Sweetwater IPA Clone

[redbone]

Redbone - no issues here. I just know that talking to the brewery, unless you are a beautiful Russian spy who can bed the Head Brewer, is almost always a waste of time. I swear they do more to throw you off the scent than to help. Now we need to nail the recipe.

I understand.

I guess it also depends on the brewery too. Some are more stingy with info than others. I've spoken with in person and emailed Linus Hall of Yazoo Brewing many times. With his help, I've managed to nail a Bavarian Hefe so good that I'd put it up against any. After all, they did win a Gold Medal with it in 2004. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazoo_Brewing_Company

OK.. enough tooting my own horn. Back to biznas. Cheers.

 

[CPORT546]

Anyone have any luck with any of these? I was in TN last week and tried this and was very impressed. I would like to make something close.

 

[jawilson20]

Per Sweetwater,
Hops: Chinook, Cascade, Simcoe U.S. Golding
Dry Hops: Simcoe, U.S. Golding
IBU's: 61
Grain: 2 row, Munich, Wheat and C80

Hope that helps

I spoke with a Sweetwater rep at the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival and he told me the exact same hops. Even the hops that it is dry hopped with. It matches the above exactly.

I have the hops on order, now I need to determine how much and when to add them. I will also be doing this as an extract. Anyone want to take a shot at a recipe?????

 

[Grantman1]

I don't know about the recipe, but I had a sixer of this last weekend and can tell you without question that Simcoe is the dominant flavor in this brew.

 

[jawilson20]

Ok, I'll take a shot:

Assuming this grain bill:

10.5 lbs 2 row
1.0 lbs Munich
0.5 lbs Crystal 80
0.5 lbs Wheat Malt​

And this hop schedule from info above:

1.25 oz Chinook 13% 60 min
2 oz Cascade 5.5% 15 min
1 oz US Golding 5% 1 min
1 oz Simcoe 13% 1 min
1 oz US Golding Dry Hop
1 oz Simcoe Dry Hop​

I get:

OG: 1.067
IBU: 63
Color: 8 SRM​

What do you think?

It's been quite some time since I've had SW IPA, but I drank it almost exclusively one summer when living in Chattanooga, love this brew and want to try a clone!

Blake

I think I am going to give this recipe a shot. Can anyone help in converting it to extract? Does this hop schedule look good?

 

[farmerbrad]

I just brewed a 10 gallon batch from Brewmasters Warehouse recipes for American IPA called "The Grapefruit Bomb" and it is a spot on clone of Sweetwaters IPA. Only problem now is everyone is out of fresh whole Simco hops.

 

[jawilson20]

I am going to give the following a go as an extract recipe. Thoughts?


Hops Used
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1.25 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 48.3 IBUs
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 16.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 8 1.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Goldings, B.C. [5.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 7 0.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Goldings, B.C. [5.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs


Grains Used


Fermentables
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 1 5.3 %
5 lbs Pale Liquid Extract (3.0 SRM) Extract 2 52.6 %
3 lbs Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 3 31.6 %
1 lbs Wheat Liquid Extract (3.0 SRM) Extract 4 10.5 %

 

[redbone]

jawilson20, I think the wheat ratio is too high. Did you look up the "The Grapefruit Bomb" recipe that farmerbrad mentions? It looks promising: http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com...umas-the-grapefruit-bomb-sweetwater-ipa-clone

If you do your hop schedule, it would be interesting to hear the outcome. I would think that Simcoe would be more dominant though.

 

[jawilson20]

If I drop the wheat down to say .5lb should I bump the pale up by .5?

I did look at the grapefruit bomb recipe. I really want to try the variety of hops included in my schedule, as these varieties are what I have heard from multiple sources (Sweetwater included) . Quantities and timing can be changed if someone has a better idea. This is my first shot a non-kit recipe, so any and all advice is appreciated.

 

[redbone]

If I drop the wheat down to say .5lb should I bump the pale up by .5?

I did look at the grapefruit bomb recipe. I really want to try the variety of hops included in my schedule, as these varieties are what I have heard from multiple sources (Sweetwater included) . Quantities and timing can be changed if someone has a better idea. This is my first shot a non-kit recipe, so any and all advice is appreciated.

Obviously everything I'm about to say is my opinions and what I'd do... Brewing is an art and you can't be told how to make your own art.
...
Definitely if you decrease the wheat, you should increase something else to keep up the OG. I personally don't use wheat in my IPA's, but I would say that 10.5% for the Sweetwater IPA is too much if there is any in there at all.
As far as hops go, you aren't going to get much from Chinook except for bittering. The hop schedule looks fairly simplistic. You might want to mix it up a bit and get on a vigorous addition schedule a little chinook and simcoe additions all along the boil. Leaving cascade and BC goldings to the end. I'd dry-hop with simcoe and cascade... not goldings. Also, make sure you use BC Goldings and NOT East Kent. East Kent would be too earthy for this IPA.

I'm on a kick lately of single hop IPA's similar to the popular Citra IPA recipe. The thought of a single hop all along the boil is very interesting to me and I think it would really help me understand the characteristics of that one hop more than I would otherwise. I guess this is why the Grapefruit Bomb sounds so intersting to me.

 

[BA_from_GA]

rolled the dice on my variation of this today.

basically the same recipe as the grapefruit bomb of BMW, except hopped with Chinook @ 60, Simcoe @ 20, Cascade @ 10, and Amarillo(why not) @ 1. will dry hop it with 1 oz simcoe, and maybe .5 oz cascade.

will let you know how it turns out. I'll note though, the simcoe hops smelled EXACTLY like like the Sweetwater IPA i was drinking while i was brewing today.

 

[FATC1TY]

It's all simcoe by the way...

 

[Sleepyemt]

It's all simcoe by the way...

Not quite...

 

[Sjorge3442]

has anyone finished any of these recipes? Seems like a dead thread with no final info on any of the recipes. I wanna brew this probably as my next brew in line (First is a pumpkin porter being brewed Sat) . I love the Sweetwater IPA but I've been stuck in Philly my whole life, so I have to pay outrages shipping to get some 6 packs up here....

 

[CPORT546]

I have made two versions based on the suggestions here. I will try and remember to post the recipes tonight when I get off work. The first version I made was better than the second. While I thought they were both good IPA's it had been six months for version one and over a year for version two since last having a SW IPA. So how perfect of clones they are is hard for me to say.

 

[BuddyBrews]

I spoke with a Sweetwater rep at the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival and he told me the exact same hops. Even the hops that it is dry hopped with. It matches the above exactly.

I have the hops on order, now I need to determine how much and when to add them. I will also be doing this as an extract. Anyone want to take a shot at a recipe?????

Sweet!!!

 

[BuddyBrews]

I have made two versions based on the suggestions here. I will try and remember to post the recipes tonight when I get off work. The first version I made was better than the second. While I thought they were both good IPA's it had been six months for version one and over a year for version two since last having a SW IPA. So how perfect of clones they are is hard for me to say.

You never posted recipes!!!

 

[CPORT546]

Ok, I'll take a shot:

Assuming this grain bill:

10.5 lbs 2 row
1.0 lbs Munich
0.5 lbs Crystal 80
0.5 lbs Wheat Malt

And this hop schedule from info above:

1.25 oz Chinook 13% 60 min
2 oz Cascade 5.5% 15 min
1 oz US Golding 5% 1 min
1 oz Simcoe 13% 1 min
1 oz US Golding Dry Hop
1 oz Simcoe Dry Hop

I get:

OG: 1.067
IBU: 63
Color: 8 SRM

What do you think?

It's been quite some time since I've had SW IPA, but I drank it almost exclusively one summer when living in Chattanooga, love this brew and want to try a clone!

Blake

This is the basic recipe I used for version one with a few small changes. I used 10 pounds instead of 10.5 because my lbhs sold 10lb bags. I also used flaked wheat because I misread the recipe but it worked out nice. The beer has great head retention. This is to this day still one of my favorite home-brews and I will make this again.

Version two I did two ounces of simcoe dry hops with no goldings. I did not like this as much as the original. While not a bad brew it's not as balanced as the first one.

Hope this helps.

 

[BuddyBrews]

Not quite...

ya then what?

 

[BuddyBrews]

This is the basic recipe I used for version one with a few small changes. I used 10 pounds instead of 10.5 because my lbhs sold 10lb bags. I also used flaked wheat because I misread the recipe but it worked out nice. The beer has great head retention. This is to this day still one of my favorite home-brews and I will make this again.

Version two I did two ounces of simcoe dry hops with no goldings. I did not like this as much as the original. While not a bad brew it's not as balanced as the first one.

Hope this helps.

So version one. Do you think its a pretty close clone? Have you brewed again? Im acually doing 2 versions myself right now with your version 1 being my version 2!! haha

 

[CPORT546]

So version one. Do you think its a pretty close clone? Have you brewed again? Im acually doing 2 versions myself right now with your version 1 being my version 2!! haha

Well seeing as it was at least four months from my last SW I think it was definitely on the right track. The SWMBO also thought it was damn goo and close I'm going to make it again soon. It's a good IPA IMHO.

 

[dynobyte]

Have you had their new rye ipa? They call it LowRyeder...25% rye malt.. To me it's better than the regular ipa.

 

[BuddyBrews]

Have you had their new rye ipa? They call it LowRyeder...25% rye malt.. To me it's better than the regular ipa.

Have not seen the Rye make its way up here to nc yet!! I'm dying to try it!! Whats it like? Why is it better?

 

[BuddyBrews]

Have you had their new rye ipa? They call it LowRyeder...25% rye malt.. To me it's better than the regular ipa.

From reading the description it's really clear and crisp. Also sounds like it has a great hop flavor. I get to try it on Friday!! I'l let ya know.

 

[Sjorge3442]

I need to get someone to ship me the beer up here to Philly. I'll send back plenty of Philly favorites if someone is interested. In the mean time, I plan on brewing this in a few days. Hopefully I can finally start hitting the OG numbers.

 

[dynobyte]

Have not seen the Rye make its way up here to nc yet!! I'm dying to try it!! Whats it like? Why is it better?

The rye really shines through so you get the peppery spice flavor. It's hoppy but its not a bitter hop bomb. It's a very flavorful, crisp beer...very drinkable. I like this better than Ruthless Rye if you've had it before.

 

[FATC1TY]

Have not seen the Rye make its way up here to nc yet!! I'm dying to try it!! Whats it like? Why is it better?

I don't know if better is the right word. It's good. No where near as citrusy and unbalanced as the west coast style IPA they product. I like the original better. The "LowRYEder" as it's called, has a nice citrus spicy punch to it, and has a nice clean spice finish from the rye. It's a good beer for sure, but not on par with the IPA I think. Easy drinker for sure.

One of the better rye IPA's I've had, and I'm not a fan of rye personally.

 

[FATC1TY]

I need to get someone to ship me the beer up here to Philly. I'll send back plenty of Philly favorites if someone is interested. In the mean time, I plan on brewing this in a few days. Hopefully I can finally start hitting the OG numbers.

Whatcha got in Philly that I can't get?

I can send you ultra fresh bottles, or even fresh growlers of SW IPA..

 

[BuddyBrews]

The rye really shines through so you get the peppery spice flavor. It's hoppy but its not a bitter hop bomb. It's a very flavorful, crisp beer...very drinkable. I like this better than Ruthless Rye if you've had it before.

Got to just try i do not agree!! Most of the time i'm not really fond of the more crisp/clearer beers and i figured so with reviews and descriptions of it. And that is why I like the regular SW IPA SO much better. It really has that thick fluffy head that stays long time(in a glass not washed in dishsoap) and that not so clear beautiful think color and medium body i believe comes partly from the added .5 lbs of wheat malt. this truly is my favorite beer on market right now but i'm open for suggestions for some other IPAs i anyone has any!! Cheers!!

It really is ALL about personal preference!!
Bout To pop m first SW Clone in a few days!! Can't wait for ITTTT!!!

 

[Sjorge3442]

Whatcha got in Philly that I can't get?

I can send you ultra fresh bottles, or even fresh growlers of SW IPA..

I can get any Weyerbacher, Yards, Victory, Troegs. I live a half mile from Yards so when I pick up from them the bottles are no more than two weeks old. Let me know if you are interested in anything. Yards makes a killer DIPA (Cape of Good Hope) and their IPA is a text book IPA. Not to mention their Philly Pale is a great session drinker.