Need a recipe formulation superhero. Will provide free beer.

[diatonic]

Good to see that bottle went to a good home .

The massive amount of hops in the BK was more than my diptube strainer could handle, along with the cold break. Hopefully the brewing gods will smile on me and not infect my batch, but I had to get a little creative to get the 4.5 gallons I did collect in to the carboy. I ended up with an OG of 1.095, overshot by .005. I didn't want to add water and dilute the wonderful hop flavor I had going. If you brew this, keep in mind the challenge with this amount of hops in your BK. I had about half pellet, and half leaf hops. The leaf hops soaked up a lot of wort. I'm trying to think of the best way to dry hop this beast without losing more beer to the hops. The color seems right on, and the flavor of the hydro sample was really similar in hop profile to Hop Henge. I think it will be a really tasty batch .

I did a 90 minute mash at 150F, then ramped to 168F for 10 minutes for mash out.

EDIT: The hop additions were too much for my SS scrubby strainer - 75, 60, 30, 15, 5, 0

I'm going to call it 1.095 OG. at 68F my hydro reads 1.094, which corrects to 1.095. My refractometer reads it at 23.2 Brix, which converts to 1.095.

 

[diatonic]

Just bumping this because I added the images yesterday.

 

[paradoc]

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
14.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 79.45 %
2.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 13.70 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.48 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 1.37 %

So I'm new to brewing, and doing have an all-grain setup (yet!). Any suggestions for adapting this grain bill to a mini-mash?

Thanks!!

 

[diatonic]

So I'm new to brewing, and doing have an all-grain setup (yet!). Any suggestions for adapting this grain bill to a mini-mash?

Thanks!!

Keep in mind that this brew is 'experimental'. My hop bill is slightly different here as I adjusted for the different alpha level of my hops. Also keep in mind that racking this can be a challenge, because it will be like hop stew when you're done.

This would be how I'd do a partial mash... it is based on a 90 minute full boil, with a boil-off rate of 15%/hour. I'd wait until 10-15 minutes before flameout to add the LME, so it doesn't get too dark. I did a 90 minute mash at 150F for my AG batch. Also, the LME pushes it very slightly outside the style guidelines for color (should be 8-15 SRM for the style.. and the AG version is right at 15). I buy most of my hops from freshops.com... much better pricing than LHBS, but you have to buy at least 12 ounces per order, and a minimum of 3 ounces of each variety. I've been really happy buying from them ... 3 orders in the last 3 months. I ordered the grain for this from Brewmasters Warehouse and was really pleased with the quality of the crush, grain, and the ordering process.

Recipe: Hop Henge IIPA Clone Partial Mash
Style: Imperial IPA
TYPE: Partial Mash

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal      
Boil Size: 8.68 gal
Estimated OG: 1.090 SG
Estimated Color: 16.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 87.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
9.00 lb       Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM)             Extract      59.02 %       
2.50 lb       Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)              Grain        16.39 %       
2.50 lb       Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)          Grain        16.39 %       
1.00 lb       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)     Grain        6.56 %        
0.25 lb       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)     Grain        1.64 %        
0.50 oz       Northern Brewer [7.60 %]  (Dry Hop 7 days)Hops          -            
0.75 oz       Cascade [6.60 %]  (Dry Hop 7 days)        Hops          -            
0.75 oz       Centennial [10.00 %]  (Dry Hop 7 days)    Hops          -            
1.00 oz       Millenium [12.00 %]  (75 min)             Hops         28.3 IBU      
0.60 oz       Northern Brewer [7.60 %]  (60 min)        Hops         11.4 IBU      
0.60 oz       Centennial [9.00 %]  (60 min)             Hops         13.5 IBU      
0.60 oz       Centennial [9.00 %]  (30 min)             Hops         10.4 IBU      
0.60 oz       Northern Brewer [7.60 %]  (30 min)        Hops         8.8 IBU       
0.25 oz       Cascade [7.50 %]  (15 min)                Hops         2.3 IBU       
0.30 oz       Centennial [9.00 %]  (15 min)             Hops         3.4 IBU       
0.75 oz       Cascade [7.50 %]  (5 min)                 Hops         2.8 IBU       
0.75 oz       Amarillo Gold [8.50 %]  (5 min)           Hops         3.2 IBU       
0.75 oz       Centennial [9.00 %]  (5 min)              Hops         3.4 IBU       
0.50 oz       Cascade [7.50 %]  (0 min)                 Hops          -            
0.50 oz       Centennial [9.00 %]  (0 min)              Hops          -            
0.50 oz       Amarillo Gold [8.50 %]  (0 min)           Hops          -            
0.50 tsp      Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)                Misc                       
1 Pkgs        Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [StarYeast-Ale                  


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 6.25 lb
----------------------------
Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp     
90 min        Saccharification   Add 7.81 qt of water at 161 F       150.0 F       
10 min        Mash Out           Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min         168.0 F

If anyone else brews this and wants to swap a couple bottles I'd love it.

 

[GunnerMan]

I would use a hop bag next time, also. That will eliminate a lot of the straining problems, jsut use a big bag for good utilizaton.

As for reducing what the hops take up, well the hop bag will work out as you wont have as much of a trub layer. (can you wring out a hop bag?) Also I dunno, how about trying to rehydrate the hops in .5 litres of warm water and then add that to the boil.

 

[fastricky]

I just had my first Hop Henge last night and it's gotta be one of the best IPA's I've ever had... just outstanding.

So I have to try this recipe... any news from folks that have tried it? I'm assuming the '0min' hop additions are dry hopped in the fermenter? What is the fermentation schedule? Cheers!

 

[diatonic]

I think I'm the only one to brew it so far. I fermented the first 5 days at 66F, then moved it to 68F 2 days ago. It's still fermenting pretty strong. I'm going to take a gravity reading later today. The 0 min additions are at flameout. There is still a dry hop I need to do when I rack to secondary. I imagine it will be about another 2 weeks before I rack it to secondary, and will probably leave it there for 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[fastricky]

Please keep us posted! So the dry hops weren't included in the ingredients... what will you be adding at that point?

 

[fastricky]

Sorry... also, where did you get your hops? Millenium is a tough one to source, let alone in leaf form.

 

[diatonic]

Yeah, I got Millennium in pellet form at my LHBS. The dry hops are listed right under the grains in the recipe. They were:

0.50 oz       Northern Brewer [7.60 %]  (Dry Hop 7 days)Hops          -            
0.75 oz       Cascade [6.60 %]  (Dry Hop 7 days)        Hops          -            
0.75 oz       Centennial [10.00 %]  (Dry Hop 7 days)    Hops          -

I used pellets for Millennium and Amarillo, though I had leaf Amarillo. I plan to brew this again before long using all leaf, and if I can't find leaf Millennium, I'll just use pellets for that one. I think if I had it all in leaf form my strainer would work, and I could just collect a little more sparge water to compensate for the water soaked up by the hops. I don't know why I'm opposed to using a hop bag - I've got a couple of the 5 gal paint strainer bags but haven't used them, because of their effect on efficiency. I might consider using them for the 75 and 60 min hops - and add about 10% more to offset the loss, then not use the hop bag for the 30, 15, 5, and 0 min additions.

EDIT - Did you find Hop Henge in NYC?.. I didn't think Deschutes had distribution that far east.

 

[fastricky]

Thanks again, great info.

No, I can't get Deschutes out here... my sister lives outside of Portland and my wife and I took a road trip throughout the PNW to visit her and explore all the killer breweries out that way. Deschutes was one that really impressed us overall.

I came across a 'beer of the month club' that will ship individual selections and they have a healthy stock of Deschutes, not to mention Russian River, and a bunch of other brands I can't get here. Great service, but the shipping is pricey... still, worth it in my book. The site is: bottletrek.com if anyone's interested...

 

[diatonic]

Just wanted to post an update. This has been in the primary for 8 days, and fermentation continues. I took a sample today, and it is at 1.023, down from 1.095. Hoping to get to 1.014-1.016. Right now it's sitting at 9.45% ABV.

Cheers!

 

[diatonic]

Quick update - 2 weeks in to primary fermentation, and it's still going, albeit very slowly. Plan to take a gravity reading in the next couple of days and will post it. Hoping to get it down to 1.016.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Thanks to Twitter I knew when it arrived in Austin so I picked up a few bottles the other day. Planning on doing a tasting with Soperbrew. I'll take notes.

 

[fastricky]

I'll be brewing this one later in the week... keep the updates comin'!

 

[diatonic]

Well, the sample I took on day 8 and measured with my refractometer corrected to 1.023 - though I took a hydro sample last night and it was 1.024. It had been in primary for 14 days last night. I drank the hydro sample - and it tastes very close to Hop Henge - though it doesn't have the massive hop aroma right now - plan rack to secondary and dry hop after another week as long as airlock activity halts... right about May 3rd. I'll be brewing this again - but I'm going to drop the Marris Otter a tad to try to get closer to 1.088... which should help get it under 1.020. I thought it tasted surprisingly dry at 1.024 though... though I don't have a very well trained palette . Once this batch is ready I may send a few bottles out for critique.

 

[fastricky]

Rock on..!

 

[diatonic]

Another update. This has been in the primary for 3 weeks, and is still slowly fermenting. It has been sitting at 68F for the last 2 weeks. Gravity is down to 1.018. That puts it at 10.11% ABV, a little higher than the 8.75% in the actual Hop Henge. Color is spot on. Flavor is outstanding. Going to wait another week to rack to secondary and dry hop for 7 days.

Cheers!

 

[Saccharomyces]

Hi guys, some thoughts after sampling the beer.

152*F or even 154*F would be a better mash temp IMO. It sounds like 150*F it overattenuated a bit? Hop Henge is noticeably sweeter than my Maharaja clone which mashed at 151*F. Also, I used a less attenuative yeast on the Maharaja clone than WLP007 (I used WLP013 which is probably 3-4% less attenuative). WLP007 seems like a fine choice of yeast.

I think 15% Munich and 10% crystal... It's a lot sweeter and more caramel-like than most IIPAs I've had, and color is definitely fairly dark.

For hops I would use Millennium for bittering, Centennial and Amarillo for whirlpool equivalent, and Northern Brewer and Cascade for finishing in hopback. The amarillo flavor is definitely noticeable, as is the NB aroma. However I don't get any of the floral flavor notes NB would get from a whirlpool addition, and the aroma is very floral, so I suspect all the NB would have been in a hop back.

I have heard Deschutes doesn't dry hop any of their beers, that they have a huge hopback instead, though that conflicts with the info on their website. Without a hopback the closest effect I think you would get from a hop tea infusion into the secondary rather than dry hopping. Maybe some combination of dry hopping and hopback was used to produce this beer. Several pounds per barrel is a low dry hop rate, in those big tanks the hops don't get as much contact with the beer as in a homebrew carboy so there must have been something else contributing to the massive hop aroma.

 

[Beerzoid]

They definitely dry hop.

 

[gonzo brewer]

Another update. This has been in the primary for 3 weeks, and is still slowly fermenting. It has been sitting at 68F for the last 2 weeks. Gravity is down to 1.018. That puts it at 10.11% ABV, a little higher than the 8.75% in the actual Hop Henge. Color is spot on. Flavor is outstanding. Going to wait another week to rack to secondary and dry hop for 7 days.

Cheers!

Start dry-hopping that baby now. Kick it up to 70-75º and dry hop 2 sessions of 7-10 days each. With the 10% ABV you'll need a little more aroma bite.

When you are all done, post the recipe you used, how much yeast you pitched, ferment temps, and what you would do different.
Keep the updates coming!!!!

 

[diatonic]

Oh yeah, they dry hop this baby big.

See this blog post.

"But 95 IBU’s turned out to be so much wishing. Our first brewing of Hop Henge this year produced the following result. The very vigorous ferment, with a fermenter at capacity, blew our precious dry hops all over the floor depriving us of all the goodness therein. The result was a beer we calculated to, on paper, 243 IBUs! In the bottle, we only got 80 IBUs. Still, as I mentioned earlier, you apparently loved it. So, what did we do? We made another batch, added more hops, only filled the fermenter half-full and thought we would blow the doors off the beer (and your taste buds)."

 

[Beerzoid]

Yea, they had that article at the brewery. It's a great read and shows how a lot of other Breweries that claim 100+IBU's are full of it. It's pretty sweet, Deschutes has a lab in the brewery to make sure everything is legit.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Wow that's an awesome photo.

I would have been there with a growler to fill with hops.

 

[diatonic]

Well, this has been dry hopping for 3 days now. Thought I'd post a quick write-up on it, will post another update after tasting it when I bottle in a week.

This was the recipe I brewed. I oreder the grain from Brewmaster's Warehouse and got 78% efficiency. I had calculated based on my 70% efficiency with my LHBS crush.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Hop Henge IIPA Clone
Brewer: Chris Hillman
Style: Imperial IPA
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (TBD) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal      
Boil Size: 8.68 gal
Estimated OG: 1.095 SG
Actual OG: 1.095
Actual FG: 1.018
Actual ABV: 10.11%
Estimated Color: 14.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 90.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 77.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
14.50 lb      Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)          Grain        79.45 %       
2.50 lb       Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)              Grain        13.70 %       
1.00 lb       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)     Grain        5.48 %        
0.25 lb       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)     Grain        1.37 %        
0.75 oz       Cascade [6.60 %]  (Dry Hop 7 days)        Hops          -            
0.50 oz       Northern Brewer [8.50 %]  (Dry Hop 7 days)Hops          -            
0.75 oz       Centennial [10.00 %]  (Dry Hop 7 days)    Hops          -            
1.00 oz       Millenium [12.00 %]  (75 min)             Hops         29.1 IBU      
0.60 oz       Centennial [9.00 %]  (60 min)             Hops         13.9 IBU      
0.60 oz       Northern Brewer [7.60 %]  (60 min)        Hops         11.8 IBU      
0.60 oz       Centennial [9.00 %]  (30 min)             Hops         10.7 IBU      
0.60 oz       Northern Brewer [7.60 %]  (30 min)        Hops         9.0 IBU       
0.30 oz       Centennial [9.00 %]  (15 min)             Hops         3.5 IBU       
0.25 oz       Cascade [7.50 %]  (15 min)                Hops         2.4 IBU       
0.75 oz       Centennial [9.00 %]  (5 min)              Hops         3.5 IBU       
0.75 oz       Amarillo Gold [8.50 %]  (5 min)           Hops         3.3 IBU       
0.75 oz       Cascade [7.50 %]  (5 min)                 Hops         2.9 IBU       
0.50 oz       Centennial [9.00 %]  (0 min)              Hops          -            
0.50 oz       Amarillo Gold [8.50 %]  (0 min)           Hops          -            
0.50 oz       Cascade [7.50 %]  (0 min)                 Hops          -            
0.50 tsp      Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)                Misc                       
1 Pkgs        Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [StarYeast-Ale                  


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 18.25 lb
----------------------------
Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Step Time     Name               Description                         Step Temp     
90 min        Saccharification   Add 22.81 qt of water at 159.1 F    148.0 F       
10 min        Mash Out           Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min         168.0 F

I fermented the first 2 weeks at 68F in primary
Raised temp to 72 for 3rd week
Dropped down to 68F for 4th week.

Racked to bright tank with dry hops and held at 68F for 10 days.

I only ended up with 4 gallons in the bright tank due to issues I had on brew day. I only collected 4.5 gallons from the boil kettle due to clogs with hops/break matter. Lost .5 gallon due to yeast/trub.

I ordered grain to brew this again soon. Have the hops in the freezer. Ordered the grain from BMW again, but have adjusted recipe based on 78% efficiency. Going to drop the MO from 14.5 lbs to 13 lbs. Hoping to come in at an OG of 1.087 and be closer to the 8.75 ABV. I may alter the hop bill on the next round based on the flavor of the beer after I have it in bottles. I've got a 2L Erlenmeyer flask on the way that I'm going to use to do a bigger starter on my stir plate, though I didn't have any issues with attenuation. I'm going to use all leaf hops next time, except the 1 oz of millennium pellets. Can't find it in leaf .

I think next time I will mash at 152 instead of 148 to sweeten it a tad... this will depend on the flavor of the finished product.

I might take a photo of the secondary with the 4 gallons of beer with 2 oz of hops in it later tonight.

Wish me luck!

 

[Saccharomyces]

You could sub Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus for Millennium. M/C/T/Z are essentially all the same hop just resistant to different diseases.

 

[jwwdvm]

Has anyone else brewed this recipe to completion, and if so any thoughts on the final product? I’d love to hear any feedback if so.

I do have several questions based on Saccharomyces thoughts after tasting the beer.

…152*F or even 154*F would be a better mash temp IMO. It sounds like 150*F it overattenuated a bit? Hop Henge is noticeably sweeter than my Maharaja clone which mashed at 151*F. Also, I used a less attenuative yeast on the Maharaja clone than WLP007 (I used WLP013 which is probably 3-4% less attenuative). WLP007 seems like a fine choice of yeast.

I think 15% Munich and 10% crystal... It's a lot sweeter and more caramel-like than most IIPAs I've had, and color is definitely fairly dark.

This makes sense, especially for Batch #1 (my favorite); it tasted sweeter to me than #2. Would WLP005 be an acceptable, less attenuating, choice?

For hops I would use Millennium for bittering, Centennial and Amarillo for whirlpool equivalent, and Northern Brewer and Cascade for finishing in hopback. The amarillo flavor is definitely noticeable, as is the NB aroma. However I don't get any of the floral flavor notes NB would get from a whirlpool addition, and the aroma is very floral, so I suspect all the NB would have been in a hop back.

Would it make much difference to use Cascade/Centennial for bittering (since that’s what I have)?

In the recipe, Gonzo has additions at various times in the boil. Would there be any advantage to add all the bittering at the beginning of the boil, and then to add flavor and aroma at the end? I’ve read that this can add a lot of flavor and aroma with smoother bittering, true? If so, what quantities would you recommend.

… Without a hopback the closest effect I think you would get from a hop tea infusion into the secondary rather than dry hopping. …

I read in a forum where a brewer was dropping the temperature after the boil to 175 F., adding hops, and steeping for 30 minutes prior to completing cooling, in lieu of a hopback. Does this make sense? Does anyone have with experience with this technique?

Thanks for any thoughts! As a nube, if the answers can be found in other threads please feel free to pass along some good search keywords or links.

 

[BoZzyFresh]

one of my favorites!

 

[jwwdvm]

one of my favorites!

The clone or the original?

 

[Saccharomyces]

This makes sense, especially for Batch #1 (my favorite); it tasted sweeter to me than #2. Would WLP005 be an acceptable, less attenuating, choice?

WLP005 should work fine, just be sure to do a long and warm D-rest, so the yeast have time to cleanup the diacetyl before racking off the primary yeast.

Would it make much difference to use Cascade/Centennial for bittering (since that’s what I have)?

I think Centennial would work OK for this beer. Cascade would be too soft. You want some pretty harsh hop bitterness to cut through all that malt.

In the recipe, Gonzo has additions at various times in the boil. Would there be any advantage to add all the bittering at the beginning of the boil, and then to add flavor and aroma at the end? I’ve read that this can add a lot of flavor and aroma with smoother bittering, true? If so, what quantities would you recommend.

I read in a forum where a brewer was dropping the temperature after the boil to 175 F., adding hops, and steeping for 30 minutes prior to completing cooling, in lieu of a hopback. Does this make sense? Does anyone have with experience with this technique?

This simulates hopping in the whirlpool which isn't the same as using a hopback. In a hopback, the hot wort goes through the hops and straight into a plate chiller so there is no isomerization of the alpha acids. A whirlpool addition will contribute the hop bitterness and flavor of a 15 or 20 minute boil addition as well as aroma of a 5 minute boil addition.

For instance, the Maharaja is hopped at 60 and whirlpool, there are only two additions. If you chill right away adding the hops at 15 minutes gets similar flavor to whirlpool, but the advantage of whirlpool additions is you don't boil off the aroma compounds so you will get more aroma from the kettle hops. I think this would work really well for the Hop Henge clone also, and is what I'm planning to do next time I do a IIPA (eg. 60 minute boil addition, chill to 180, add the hops, wait 15 to 20 minutes, and then resume chilling). In software you would need input 75 minutes for the bittering hops and 15 minutes for the whirlpool hops to get an idea of the IBUs.