Flying Monkeys Hoptical Illusion

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Pivot

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
499
Reaction score
4
Location
Fredericton New Brunswick
Just had a few of the Flying Monkeys Brewery in Barrie, Ontario's Hoptical Illusion Almost Pale Ale, and was wondering if anyone had a recipe to make this stuff. I really like it and would love to have it on tap. ALthough most of you guys will probably have never even heard of it before because its Canadian and really small
 
"Defying real focus (how unlike us!), we had to call Hoptical Illusion an Almost Pale Ale (5% Alc./Vol. / IBU 17.5 / Colour SRM 3.44). Hoptical Illusion approaches the characteristics of a pale ale, but takes a quick u-turn at the end. At 18 IBUs versus 25 and up for English Pale Ales, we’re hoppier than most commercial beers, but not too crazy. The star of the show is the dizzying aroma of the privately grown Amarillo hop. Beyond the provocative citrus and floral essences that resonate from the Amarillo’s small, tight cone is a subtle but unique maltiness blended from amber kiln and roasted specialty malts. Finishing with a final Amarillo reference, Hoptical Illusion is a beer that doesn’t beat you over the head, steal your wallet, and jack your car. But you still wouldn’t want meet it in a dark alley."

Sounds like a good start. Use mostly pale malt along with some toastier specialty malts. Skip the bittering addition and blast it with Amarillo in the last 10-15 minutes of the boil.

You should also try to contact the brewery, most small places are happy to point you in the right direction.
 
I had some last night.
I can't believe that it's only 17.5 IBU. It definitely tastes hoppier than that. There are certainly some big late additions.
 
They have been doing a lot of tweaking to this recipe, so it would not surprise me if the IBU is somewhat higher now. I would email the brewery and ask them. The owner is very friendly and may even help you put together the clone recipe.
 
From what I can recall the base of the beer seems to be a pretty basic pale ale, I'd say just some 2-row with a little crystal 40L or 60L and all late addition amarillo hops to get the big hop flavors/aroma without all the bitterness.
 
Here's a vid of some watered down piss drinker think of Hoptical Illusion...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'd like to revive this thread. Hoptical is one of my favourite beers right now and, as a new brewer, I'd love to figure out a recipe. I'm actually hoping to take a tour of the Flying Monkeys brewery soon -- I'll see if I can get some info. :)
 
Their website has been recently updated:

http://theflyingmonkeys.ca/

They now have ingredients lists for all of their beers. For Hoptical Illusion, it lists:

North American 2-row
Muntons Crystal 150 L60
Muntons Roasted Barley

Centennial (bittering)
Amarillo (whirlpool)
Cascade (whirlpool)
Amarillo (dry hop)
Cascade (dry hop)

5% ABV, 32-IBU, 12 SRM
 
Awesome, thanks for pointing that out wfeddern.

So I'm still a homebrewing noob (stuck with partial boil extract brewing for now) but from what I do know, this could be a similar recipe?

9# Two-row
1# Crystal 60
.5# Flaked Barley

.5 oz Centennial (9.5%) @ 60 min
1 oz Amarillo (8.5%) @ 5 min
1 oz Cascade (7.8%) @ 5 min
1 oz Amarillo (8.5%) dry hopped
1 oz Cascade (7.8%) dry hopped

Assuming 75% Brewhouse Eff. that gives me the same ABV, IBU and SRM values - please correct me if I'm missing something.

The question I have is how can we replicate the same effect of the whirlpool additions? I did some searching and found this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/pro-brewers-flameout-procedure-169880/
Doing them at flameout isn't really the same (or is it?) I figured 5 minutes would give a bit of flavour while still adding the aroma. Anyone more experienced have any suggestions?
 
I'm going to be brewing the Smashbomb Atomic IPA (Citra!) soon, and might also try the Hoptical as well in the near future. I emailed Peter from Flying Monkeys on the Smashbomb, and he gave me some hints on his process.

My recipe for Hoptical, based on comments from Peter might go something like: (6 gal batch, 83% efficiency) 5% - 1.049-1.010

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.75 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US 89.29 %
1.00 lb Crystal Malt - 60L 10.20 %
0.05 lb Roasted Barley 0.51 %

1.50 oz Centennial [6.00 %] (First Wort) Hops 30 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (0 min)
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (0 min)
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days)
0.50 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (Dry Hop 7 days)
SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale


Flaked Barley is usually used in stouts to add body, and could cloud a beer such as this. Based on Peter's comments, I would maybe use a tiny amount of roast barley, like 0.5% instead.

The whirlpooling techniques in that thread largely refer to CFC or plate chiller use, where you whirlpool, then chill - I still use an immersion chiller, which is the opposite order of business, chill, then whirpool, so I would assume that a flameout addition would be about equivalent. (Peter even mentioned primary fermentation hopping instead of flameout! - never heard of that)

I think a hopback might be your answer if you're looking for that "professional" grade of hop freshness. Also, I reduced your dryhop additions in half, 2 full ounces is closer to IPA territory, and this is not even quite a full blown Pale Ale, and the commercial version is not overly hoppy IMO. If you want more hop character, by all means go for it, but I doubt it would be clone worthy...

Let us know how it goes!
 
Oh, and that video posted above - is awesome. Horribly, horribly, awesome.

"We're going down to get some James Ready mouthwash..." !!!!
 
Ruskali, thanks for the info. Hopefully in a couple of batches I can do, at least, a partial mash and try this out. I also just realized that wfeddern's post mentioned "roasted" barley, not flaked barley.

Good luck with your Smashbomb; be sure to post your results on how it turns out!
 
Give us that Smashbomb recipe!!! I am so hooked on the Netherworld right now.. love that stuff. My next brew is going to be a Cascadian Dark Ale.

Seems Peter is the only interesting brewer in the province anymore. AT least for the hopheads.
 
Just brewed it this morning with a buddy, it went really well, hit all the numbers and temps... so I have high hopes, colour seemed pretty close.

This is what I came up with... 6 gal, 83% eff. 6% ABV target - 1.059-1.012 60 min boil

10 lb Canadian (US) Pale Malt (2 Row) 85 %
1.25 lb Victory (or toasted) Malt - 27L 10 %
.5 lb Crystal 60L Malt - 5 %
.05 lb Roasted Barley(300L) - 0.5%

1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [6.40%] (Mash) Hops 4 IBU
1.25 oz Citra [12.30%] (First Wort) Hops 49 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [6.00 %] (5 min) 4 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [6.40 %] (5 min) 5 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [6.00 %] (0 min)
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [6.40 %] (0 min)
2.00 oz Citra [12.3%] (Dry Hop 7 days)

SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale (I think Peter used 1056, same thing)

I mashed at 154, I find that US-05 attenuates down like crazy... fermentation at 62 for the first bit, then will raise to 70-72 slowly for end of primary/dryhopping.
 
Just checked their website, and Peter has practically the whole recipe.. at least the hopping schedule for Smashbomb.

Looks like all Citra, with one Centenial addition.

I came up with this recipe using that info, looks very similar to yours:

5 gallons assuming 75% efficiency.
60 min. boil
IBU 61.4
Color 11.1 SRM

10 lbs 2-Row Pale
1 lb Toasted Malt
0.5 lb Crystal 60
.03lb Black Patent
0.5 oz. Citra (14%) Mash Hop
0.5 oz. Citra First Wort Hop
0.5 oz. Citra 60 min.
0.25 oz. Citra 15 min.
0.25 oz. Citra 5 min.
0.25 oz. Citra 0 min.
.5 oz. Centennial (10%) 0 min.

0.5 oz. Centennial Dry Hop
0.5 oz. Citra Dry Hop

US-05 Yeast.

The website lists SRM at 11.7, and ABV at 6%. No mention of IBU's, but I'm assuming a 1:1 ratio.





By the way.. Ruskali how did yours turn out?
 
Yeah - I noticed that he posted the recipe up there after I'd written mine.

I think the version I had was V3... looks like he likes to change his recipes up as he goes along (like us!). I seem to recall an older Hoptical recipe on Bartowel that was all Amarillo.

Your recipe looks great. I thought I saw that Peter had light and dark Munich listed on this new version instead of the toasted/crystal combo.

IBU's I went around 60 as well.

From what I've seen from him, he doesn't seem to do flavour additions - bittering, then flameout/whirlpool only. I'd never done that, but tried it on this one, I'll let you know once it's done dryhopping!

elproducto, great minds must think alike, two of my brews before xmas were BM's Kona Firerock, which SWMBO really liked, and then an Amarillo IPA, which started out grapefruit bomb, then mellowed into amazing - it was a great New Years Eve beer...

Next up, Sorachi Ace based DIPA... I'm loving these new "super" hops...
 
Too funny Ruskali, especially considering I just bought a pound of Sorachi Ace, and am trying to figure out what to do with them.

I'm thinking they might go nice in a Kolsch/Saison or an American Wheat.

I need to brew this Smashbomb first though... the one time I tried it I loved it.
Sounds like Peter is brewing up a storm, he's doing a double/imperial IPA, and a Baltic Porter, American Amber.. bunch of stuff!
 
Back
Top