Elysian Space Dust

[Jtvann]

Hey guys,

Long time reader, first time poster. I wanted to run my stab at an Elysian Space Dust recipe by you all that may know more or be better than me.

I'll start with what I've done so far, and see if any of the assumptions or data is wrong.

I degassed a bottle of Space Dust and found that the FG is approximately 1.010. The abv listed on the bottle is 8.2%. This gives an OG of 1.072. Plugging this into BeerSmith, that's about 85% attenuation from the yeast. I went with safale 05 as it is more attenuative than other yeasts I'm used to using. The website also give the info that great northwestern 2 row, crystal 15, and carapils are the malts used. Looking at a SRM table with my color blind eyes, I estimated it to be at about 7-8. Boil Hops are chinook, citra and Amarillo, with citra and Amarillo also in the dry hop.

I made a 5.5 gallon batch with 85% efficiency. The recipe is as follows.

10.5 lbs 2 row
2 lbs crystal 15
.5 lbs carapils

1 oz chinook @ 60
1 oz citra @ 10
1 oz amarillo @ 5
1.5 oz Amarillo & Citra with 10 min whirlpool or steep
1.5oz Amarillo & Citra dry hop for 4 days after primary
Mashed in at 146 for 60 mins.


I am concerned with using 2 full lbs of crystal. That seems aweful high to me. How else do I get the color though? Assuming their website is giving accurate info and crystal 15 is as high as they'reusing. I am also put off by the low mash temp. I've never mashed in at less than 148. I used beersmith the guesstimate with the numbers. The hop schedule is a total shot in the dark. IBUs come out right, but I don't know that it's anywhere near what's actually correct.

Anyways ... there's my best shot at it given what I understand thus far. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[bob1852]

Looks pretty good for a reverse engineering attempt!

I agree that it's probably too much crystal. I'd suggest cutting it back to a pound and upping the 2 row to compensate. I still think that'll get the color you want.

I would also literally double all of those hop additions.

Mash temp does seem a bit low. I'd shoot for 150-152.

Good luck! I drank a bunch of Space Dust this weekend!

 

[ong]

I wouldn't use any more than a half lb of crystal and carapils total. Color seems way less important than flavor, and that's too much specialty malt for an IPA.

 

[Jtvann]

Same reasoning used above, but tweaking numbers off advice ...

11.5 lbs 2 Row
1 lbs crystal 15
.5 lbs carapils

.5 oz chinook @ 60
2 oz citra @ 10
2 oz amarillo @ 5
2 oz each citra & amarillo whirlpool/steep for 7 mins

Dry hop with 2 oz each of citra & amarillo after primary for 4 days

Mash at 150, still usin safale 05, but upped the max attenuation from default to 90% ... as I believe it can go that high if pitched properly and oxygenated well

Doing this uses numbers that I'm more apt to believing. The color dropped down to the 5.5 range, but hell like I said I'm color blind anyway.

 

[fourfarthing]

You could up the boil time to the color up.

Also, 85% - 90% attenuation seems really high. Do you know if they add any simple sugars in to avoid having to heavy of an FG, while keeping the ABV up there?

 

[Jtvann]

Not sure on any of that. I previously had a safale 05 batch finish out at 1.008 and way overshot my estimate of 1.012. I calculated it being in the range of 85-90 on that batch. I know you're not really supposed to wash and reuse dry yeast ... but I am. When it finished that low, I wanted to give it another go.

It's still going to be another 2-3 weeks before I brew this beer, just wanted to plan it out well in advance. I'll try to do a side by side when it's all said and done.

I'm still up for suggestions on changes

 

[Brewtallica]

Jtvann, how did this turn out?

 

[Jtvann]

Both flavor and aroma were severely muted compared The the real thing. Color was close but light. ABV turned out alright.

If I had to do again, I’d move hops to flame out and whirlpool. I’d probably increase late additions and dry hop by 30% to start, maybe more honestly. Mash as low as you’re willing. 148 will be my next stab.

 

[Brewtallica]

Thanks for the info. I think I have enough hops to make an attempt to clone it. Do you think the crystal and carapils were the right amounts?

 

[Jtvann]

Carapils was just right. Don’t need any more head than it had.

Crystal 15 for me is just not going to cut it. The color will never get there, using amounts that make sense for an IPA. Their website says C-15, but they are commercial as opposed to us at homebrew. I don’t know what’s in their process that makes it darker.

The flavor was hard to say whether it was ok or not with the muted hop character. That beer is pretty in your face hopped

 

[Brewtallica]

Yeah, I'd imagine it would be hard to pin down the malt flavor out of all the hops in this recipe. I'll try it with some C30 and see how it goes.