Anyone try the double sunshine clone recipe from BYO?

[LJvermonster]

I did just read this and I think for my next batch this is what I'm going to try to do:

I put a paint strainer bag over my bucket and a large metal strainer on top of that. Beers with a lot of hops will clog the paint strainer bag so I use sanitized brewing gloves to squeeze the last couple gallons of wort out of the bag. I tried siphoning it once with two paint strainer bags on the end of the siphon. It clogged really bad and ended up being more of a hassle than the other way.

For this, and other Imperial IPAs, this is probably better to have two layers of filtering.

 

[TrickyDick]

Frankly it's probably not a big concern.

I read an article about separating the trub vs not, I think on reddit?? Anyways, I can't find the link for it now. There were BJCP certified tasters in a scientific head to head tasting of two identical pale ale beers brewed identically except for separation of trub. The results were that the tasters had a slight preference for the one with no trub separation.
You can use hop sacks if you like to contain the hop mass. Very easy.
The break material is difficult to separate without a proper whirlpool.
I always worry about the auto-siphon being contaminated so I'd never want to use it on fresh wort, but given the two options, I'd siphon because it's easier, assuming you can get a stainless racking wand primed.

TD

 

[LJvermonster]

Braufessor,
Gotta ask, after brewing all these multiple times, do you still love the DS clone the best? Or are Abner and HT growing on you?

 

[Braufessor]

On the one hand, I would say I do like the DS clone best..... however, that comes with a few disclaimers.

1.) I only brewed the Abner clone once, it did not turn out great, and I have not revisited it..... I did not have warrior to bitter and used a hopshot. Found the chinook to come off as a bit harsh for my tastes. It is one I need to rebrew and try it again - not fair to really dump on it after one batch that did not turn out as good as I wanted it to.

2.) Heady clone.... I still have not brewed one of these that really turned out great. They were all good. None tasted like Heady Topper. I still think it has promise, and I have some harvested Heady Topper yeast that I brewed a pale ale with - gonna try it again with a bigger pitch of this harvested yeast..... Still hoping to pull this beer off a little better.

3.) Even though I have brewed and like the DS clone.....I really like Citra hops a lot. Many don't. I also am not satisfied with it as my "go to" IPA..... I am still searching. I am going to brew "Hop Fu" recipe this weekend. It is probably the most successful beer/recipe in the history of National Homebrew competition.... winning gold in IPA 3 of the last 5 years plus a second place finish in there too...... figured it is worth a trial run at the very least.

I think they are all pretty good recipes, but (at least for me) I feel like I am still trying to really dial them in a bit more.....

How have your recent attempts turned out? Which have you liked best?

 

[LJvermonster]

Very fair response indeed. I am very interested in his "hop fu" recipe. Is there a standard out there or multiple variations?

Unfortuntely for me brew wise (very fortunate for me personally), I had a son Thanksgiving last year and haven't brewed yet. I've been obsessed with Sip of Sunshine lately (enjoy it more than Heady) so my next recipe will be 1/3 parts cascade, chinook, and citra. I have all the ingredients However now I have too much snow to do anything!

Those are the woes of my life. Any chance you can post the Hop Fu recipe you are going to use?

 

[Braufessor]

Congrats on the new addition
I am going to try to brew it precisely as is......I have never won a gold medal at NHC - Probably best I follow directions the first time through before changing anything up They also had some details in the Zymurgy from this last october I believe in regard to water and dry hopping. Here is the recipe:
http://www.alternativecommutepueblo.com/2010/01/2014-nhc-category-14-india-pale-ale.html

* I am going to scale it down to 7 gallons and cut it in half.

 

[tgmartin000]

I also have hop fun on my to brew list. Kelsy is here on the forums, I've talked to him a few times. His session ale recipe won me a bronze at the state fair a few years back.

 

[Braufessor]

I also have hop fun on my to brew list. Kelsy is here on the forums, I've talked to him a few times. His session ale recipe won me a bronze at the state fair a few years back.

I saw that recipe thread I think - Collaboration brew with stone/ballast point or something like that..... that one is on the list for me as well. I have been brewing and rebrewing session IPA's for the past several months trying to find one that I really like.

 

[TrickyDick]

Congrats on the new addition
I am going to try to brew it precisely as is......I have never won a gold medal at NHC - Probably best I follow directions the first time through before changing anything up They also had some details in the Zymurgy from this last october I believe in regard to water and dry hopping. Here is the recipe:
http://www.alternativecommutepueblo.com/2010/01/2014-nhc-category-14-india-pale-ale.html

* I am going to scale it down to 7 gallons and cut it in half.

What issue is that in? The link keeps puking in iPad HBT app.

I applied to enter NHC for first time this year. Never entered before. The IPA category is one of the most difficult due to number of entries I think.

I really liked the Abner clone of the thee being discussed here. It's one of my faves that I've ever brewed. I'll also say that I had a second keg of the HT clone that was old but untapped. About 8 months old since I brewed. I freshened it up with a 5 day dry hop using Galaxy and mosaic in the keg. That turned out really really good, and didn't last long...

I think I'm not a big fan of Citra. It seems to be highly variable in its flavor. I've done two all Citra IPAs into four kegs over last four years. All four kegs tasted different. The first two I did with the zombie dust clone recipe. I used cone hops to dry hop one carboy before kegging with a long contact time. That was the best one. The other half was dry hopped in carbing keg. It was meh.. The DS was quite tasty, but something was lacking that I cannot out a finger on.

As an aside, I recently did a few hoppy brews: two hearted clone (awesome!), hop rod rye clone (even more awesome), arrogant bastard clone (totally awesome!). I think I enjoy all of these more than the Vermont IPA series I did, except the abner, which I think was better than all. I think it's the piney flavors of the hops particular hops in abner that I like.

TD

 

[TrickyDick]

How did you handle the late addition hops?

Me??

Lately, I've been taking the flame out hops and split into two piles.
After flame out I'll begin chilling and add one half the late hops after it hits 180°, and will usually be recirculating the wort or stirring. I sometimes let it dwell at 180 for 15 minutes and then chill to 160, and I sometimes continue chilling to 160 right away. Either way, I'll add the second half after it hits 160 and then turn off chilling. I'll give it 15 to 30 minutes at 160 to steep before chilling th rest of the way to pitch temp (or as close as I can get in FL).

TD

 

[Braufessor]

What issue is that in? The link keeps puking in iPad HBT app.


TD

The september/october 2014 issue of Zymurgy has all the NHC winners from this past summer. The hop fu recipe is on page 68. (If you google Hop Fu Kelsey McNair you will also get links to the recipe.)

Page 57-59 there are some additional details on the recipe in an article/interview with Kelsey about his beer..... water stuff, dry hopping, etc.

 

[TrickyDick]

Thanks.

I read that yesterday in the magazine. Very insightful. I wonder what he is using as a hop back for pellet hops... I have the HopRocket but its only for leaf hops AFAIK. Suppose I could use leaf hops, but some varieties are impossible to find as leaf. Regardless, this is on my possibly over-ambitious 2015 brew schedule. I was particularly interested in how he described the two-step dry hop process and gave kudos to V.C., which was in counterpoint to the method espoused (perhaps with some misleading info?) by The Alchemist head brewer, whom I believe said something like, "Never less than four days, and never more than 5". Regardless, I think that the combination of hops used in Hop Fu are reminiscent of the PtE and will play well together. There are a few in there that I think I've not tried before in combo. Will be nice to see.

TD

 

[beast464]

I was looking at converting some of the LME to do more of a 5 lb partial mash using the BYO recipe. However, the carapils is not in the extract version. Was this conversion just grouped into the LME along with the 2-row? Or should it have been in the extract version and I just need to convert the 6.6 lbs of LME to some of the 2-row?

 

[LJvermonster]

The september/october 2014 issue of Zymurgy has all the NHC winners from this past summer. The hop fu recipe is on page 68. (If you google Hop Fu Kelsey McNair you will also get links to the recipe.)

Page 57-59 there are some additional details on the recipe in an article/interview with Kelsey about his beer..... water stuff, dry hopping, etc.

Braufessor, did you brew Hop Fu yet? Interested to see what your take is on it!

 

[rowanb]

.

 

[Braufessor]

Braufessor, did you brew Hop Fu yet? Interested to see what your take is on it!

I just got done transferring it to a keg last night. I am bringing it down to 32 degrees right now. I think I am going to gelatin it and also let some of the hop particles settle out and jump it to another keg on Sunday and carb it.

It is great. I could have drank it by the pint out of the fermenter.

I also just sampled Kelsey McNairs Session IPA recipe that is here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/stone-ballast-point-kelsey-mcnair-collaboration-201080/

Brewed it 12 days ago. Sampled tonight - 1.011 gravity. It was really really good already. Threw the dry hops in tonight and will cold crash and transfer to keg in a few days.

Both recipes seem like they will be outstanding. I will know for sure in a week or two.

 

[LJvermonster]

I just got done transferring it to a keg last night. I am bringing it down to 32 degrees right now. I think I am going to gelatin it and also let some of the hop particles settle out and jump it to another keg on Sunday and carb it.



It is great. I could have drank it by the pint out of the fermenter.



I also just sampled Kelsey McNairs Session IPA recipe that is here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/stone-ballast-point-kelsey-mcnair-collaboration-201080/



Brewed it 12 days ago. Sampled tonight - 1.011 gravity. It was really really good already. Threw the dry hops in tonight and will cold crash and transfer to keg in a few days.



Both recipes seem like they will be outstanding. I will know for sure in a week or two.

Braufessor,
How'd these two beer end up tasting fully carbed?

 

[Braufessor]

I thought they both turned out really well. I had a couple of my "regular" tasters that really liked them as well. I think some others liked them even more than I did. I am not a huge fan of the dry/west coast style IPA..... These beers were definitely more toward that style of IPA for sure. I like the fruitier/juicy east coast kind of IPA - vermont IPA's, etc. I liked the session IPA more than the full IPA..... but, I tend to like a 1.05ish beer over a 1.07 beer most of the time. I highly recommend trying either or both.... There were bot really good..... and they are both really gone. Neither lasted a long time.

 

[LJvermonster]

I highly recommend trying either or both.... There were bot really good..... and they are both really gone. Neither lasted a long time.

They are both really gone cracked me up! Thanks for the insight.

 

[PSUBrew]

I thought they both turned out really well. I had a couple of my "regular" tasters that really liked them as well. I think some others liked them even more than I did. I am not a huge fan of the dry/west coast style IPA..... These beers were definitely more toward that style of IPA for sure. I like the fruitier/juicy east coast kind of IPA - vermont IPA's, etc. I liked the session IPA more than the full IPA..... but, I tend to like a 1.05ish beer over a 1.07 beer most of the time. I highly recommend trying either or both.... There were bot really good..... and they are both really gone. Neither lasted a long time.

Braufessor, can you recommend a water profile to try with the Double Sunshine recipe? I have been following your Northeast IPA thread and have learned a lot. Thanks.

 

[Braufessor]

Braufessor, can you recommend a water profile to try with the Double Sunshine recipe? I have been following your Northeast IPA thread and have learned a lot. Thanks.

I have not brewed this specific clone very much. However, I have had quite a bit of double sunshine, and I think it comes off as drier and crisper than a lot of the "NE IPA's." I would tend to go more toward higher sulfate and lower chloride...... I might start with 150-200 on sulfate and 50-75 on chloride possibly and go from there. I would shoot for 80-100 Calcium. I would target 5.35-5.40 type pH. Again - that is not advice coming from dialing in this recipe..... but, I think that might be where I would start and go from there.