Heady Topper- Can you clone it?
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I would say just make exactly the recipe and then adjust it as you want the second time, but I just tapped mine tonight and I'm going to change a couple things next time.
I've made beers with less hop mass and more aroma - but none with more hop flavor. I think one key thing to change with this recipe is the whirlpool - when I make this again, I'll probably add 1/2 the hops at the beginning of the whirlpool, an the rest with only a few mins left in the whirlpool. I recirculated throughout the whirlpool slowly, and I think that drove off some aroma. So, either recirculate and do a shorter whirlpool or add hops at different times in the whirlpool, or just throw the whirlpool hops in there and don't whirlpool... Just let them steep.
I used the yeast bay Vermont ale, and fermented at 64, then after several days ramped up to (eventually) 72. Went 1.076-1.014. I definitely got some peach aroma from the yeast in the finished beer, but next time I'll pitch and ferment for the first several days at 67-68 for (hopefully) more of that character.
So, mine tastes like wonderful hop juice, with an interesting fruity flavor from the yeast. It smells fantastic, but it does not permeate the room as I expected given the amount of hops. Great recipe, will make again.
I've subbed out a 50/50 combo of Golden Promise and 2-row for Pearl malt and could barely tell the difference. If anything, I liked the GP/2-row mix better, so I do that for all my Heady clones now. There is no question HT uses Pearl malt, and they claim that is a big part of it, but I feel Golden Promise provides a lot of the same properties as Pearl malt, but in a more concentrated form. Marris Otter or Optic mixed with 2-row would probably be good subs as well, so I don't feel the Pearl malt is anywhere near as important as the hops (especially the dry hops) and the Conan yeast. With what were hearing now, it's seem pH and hardness are probably important as well.
geoffey
Well-Known Member
The last batch of this I made I subbed out Pearl with Marris Otter and felt like it lost something. I might try your GP/2-row mix next time to see how I like that as it will keep me from having to go to a different LHBS.
I kegged my "heady junior" yesterday and it tasted great. Again, just scaled the grain bill exactly as is, but down to 1.045(ish) range. and then cut the hops exactly in half. Otherwise, it is the same. It is on the gas now and am looking forward to tasting it carbonated in a couple days.
*I did notice that it was very clear going into fermenter, whereas my original batch (full recipe) was (and stayed) cloudy. Not sure as to the reason for this.
One thing I noticed, and will wait to confirm once carbonated, is that it may have tasted a bit thin.... If so, I may consider eliminating the turbinado sugar next time around and possibly adding something for a touch more body to hold up to the hops.
Like I said - tasted great out of the fermenter and looking forward to what the final product is like...... 4.8% alcohol..... so, the only downside is that this keg will likely get cleaned out even faster than the full-scale version
*I did notice that it was very clear going into fermenter, whereas my original batch (full recipe) was (and stayed) cloudy. Not sure as to the reason for this.
One thing I noticed, and will wait to confirm once carbonated, is that it may have tasted a bit thin.... If so, I may consider eliminating the turbinado sugar next time around and possibly adding something for a touch more body to hold up to the hops.
Like I said - tasted great out of the fermenter and looking forward to what the final product is like...... 4.8% alcohol..... so, the only downside is that this keg will likely get cleaned out even faster than the full-scale version
MO/2-row would have probably worked. Subbing MO for Pearl (as well as GP or Optic) would make the malt bill too heavy for the hops to cut through the way they would with Pearl or a 50/50 mix using those heavier Fawcett malts and 2-row.
Chinook is probably the closest. You could maybe use CTZ, Galena, something like that too.
geoffey
Well-Known Member
Good idea. Simcoe is pretty unique.
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Yep - I agree. If you are going to take the time and spend the money on this beer - best to do it right.
Really that is exactly what it came down to, I've ordered the malt, the hops and the yeast, when I realized I left off the Simcoe I was not too happy.
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I would say Simcoe is pretty critical to this clone. IMO CTZ is the closest you can get to a sub and Chinook isn't even close, in fact I would say Chinook is closer to being a sub for Apollo, but again not that close. You could partially sub CTZ for some of the Simcoe and be fine, especially for the boil, but Simcoe needs to be the main hop in the dry hop mix to get the Heady flavor.
What about a sub for Apollo? It's the only thing I can't get locally.
i order mine from Farmhouse in 4 oz. packs. This is the only beer I have ever used it in. But, I will say that the combination of all of these hops seems pretty unique to me.
Yeah I understand. I'm kicking myself because I ordered something from morebeer and could have added some on, but didn't think about it. Then I found out my LHBS can't get them. I'm trying the 2 others in town. We'll see what they say.
When it comes to the dry hops, I really don't think there is a good sub for Apollo in this beer, CTZ and Chinook could work for the boil though. If you can't find Apollo locally, try ebay. Farmhouse Brewing was out of CTZ last time I ordered so I ended up getting it on ebay. Hops are a light enough item that the shipping rates should be pretty decent.
Thanks for the ebay idea. I found some with much cheaper shipping than any of the big home brew online stores, which all want $6 to 8 for shipping.
ultravista
Well-Known Member
Subscribing.
Simcoe, Chinook, Apollo: Can all taste like cat pee to me sometimes. I'm not sure if that quality differs from crop to crop, or is dependent on how they're used, but I'd call them similar to one another at least from my experience.
http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/
I've been getting my hops from Yakima valley hops, shipping is fast and cheap, prices are decent too. Though an late game realization that I left off Simcoe lead me to purchase from More beer with FedEx home delivery....oh well.
Anything worth doing is worth doing correct....
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I've been getting my hops from Yakima valley hops, shipping is fast and cheap, prices are decent too. Though an late game realization that I left off Simcoe lead me to purchase from More beer with FedEx home delivery....oh well.
Anything worth doing is worth doing correct....
Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
SFGiantsFan925
Well-Known Member
Just got some CO2 Extract from YakimaValley, and wanted to know how much people are using. I have never used it before. Is it just a standard 10mL or should I enter the AA that is on the can into a calulator for a more "precise" IBU calculation. Investing this much time, effort and hops into a beer, I want to get the bitterness right.
ultravista
Well-Known Member
As a casual brewer, only brewing several times a year, I am interested in knowing how long the CO2 Extract lasts.
+1
I have to take a two month hiatus from brewing and I still have some extract left (I do half batches).
From the data sheet:
At my job I would with chemicals and when we freeze a liquid, we basically consider it locked in time for stability purposes and testing confirms that it doesn't change that much.
I've already portioned mine out in syringes, but I'm keeping them in the freezer (like I do all my hops), so I expect them to last a long time.
At my job I would with chemicals and when we freeze a liquid, we basically consider it locked in time for stability purposes and testing confirms that it doesn't change that much.
trimixdiver1
Well-Known Member
On the clone, the beersmith file says add at 0min boil and add at whirlpool, isnt that the same thing? So should I add the 0min boil hops to the whirlpool hops or am I thinking of this wrong?
ie
Thanks
ie
Thanks
trimixdiver1
Well-Known Member
When I recently had a tour of the brewery, I saw a hop back right next to the BK. They were using it too. Where would that fit into this recipe?
Thanks
Thanks
Does anybody want to start a new thread where we can update the first post with the most recent information? There is some info that you have to search for that should be there, but since veganbrewer doesn't post anymore it makes sense for a new thread.
kcmobrewer
Well-Known Member
The only proprietary thing I've heard of them doing is moving everything with co2 instead of pumps. "Nice and gentle" were his exact words.
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brewski09
Well-Known Member
Recirculating through a hopback for the whirlpool would be write an interesting technique. I don't recall seeing that when I went to the brewery though. Maybe it's one of his tweaks or for one of their other beers. Or maybe I just missed it.
Perhaps a volunteer could gather up the relevant changes to the current recipe and get a mod to update the first post. Or a mod could reassign the first post to said volunteer.
Brewed this recipe a couple of weeks ago with a few necessary changes. Subbed the Pearl malt with equal parts Maris Otter and Golden Promise, the Caramalt with caravienne, and Amarillo with Azacca.
My gravity is stable at just over 1.013, from an OG of 1.077. I used Vermont Ale yeast from the Yeast Bay. The first dry hop went in on Sunday.
This is going to be bottled with no cold crash. Would you kind folks recommend adding some fresh US-05 at bottling, or do you think Conan will have no problem carbing up in three weeks at 70-72 degrees?
My gravity is stable at just over 1.013, from an OG of 1.077. I used Vermont Ale yeast from the Yeast Bay. The first dry hop went in on Sunday.
This is going to be bottled with no cold crash. Would you kind folks recommend adding some fresh US-05 at bottling, or do you think Conan will have no problem carbing up in three weeks at 70-72 degrees?
I had no issues with carbing in the bottle and I used harvested Conan and followed the timeline in the OP.
This is always going to be a problem, and long threads are a beast the way it is to find the latest pertinent information in.
Those kind of edits would be considered bad (forum) ethics. At best a mod should add no more than a clear link on the OP to the sequel thread* or to the post# in this thread where the updated recipe is posted. That then becomes the new "anchor" post.
* In case of a sequel thread, this thread should be closed with the last post containing the same referral link, to prevent parallel threads on the same topic, only adding confusion and what not.
We are looking at known drawbacks of forum formats in general. Some sort of a more useful/smarter recipe index/database would be a very welcome addition.
brewski09
Well-Known Member
Could the mods post a locked recipe that mods can alter even as they change and a date of last update with a link to this thread for continued discussion?
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