Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA clone

[skeezerpleezer]

Looking back, I did have 8% crystal in the original email, must of messed up when putting the candy sugar in or something. I updated the original post with that. Here is the email string:

From: Mitch Steele
To: Daniel Reed; skeezerpleezer
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:35:26 -0800
Subject: RE: Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA

Hi Heath:

Try bumping the carafe III and the chocolate malt to 4% each. We also used a little dark candi sugar syrup in the boil.

Also, flip-flop the additions of Nelson and Pacific Jade-move the Nelson to the dry-hop and take the Pacific Jade to flameout. We made that change after the 1st batch.

Have fun brewing!

Cheers,
Mitch


Mitch Steele
Brewmaster
Stone Brewing Co.

From: Daniel Reed
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 12:24 PM
To: Mitch Steele
Subject: FW: Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA

…last one. Promise. I think.

Dan Reed
Brewery Tours & Promotions

Stone Brewing Company
1999 Citracado Pkwy.
Escondido, CA 9202
(760) 471-4999

“Good people drink good beer.” – Hunter S. Thompson

*
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 6:14 PM
To: email
Subject: Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA

*
NOTE: I cut out a lot of the extra stuff I put in to shorten this post. He is the important stuff:

I was wondering if Stone would be willing to give some hints or advice on the ingredients for this.**Below is what my initial thoughts were based on the blog entry found here: The Stone Blog » Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA.

85% 2row
8% Cara-bohemian (sub crystal 80 if I cant find it)
3.5% Carafa III
3.5% Chocolate

Columbus at start of boil to get to around 80 ibus
Citra at 15 min left to get 20-25 ibus
2.5-3 oz Citra at flameout
2.5 oz Pacific jade dry hop
2.5 oz Nelson sauvin dry hop

Wyeast San Diego super strain, or 1056/001 fermented at 65-68
Mash around 154, try to get a final gravity around 1.025

The biggest concern is getting that wonderful roastiness that 15th has.**I am new to the black IPA brewing, so wasn't sure about my specialty grains.**Any help/comments would be greatly appreciated!**

Cheers,
Heath

 

[Keiskamma1]

I cultured some yeast from a 22oz bottle of stone IPA. It is very healthy, ferments the starters well and with good flavor, and has multiplied into great quantities. I have a batch of Stone IPA fermenting with this yeast, and was wondering if anyone here had thoughts on whether the same cultured yeast would work on a batch of this 15th Anniversary Imperial black IPA?

 

[skeezerpleezer]

I imagine it would work fine.

 

[mcaple1]

Isn't this recipe resulting in a bit higher that the commercial ABV?

 

[skeezerpleezer]

Isn't this recipe resulting in a bit higher that the commercial ABV?

The commercial beer is 10.8% (just checked a bottle I have in the fridge). I am hoping this drops to around 1.019 from 1.101, which would be right around 10.8%.

 

[Keiskamma1]

Actually, I just got my hands on a bottle of the 15th Anniversary stuff and it looks like its bottle conditioned. i am going to see if I can culture that yeast.

 

[Keiskamma1]

I adapted the recipe in post #1 from AG to extract by subbing 13 lbs light LME for the 2 row. All looks good except .... I only get to 52.3 IBUs of bitterness per Beersmith which is way off. Any thoughts?

 

[skeezerpleezer]

Are you doing a full boil? If not you wont get the same bitterness with the amount of hops.

 

[dignifiedb]

The recipe on page one has been changed to reflect the suggested changes in the email, correct? Has anyone brewed this one yet? My wife really loves black IPAs, and I'm thinking about making this one my first attempt at brewing one.

 

[SilverZero]

The recipe on page one has been changed to reflect the suggested changes in the email, correct? Has anyone brewed this one yet? My wife really loves black IPAs, and I'm thinking about making this one my first attempt at brewing one.

Man, talk about going big or going home.

The recipe was posted following the conversation with Steele, so it should be good to go. If anybody has brewed this yet, it's still on primary or maybe bottles, so unless somebody got on it early and kegged, nobody is done yet. I could be wrong, but I'm sure someone would come back to comment if they'd tasted the finished product yet.

 

[djfriesen]

I brewed it, but it was way too ambitious. Anyway, totally shorted the OG. It will be beer, but will not resemble the intended beer. Once I get my equipment up to par, I will try it again.

 

[skeezerpleezer]

The recipe on page one has been changed to reflect the suggested changes in the email, correct? Has anyone brewed this one yet? My wife really loves black IPAs, and I'm thinking about making this one my first attempt at brewing one.

Yes, it is updated. Haven't got it made yet though.

 

[socalhomebrewer]

I adapted the recipe in post #1 from AG to extract by subbing 13 lbs light LME for the 2 row. All looks good except .... I only get to 52.3 IBUs of bitterness per Beersmith which is way off. Any thoughts?

Check the addition times, amounts, and boil size. Also, most of the stone beers have a 90 minute boil so the hop additions will want to be adjusted to match. Using extract, you usually have a smaller boil size and add water going into the carboy. The smaller boil size can effect hop utizalation. See if these things are correct and if adjustment on these things in beer smith can help with the IBU's.

 

[skeezerpleezer]

I would probably consider the 90 min boil to help ensure better efficiency with the large grain bill (doesn't matter for extract).

 

[skeezerpleezer]

I am finally going to brew this today or tomorrow morning. I decided to just do a 1/2 batch for now so I can work on round 2 sooner. I will keep the thread updated.

 

[RallyintheValley]

Thanks for giving this a go skeezer... can't wait to hear about it. It's on my brew calendar for February.

 

[thomismydad]

Yes, thanks. I may be trying a partial mash based on your recipe the first week of January.

 

[skeezerpleezer]

I got this brewed Friday. I came up about .002 short on OG. I am thinking about boiling up a bit of sugar and adding it after primary fermentation, but will wait and see where the final gravity ends up before doing that. Here is what I did, it is basically just a scaled down version of post #1:

Batch Size: 3.25 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Actual Efficiency: 73.4 %

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.75 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 79.6 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 8.2 %
0.50 lb Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 4.1 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.1 %
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00%] (60 min) Hops 61.2 IBU
1.25 oz Citra [12.40%] (15 min) Hops 33.6 IBU
2.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (1 min) Hops 4.7 IBU
1.00 oz pacific jade [9.00%] (1 min) Hops 1.7 IBU
1.50 oz Nelson Sauvin [12.50%] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
0.50 lb Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM) Sugar 4.1 %
1 Pkgs California Ale (DCL Yeast #S-05) [Starter 2500 ml] Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.102 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.100 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.027 SG (hoping for 1.018 - 1.020)
Estimated Color: 58.0 SRM
Bitterness: 101.2 IBU (60.0-110.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 9.1 AAU
Mashed temperature: 151 F

I will report back in a month or so.

 

[EllisTX]

I've had my eye on this since you started the thread. Can't wait to hear the results so I can order ingredients if it's successful. Good luck!

 

[skeezerpleezer]

I am out of town till the 1st. I plan to rack and dryhop the 2nd. I will post an update when I do that.

 

[Keiskamma1]

So I brewed a 5 gal batch of this 12/16. OG was 1.103. I pitched a big starter cultured from a bottle of Stone 15th. Used a 7.5 gallon primary and had to switch to a blow off hose the next day due to the violence of the fermentation. Went with that for 24 hours, then back to the airlock. Racked to carboy and dry hopped on 12/24. Airlock activity had stopped and yeast appeared to have fallen out. I did not check the gravity when racking. There was minimal airlock activity this week and I got it out to bottle today. The gravity reading was 1.027. This seems to high to me. I was thinking it would be at 1.020 or so. Options now are:

1) Bottle as is at 1.027,
2) Put it away for another few days,
3) Add some yeast saved from primary fermentation,
4) Add some yeast saved from the starter.

I do not want to spoil this batch and I do not want bottle bombs either, so I am looking for ideas on what course of action I should take??

Thanks and happy new year!

 

[skeezerpleezer]

Did you do all grain? If so, I think it should end up lower than 1.027, as long as you didn't mash too high. I will check my gravity tomorrow and post what I ended up at.

 

[Keiskamma1]

I used extract.

 

[socalhomebrewer]

With how big this beer is I would of left it in primary for a minimum of 2 weeks, IMHO would have gone 3 weeks before going secondary and dry hopping. Hard to say exactly what stone does for these big beers that are 10+% beers.

 

[Keiskamma1]

Yeah, that's what I am thinking now - longer in primary. Last batch I made with yeast cultured from their bottles was the IPA. It started at 1.066 and ended at 1.008 with a week in the primary and 10 days in carboy. 1.008 was a lot lower than I expected and I was concerned about something like that happening again...

 

[Satisfaction]

Ooo glad I found this thread. Subscribed

 

[socalhomebrewer]

That may be a couple ticks off, but I believe the commercial version is 1010 or so, so you are close. With the 15th anniversary, you should end in the mid 20's, might dip into the 19 or 18 if your yeast is aggressive. Who knows it may be good if it drys out. If it's not good then add a little extract to sweeten it up. I would not worry about it now as either way it should be a good beer, just make tweaks the next time you brew it.

 

[htownbrew12]

Does anybody have any recommendations for replacing the Nelson Sauvin (no luck tracking it down)? I have read that there are not really any substitutes, but maybe something else that would pair well the rest of the hop schedule?

 

[skeezerpleezer]

I racked the half batch I brewed on 12/16 to secondary today. Gravity is still higher than I wanted at 1.027 (~73% attenuation). I will let it ride awhile longer and hope it goes down a few points. Next time I will make a big starter (was a spur of the moment brew, so I only pitched 1 pack of S-05 for 3g batch). I will also mash around 150.

The good news is that the sample I tasted was pretty spot on to a fresh Stone 15th. I will update again after the Nelson Sauvin dry hop. I have some Stone 15s to compare it to also. Maybe when I open one I will take a gravity reading and see what the real FG is.

htownbrew12- I am not sure if there is a good sub for Nelson Sauvin, but then again, this is my first time using it.

 

[Keiskamma1]

I added some more cultured yeast to mine and put it away for another few days.