Heady Topper Clone (BYO)

[uncleleon]

IMHO,

BYO is one of the biggest sources or misinformation on clone recipes in the homebrew strata. Go straight here www.homebrewtalk.com to find your clones. That being said, can someone give us a link to a Conan yeast harvesting thread? I really want to get my hands on conan, pacman, and the NB house strain.

ps

Its getting really hard to keep up with cloning the top ranked beers on beer advocate.
\\

 

[Petekiteworld]

Get a can or bottle of said beer, pitch into sterile wort thats 1.020 and about a pint, then after a few days of shaking and fermenting pitch into wort that's 1.040 and half gallon, continue shaking and fermenting. Then dump that into your real wort.

This isn't rocket science like people make it out to be

 

[mtnagel]

I think the biggest thing for me was that I didn't see any activity after 4 days so I warmed it up to 70-75F and then overnight I had yeast on the bottom. The same thing happened with both my Heady and Bells yeast harvest. But yeah, it's not that difficult, but it does take awhile, so you have to plan ahead.

 

[runkelia]

I brewed this a couple weeks ago, the Lesson Learned for me was that I didn't realize 11 oz. of hops would soak up so much wort. If I had to guess I will be losing a gallon due to hops. If I brew this again I will collect for a 7.5 gallon pre boil.

 

[runkelia]

IMHO,

BYO is one of the biggest sources or misinformation on clone recipes in the homebrew strata. Go straight here www.homebrewtalk.com to find your clones. That being said, can someone give us a link to a Conan yeast harvesting thread? I really want to get my hands on conan, pacman, and the NB house strain.

ps

Its getting really hard to keep up with cloning the top ranked beers on beer advocate.
\\

 

[uncleleon]

Nice video! I'm pretty far from Vermont, but I will try to find some bottles of Heady and do this.

A little off topic but where could you get the new belgium house strain from? I heard you could get Pacman from rogue stuff? What's the truth?

Does anyone know where the name came from?

 

[kchomebrew]

I was reading that if you ferment US05 at a low temp (approx 61F), it produces a peachy/apricot taste to the beer. Since I'm to understand Conan has some of that profile, I wonder if that would be a reasonable alternative for those of us who don't have access to HT/Conan

 

[kchomebrew]

I was reading that if you ferment US05 at a low temp (approx 61F), it produces a peachy/apricot taste to the beer. Since I'm to understand Conan has some of that profile, I wonder if that would be a reasonable alternative for those of us who don't have access to HT/Conan

Brewed a Heady clone with us05. Will be fermenting at about 57-61f. I'll report back with findings

 

[PsiNyde]

You can actually get conan from a few places now. Saltcitybrewing is where I got my two gold pitch packs (GY054). I plan on taking one pack and stepping it up to make vials and slants. I've also been harvesting from 5 cans of Heady lol.

 

[MichaelsBrewing]

I am soo excited to try this soon!

 

[munk24]

This will answer may of your questions [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdfySDN2mF0[/ame]

 

[munk24]

I think this video will answer a lot of your questions https://www.google.com/search?q=cho...0l4.8981j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=0&ie=UTF-8

 

[kal]

FYI - I've got the Mar/Apr 2013 BYO magazine in front of me with the recipe (see page 58). The first post here gets everything right but missed the 1oz of Citra (primary dry hop).

Kal

 

[bobbrews]

FYI - I've got the Mar/Apr 2013 BYO magazine in front of me with the recipe (see page 58). The first post here gets everything right but missed the 1oz of Citra (primary dry hop).

Kal

There is no Citra in Heady Topper. Citra takes over most IIPAs that you add it to with it's tropical fruit dominance. While Heady Topper is somewhat fruity, most of that is coming from the Conan yeast and some fruitiness is had from the supporting hops, which are more complex than Citra.

A hop like Apollo, with its dank, marijuana-like character is key for this beer but a little bit goes a long way. HT should be Columbus and Simcoe heavy. Amarillo and Centennial will add some fruit and citrus... don't use too much but use them for sure.

For a more accurate clone attempt, see here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/heady-topper-can-you-clone-390082/

 

[motoed]

I tried this recipe and I'm at the dry hopping stage and had a few questions. This is my first time dry hopping. Do I stir the pellets in or just place them into my beer?

My second question... I added the Polycar and then afterward noticed it says "requires filtration". So now I'm wondering... how the heck am I going to filter this and then get it ready to bottle because I don't have a keg and I've read filtration strips my yeast for bottle conditioning :-(

So how do I handle this now? grrrrr... I really need to read ahead more often.

 

[kal]

There is no Citra in Heady Topper.

Possibly, I don't know. Just pointing out an error as the original post says "This is the Heady Topper clone recipe from the current issue of BYO", but it isn't due to this omission.

Kal

 

[dr_finklestein]

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.

I read through and searched all of this thread and couldn't find any mention of the fact that this recipe is missing it's bittering hops.

Should be 7 AA Magnum for 60 min.

 

[dr_finklestein]

Possibly, I don't know. Just pointing out an error as the original post says "This is the Heady Topper clone recipe from the current issue of BYO", but it isn't due to this omission.

Kal

Here is the recipe and it doesn't say "Citra"

 

[Rivenin]

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

yes it is

look up vermont yeast
http://www.theyeastbay.com/brewers-yeast-products/vermont-ale

 

[Rivenin]

Possibly, I don't know. Just pointing out an error as the original post says "This is the Heady Topper clone recipe from the current issue of BYO", but it isn't due to this omission.

Kal

Kal,

can you post a picture of your BYO listing??

 

[kal]

Here is the recipe and it doesn't say "Citra"

Weird! What issue of BYO is this picture from?

The OP posted on Feb 16, 2013 that he was posting the recipe from "the current issue of BYO" which I took to mean the March-April 2013 issue, because in that issue they have an article on Hop Stands. In that article they have a recipe called "Over the Topper DIPA" to which they state "This is a clone of one of my favorite double IPAs, Heady Topper, from Alchemist Brewery in Vermont".

The recipe in my Mar/Apr 2013 issue of BYO is identical to the one posted by the OP in the first post of this thread, except that it also lists 1 Oz Citra as primary drop hop.

In the picture above, you'll note that there's all sorts of other differences from what the OP posted too, including:

They actually called it "Heady Topper clone" instead of "Over the Topper DIPA"
OG of 1.076 instead of 1.074 (as per my MAr/Apr 2013 issue)
FG of 1.014 instead of 1.012
15 lbs British malt instead of 13
6 oz Caravienne instead of 4 oz
1 lb turbinato sugar instead of just "sucrose"
7 AAU Magnum at 60 mins instead of none
13 AAU Simcoe at 30 min instead of 19.5
8.6 AAU Apollo at knockout instead of 17.2
7 AAU Columbus at knockout instead of none
.... many other hop changes ....
Finally a completely different yeast: WY1028 or WLP013 instead of WY1056/WLP001

What issue of BYO is the picture from?

Kal

 

[user 190343]

Weird! What issue of BYO is this picture from?
...
Kal

Oct 2013. "VT Cult Clones"

 

[kal]

Oct 2013. "VT Cult Clones"

Ah - ok. That explains it. We're looking at different issues of the magazine. I was responding to the original poster who commented on the March-April 2013 issue. Seems that 6 months later they printed a different "clone". (which is probably better)

Kal

 

[kirkosaurus]

I brewed the BYO Oct. 2013 version (with the 60 min. Magnum addition) earlier this year and it was awesome.
Since I couldn't get any Conan yeast I used 70% WLP-001 and 30% Lallemand 71B wine yeast to get some of that fruity character that Conan has.
Will be brewing this again soon.

 

[kal]

Interesting solution for the yeast!

From what I've read there are places now offering a supposed 'official' conan yeast. I haven't tried any of these so YMMV:

http://www.theyeastbay.com/brewers-yeast-products/vermont-ale
http://www.gigayeast.com/vermont-ipa-yeast-gy054

I know I've seen others too...

Kal

 

[ultravista]

Reviving the thread. For those who used the Chico strain - please report back.

 

[kal]

I did a split batch - they're exactly 2.5 weeks into the kegs so they're perfect right now.

I did half with Yeast Bay's Vermont Ale, the other half with Chico (Safale US-05). Ferment at 64F for 5-7 days then raise to 70-72F until complete.

As expected the Yeast Bay's Vermont Ale is fruiter / more peachy - it compliments the hops well. The Chico was more neutral. Both are excellent but if I had to choose one I like better, it's the Yeast Bay Vermont Ale (probably partially because Chico's my house strain and I brew a lot of American Ales so anything slightly different is interesting).

Kal

 

[ultravista]

I can't source the Vermont strain locally and it's still to damned hot here in Las Vegas for shipping.

I ordered the H.T. kit from Northern Brewer and plan on fermenting it with WLP001.

 

[sablesurfer]

Got my 'version' going right now. No apollo here, so I used Columbus in those places. Also just going to use Nottingham, since no one local carries Conan. Like I said, a version instead of a clone...lol. Thanks for the thread!

 

[porter1974]

I used dark Belgian candi sugar in my clone.