Brewing Instructions for Bell's All Grain Hopslam Kit

[StLouBrew]

On their website, Bell's sells a Hopslam all grain kit. They also list all the ingredients (see below). Because shipping would be almost $20 and the kit includes some stuff I don't need, I'd like source the stuff at my LHBS. What I don't have is the brew instructions.

I was wondering if anyone here had advice on the hop additions.

And the other part I'm looking for guidance on is the yeast. I've never done a starter before. I know it's not rocket science, but I'm wondering that if I used the WLP001, and just used twice the amount.. could I get by without doing a starter??

Ingredient List from Bell's Clone Kit:

- (#10) Briess 2-Row Brewer's Malt

- (#5) Briess Pale Ale Malt

- (8 oz) Briess Caramel 40L Malt

- (12 oz) Honey Bear

- (1 oz) Crystal Hops

- (1 oz) Mosaic Hops

- (1 oz) Glacier Hops

- (1 oz) Centennial Hops

- (2 oz) Amarillo Hops

- (4 oz) Simcoe Hops

- (10 oz) Priming Sugar

- (1) Brewing instructions

- (1) Brew Log

- (1) Yeast culture information sheet

 

[jpLV]

I took a crack at the hop additions. I used what you gave and assumed 5 gallon batch size and an OG of 1.090 to get that 10% ABV. Would tweak the whirlpool times and maybe move around the aroma hops depending on what AA% Im dealing with. I've read Hopslam is supposed to be in the upper 60's for IBU so I was also aiming for that.

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

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.13 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.73 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.091 SG
Estimated Color: 7.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 64.7 IBUs
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.8 SRM) Grain 1 61.5 %
5 lbs Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 30.8 %
8.0 oz Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.1 %
12.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 4 4.6 %
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 25.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 4.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 7.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20. Hop 8 7.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Mosaic (HBC 369) [12.25 %] - Steep/Whirl Hop 9 9.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20.0 Hop 10 10.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast 11 -
3.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs

 

[jpLV]

With a OG this high I would absolutely recommend a starter if you can. That way you can overbuild your yeast to a recommended pitch rate. You can also just buy additional packs but I'd want to use 3 packs for that high of OG. Its really a matter of cost and time you want to put into it. I'd check out a yeast starter calculator and plug in some numbers if you're interested. Personally I've had great success with making sure my pitch rate was good and the peace of mind is also worth it.

 

[StLouBrew]

JP,

Thanks for the reply and the details on the recipe. I'm curious.. what was the rationale you used for early vs. late addition hops? Was it mostly just based on trying different combinations to get the target IBUs?

Cheers!

 

[jpLV]

Yeah it was a little trial and error for IBU's using info from an older thread where someone emailed Bells. This is the information about the hopping.

"Hopping is trickier, but I can tell you that we use a blend of modern American high-alpha aroma hops. I won't say that your exact choice of kettle hops doesn't matter, but I would focus more on the aroma side. A late kettle addition of Amarillo & generous dry-hopping with Simcoe provides the signature aromatic punch. Bitterness is in the upper 60 IBU range, less than most people think. Hopslam is all about hop flavor, not unrestrained bitterness."

So I kept most of the hops at the end since like they said I didn't want the bitterness to be high and instead opted for later additions for more aroma and flavor. I'll be honest I'm not too familiar with Crystal or Glacier hops but they appear to be mainly used for aroma so thats why I added them later. Centennial makes sense as the main bittering hop as Columbus is what I normally use these days and its a derivative I believe of Centennial. Dry hopping sounds like mainly Simcoe per the notes. Amarillo dry hop probably is flexible.

That was my first take looking at it. Definitely could be tweaked or adjusted from people who have brewed this before or have more experience with these big IPA's.

 

[jpLV]

In case you were still interested this is the hop schedule for the official kit Bells released.

.5 oz Crystal Hops (45 mins)

.5 oz Mosaic Hops (20 mins)

.5 oz Clacier Hops (20 mins)

1 oz Centennial Hops (15 mins)

.5 oz Mosaic Hops (5 mins)

.5 oz Glacier Hops (5 mins)

2 oz Amarillo Hops (Flameout)

.5 oz Crystal Hops (Flameout)

4 oz Simcoe Hops (Dry Hop)

 

[jschm19]

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2...tructions_-_All_Grain.pdf?2854408496589602610

 

[jschm19]

I realize I'm probably a few weeks late but in case anyone is looking

 

[St00]

I realize I'm probably a few weeks late but in case anyone is looking

Well I was looking for them and I've found them useful, so thanks! It was worth it!