Sweetwater IPA clone!!!

[jbb3]

Depending on who you believe, some people are more old school and just pitch a pack of yeast with every batch. Most folks go by the online calculators. For your beer the online calculators like Mr. Malty and yeast calc recommend six packs of brand-new yeast or three packs in a 2 L starter on stir plate.

CRAP!! Guess I should have researched this BEFORE.

It's my biggest OG and volume yet. Have learned a lot. Much, much more to go...

 

[bd2xu]

Sort I got that wrong! I was looking on mr malty but forgot to switch from lager to ale. It would be 3 packs without a starter or one pack in a 2.5L starter (with intermittent shaking).



Primary: Maibock, Helles (first partigyle batch)
Secondary: Mojave Red, Irish Stout
On tap: Orange Belgian IPA, Turbo IIPA
Bottled: Dwarven Gold Ale, La Fin Du Mond clone, Hefeweizen

 

[jbb3]

Sort I got that wrong! I was looking on mr malty but forgot to switch from lager to ale. It would be 3 packs without a starter or one pack in a 2.5L starter (with intermittent shaking).

NP! After some reading and talking with my local brew shop, I understand that pitching additional yeast at this point is pretty much a waste of money. So I'll let this one ride and see where it ends up.

Depending on the results I get may swing me one way or the other whether I agree with your local brew guy or the many others that use the calculators...

Regardless, I need to keep progressing and learn more about the yeasties...

 

[bd2xu]

For what it's worth I use almost all liquid now and always make a starter. Just so much effort and love into each batch, and yeast count and health is one of the most important.



Primary: Maibock, Helles (first partigyle batch)
Secondary: Mojave Red, Irish Stout
On tap: Orange Belgian IPA, Turbo IIPA
Bottled: Dwarven Gold Ale, La Fin Du Mond clone, Hefeweizen

 

[BeerBaronBob]

For what it's worth I use almost all liquid now and always make a starter. Just so much effort and love into each batch, and yeast count and health is one of the most important.

I agree with bd2xu on the above. I use http://www.yeastcalculator.com/ and per that calculator with one smack pack 3 weeks old you need about a 1.25 liter starter on a stir plate to get to the desired pitch rate at 5.25 gal at 1.060 OG.

On the other hand I like to use a low pitch rate for HefeWeisse. One pack or vial per batch.. no starter.

See how it goes, you can always repitch some more yeast if your FG is too high or just try your beer with a higher FG and brew again.

 

[BeerBaronBob]

You can also try injecting some more O2 today to give it another boost if you have that ability.

 

[jbb3]

Attempted this as an all-grain - missed my orig gravity, so I finished it off with some pale extract.

It turned out great. Brought it to my company pool party and it was a big hit.

By the end of the night, everyone was calling it 'The Whore' because of the amazing head!

Personally, I think because I missed the OG, the FG was a little low as well. Drier than most IPA's, but still came out very tasty.
I think I will be giving this another try next year once I get a better AG setup.

LOL... So at what rate did you carbonate The Whore??

One of the things I really like about the real Sweetwater IPA is the silky smooth head it gives...

I'm sure it has something to do with the stepped mashing they do.

 

[jbb3]

My SW IPA clone is at FG so it's ready to dry hop (today makes day 12 in the fermenter). I plan to dry hop using jed's suggestions;

Drop the Cascade and up the Simcoe at the end of the boil and dryhop to around 2 oz each and you've pretty much got it. You want to target 50 IBUs.

So what is the consensus on the length of time to dry hop prior to bottling?

 

[jbb3]

Dropped a sack full of hops into the fermenter last night. Will probably bottle on Sat or Sun...

 

[icanbenchurcat]

LOL... So at what rate did you carbonate The Whore??



One of the things I really like about the real Sweetwater IPA is the silky smooth head it gives...



I'm sure it has something to do with the stepped mashing they do.

Haha, it was a great hit at parties

It was bottle carbd so I have to guess a little. It must have ended up around 3 or so vol CO2

It would have been good closer to 2.4


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[icanbenchurcat]

LOL... So at what rate did you carbonate The Whore??



One of the things I really like about the real Sweetwater IPA is the silky smooth head it gives...



I'm sure it has something to do with the stepped mashing they do.

Haha, it was a great hit at parties

It was bottle carbd so I have to guess a little. It must have ended up around 3 or so vol CO2

It would have been good closer to 2.4


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[jbb3]

Bottling day is here!

Been dry hoping (2oz Simcoe & 2oz Fuggles) for 7 days. Have my priming solution boiling so went out to elevate my fermenter in order to rack into the bottling bucket.

I removed the top from the fermenter and the most wonderful sweet tangerine/grapefruit aroma comes wafting out... The most wonderful smell in the world!!

I am really jazzed about this batch.

 

[brewprint]

Steep the munich, crystal and wheat. 2-Row can be substituted on the 1/.75/.6 ratio between grain/LME/DME. So, 10.5# here would be 7.875# of LME or 6.3# of DME. If I were doing extract, I'd use 6# DME to replace 10# of 2-row and add the 0.5# 2-row to the steeping grains. Should get you close.

I think that I'll give this a whirl with 8 pounds of LME.

 

[jbb3]

So has anyone nailed this clone?!! Seems to be all over the place. This last one i tried seems to be the closest. I personally can't find a better IPA here in SE!!

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

And this hop schedule:

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

OG: 1.067
IBU: 63
Color: 8 SRM

Glad you like it!

Grain bill looks pretty good, though the gravity is a little high. Drop the Cascade and up the Simcoe at the end of the boil and dryhop to around 2 oz each and you've pretty much got it. You want to target 50 IBUs.

Woo Hoo!

12 days into bottle conditioning and I am very please!

It's still a little green but the hoppiness is right on! Maybe even a little bit MORE than the real thing.

I could smell the hops as I was pouring the beer :rockin:

I scaled up the recipe to 6.5 gal. I reduced the 15 min hop addition to 1 oz. Dry hop amounts were increased to 2oz each as recommended by dedhedjed. I also attempted to replicate a stepped mash (also recommended by dedhedjed) with water additions which went surprisingly well. Not sure how it effected the brew but...

Now I'm going to try really hard to let it go at least another week before I start drinking them in bunches...

I would like to thank BuddyBrews for posting the starting recipe and dedhedjed for chiming in with a few trade secrets.

Thank you gentlemen!



BTW, I didn't take a before photo, but here is an after...

 

[jbb3]

 

[PADave]

Here is my try. Nailed it. One glass came out of the can, one out of my keg.

 

[BuddyBrews]

Here is my try. Nailed it. One glass came out of the can, one out of my keg.

View attachment 412872

Nice job!! Did you use the original recipe in post?

 

[jdutton24]

Nice job!! Did you use the original recipe in post?

What hops are you using to dry hop with? On their site it says Simcoe and centennial. Late additions are Simcoe and cascade at 1 min?

 

[elproducto]

Any updates on this? I'd love to clone this beer.

I tried to clone 420 and couldn't get super close.