Heady Topper Clone (BYO)

[BassBeer]

This is the Heady Topper clone recipe from the current issue of BYO, which I thought I'd share so we can all brew and enjoy the holy grail of IIPA's! I have not brewed this yet, but it looks to be pretty darn close if not spot on. Please post your results! Cheers

Batch Size: 5 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.074
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 100+
SRM: 6
ABV: 8%
Yeast: Chico (WLP001/Wyeast1056/S-05)
Starter: 1.5L

13 lbs. British pale ale malt
4 oz. Caravienne malt
1 lb. sucrose
1.5 oz. Simcoe (30 min.)
1 oz. Cascade (knockout)
1 oz. Apollo (knockout)
1 oz. Simcoe (knockout)
1 oz. Centennial (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Simcoe (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Columbus (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Chinook (primary dry hop)
1 oz. Simcoe (primary dry hop)
1.25 oz. Centennial (secondary dry hop)
1.25 oz. Simcoe (secondary dry hop)

Mash at 155F for 40 minutes. Sparge enough to collect roughly 7.5 gallons in your kettle to achieve 6.5 gallons at knockout. Boil for 75 minutes, adding 1.5 oz. Simcoe @ 30 min. After knockout add 1 oz. each Cascade, Apollo, and Simcoe. Whirlpool with pump or by stirring for a minute and letting it spin down and settle. After 30 minutes, reduce wort temperature to 170F and add 1 oz. each Centennial, Simcoe, and Columbus. Whirlpool again. After 15 more minutes begin final cooling process. The goal is to get 5.5 gallons into the fermenter to account for loss of wort during dry hopping.

Pitch healthy dose of yeast @ 65F. After FG has been achieved add a clarifying agent such as polycar. Allow 3 days for clarifying agent to work, then add first set of dry hops to primary fermenter. After 7 days rack beer off dry hops & yeast cake either into a keg or secondary vessel. Try to purge with CO2 if possible. Add second round of dry hops and wait 5 days. Bottle or begin carbonation process.

 

[kaconga]

What yeast is recommended?

 

[JonM]

Conan yeast?

 

[BassBeer]

Chico strain. Wyeast 1056, WLP001, or Safale US-05.

 

[comeimalion]

Anybody interested in converting this to extract?

 

[BassBeer]

Anybody interested in converting this to extract?

You would substitute 10 lbs. gold LME for the pale malt and keep everything else the same.

In the future, you can convert most recipes yourself by multiplying the number of pounds of pale malt by 0.75 to get the pounds of liquid extract. Multiply by 0.6 if using dry extract.

 

[aquajon1]

thanks for shareing,

i bought some of this beer this past summer while in VT very good stuff. i now know what i am brewing next weekend.

 

[comeimalion]

You would substitute 10 lbs. gold LME for the pale malt and keep everything else the same.

In the future, you can convert most recipes yourself by multiplying the number of pounds of pale malt by 0.75 to get the pounds of liquid extract. Multiply by 0.6 if using dry extract.

Thanks for the info!
Now (if you don't mind bearing with me), how would this effect the logistics here? Would I do the same 7.5 gallon boil? Do I not need to make any adjustments to the hop schedule? Are you using "knockout" as a synonym of "flameout"?

 

[briank]

No, you don't boil 7.5 gallons with extract. Remember your final goal is 5.5 goals into your fermenter and you can always add water after the boil to bring the worst up to that amount. This recipe has more malt than some so maybe start with 3.5 gallons boiling water? I'm a noob myself so not sure if there's a science to LME to boil water ratio.

 

[briank]

Remember your final goal is 5.5 goals into your fermenter and you can always add water after the boil to bring the worst up to that amount. ratio.

Sorry, phone autocorrected wort into worst.

 

[Spintab]

I'm on my third step up harvesting some conan yeast from a can a friend sent to me from VT. This recipe seems, at a glance, to be the closest I've seen thus far. Interested to see how it turns out for people.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Target gravity?

 

[BassBeer]

Target gravity?

Original Gravity: 1.074
Final Gravity: 1.012

 

[BassBeer]

Thanks for the info!
Now (if you don't mind bearing with me), how would this effect the logistics here? Would I do the same 7.5 gallon boil? Do I not need to make any adjustments to the hop schedule? Are you using "knockout" as a synonym of "flameout"?

No problem. Personally, I would do a full 7.5 gallon boil for this since there is so much LME being used. When I brewed extract I always did full boils and late LME additions (1/2 @ beginning of boil, 1/2 @ 5-10 min. before flameout) to reduce caramelization of the sugars, which gave me a cleaner taste and lighter color. The hop schedule is the same. And yes knockout is synonymous with flameout. Let us know how it turns out if you decide to brew it.

 

[theveganbrewer]

Whatever yeast you go with, try to get some peach out of it. I would ferment US-05 with this clone at say 58-62 to get some peach which would be similar to the Alchemist's house yeast strain.

 

[Stauffbier]

Conan yeast?

I'm on my third step up harvesting some conan yeast from a can a friend sent to me from VT..

Conan is indeed what I'll be using to brew this recipe.

 

[pschnei3]

Anybody want to send me some Conan?

 

[njporter]

why not pearl malt as the base when its confirmed thats what the beer uses

 

[PseudoChef]

No, you don't boil 7.5 gallons with extract. Remember your final goal is 5.5 goals into your fermenter and you can always add water after the boil to bring the worst up to that amount. This recipe has more malt than some so maybe start with 3.5 gallons boiling water? I'm a noob myself so not sure if there's a science to LME to boil water ratio.

Please don't give advice if you aren't certain about giving it.

Full boil volumes with extract are widely done, and a great improvement to a beer. Especially a hop-forward one like this. The more concentrated your boil, the more your hop utilization decreases.

 

[Petekiteworld]

Without the house yeast, Conan, this will not taste at all like HT. Just being realistic...

 

[briank]

Please don't give advice if you aren't certain about giving it.

Full boil volumes with extract are widely done, and a great improvement to a beer. Especially a hop-forward one like this. The more concentrated your boil, the more your hop utilization decreases.

Sorry, I thought the answer was obvious so I'd give it a shot and clearly the answer wasn't obvious! I've learned my lesson and will keep quiet until I learn more.

I will admit that I've never heard the term "hop utilization" before this post. I did go and search to learn more though and found this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/hop-utilization-178668/
The consensus seems to be that full-boil versus partial-boil effects on hop utilization is a myth when brewing with extracts.

If I had a pot big enough, I'd still do the full boil just to be safe, but with only a 5.5 gallon pot for now, I'm at least comforted that I may not be missing out by doing partial boils.

 

[bighorn_brew]

Suscribed

 

[MoeFoties]

I'll be giving this one a go this Sunday! I just saw the recipe last night in my latest issue of BYO...if my memory serves me correctly, I'm pretty sure there was some Citra in there somewhere (maybe during the dry-hop?). I'll have to check the recipe again when I get home this evening. Would Maris Otter be equivalent to the British pale malt listed in the recipe? Also, I'm just thinking ahead in case my LHBS doesn't have Caravienne...is that just another form of Carapils or is there a more suitable substitute?

 

[VinceS77]

I just brewed this yesterday. Used Maris otter and caravienne. Didn't have Apollo or cascade, used CTZ and centennial instead. Yeast 1056.
We'll see how it comes out.

 

[Petekiteworld]

Carared its a good substitute

 

[abrix]

@briank, I read through that thread as well, and while it seems that for extract brewers, the higher wort gravity in a partial boil is not an issue, there is still the fact that you are trying to squeeze more IBUs into fewer gallons of wort, so you are still going to run up against this curve (also posted in the thread you linked to), and your hop utilization will decrease in a partial boil:

 

[briank]

@abrix - That graph isn't what kicked off the thread and I'm not sure its validity was accepted. I read comments like the ones below that lead me to interpret the conclusion of the thread was that SG had no effect on Hop Utilization (it was break material, whatever that is, in all grain generated wort that lowered utilization):

"James over at Basic Brewing (in conjunction with Chris at BYO) recently did some extract beer experiments where they compared partial and full boil worts and had the resultant beers lab tested. No difference at all in hop utilization, just as the new science Palmer reported said."

"The commercial brewing literature is apparently littered with this information, going back decades. e.g. the American Society of Brewing Chemists in 1989:
http://www.asbcnet.org/journal/abstracts/backissues/47-14.htm says
"In the range 10.5-13.5° P, no relationship between hop utilization and original gravity was found. " "

"Gravity is just mostly required to have a large amount of precipitants. So there is a correlation between Gravity and break material, but the cause of loss of utilization is from the break material not the sugar."

And there were additional comments regarding how much IBU could be achieved before there was a water solubility problem. The Basic Brewing experiment was supposedly done with a 65 IBU beer which is fairly bitter, not extreme, but there were no solubility problems at that bitterness.

 

[bobbrews]

it looks to be pretty darn close if not spot on.

Eh, I'm not sure why people believe that. From what I know about this beer, it appears to be way off, particularly the following:

Original Gravity: 1.074

More like 1.070 OG.

Final Gravity: 1.012

More like 1.010 FG.

Yeast: Chico (WLP001/Wyeast1056/S-05 Starter: 1.5L

Use a larger, Conan yeast starter.

13 lbs. British pale ale malt

Not just any British Pale Malt. Thomas Fawcett Pearl Malt to be exact.

4 oz. Caravienne malt

No cara- malts used in HT. Though I wouldn't be opposed to Vienna malt. Or some portion of pre-toasted base malt. I have heard rumor of Light Munich, Oat Malt and/or Golden Naked Oats used in the recipe.

1 lb. sucrose and Mash at 155F for 40 minutes.

I'm pretty sure no sugar is used. If anything, they mash for 90 minutes at 147-148 F to obtain more fermentability. HT is also low to medium body. 155 F mash would yield a thicker mouthfeel and less fermentability. And 40 minutes would be around the bare minimum for complete conversion of starches.

1.5 oz. Simcoe (30 min.)
1 oz. Cascade (knockout)
1 oz. Apollo (knockout)
1 oz. Simcoe (knockout)
1 oz. Centennial (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Simcoe (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Columbus (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Chinook (primary dry hop)
1 oz. Simcoe (primary dry hop)
1.25 oz. Centennial (secondary dry hop)
1.25 oz. Simcoe (secondary dry hop)

The hop schedule and selections is up for debate, but if they are providing 120 IBUs Tinseth, then there is most likely a 90 minute hop addition. Hop Extract makes the most sense... As does a heavy emphasis on late additions (0 & DH). NZ hop extract was the rumor. We have also heard that Kimmich doesn't use middle hop additions for this beer. Lastly, don't forget the possibility of Amarillo, Nugget, and Summit.

Pitch healthy dose of yeast @ 65F

Active ferm temp increases the wort by 8-10 degrees, which would mean you would be actively fermenting at 73-75 F if you heeded this advice. It has been tested that surprisingly low actual ferm. temps at 58-63 F offer the best results when using Conan. These temps. also fall within the range we see on the HT fermenters at the actual brewery.

After FG has been achieved add a clarifying agent such as polycar. Allow 3 days for clarifying agent to work, then add first set of dry hops to primary fermenter. After 7 days rack beer off dry hops & yeast cake either into a keg or secondary vessel. Try to purge with CO2 if possible. Add second round of dry hops and wait 5 days. Bottle or begin carbonation process.

So that's 7-10 days fermentation, plus 3 days with a clarifier we know isn't necessary since Kimmich has no quarrels with HT being a cloudy beer, plus 7 days of first stage dryhopping, then another 5 days of second stage dryhopping = 23-25 days grain to glass without carbing. Kimmich has stated that HT is actually 28 days grain to glass.

 

[eandersen]

While all of that is true there's one big problem for 90% looking to clone this beer...Conan is not commercially available

 

[BassBeer]

Eh, I'm not sure why people believe that. From what I know about this beer, it appears to be way off, particularly the following:



More like 1.070 OG.



More like 1.010 FG.



Use a larger, Conan yeast starter.



Not just any British Pale Malt. Thomas Fawcett Pearl Malt to be exact.



No cara- malts used in HT. Though I wouldn't be opposed to Vienna malt. Or some portion of pre-toasted base malt. I have heard rumor of Light Munich, Oat Malt and/or Golden Naked Oats used in the recipe.



I'm pretty sure no sugar is used. If anything, they mash for 90 minutes at 147-148 F to obtain more fermentability. HT is also low to medium body. 155 F mash would yield a thicker mouthfeel and less fermentability. And 40 minutes would be around the bare minimum for complete conversion of starches.



The hop schedule and selections is up for debate, but if they are providing 120 IBUs Tinseth, then there is most likely a 90 minute hop addition. Hop Extract makes the most sense... As does a heavy emphasis on late additions (0 & DH). NZ hop extract was the rumor. We have also heard that Kimmich doesn't use middle hop additions for this beer. Lastly, don't forget the possibility of Amarillo, Nugget, and Summit.



Active ferm temp increases the wort by 8-10 degrees, which would mean you would be actively fermenting at 73-75 F if you heeded this advice. It has been tested that surprisingly low actual ferm. temps at 58-63 F offer the best results when using Conan. These temps. also fall within the range we see on the HT fermenters at the actual brewery.



So that's 7-10 days fermentation, plus 3 days with a clarifier we know isn't necessary since Kimmich has no quarrels with HT being a cloudy beer, plus 7 days of first stage dryhopping, then another 5 days of second stage dryhopping = 23-25 days grain to glass without carbing. Kimmich has stated that HT is actually 28 days grain to glass.

Yeah, this is all straight from the BYO "clone" recipe. I would change a few things based on what I know about HT, and my practices; like the yeast (not starter size), fermentation temp (rarely above 62 ambient for ales, personally), mash schedule lower and longer, and would omit the polycar. Thanks for the input, sounds like you've devoted some time to developing a true clone recipe.

Still curious to hear everyone's results and modifications to the recipe, if any. Cheers!