Stone 15th Anniversary Escondidian Imperial Black IPA clone

[socalhomebrewer]

I just threw this in the kegerator and waiting for it to carb up. The hydro test tasted awesome. A side note on the san Diego super yeast, it ferments very vigorously so if you are going to use it I would suggest a blow off tube because it is going eat through fermentable at close to twice the speed as regular wlp002. The last beer I made with it started up strait from the vial to a 1064 batch, it had started to show signs of fermentation at 5 hours, and was at a full ferment with an inch or krasen at 8.5 hours; and I took a hydro at day 4 and it had already fermented down to 1014. With this beer I'm assuming it will go so crazy it will be blowing krasen out the top with that yeast. Just my opinion though.

 

[mrgstiffler]

Got the ingredients today. Going to do the starter and brew up the Stone 15 tomorrow. Really looking forward to this one. Spendy though.

 

[mrgstiffler]

I just threw this in the kegerator and waiting for it to carb up. The hydro test tasted awesome. A side note on the san Diego super yeast, it ferments very vigorously so if you are going to use it I would suggest a blow off tube because it is going eat through fermentable at close to twice the speed as regular wlp002. The last beer I made with it started up strait from the vial to a 1064 batch, it had started to show signs of fermentation at 5 hours, and was at a full ferment with an inch or krasen at 8.5 hours; and I took a hydro at day 4 and it had already fermented down to 1014. With this beer I'm assuming it will go so crazy it will be blowing krasen out the top with that yeast. Just my opinion though.

I see what you mean by this. I BARELY cracked the vile to pitch into my starter and it exploded everywhere. This stuff could be even more active than the Weihenstephan.

 

[drawdy10]

Same thing happened too me, make sure to sanitize hands, use gloves if you have them and open it over a funnel into the starter.

 

[Woz]

Brewed today. This was my second all grain and I nailed the OG at 1.100. Sample is very hoppy bitter.

 

[skeezerpleezer]

Brewed today. This was my second all grain and I nailed the OG at 1.100. Sample is very hoppy bitter.

Nice work on the efficiency on a big brew like this. The bitterness is normal, there is a bunch of hops in this brew. It will mellow out nicely.

 

[mrgstiffler]

I'm still waiting for signs of fermentation on mine that I brewed on Friday. Made a 2L starter of the WLP090. Decanted and pitched into the 3G @ 1.102 that I shot with pure O2 for 30 seconds. I expected the yeast to go ape**** within 24 hours. Stupid lazy yeast.

 

[skeezerpleezer]

I'm still waiting for signs of fermentation on mine that I brewed on Friday. Made a 2L starter of the WLP090. Decanted and pitched into the 3G @ 1.102 that I shot with pure O2 for 30 seconds. I expected the yeast to go ape**** within 24 hours. Stupid lazy yeast.

I am surprised isn't going ape$h!t by now. Got krausen or is in a bucket? If bucket, maybe a bad seal somewhere, it should be going strong, especially with a starter.

 

[mrgstiffler]

I am surprised isn't going ape$h!t by now. Got krausen or is in a bucket? If bucket, maybe a bad seal somewhere, it should be going strong, especially with a starter.

Yeah, the starter was very active. It's in a carboy and absolutely no krausen. It's very strange but I'm sure something will happen soon.

 

[Woz]

Mine is going nuts with several inches of krausen today. Thanks for the compliment Skeezer, this was also my third home brew ever.

IPA is next. Who's got a killer recipe at 7ish%

 

[mrgstiffler]

Mine is going nuts with several inches of krausen today. Thanks for the compliment Skeezer, this was also my third home brew ever.

IPA is next. Who's got a killer recipe at 7ish%

Widmer released their X-114 recipe. You can find it here somewhere. If not, I'll send it to you. Very easy and tasty.

 

[skeezerpleezer]

Mine is going nuts with several inches of krausen today. Thanks for the compliment Skeezer, this was also my third home brew ever.

IPA is next. Who's got a killer recipe at 7ish%

I have an all Citra recipe that is getting a lot of positive feedback: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/3-floyds-zombie-dust-attempt-help-info-requested-245456/

I have a keg on tap now, it will not last long. It is only around 6.3%, but i had one batch hat was about 6.8% (been playing with different yeasy). You could add a bit af 2 row, and a bit more bittering hops if needed.

 

[Woz]

I was considering making your Zombie Dust clone sometime. I acquired some bravo and delta hops and want to brew a pale/IPA using them first. I posted looking for some recipe advice, but haven't got much response. Anyone here have experience with these hops or advice?

 

[mrgstiffler]

Gonna be racking my Stone 15 tomorrow or Friday. Looking forward to the taster!

 

[skeezerpleezer]

I was considering making your Zombie Dust clone sometime. I acquired some bravo and delta hops and want to brew a pale/IPA using them first. I posted looking for some recipe advice, but haven't got much response. Anyone here have experience with these hops or advice?

I have used bravo for bittering on a lot of beers due to the high alpha. Never used ut for any flavor/aroma/dryhop, but it does its job for bittering.

 

[Woz]

I was planning to bitter with bravo and flavor/aroma with delta.

I went to the best local specialty shop today to look for Zombie Dust and Hopslam. None in Southern California was the word

 

[drawdy10]

Drinking hopslam and zombie dust tonight out of ny fridge!!! Muuuuahahahhahaa

 

[skeezerpleezer]

You won't get zombie dust in bottles outside the brewpub or a few specialty shops around Chicago, or on tap outside Indiana/Chicago/ burbs. Hopslam gets out, not to Cali though. And it sells out within minutes everywhere it is distributed. It is good, and I am a big hophead, but in my opinion if you are in the Midwest area, Dreadnaught is better than Hopslam (comparing imperial IPAs). Zombie Dust is like a Midwest Pliny in my opinion. It is just that good, and hard to get.

 

[Woz]

Two weeks of fermentation on my batch. When I checked gravity last weekend, it had dropped from 1.100 to 1.031. Yesterday I had only come down to 1.028. Still high, not sure what I can do about that.

 

[phoenixs4r]

Warm it up a bit a jossle it a bit? I really need to brew this.

 

[mrgstiffler]

Two weeks of fermentation on my batch. When I checked gravity last weekend, it had dropped from 1.100 to 1.031. Yesterday I had only come down to 1.028. Still high, not sure what I can do about that.

1.028 isn't too high for this beer. I doubt it'll go much lower after 2 weeks. What temp did you keep it at and what yeast did you use?

 

[sivdrinks]

1.028 isn't too high for this beer. I doubt it'll go much lower after 2 weeks. What temp did you keep it at and what yeast did you use?

Agree. Did an Imp Stout that started at at 1.091 and finished at 1.028, body was just fine for a beer this high in gravity.

 

[Woz]

It was at ambient SoCal temp, which has been low the last two weeks for the most part: 60-65. I used a California yeast pulled from a local brewer, not sure what strain.

 

[phoenixs4r]

I really think I want to brew this next batch. Is the info in OP currently the most up to date recipe for cloning it?

It's a shame I don't have the original to compare it to. Hopefully since they won that beer bracket thing they'll release it at least as a seasonal

 

[skeezerpleezer]

I really think I want to brew this next batch. Is the info in OP currently the most up to date recipe for cloning it?

It's a shame I don't have the original to compare it to. Hopefully since they won that beer bracket thing they'll release it at least as a seasonal

Yes, i havent done it again yet, but the OP is great and really close. Not sure what I would change other than mashing around 148-149 to help dry it out or Maybe up the candy sugar some.

 

[phoenixs4r]

I'm drawing a blank on what Stone brews I can purchase and harvest yeast from. The only place to get pacman isn't 'local' really and last time I purchased it from them it was expired, and they told me tough luck, so **** them.

/rant.

I've had good experience with harvesting from my own homebrew bottles so I'd like to give it a shot.

 

[skeezerpleezer]

Here is a list that has some of the beers you can harvest from: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/commercial-beer-yeast-harvest-list-262713/

I think I have heard of people harvesting from Stone IPA also, but could be mistaken.

 

[phoenixs4r]

Thanks!

 

[Keiskamma1]

Anyone have an email address for Mitch Steele at Stone?

 

[RichPetersen]

In case anyone is interested in a partial mash recipe, my latest batch is about as close to the 15th as I remember (we can't get any more here in AZ so I'm relying on my not-so-good memory). But it's REAL good. Very malty and hoppy and VERY black. Here is what I used the last time:

Ingredients:

2 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US Grain
8.0 oz Carafa II Grain
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L Grain
6 lbs 12.0 oz Dark Dry Extract Dry Extract
2.00 oz Chinook - Boil 90.0 min Hop
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold - Boil 90.0 min Hop
0.50 oz Simcoe - Boil 5.0 min Hop
2.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold - Dry Hop 7 Day
0.50 oz Simcoe - Dry Hop 7 Days

And the end product (IMHO) is amazing. Maybe not as good as an all-grain but since I don't have the equipment for doing all grain this is pretty darn good. Thanks to BeerSmith software for helping in the conversion process and the "tweaking" process. If you have any suggestions for further tweaking let me know.