Heady Topper

[NordeastBrewer77]

Oh hell yeah, mine's been in the fermenter for a week now! Once I get a cup of coffee and clear the fog, I'll take a reading and post back. Sure do wish I had some Heady for comparison (yes, that's directed at you people up over there )

 

[libeerty]

Long time reader, first time poster..

Successfully harvested Conan from some cans. I am going to use it alongside EdWort's Haus Pale Ale's grainbill mostly so I can understand its properties, and so I have a lot more yeast. Then I'm going to do a clone, in large part based on tastings here, in small part based on experimentation. My goal isn't necessarily a dead-on clone, but moreso for a badass IPA inspired by it.

 

[whitehause]

Looks great Vegan and Skinny.....:rockin:

Do you guys taste any biscuit in Heady? Maybe Vienna?

I've got to break down and start a real search for some Heady. I've got all my equipment free, so it's time to get my A$$ in gear.

 

[theveganbrewer]

Looks great Vegan and Skinny.....:rockin:

Do you guys taste any biscuit in Heady? Maybe Vienna?

I've got to break down and start a real search or some Heady. I've got all my equipment free, so it's time to get my A$$ in gear.

Hard to tell, Pearl is a bit dry and bready on it's own. I only put other stuff (Munich) in there for a little sweetness and to get it up towards 5.7-5.9SRM.

 

[theveganbrewer]

Dry hop update on my 2nd attempt. I split the 5.25 gallons or so into 2 kegs evenly. I wanted to simplify the hop additions to see if I could get the dominant heady characteristic to come out. I did one keg with the 5-gallon-batch-equivalent of 3 ounces of Simcoe and 1.5 ounces of Centennial, the other keg was 3 ounces Simcoe and 1.5 ounces of Columbus.

I figure I can add to the dry hop after a few days if I taste something missing. On the first attempt, I couldn't take out hops, so was limited to adding more on top of the 6 I put in already.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I'm at 1.01, cold crashing tomorrow. The sample smelled amazing, very Heady-like. Tropical, dank, tasted great too.

 

[theveganbrewer]

You brewed about a week ago, didn't you, last weekend?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Week ago today.

 

[namyarb3]

Super fast ferm, right? I've been sub to this thread since the beginning.
I appreciate all you brewers have done to get this right. Unfortunately, I am still working to all grain brewing, and don't have the equipment (or knowledge) to work on it. I cannot wait to try the 'final' recipe for my first all grain in the next couple months.

Thank you.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Super fast ferm, right? I've been sub to this thread since the beginning.
I appreciate all you brewers have done to get this right. Unfortunately, I am still working to all grain brewing, and don't have the equipment (or knowledge) to work on it. I cannot wait to try the 'final' recipe for my first all grain in the next couple months.

Thank you.

Pretty avg. for my beers. 5-7 days is what I usually see with ales, and after seeing Conan get up and go in starters, I figured he'd chew through this wort fast. I went 62 up to 64 degrees over the first three days and bumped it up to ~67 today. Couple days at ~50 and then dry hops at room temp.

 

[theveganbrewer]

I left that first can of empty Heady I had the other night covered in tin foil so I could check aromas as the time went by and it is incredibly piney without the beer in there. I'm doing some hop teas with extra hops I had lying around after the dryhop, seeing if I can stumble upon something.

 

[Coff]

So I had my Heady Topper clone yesterday just before the super bowl. I had a few friends over and they each had a glass. Everyone really liked it, a few said it was the best beer I had ever made. I might agree with them on that. One freind who knows very little about the brewing process asked how much grapefruit I used when making it. lol, none obviously! So if you get Heady, culture up the yeast bc I am sure thats what is making this so amazing.

Tasting Notes:

Burnt orange color, murky, dense 1 finger head with tiny bubble shooting up.

Peachy, orange, grapefruit, pinneapple, huge aroma, it basically engulfed the room even the people not drinking the beer got the aroma.

Not as juicy as heady but tons of fruits, orange, mango,
grapefruit amazingly citrusy. Really awesome.

I think the beer needs more pine, I havent had Heady in a month or so but I remember getting a decent amount of pine. Not overwhelming but it was there. I am thinking about dialing back the Amarillo next time, although good I think it was overpowering some of the other hop flavors. However, I love the beer right now, so I am going to have a hard time changing it, lol.

Overall I think it's a very good DIPA, but not heady.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 5.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 4.26 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 4.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 3.60 gal
Estimated OG: 1.077 SG
Estimated Color: 5.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 105.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 71.9 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 56.5 %
3 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 30.4 %
1 lbs Vienna Malt (Briess) (3.5 SRM) Grain 3 8.7 %
8.0 oz Dextrose (Briess) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 4 4.3 %
1.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 57.8 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 6 -
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins) Other 7 -
1.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 16.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 5.2 IBUs
0.75 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 10 6.2 IBUs
0.75 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 Hop 11 8.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 12 5.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 13 6.2 IBUs
2.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Aroma Steep 30. Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Aroma Steep 30.0 min Hop 15 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Aroma Steep 30.0 Hop 16 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Nugget [13.00 %] - Aroma Steep 30.0 min Hop 17 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - Aroma Steep 30.0 min Hop 18 0.0 IBUs
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Aroma St Hop 19 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Conan (The Alchemist #) Yeast 20 -
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Day Hop 21 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Day Hop 22 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 23 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 24 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 25 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 26 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 8.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 14.75 qt of water at 159.5 F 149.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.26gal, 2.63gal) of 170.0 F water
Notes:
------
2 seperate dry hops, 3 oz each for 5 days.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Almost at the end of 4 step ups from 2 cans (200ml - 300 - 500 - 800) Can anyone tell me my yeast count? sorry way to lazy tnite and im not sure if mrmatly does that conversion.

On other news i decided to drink some starter wort and HOLY Sh1! was it peachy with some tangerine and pineapple. as soon as it hit the tongue i could pull it right out of headys flavor. What a beast this little guy is.

Hopefully brewing my first clone this saturday if i dont need another stepup i will prob end up brewing a 3 gallon batch as we all try and nail the last couple details.

THX guys! awesome thread.

P.s i go up to vermont every couple months and will have a couple cases near spring for trade

 

[theveganbrewer]

Almost at the end of 4 step ups from 2 cans (200ml - 300 - 500 - 800) Can anyone tell me my yeast count? sorry way to lazy tnite and im not sure if mrmatly does that conversion.

On other news i decided to drink some starter wort and HOLY Sh1! was it peachy with some tangerine and pineapple. as soon as it hit the tongue i could pull it right out of headys flavor. What a beast this little guy is.

Hopefully brewing my first clone this saturday if i dont need another stepup i will prob end up brewing a 3 gallon batch as we all try and nail the last couple details.

THX guys! awesome thread.

P.s i go up to vermont every couple months and will have a couple cases near spring for trade

It's easiest to to estimate based on volume. How many mL of yeast do you have when it settles? Figure anywhere from 1-2 billion cells per mL to be safe. Might have more, but it's a good estimate.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

It's easiest to to estimate based on volume. How many mL of yeast do you have when it settles? Figure anywhere from 1-2 billion cells per mL to be safe. Might have more, but it's a good estimate.

Great thx for that. Ill have to check when i decant to the mason jar for storage

 

[Atonk]

Almost at the end of 4 step ups from 2 cans (200ml - 300 - 500 - 800) Can anyone tell me my yeast count? sorry way to lazy tnite and im not sure if mrmatly does that conversion.

On other news i decided to drink some starter wort and HOLY Sh1! was it peachy with some tangerine and pineapple. as soon as it hit the tongue i could pull it right out of headys flavor. What a beast this little guy is.

Hopefully brewing my first clone this saturday if i dont need another stepup i will prob end up brewing a 3 gallon batch as we all try and nail the last couple details.

THX guys! awesome thread.

P.s i go up to vermont every couple months and will have a couple cases near spring for trade

I'd take you up on this trade offer - dying to try it!

 

[globe]

Really interested in trying to make this but cant get my hands on any heady topper...had some horrible luck so far trying to receive some. Im willing to trade. Good luck with the clones as well!

 

[FATC1TY]

I would give this a shot, and be happy to add my results and ideas if someone has some extra Conan they could send me, I would get it ramped up from there. Obviously a can of Heady would be excellent, but the yeast would be just fine. I'd pay for it as well.

 

[abrix]

For those of you that are culturing Conan, what pitching rate are you aiming for? Standard ale rate of 0.75 million cells/ml/*P?

Thanks in advance.

 

[libeerty]

I would give this a shot, and be happy to add my results and ideas if someone has some extra Conan they could send me, I would get it ramped up from there. Obviously a can of Heady would be excellent, but the yeast would be just fine. I'd pay for it as well.

I am currently brewing a pale ale with Conan, and should have enough cake afterwards to send some. Rather than paying for me to ship it, maybe we can do a trade? Won't be ready for 3-4 weeks or so.

 

[Coff]

For those of you that are culturing Conan, what pitching rate are you aiming for? Standard ale rate of 0.75 million cells/ml/*P?

Thanks in advance.

I just pitched standard ale pitching rates, its a pretty rough assumption though when building up from dregs but I think I pitched about 200-250billion cells for a 5 gallon batch at 1.072.

I re-pitched 90ml of dirty slurry into a 1.071 Falconers Flight and it took right off and is tasting mighty fine after 10 days. I think I was a little more precise on the pitching rate for that beer.

 

[bobbrews]

When making a yeast starter, remember to input:

*Yeast age (this example was produced 3 weeks from today)
*Method of aeration (this example is based on a stir plate)
*Accurate measurement of the post-boil OG (Chill and test in the 60s F)

Also, remember to gauge your pitch rate based on the volume of wort in the primary (batch size). Not the volume you bottle or keg, some of which is lost to trub. I lose 0.5 gallons when racking, so my batch size is 5.5 gallons, but my bottling size is 5.0 gallons.

 

[kjm13]

Subscribed. I think Heady Topper is by far the best beer I have ever had. I'm making a run up to the Alchmest in March to get as much as I can get my hands on. (2 cases at least!) I did try the clone recipe I saw on hopville. It was my third batch ever and I screwed up so many things... It came out as an ok beer but had nothing like the punch of Heady. Think I am finally getting a hand on AG, as I hit my OG numbers better then expected last time. This is somthing that I am going to make priorty one to try and replicate. This is great. Now I just have to find the time to sit down and read this entire thread!

 

[namyarb3]

I don't have access to Heady.
Is there any other yeast that will throw the fruity flavors that Conan does? Anything even close?

 

[bobbrews]

With careful times and temperatures, perhaps Wyeast 1968 "ESB". Ninkasi uses it in Tricerahops.

 

[namyarb3]

I love that beer. I'll check out the yeast. Times and temp...happen to know the details?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Got 'er on the first round of dry hops. 3 oz. I'll do another couple three in the keg with co2 every 6-8 hours. Cannot wait to try this beer, my gravity samples tell me it's a) Heady-like (too young to tell) and b) the best IIPA I've ever made.

 

[theveganbrewer]

What did you end up dry hopping with?

 

[EyePeeA]

Just curious Nordeast, how much beer is exactly in that carboy?

I'm dryhopping a separate IPA (not an HT clone) with 3.5 oz. leaf hops want to make sure I have the space needed for when they expand and float atop the beer. On a side note, I think an HT clone would require more like a 5-6 oz. dryhop for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

What did you end up dry hopping with?

Half zip of each of the 6 for this dry hopping. I'm going even mix of each hop, and then tweaking out the amounts when I compare this to some of the real deal (hopefully) and my memory/notes (more likely).

Just curious Nordeast, how much beer is exactly in that carboy?

It's right about 5 gal.

I'm dryhopping a separate IPA (not an HT clone) with 3.5 oz. leaf hops want to make sure I have the space needed for when they expand and float atop the beer. On a side note, I think an HT clone would require more like a 5-6 oz. dryhop for a 5 gallon batch.

This is 3 oz, it's the first dry hop. I will do another 3 oz in a keg that I'll hit with co2 (through the "out" post) every 6-8 hrs for a few days before transferring to the serving keg.