Best Commercial IPA I've Had!

[ILBMF]

I've already posted a thread months ago on the kegged version of Evolution Lot #3 IPA. It has been released in bottles in the last month or so and we've been buying it whenever we see it.

IPA lovers MUST try this beer from Delaware! My best description is...perfect balance between bitterness and sweet, hoppy aroma. This beer is as hoppy as I've ever had in a super smooth, non offensive and bold way. Very drinkable, not heavy or ''thick''. Just try it if you can find it.

It's 6.8% and around 60-65 IBU's. These guys really know how to extract serious hop flavor. Heavy Seas Loose Cannon was my favorite IPA which I have successfully cloned here at home, but now I have another beer to try to duplicate. I'll need some help from the more seasoned brewers here. I hope someone tries this. I've used one of the forum member's Cannon clone recipes, but It took me 5 batches or so to tweak it and get the proper balance between the hops and malt according to what I get out of the real deal Loose Cannon.

 

[Marsdude]

OK, now that you have my mouth watering... can I get this beer in Colorado?

How would you compare the beer to Racer 5 or Dog Fish Head 60?

 

[ILBMF]

I don't know how far they are shipping it from Delaware. I like Dogfish 60 and Racer 5 and this is different. Not as thick, more crisp and I'd have to say the hops stand out more than anything. Very clean without any nasty aftertaste or anything abrasive. The malt side is less bold than the Dogfish 60 without the Dogfish type of malt character. Racer 5 also has a more bolt malt taste that is well balanced with the bitterness, but like I said, the EVO lot3 IPA seems to pronounce the hop flavors in a much bigger way than the 2 beers discussed here in comparison.

Imagine a malt flavor that is very ''middle of the road'' as far as malts go in flavor and character. The beer immediately screems HOPS and I have to say in a better way than I have experienced to date. Big Bold Hops without excessive bitterness or opposing strong flavors which in my opinion confuse my pallet at times. To sum it up...huge hops (cascade??) in a very clean, non offensive way. My new favorite by far.

 

[mrames]

Hey ILBMF, I'm putting together a recipe for Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3 IPA and wondered if you'd be interested in sharing your's? I'd be forever hic grateful hic. Here is what I have so far. Hopping schedule is questionable and even quantity of hops. This gives IBU of about 73, SRM 9.

Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3 IPA

Grains
.5 lb Breiss Carapils Malt
.5 lb American Munich Malt
Extracts
3 lb Breiss Golden Light DME (60 min)
6 lb Briess Golden Light DME (30 min-late addition)
Yeast
WLP001 California Ale Yeast
Hops
1 oz. Magnum (Pellets 13.1% AA), 60 min
1 oz. Centennial (Pellets 10% AA), 30 min
1 oz. Chinook (Pellets 13% AA), 10 min
1 oz. Amarillo (Pellets 7% AA), 5 min
1 oz. Palisade (Pellets 9% AA), Dry Hop
Adjuncts
2 tsp Irish Moss (15 min)
5 oz Corn Sugar, priming, bottling

Procedure
Add Grains to 5.5 gallon of cold water, heat to 175°
Maintain 175° temp for 45 minutes then rinse grains with quart of 175° water
Bring to boil, add 3# DME & Hops (watch for boil over!)
Boil for 30 minutes and add 6# DME & hops (watch for boil over!)
Boil for 15 minutes more and add irish moss
Boil for 5 minutes more and add hops
Finish boil for 10 minute
Cool wort from 212° to 70° as quickly as possible
Put airstone in and rack wort into primary fermenter
Take SG reading and record. Pitch yeast and seal up
Notes:
Could't find clone, this is mostly a guess. Orig Target 7.25% ABV, My Target 7.8 ABV, IBU 73, SRM 9, 1.084 OG, 1.023 FG

 

[remilard]

Huh, I was in Delaware the last 5 weeks and never saw this one. Saw the ESB a lot.

 

[dataz722]

I've had the ESB and that is pretty damn good. I need to keep an eye out for the IPA.

 

[ILBMF]

Hey ILBMF, I'm putting together a recipe for Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3 IPA and wondered if you'd be interested in sharing your's? I'd be forever hic grateful hic. Here is what I have so far. Hopping schedule is questionable and even quantity of hops. This gives IBU of about 73, SRM 9.

Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3 IPA

Grains
.5 lb Breiss Carapils Malt
.5 lb American Munich Malt
Extracts
3 lb Breiss Golden Light DME (60 min)
6 lb Briess Golden Light DME (30 min-late addition)
Yeast
WLP001 California Ale Yeast
Hops
1 oz. Magnum (Pellets 13.1% AA), 60 min
1 oz. Centennial (Pellets 10% AA), 30 min
1 oz. Chinook (Pellets 13% AA), 10 min
1 oz. Amarillo (Pellets 7% AA), 5 min
1 oz. Palisade (Pellets 9% AA), Dry Hop
Adjuncts
2 tsp Irish Moss (15 min)
5 oz Corn Sugar, priming, bottling

Procedure
Add Grains to 5.5 gallon of cold water, heat to 175°
Maintain 175° temp for 45 minutes then rinse grains with quart of 175° water
Bring to boil, add 3# DME & Hops (watch for boil over!)
Boil for 30 minutes and add 6# DME & hops (watch for boil over!)
Boil for 15 minutes more and add irish moss
Boil for 5 minutes more and add hops
Finish boil for 10 minute
Cool wort from 212° to 70° as quickly as possible
Put airstone in and rack wort into primary fermenter
Take SG reading and record. Pitch yeast and seal up
Notes:
Could't find clone, this is mostly a guess. Orig Target 7.25% ABV, My Target 7.8 ABV, IBU 73, SRM 9, 1.084 OG, 1.023 FG

I've used he promash software to no avail and ended up just winging it from my 5-6 attempts. I am about as close as I'm probably going to get on a partial mash recipe. My last 2 attempts have been extremely close and the color is right on the money. The trick here is to let the beer condition for at least a month after kegging/bottling. This recipe is worth trying.

Batch size...5.00 gallons (5.5 to start)

Grains...2.0lbs Munich malt
0.75lbs...CaraMunich 40 crystal malt
7.00lbs...Light DME

Yeast...WLP001

1.0 tbs Irish moss 20 min
.75 oz Amarillo 12 min
.75 oz Centennial 12 min
.50 oz Magnum 12 min
.75 oz Amarillo 10 min
.75 oz Centennial 10 min
1.00 oz Amarillo 5 min
1.00 oz Centennial 5 min

3/4 cup corn sugar



Bring all grains to 153 degrees in 2.5 qts water and put in 170 degree oven, turn off oven immediately upon putting pot in in oven. Keep lid on pot for 1 hour. Turn the oven on to goose temp at 1/2 our point just to maintain 153 degrees. Or, soak all grains in boil pot water at 153 degrees for 1 hour in a bag.

Bring 5.5 gallons water to 170 degrees and rinse grains with boil pot water in collander or strainer. Add DME at boil, turn off flame, stir until dissolved and return to boil. No hops are added until last 12 minutes of boil in order to implement ''hop bursting'' method. Hop schedule ^^ above^^

Cool quickly to 70 degrees and pitch WLP001 yeast. Keep fermenter between 65-70 degrees for 7 days. Rack to secondary. Dry hop at this time. Let sit 7 days again and bottle/keg.

Dry hop schedule (for secondary) Add hops when racking to secondary

1.00 oz Palisade
.50 oz Amarillo
.50 oz Centennial
.50 oz Magnum

A couple of other things to mention...I use 3 nylon fine screen bags for all 3 hop additions during the boil to keep debris down. I also use one in the secondary. I always weigh down the hop bags with large stainless steel bolts which are inside of the bags. After the 7th day in the secondary I use gelatin to clear the beer by boiling 2 cups water and let it cool to very warm, not hot. Then I stir in the single packet of gelatin (unflavored) until dissolved completely. Pour the gelatin solution around the top of the secondary and cold crash in the fridge for 3-4 days to clear proteins. This makes bottled beer extremely clear and helps kegged beer to become clearer.

This recipe will give you that serious Cannon sweet hop aroma and flavor. The trick to a cannon clone IMO is to get that malt/hop balance and it's easy to go too far one way. This recipe gets you there. I also have the recipe implement 8 individual ounces of hops without any left over.

 

[mrames]

ILBMF, Thanks for sharing your Cannon recipe! Our recipies are surprisingly close with the exception of your hopping schedule. Very interesting. Although I've already made mine and it's in primary now, I can't wait to try it again and implement some of your suggestions. I've never used a geletin and the fridge to cold crash, maybe it's about time. I did modify my recipe a bit by increasing grains and subbing out hop that I could not get and it is as follows although I will probably change the dry hopping after hearing from you.

Heavy Seas Loose Cannon Hop3 IPA

Grains
1 lb Breiss Carapils Malt
1 lb American Munich Malt
Extracts
3 lb Breiss Golden Light DME (60 min)
6 lb Briess Golden Light DME (30 min-late addition)

Yeast
WLP001 California Ale Yeast

Hops
1 oz. Magnum (Pellets 13.1% AA), 60 min
1 oz. Centennial (Pellets 10% AA), 30 min
1 oz. Nugget (Pellets 13% AA), 10 min (sub for Chinook)
1 oz. Amarillo (Pellets 7% AA), 5 min
1 oz. Cascade (Leaf 9% AA), Hopbacked with hot wort, added to cooled wort in primary (sub for Palisade)
1 oz. Cascade (Leaf 9% AA), Dry Hop (sub for Palisade)

Adjuncts
2 tsp Irish Moss (15 min)
5 oz Corn Sugar, priming, bottling

Procedure
Add Grains to 5.5 gallon of cold water, heat to 175°
Maintain 175° temp for 45 minutes then rinse grains with quart of 175° water
Bring to boil, add 3# DME & Hops (watch for boil over!)
Boil for 30 minutes and add 6# DME & hops (watch for boil over!)
Boil for 15 minutes more and add irish moss
Boil for 5 minutes more and add hops
Finish boil for 10 minute
Cool wort from 212° to 70° as quickly as possible
Put airstone in and rack wort into primary fermenter
Take SG reading and record. Pitch yeast and seal up

Notes:
Could't find clone, this is mostly a guess. Orig Target 7.25% ABV, My Target 7.8 ABV, IBU 73, SRM 9, 1.084 OG, 1.023 FG,

My actual OG adjusted was 1.090.

Thanks again, Mark

 

[ILBMF]

The main reason I do the hop bursting method (all last 15 minutes, my case, last 12 min) is that's the way I get great hop aroma and flavor like Cannon usually has. I would suggest that you at least use my hop schedule exactly as listed even if you use your recipe otherwise. This will get you in true cannon territory as far as hop flavor/aroma go.

Someone here on this forum introduced me to hop bursting a couple of months ago and I couldn't be happier. It may require more hops to get the bitterness right, but you get more aroma and flavor using this method. If you really like your beer to scream HOPS!!! try it. I did all the trial and error as far as the cannon recipe goes so give it a shot.