Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA Clone - Extract

Hi All!

I'm hoping for a little advice. I brewed Midwest Supplies Fresh "Squished" Extra kit about 6 months ago and loved it.

I've got a wedding coming up and wanted to do a couple kegs for the rehearsal dinner. I've decided to go with a version of the Fresh Squeezed Clone. I've brewed ~30 beers or so over several years but I've never done the same one twice and just "tweaked".

I don't plan on getting the kit again but I've found enough recipes out there (including on threads in here) and have my brew profile from the first time that I think I can re-create what I did the first time. I don't necessarily need it to be a perfect clone, just a really good beer. I've got enough time to do a batch (or possibly 2) before I'd need to do my batches for the wedding. I want to try the recipe below to see if the "tweaks" make it better.

Here's what I plan on doing:
6 Gallon Boil - Extract Brewing

Grains:
1.75 lb Munich
.75 lb Crystal
* I saw one recipe with caramel grains instead of Crystal

Extract:
7.5 lbs DME (was 9.15 lb LME but I want to do DME)
*Plan on doing 3.5lbs at start, 4lb late addition

Hops:
Bittering - Apollo
*I originally used Nugget but I was thinking about switching to Apollo for this one mainly because of the "spiciness" of the hop. I thought that would be a nice balance for the fruit flavors of the hops

Last 15 minutes -
2oz Citra
2oz Mosiac

Dry Hop -
1.5oz Citra
1.5 oz Mosiac

Yeast -
I used Safale dry yeast US-05 the first time but thought about switching to a liquid yeast this time. I've never really experimented with yeast before - though I have used liquid yeast (made a starter) once before.

I'd love any suggestions anyone has, thanks in advance! I'm hoping to hit the LHBS on Saturday morning.

 

Looks nice!

Crystal and caramel malt are different names for the same thing. You will get variation from maltster to maltster, but the difference in the nomenclature doesn't mean anything.

Are you adding all 4 oz of your late hop additions at 15 minutes, or spacing them out *within* those last 15? Just curious. You will likely get some suggestions to move them later, even all the way to flameout/hopstand.

 

Deschutes uses C-75/80 malt and a lot of it. It shouldn't work, but it does. The bittering hop isn't going to bring enough to the flavor of the beer in this case to consider a change for that reason. S-05 is a good yeast and will work well. They use a British strain that doesn't attenuate quite as much.

 

Thanks to both of you!

Does anything think it's worth it to try a different yeast?

 

I would say that since you are brewing for an event, you should limit how many variables you change on this batch. US-05 is a reliable, clean yeast that you already know makes a good beer with your recipe. I'd stick with that. You can always experiment with new yeast varieties later when you are just brewing for yourself.

You'd probably do just fine with many alternate yeast varieties, and less fine with some others, but basically I don't see any good reason to change it on this batch.

 

Thank you for posting this. I will be brewing it up (using Nugget) this sunday (but in all grain). I have a light batch IPA that I am using to test the new London ESB dry yeast. I wanted to do another beer right on the yeast cake. This sounds Yummy since I could not figure out what to do next. (right now the yeast is in a lucky hearted IPA, centennial hops like bells two hearted, but as HSB-438 added to it)

 

Jordan, this is my test batch - which is why I wanted to give a couple tweaks a try. The "real" batches will be in January.

 

Oh, got it! Well then, is say it's up to you whether you really feel that a different yeast is necessary or not. US-05 is going to be a good choice, but if you wanted to try wlp007 or the Conan strain (available from several labs under different names), those make wonderful IPAs too. Maybe split a test batch and try out a couple new yeasts and see what comes out.