Broken Halo Clone

[Saccharomyces]

Here's a Broken Halo clone I put together based on the info on Widmer's website and a little bit of further digging. EdWort asked about it so I figured I would post it here. I have not brewed this one yet, shame on me.

Widmer uses Alchemy (a proprietary hop blend made of low-cohumulone, high alpha hops) for bittering, Cascade for flavor, and Zeus for aroma/dry hop. Widmer also seems to use lots of light crystal which makes this IPA a little sweeter in the finish than most IPAs.

I have the Alchemy hops blend listed below, if you need the hops PM me and we can arrange a trade. Horizon, warrior, and magnum are all hard to find. FWH with Columbus in place of the bittering hops is probably a reasonable substitute.

OG 1.058
FG 1.012
6.0% ABV
~45 IBU

All grain, 75% brewhouse efficiency:

Grain Bill:
9# 2-row
1# Crystal 10
1# Crystal 20
.5# CaraPils

Mash 150*F for 75 min.

Hops:
.25oz Warrior 60
.25oz Horizon 60
.25oz Magnum 60
.5oz Cascade 30
.5oz Cascade 15
1oz Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus 5
1oz Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (DH)

US-05 Cali Ale yeast

Extract:

In place of the 9# of 2-row use 6.75# of Extra light DME. Steep Crystal 10, Crystal 20, and CaraPils at 155*F for 30 minutes. A full volume boil is best. If you must do a partial boil, do a late extract addition with 10 minutes left in the boil to ensure proper hop bitterness and color.

 

[pirate252]

Was looking for another recipe to use the leftover hops of the alchemy blend from the widmer hef clone recipe I am about to do, love broken halo as well, thanks for the recipe

 

[thegreatgumbino]

Anyone every try this recipe? Curious to see how it turned out.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Yeah MaxHavoc brewed it last year and he shared a bottle with me, it's pretty dang close and was quite tasty.

 

[insp79]

The Broken Halo is in my primary. Thanks for the recipe.
I could not find Horizon hops, so added .25 oz additional Magnum to the bittering.
I used the extract and steeped grains.
My SG was 1.062. I hope that is close enough.
Also my IBU Calculations came up to 54.
Is this splitting hairs, or will it substantially effect the final flavor?

This is my 3rd brew. I hope this one comes out better than the other two. (Random IPA and Kolsch)
It smells great, and tastes good too.
I am not sure about the fermenting schedule.
I am thinking 3-4 days in primary, and then pitch dry hops in secondary for 7-10 days.
The other two brews, I think I kegged and chilled them too soon.
Patience...
Thanks for the recipe.

 

[tdoft]

Insp 79: two weeks at least in primary and all your beers will come out better. Many in HBT advocate a 1 month primary which shows INSANE patience. Good luck!!!

 

[msa8967]

Slightly off topic but i would like to know what Broken Halo tastes like? I really enjoy Widmer's hefe. I would go out and buy a bottle of Broken Halo to see what it is like but I am visiting my wife's parents in southern Georgia where BMC beers dominate the local stores and quality craft brews just cannot easily be found in large variety. Won't be home for another week.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Insp 79: two weeks at least in primary and all your beers will come out better. Many in HBT advocate a 1 month primary which shows INSANE patience. Good luck!!!

Yeah I would go minimum two weeks in the primary, before transferring off the yeast. Most commercial breweries primary for a minimum of 11 days. If you transfer earlier you risk diacetyl and acetaldehyde in the beer, since the yeast won't be in sufficient numbers to clean it up. I usually go 3-4 weeks in primary and straight to the keg, after crash cooling for a day or two to drop out the yeast.

 

[insp79]

Insp 79: two weeks at least in primary and all your beers will come out better. Many in HBT advocate a 1 month primary which shows INSANE patience. Good luck!!!

It has been almost one week in the primary (Ale Pale). I am waiting patiently. I will give it 10 days, then transfer it to the secondary (Carboy). At least then I can look at it.

For my next batch, I am going to use a carboy primary, so I can watch the action in the primary.
When I made my Kolsch beer, I must have removed it from the primary a little too soon. It definitely effected the taste. You can taste "green apple jolly ranchers" from the Diacetyl in the beer. I can hardly get anyone to drink it. I might have to pour it out, to make room for another brew.

 

[insp79]

The waiting is over, I am kegging the Broken Halo in the morning. I can't wait to try it.

 

[flabyboy]

The waiting is over, I am kegging the Broken Halo in the morning. I can't wait to try it.

You should definitely learn to just keep it in the primary for 3-4 weeks. Will be happier with the results

 

[insp79]

Here's a Broken Halo clone I put together based on the info on Widmer's website and a little bit of further digging. EdWort asked about it so I figured I would post it here. I have not brewed this one yet, shame on me.

Widmer uses Alchemy (a proprietary hop blend made of low-cohumulone, high alpha hops) for bittering, Cascade for flavor, and Zeus for aroma/dry hop. Widmer also seems to use lots of light crystal which makes this IPA a little sweeter in the finish than most IPAs.

I have the Alchemy hops blend listed below, if you need the hops PM me and we can arrange a trade. Horizon, warrior, and magnum are all hard to find. FWH with Columbus in place of the bittering hops is probably a reasonable substitute.

OG 1.058
FG 1.012
6.0% ABV
~45 IBU

All grain, 75% brewhouse efficiency:

Grain Bill:
9# 2-row
1# Crystal 10
1# Crystal 20
.5# CaraPils

Mash 150*F for 75 min.

Hops:
.25oz Warrior 60
.25oz Horizon 60
.25oz Magnum 60
.5oz Cascade 30
.5oz Cascade 15
1oz Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus 5
1oz Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (DH)

US-05 Cali Ale yeast

Extract:

In place of the 9# of 2-row use 6.75# of Extra light DME. Steep Crystal 10, Crystal 20, and CaraPils at 155*F for 30 minutes. A full volume boil is best. If you must do a partial boil, do a late extract addition with 10 minutes left in the boil to ensure proper hop bitterness and color.

Thanks for the recipe, I really enjoyed it. We did a taste comparison between a Widmer Broken Halo and a fresh home-brewed clone. They were very close in flavor, and color. The home brew version was voted best every time.

I am going to brew it again, today. This time is going to be an All Grain batch. I am wondering why you call for a 75 min mash. Is it because of the cooler mash temp 150* F ?
I plan on fermenting 3 weeks in the primary, then dry hop in secondary for 5 to 7 days.

 

[insp79]

What would be the preferred strike water quantity to grain ratio for this recipe? I have 11.5 lbs of grain. My cooler mash tun drains dry on the test run.

 

[kappajoe]

I like 1.3#/qt. mash thickness
so that would give you 3.75gal of H20 with 11.5#

 

[insp79]

1.3 qt/ #s grain?
thank you!
Here we go.

 

[insp79]

Well I brewed the All-Grain version of this recipe yesterday. It was my first all-grain brew ever. I do not know where to begin to figure out what I did wrong. This beer is not going to be good.
I achieved 48% efficiency(for some reason I was expecting 75%+). My starting gravity was 1.040. The ABV will be approx 4.3% with and IBU of 60 if I dry hop. I don't think I'll waste any more hops on this brew. This beer is so far out of balance, (1.30) that it doesn't register as a known beer style.
The major culprit was my cooler mash tun manifold.
I had a stuck sparge.
also my strike water was 164° F, but when I doughed in the grain it quickly dropped to approx 148° F. I tried to bring the temp up by adding small qty of 190° F water and stirring during the 75 minute rest.
On the first sparge my manifold jammed. I took a while to free the clog.
I finally collected 6.8 gallons for my boil.
I am going back to the design stage on my mash tun, and try this brew again next weekend.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Your manifold looks ok to me. Maybe the slots are too wide? I cut mine with a Dremel cutting wheel, I've had a stuck sparge with my Blichmann false bottom but never with my manifold, even with 55% unmalted grains and no rice hulls!

Also, you may want to double check your thermometer and your crush; if you were around 148*F you should have had good conversion in 75 minutes and gotten at least 65% efficiency even if your lautering was awful.

Finally floated my keg of wet hop IPA I brewed back in August so this one is climbing up my to-brew list...