Hopslam Clone...

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So I finished building the temp controller and I'm very pleased with it. I brewed up a 3 gal recipe using your recipe. I bumped up my grain by about 10% to account for my efficiency though. And I used organic honey instead of the corn sugar.

I made a starter using the yeast harvested from 12 bottles of Bells Two Hearted. I pitched the yeast last night and I have a strong fermentation going on today. I had the temp set to 63 so the yeast could take off a bit better but I'm about to set it to 58 I think.

My mash temp was right at 150-151 for a solid hour. I used a water bath inside a cooler to keep my pot set at the right temp and it worked great!

Pre-boil SG. 1.065
Post-boil SG 1.084

If this finished around 1.010 I should be sitting around 9.8 ABV which is pretty close.
 
LandoAllen said:
So I finished building the temp controller and I'm very pleased with it. I brewed up a 3 gal recipe using your recipe. I bumped up my grain by about 10% to account for my efficiency though. And I used organic honey instead of the corn sugar.

I made a starter using the yeast harvested from 12 bottles of Bells Two Hearted. I pitched the yeast last night and I have a strong fermentation going on today. I had the temp set to 63 so the yeast could take off a bit better but I'm about to set it to 58 I think.

My mash temp was right at 150-151 for a solid hour. I used a water bath inside a cooler to keep my pot set at the right temp and it worked great!

Pre-boil SG. 1.065
Post-boil SG 1.084

If this finished around 1.010 I should be sitting around 9.8 ABV which is pretty close.

Awesome! Looking to hear how it goes for you, with mine I think I ran around 64, and bumped it up toward the end of fermentation, trying to help it attenuate as much as possible. I think you'll enjoy it, let me know either way!
 
I forgot to mention that I did a small experiment where I poured some of the wort into the 2 liter starter bottle I had and its fermenting in my apartment at 85-89 F just to have a comparison in the taste between the two. I just thought it would be interesting to try.
 
LandoAllen said:
Sleepyemt - did you age/condition for any length of time before dry hopping? Transfer to secondary?

I think I left it on the yeast for a week after fermentation, then to a secondary for dry hopping...
 
Funny you asked... I just bottled it last night. That taste test during bottling was amazing! I was half tempted to drink part right there. But I decided to be patient and wait till its carbed up. It was very smooth and didn't taste like like it had that much alcohol content to it. Great hoppy aroma. The low bit of sweetness balanced the bitterness well.

Also the experiment I did where I fermented a bit of the wort at high temps turned out just how you would expect...very hot alcohol tasting and not so smooth.
 
LandoAllen said:
Funny you asked... I just bottled it last night. That taste test during bottling was amazing! I was half tempted to drink part right there. But I decided to be patient and wait till its carbed up. It was very smooth and didn't taste like like it had that much alcohol content to it. Great hoppy aroma. The low bit of sweetness balanced the bitterness well.

Also the experiment I did where I fermented a bit of the wort at high temps turned out just how you would expect...very hot alcohol tasting and not so smooth.

Yeah, I expected that from the high temp experiment...

Nice! Glad to hear its coming along! I expect to hear your results when it's carbonated, this is where I usually lose reviewers.., I think it's great, but it's good to hear others as well..
 
So I brewed this awhile back following Sleepy's recipe and though something went wrong I have hopes that it will still turn out decent.

For whatever reason my efficiency was way off. IIRC SG should have been 1.090 and I came out at 1.070. I'm not entirely sure, but I think I know what went wrong. For one, I adjusted my grain mill a bit wider thinking I had too fine of a crush on a previous batch (which ended up turning out fine, no stuck sparges and it was one of my more clearer batches). I think the other reason was the boil, where I tried squeezing 7.5 gallons in my 8 gallon kettle. With moderate boil it was right at the rim. Maybe I didn't boil off enough?

So my FG ended up being 1.014 making what should be a 10% ABV beer a 7.5%. And of course the IBUs jumped to 86 or so, if I ran the numbers correctly.

Is there any reason to believe this still won't turn out ok? It's kegged and will be ready by this weekend so I have my fingers crossed.
 
So I brewed this awhile back following Sleepy's recipe and though something went wrong I have hopes that it will still turn out decent.

For whatever reason my efficiency was way off. IIRC SG should have been 1.090 and I came out at 1.070. I'm not entirely sure, but I think I know what went wrong. For one, I adjusted my grain mill a bit wider thinking I had too fine of a crush on a previous batch (which ended up turning out fine, no stuck sparges and it was one of my more clearer batches). I think the other reason was the boil, where I tried squeezing 7.5 gallons in my 8 gallon kettle. With moderate boil it was right at the rim. Maybe I didn't boil off enough?

So my FG ended up being 1.014 making what should be a 10% ABV beer a 7.5%. And of course the IBUs jumped to 86 or so, if I ran the numbers correctly.

Is there any reason to believe this still won't turn out ok? It's kegged and will be ready by this weekend so I have my fingers crossed.

I think it will turn out fine! You wont have the alcohol warmth that will sneak up on you, but it should be fine. Hitting the lower FG will help dry it out, but a couple of points (1.014) is still fairly close and Low.... Its all about the hops on this one, you'll enjoy it!

Please understand this recipe is what works for my system, adjustments would need to be made for yours.... I buy my grain crushed from the LHBS, and have a 10g kettle, So I really can't say regarding your 2 variables and what they played in it...

and the IBUs although are measured at 86, will taste a little less due to the slightly higher FG and balance of late hops and the honey malt...

Let us know how it turns out! I think it'll still be great!
 
I do! I do! It was fabulous. Absolutely amazing. I had two buddies that love hopslam try it and they said they liked it more than the real hopslam. Another brewing friend tried it and he was very impressed. He also agreed that it might even be better than the real hopslam. I could not tell that the alcohol content was so high. The aroma was very florally and hoppy which was to be expected. the upfront taste was smooth and had a nice rich and clean body that reminded you of honey/malt. The final taste had a very hoppy and slightly sweet taste that left you satisfied. It wasnt too hoppy for me but it was for my wife. This is for sure a beer I will be keeping around for myself. Normally I am more than willing to let anyone try my homebrew but this is the first batch that I have been guarding like it is gold.

I have to admit that I was worried about my cultured yeast I used from Two Hearted bottles but the yeast did great! I was pleased with how well the yeast settled out with the cold crash. I also think the colder ferment temps really played a huge part in this yeast doing well.

I ended up bottling the experimental batch that I fermented at very high temps and it was not pleasant. Had very hot alcohol tastes even with carbonation and sitting for a few weeks to mellow out. So this was a good lesson learned that the bells yeast doesn't do great a high temps. I dumped it...

On bottling day I also had some hard cider that had been dry hopped with Citra so I decided to mix some Hopslam with hard cider at a ratio of 1:3. This little Frankenstein double IPA/Hard Cider was incredible! Much better than I had expected it to. It adds nice ale body characteristics to the cider. It gave the cider much more body and character and it gave more of a hop blast at the end which was very interesting with the apple and citrusy characteristics of the cider.

Now that I have my basic recipe down I think I might tweak the recipe a bit and try adding some Citra hops for some citrusy notes. Also I might possibly increasing my mash temp a few degrees to make it a bit sweeter to see how that effects the hop bite at the end. I think making it a bit sweeter might help my wife enjoy it more. I also think my carbonation was a bit low so I will play with that a bit too in the future.

Overall a huge success and cheers to everyone for their advise and help. Sleepyemp you the man!!!
 
Glad you enjoyed it! :mug:Keep me updated to any tweaks that you like.... I had one batch through the trial and error that finished way too high, and was way too sweet, just be careful... The recipe may not be exact, but its a pretty solid recipe that gets you close. :tank::tank:

Glad to hear feedback from someone that has tried it as well....
 
Turned out great. I was worried about my efficiency and the final product being a bit too bitter, but after tasting it my worries quickly faded. If my numbers are correct I finished at about 86 IBU or so, but the balance seems spot on. It's certainly not too bitter. I think with better efficiency next time around and a higher ABV, that warmth and body will make it even better. I may add a little more honey too as I can't really taste it at all.

Sleepy your recipe and guidance have been very helpful, it's much appreciated.
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After 2 weeks in the keg.
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Sleepyemt, I have just recently gotten into all grain brewing (2 batches under my belt). I really want to try your recipe for this hopslam clone. Since I am so new and since your recipe has evolved, is there anyway that you can post a finalized recipe with in depth instructions? I would greatly appreciate it and will definitely hit you back up with feedback and how my results transpired.
 
Sleepyemt, I have just recently gotten into all grain brewing (2 batches under my belt). I really want to try your recipe for this hopslam clone. Since I am so new and since your recipe has evolved, is there anyway that you can post a finalized recipe with in depth instructions? I would greatly appreciate it and will definitely hit you back up with feedback and how my results transpired.

So here is my latest variation on the recipe. It's not far from where the other are, just playing around with hop times. Exact? no, but close enough that I'm very happy with it. Its for 6 gal., you'll lose a lot to hop material and end closer to 5 gal. Temp control is important, I like 66 then as it gets closer to finish ramp it up to 68 or a little higher to help it dry out. Oxygenate and pitch enough yeast, see mrmalty.com for amounts. I keg, its possible that you'll need to repitch? I believe there was one person that didn't get carbonation. Your taking the yeast to 10%, but others have had success...

Boil volume and efficiency is for my set up, you may need to adjust for yours. I'd reccomend gypsum depending on your water? Your 10g kettle should work great, I have the same.

Let me know how it goes and and if I can answer any questions

Recipe: Hopslam
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: Imperial IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 8.74 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.74 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.086 SG
Estimated Color: 6.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 85.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 74.0 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
16 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 85.9 %
9.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.1 %
9.6 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.1 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - First Hop 4 16.2 IBUs
1 lbs 8.0 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 5 7.8 %
1.50 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 30.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 12.4 IBUs
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 7.9 IBUs
0.75 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9 5.2 IBUs
0.75 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil Hop 10 3.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool Hop 11 5.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 15.0 Hop 12 3.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast 13 -
3.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Day Hop 15 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 19 lbs 3.2 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 6.33 gal of water at 158.8 F 149.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 5.33 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2
 
Is there a specific time you are adding the corn sugar into your boil?


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I typically do it as I'm sparging, but you can do it with in the last 10 min to flame out. I find it easier to do earlier, w/o worrying about clumping


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Jumping in a little late here but curious as to how these hops would reside at a lower gravity?

Say, around 6.5-7%. Would the corn sugar still be needed?

Would you need to cut back on the amount of hops while leaving the types & times they are added alone?

Would be an AG batch.

I know it is not Hopslam per se'.... But for a every day drinker, 10% is steep!

Thanks in advance... Especially documenting all of your work in such detail.
 
I think it would be great at a lower strength, it would help with carbonation if you bottle conditioned. As far as corn sugar, it help with a lower FG. If you can still get it to finish at 1.012 with out it then I'd say go for it. But if you let it in, it wouldn't hurt it.

If you do it, post your results!


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It will be bottle conditioned in the keg. I condition them all that way. Force carbonation has been so hit & miss for me...

As for the modification, I am just going to adjust the ABV down in Beersmith. OG of 1.065-1.068 & FG of 1.016.

All of the Sierra Nevada clones I have done with US05 have finished around 1.016 when mashing @ 152. Those were always a 2 row/Crystal malt bill though. I have never used honey malt & don't know what impact it may or may not have on sweetness/body.

Should I still mash @ 149 even without the corn sugar? Do I need to mash a tad higher & add some body?

I'm not changing the hops at all. Does yours taste like 85 IBU's? I never really trust the IBU count when using a FWH method. That addition always seems to be overstated in bitterness by Beersmith IMO.

It may be that many IBU's but never seems to taste like it to me.

I am assuming that yours tastes like a moderately hopped, balanced IPA?

Ive never had Hopslam. Ha! Maybe I should try it first. LOL
 
The honey malt adds some sweetness to the beer. I guess it comes to personal preference on how dry you like it. It seems a little less than 85 ibu's due to a majority of it being late hops.

Taste wise, it is a hop forward beer with a little malt to carry it in the background

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Taste wise, it is a hop forward beer with a little malt to carry it in the background

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Sounds like my kind of IPA...

It is down the line a ways but will brew it. Will CC the recipe when I get done with it.

Will probably mash at 152.

Thanks!
 
Can you explain the hop addition in bold? Is it just a flame out addition with the two that follow it hopstand/whirlpool? Assuming that is correct, what temp did you add the hopstand hops & for how long?

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.25 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 6.00 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 5.25 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
OG: 1.068
FG: 1.016


Date: 07 Apr 2014
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: My Equipment
Efficiency: 82.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.0 %
Taste Rating: 30.0

12 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 94.0 %
6.4 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.0 %
6.4 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.0 %

Mash In Add 16.63 qt of water at 163.7 F 152.0 F 75 min
Batch sparge with 4 steps (Drain mash tun , 1.39gal, 1.39gal, 1.39gal) of 168.0 F water

First Wort Hops

1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 4 12.8 IBUs

1.50 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 24.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 17.7 IBUs
0.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 11.3 IBUs
0.75 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 7.4 IBUs
0.75 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 11 0.0 IBUs

Steeped Hops

1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Glacier [5.60 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs

1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml]

1.5L Starter

Dry Hops

3.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Day Hop 15 0.0 IBUs
 
Brewing this up soon. I bought a 3lb container of orange blossom honey so I'm debating leaving the honey malt out all together. What do you guys think? Honey always seems to leave less flavor than I expect once it's fermented out but I don't want it to be overwhelming. Maybe just a quarter pound of honey malt to be safe?
 
Brewing this up soon. I bought a 3lb container of orange blossom honey so I'm debating leaving the honey malt out all together. What do you guys think? Honey always seems to leave less flavor than I expect once it's fermented out but I don't want it to be overwhelming. Maybe just a quarter pound of honey malt to be safe?

I'd be curious to try it both ways. Although that doesn't give you a straight answer. I'd probably leave a little honey malt in there, and bump up the mash temp to 152, since the honey will dry it out. Also, I take it your leaving out the sugar since your adding the honey?

I look forward to hearing your results...
Jp:mug:
 
I think I'll leave a quarter or half pound. I love honey so it won't be too much for me. Good point on the mash temp. And yes, definitely leaving out the corn sugar.

Brewing this as one of my wedding beers so I should get plenty of feedback, although it might be biased haha.


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Sounds good! Honey malt does go a long way! I look forward to hearing the results


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Has anyone had Brother Benjamin and compared it to Hopslam? I have heard it is very similar to hopslam.


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I ended up brewing this on Memorial Day. Used 3lbs of orange blossom honey in a 7.5 gallon batch. 8 days later there is still a 3 inch krausen on top and it's swirling around. Can't wait to taste it going into secondary.
 
I ended up brewing this on Memorial Day. Used 3lbs of orange blossom honey in a 7.5 gallon batch. 8 days later there is still a 3 inch krausen on top and it's swirling around. Can't wait to taste it going into secondary.

Sounds Good, Love to hear how it ended up for you:mug:
 
Have never had Hopslam so can't compare it but can say that based on the FG hydrometer samples, this has the making of an awesome beer...

Had to sub fuggles for the glacier additions. I would imagine the differences are subtle.

Will dry hop for a week and keg.

OG 1.083
FG 1.011
 
Sounds Good, Love to hear how it ended up for you:mug:

This beer was fantastic and far and away the best IPA I've ever brewed. The honey was still subdued despite using so much. I haven't had hopslam in ages so i can't really say whether or not it was cloned. I'm leaning towards 'no'. Will definitely be brewing some variation of this again and soon.
 
This beer was fantastic and far and away the best IPA I've ever brewed. The honey was still subdued despite using so much. I haven't had hopslam in ages so i can't really say whether or not it was cloned. I'm leaning towards 'no'. Will definitely be brewing some variation of this again and soon.

Now you did a variation from my recipe right? 3#s of honey vs the honey malt? Glad to hear it turned out so well! :mug: Let me know if you try my recipe. I ve had them side by side. Not exact, but so very close that I don't know that I'd change it!
 
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