experiment I did where I fermented a bit of the wort at high temps turned out just how you would expect...very hot alcohol tasting and not so smooth.

LandoAllen said:

Funny you asked... I just bottled it last night. That taste test during bottling was amazing! I was half tempted to drink part right there. But I decided to be patient and wait till its carbed up. It was very smooth and didn't taste like like it had that much alcohol content to it. Great hoppy aroma. The low bit of sweetness balanced the bitterness well.

Also the experiment I did where I fermented a bit of the wort at high temps turned out just how you would expect...very hot alcohol tasting and not so smooth.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I expected that from the high temp experiment...

Nice! Glad to hear its coming along! I expect to hear your results when it's carbonated, this is where I usually lose reviewers.., I think it's great, but it's good to hear others as well..

So I brewed this awhile back following Sleepy's recipe and though something went wrong I have hopes that it will still turn out decent.

For whatever reason my efficiency was way off. IIRC SG should have been 1.090 and I came out at 1.070. I'm not entirely sure, but I think I know what went wrong. For one, I adjusted my grain mill a bit wider thinking I had too fine of a crush on a previous batch (which ended up turning out fine, no stuck sparges and it was one of my more clearer batches). I think the other reason was the boil, where I tried squeezing 7.5 gallons in my 8 gallon kettle. With moderate boil it was right at the rim. Maybe I didn't boil off enough?

So my FG ended up being 1.014 making what should be a 10% ABV beer a 7.5%. And of course the IBUs jumped to 86 or so, if I ran the numbers correctly.

Is there any reason to believe this still won't turn out ok? It's kegged and will be ready by this weekend so I have my fingers crossed.

Brewvedere said:

So I brewed this awhile back following Sleepy's recipe and though something went wrong I have hopes that it will still turn out decent.

For whatever reason my efficiency was way off. IIRC SG should have been 1.090 and I came out at 1.070. I'm not entirely sure, but I think I know what went wrong. For one, I adjusted my grain mill a bit wider thinking I had too fine of a crush on a previous batch (which ended up turning out fine, no stuck sparges and it was one of my more clearer batches). I think the other reason was the boil, where I tried squeezing 7.5 gallons in my 8 gallon kettle. With moderate boil it was right at the rim. Maybe I didn't boil off enough?

So my FG ended up being 1.014 making what should be a 10% ABV beer a 7.5%. And of course the IBUs jumped to 86 or so, if I ran the numbers correctly.

Is there any reason to believe this still won't turn out ok? It's kegged and will be ready by this weekend so I have my fingers crossed.

Click to expand...

I think it will turn out fine! You wont have the alcohol warmth that will sneak up on you, but it should be fine. Hitting the lower FG will help dry it out, but a couple of points (1.014) is still fairly close and Low.... Its all about the hops on this one, you'll enjoy it!

Please understand this recipe is what works for my system, adjustments would need to be made for yours.... I buy my grain crushed from the LHBS, and have a 10g kettle, So I really can't say regarding your 2 variables and what they played in it...

and the IBUs although are measured at 86, will taste a little less due to the slightly higher FG and balance of late hops and the honey malt...

Let us know how it turns out! I think it'll still be great!

Jhoneycutt, did yours ever turn out?


Brewvedere, Lando, any update?

I do! I do! It was fabulous. Absolutely amazing. I had two buddies that love hopslam try it and they said they liked it more than the real hopslam. Another brewing friend tried it and he was very impressed. He also agreed that it might even be better than the real hopslam. I could not tell that the alcohol content was so high. The aroma was very florally and hoppy which was to be expected. the upfront taste was smooth and had a nice rich and clean body that reminded you of honey/malt. The final taste had a very hoppy and slightly sweet taste that left you satisfied. It wasnt too hoppy for me but it was for my wife. This is for sure a beer I will be keeping around for myself. Normally I am more than willing to let anyone try my homebrew but this is the first batch that I have been guarding like it is gold.

I have to admit that I was worried about my cultured yeast I used from Two Hearted bottles but the yeast did great! I was pleased with how well the yeast settled out with the cold crash. I also think the colder ferment temps really played a huge part in this yeast doing well.

I ended up bottling the experimental batch that I fermented at very high temps and it was not pleasant. Had very hot alcohol tastes even with carbonation and sitting for a few weeks to mellow out. So this was a good lesson learned that the bells yeast doesn't do great a high temps. I dumped it...

On bottling day I also had some hard cider that had been dry hopped with Citra so I decided to mix some Hopslam with hard cider at a ratio of 1:3. This little Frankenstein double IPA/Hard Cider was incredible! Much better than I had expected it to. It adds nice ale body characteristics to the cider. It gave the cider much more body and character and it gave more of a hop blast at the end which was very interesting with the apple and citrusy characteristics of the cider.

Now that I have my basic recipe down I think I might tweak the recipe a bit and try adding some Citra hops for some citrusy notes. Also I might possibly increasing my mash temp a few degrees to make it a bit sweeter to see how that effects the hop bite at the end. I think making it a bit sweeter might help my wife enjoy it more. I also think my carbonation was a bit low so I will play with that a bit too in the future.

Overall a huge success and cheers to everyone for their advise and help. Sleepyemp you the man!!!

Glad you enjoyed it! Keep me updated to any tweaks that you like.... I had one batch through the trial and error that finished way too high, and was way too sweet, just be careful... The recipe may not be exact, but its a pretty solid recipe that gets you close.

Glad to hear feedback from someone that has tried it as well....

Turned out great. I was worried about my efficiency and the final product being a bit too bitter, but after tasting it my worries quickly faded. If my numbers are correct I finished at about 86 IBU or so, but the balance seems spot on. It's certainly not too bitter. I think with better efficiency next time around and a higher ABV, that warmth and body will make it even better. I may add a little more honey too as I can't really taste it at all.

Sleepy your recipe and guidance have been very helpful, it's much appreciated.

After 2 weeks in the keg.

Looks beautiful!
Glad to hear it turned out well!!!

Sleepyemt, I have just recently gotten into all grain brewing (2 batches under my belt). I really want to try your recipe for this hopslam clone. Since I am so new and since your recipe has evolved, is there anyway that you can post a finalized recipe with in depth instructions? I would greatly appreciate it and will definitely hit you back up with feedback and how my results transpired.

jksmith1 said:

Sleepyemt, I have just recently gotten into all grain brewing (2 batches under my belt). I really want to try your recipe for this hopslam clone. Since I am so new and since your recipe has evolved, is there anyway that you can post a finalized recipe with in depth instructions? I would greatly appreciate it and will definitely hit you back up with feedback and how my results transpired.

Click to expand...

So here is my latest variation on the recipe. It's not far from where the other are, just playing around with hop times. Exact? no, but close enough that I'm very happy with it. Its for 6 gal., you'll lose a lot to hop material and end closer to 5 gal. Temp control is important, I like 66 then as it gets closer to finish ramp it up to 68 or a little higher to help it dry out. Oxygenate and pitch enough yeast, see mrmalty.com for amounts. I keg, its possible that you'll need to repitch? I believe there was one person that didn't get carbonation. Your taking the yeast to 10%, but others have had success...

Boil volume and efficiency is for my set up, you may need to adjust for yours. I'd reccomend gypsum depending on your water? Your 10g kettle should work great, I have the same.

Let me know how it goes and and if I can answer any questions

Recipe: Hopslam
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: Imperial IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 8.74 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.74 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.086 SG
Estimated Color: 6.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 85.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 74.0 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
16 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 85.9 %
9.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.1 %
9.6 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.1 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - First Hop 4 16.2 IBUs
1 lbs 8.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 5 7.8 %
1.50 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 30.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 12.4 IBUs
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 7.9 IBUs
0.75 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9 5.2 IBUs
0.75 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil Hop 10 3.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool Hop 11 5.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 Hop 12 3.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast 13 -
3.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Day Hop 15 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 19 lbs 3.2 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 6.33 gal of water at 158.8 F 149.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 5.33 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2

Is there a specific time you are adding the corn sugar into your boil?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

I typically do it as I'm sparging, but you can do it with in the last 10 min to flame out. I find it easier to do earlier, w/o worrying about clumping


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Jumping in a little late here but curious as to how these hops would reside at a lower gravity?

Say, around 6.5-7%. Would the corn sugar still be needed?

Would you need to cut back on the amount of hops while leaving the types & times they are added alone?

Would be an AG batch.

I know it is not Hopslam per se'.... But for a every day drinker, 10% is steep!

Thanks in advance... Especially documenting all of your work in such detail.