As I mentioned in my Micro Pale Ale post, we've got a big party coming up very soon, and I need to get some beers cranked out fast. All my friends will definitely expect a good IPA on tap, but I need something I can turn out in three weeks flat. After flipping through some past recipes, I realized the Blind Pig clone I brewed awhile back would be a good fit. It's a little lower in alcohol than the typical IPA, and the bright crisp hop notes taste good even when the beer is young.
Anytime I revisit a recipe, I always try to improve it where I can. This beer was excellent the first time around, but it wasn't quite Blind Pig. Close, but not quite. So based on the recipes a few people posted in the comments, and my own thoughts after tasting the clone and the real beer, I made a few changes. First I nudged the C40 up a hair. Secondly, the hopping incorporates a little more Amarillo, and a little more CTZ, with just a little less Cascade and Centennial. Finally I'm using Super San Diego Yeast because I'm in a hurry, and I can re-pitch slurry from my Micro Pale that's done fermenting.
Another simple and easy brew day, although it was very windy, which I really don't like while brewing. I think I've gone a solid 6 months without changing around any equipment or techniques, which has been very nice. I'm finding it much easier to get into a groove while brewing, as I can more or less run on 'auto-pilot'. Also, I'm getting batches knocked out faster due to multitasking better. Start to finish, this was a 3hr 45min brew day, which is awesome!
Anyway, 60min mash, 60min boil, 20min whirlpool for the hops, and then I chilled to 62F. I hit the wort with 90sec of O2 before pitching 160ml of 090 slurry. This batch was done fermenting in roughly four days, and you can see the fermentation temperature profile below.
Brewed: 04-21-13
Dry Hopped: 04-29-13
Kegged: 05-02-13
OG: 1.059
FG: 1.010
ABV: 6.4%
IBU: 60
6 Gallons
11.5lbs 2-Row
8oz CaraPils
6oz C40
4oz Wheat
Mash @ 151*
.3oz Apollo @ 60
.75oz CTZ @ 60
.5oz Amarillo @ 30
.5oz ea: Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial @ 0
WLP090 - Super San Diego Yeast
Dry Hop: .5oz ea: Centennial, Cascade, Amarillo, CTZ
I only sat on the dry hops for a few days, as (once again) we're in quite a hurry with this batch. So into the keg it went with some gelatin before carbing it up.
We're evaluating this a little young, but it's settled in over the past few days in the keg. It turned out pretty incredible. This batch has everything I liked about the last batch, but with a bigger hop note, that's less Cascade-centric. It's still a bit cloudy, as I was sloppy when I racked it into the keg, but it's slowly clearing up. Color looks identical to last time, and it has a fluffy white head that lasts forever. The aroma is similar to how I remember it before, but the Amarillo is coming through more. Lots of citrus and orange notes. There's a little pine, but much less grapefruit than last time. The flavor and body are spot on: Big hops, a little sweet malt, and then a crisp assertive bitterness in the finish. Small side note: The yeast change didn't seem to make any real impact on flavor.
So, is it cloned? It's pretty damn close. The only difference is the hop aroma isn't quite as big as fresh Blind Pig. I found Blind Pig to be nearly as hoppy as PTE, only it's hops were more citrusy, and less piney. I'd be tempted to use the same dry hop, only add 25% more, and see how it turns out.
For a beer to serve at a party though, this turned out absolutely 100% perfect. It has a big beautiful citrusy aroma, with a clean flavor, and a crisp finish. This is a really well crafted IPA recipe, and now the party has come and gone, I can say it was quite the crowd pleaser. Thanks for all the comments on the last clone attempt; we're almost there. And finally, thanks to all our friends that came over to help my sister and I celebrate. Cheers!
Nice job... I'm particularly happy that your hopping schedule is so similar to the one I mentioned before, from Zymurgy, because I was planning on brewing that one myself in a month or so! The hopping seemed less (quantity-wise) than your first attempt, and I was wondering if it would still give as high a hop-flavor and aroma... seems like it's pretty close!
ReplyDeleteIt got killed in a hurry at the party we had Saturday. I'd definitely recommend brewing it.
Deletedo you think the brevity of the dryhop may be more of the issue causing a lower hop aroma than the real BP, rather than adding 25% more?
ReplyDeleteI would say no. I've shortened my dry hopping schedule considerably over the past year, and I'm getting better hop aroma if anything.
DeleteHello, I'm a new home brewer and just discovered this blog - it's great btw.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the ignorant questions but does wheat mean crushed wheat malt? And does CTZ mean one can use either Columbus, tomahawk, and Zeus, or is it a combination of all 3? TIA
Just regular wheat malt that I run through my mill with all the other grains. And yep, CTZ means any one of the three because they are all nearly identical.
DeleteWish I could find Amarillo.
ReplyDeleteYa, you've pretty much had to buy it in bulk right after the harvest for the past two years. I buy 1-2lbs of each hop I commonly use. It's a life-saver when things get hard to find later in the year.
DeleteTook me a while to track some down but www.nikobrew.com has Amarillo and several other hard to find hops. Also 5 dollar flat rate shipping...
DeleteI am having a similar problem with the aroma. Doesn't have the kick but the flavor/bitterness is there. I used the same hop amounts/schedule but with the amounts scaled to a 3 gal recipe so I can iterate changes to brews quicker. I went 14 days in primary then dry hopped in the primary (no bag or anything) for another 7 days, then immediately went to the keg. I was able to get a really clear beer without gelatin but simply using a hop bag on the end of my auto siphon.
ReplyDeleteI also had the grain bill based on your older recipe - less C40. What does that do to this brew? I am noticing mine is a bit light on the body, but I think that may be that I accidentally hit 1.054 OG instead of 1.060-ish. FG ended up being 1.010.
I will be rebrewing this as another half batch in a few weeks to see what changes I can make. I was also just using tap water, but I just got the stuff to add to some RO water based on your other blog post - that should help with the hoppiness of this beer too.
Love your blog!
hey kevin, ive found that i dont produce the intended aroma results im looking for in my dry hopped beer when dry hoping directly in primary after 2 weeks. dry hoping in a secondary seems to work better for me (7 days is a standard) even though many claim to get good dry hop results in the primary. i also use a hop bag (mines a paint strainer bag really) over my racking cane when transferring my beer from the carboy to the bottling bucket, i dont get any hop residues in my beer ever now....
DeleteI am about to do this with the slightly updated 2.0 grain bill, RO water + the additions mentioned on this blog for IPAs, and 25% more dry hops (still using the 1.0 Blind Pig hopping schedule).
DeleteI still plan on dry hopping in the primary, as I only have two fermenters and both will be full (I am also brewing a ginger saison shortly), and also I have had bad luck with off flavors I am assuming are oxidation when using the secondary. I don't splash but I think as I am usually doing 2.5-3 gal batches (so I can iterate on these changes faster), there must too much headspace.
I saw a picture of " nuclear penguin ipa" and I want to buy some bottles... I live in Texas.. Is there any way to get some???
ReplyDeleteI'm just a homebrewer, so I don't (and can't) sell my beer.
DeleteI did a post a little while ago about how to wax dip bottles though. http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2012/12/how-to-wax-dip-bottles.html
Brewed up the Blind Pig 2.0 recipe yesterday morning. Only modification I made was to pitch a big plug of the Heady Topper yeast, Conan, to ferment this one out. Should be a good match. Brew day went well, although efficiency was a bit low - mine will probably end up more like 5.9 or 6%. Heading to San Diego next week and I'm hoping to bring back some real Pig to do a side by side tasting. Anyway, thanks for the recipe Scott - big fan of all your beers that I've made so far. Enjoyed a couple Amber 3.0's while cooking up the Blind Pig. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteThat should be really, really tasty with Conan yeast. Hopefully it turns out well, let me know what the final verdict is!
DeleteTasted the Blind Pig 2.0 with Conan last night. Really amazing beer. Came out wonderful and right at 6% ABV. I wasn't able to find any of the real thing when I was out in CA (crazy how tough it is to find Russian River's beers, even out there), but it's all good. While I don't have a non-Conan version to compare to, I will say that the hops in this one really come out at you. I upped the dry-hop by 25% per your suggestion and the aroma is great. Interestingly enough, all of the beers I've made with Conan (cultured from HT cans) drop crystal clear and do so very fast - this one is no exception. I don't use gelatin or anything, but this one is already really pretty at 1.5 weeks in the keg. Another week and I bet it'll look commercially filtered. So stoked to have 5 gallons of this goodness. Great job on the recipe Scott and thanks for sharing. Cheers.
DeleteYa, no problem.
DeleteI definitely need to try Conan in a batch. I hear really, really, good things.
I just noticed that you mention: Secondly, the hopping incorporates a little more Amarillo, and a little more CTZ, with just a little less Cascade and Centennial
ReplyDeleteBut you didn't add any CTZ in the previous Blind Pig, and also didn't add any Apollo. You mentioned in BP 1.0 that it was 98% there - but these seem like drastic changes.
I interchange bittering hops pretty regularly. On a heavily hopped IPA, I'm pretty hard pressed to find a difference.
DeleteAs for the flavor hops, the CTZ represents 25% of the dry hop. It's a difference, but not a massive one.
I brewed this three weeks ago and just tasted it. Amazing stuff!
ReplyDeleteScott, I have to thank you for probably the best site/resource for home brewing. The recipe database is a goldmine.
That's awesome. And thanks, I really appreciate it!
DeleteAbsolutely love the blog, Scott! Like Anders said, it is a treasure trove of useful info and recipes. I've been brewing (extract w/specialty grains) for many years now and am finally taking the plunge into all-grain. You've probably answered this question before, but what water / grain ratio do you use for your recipes? I'd like to minimize the amount of "oops" moments that I have when I do my first batch! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThat's a good question because I never really mention it. I use 1.5qt/lb for almost every beer. I'll drop down to 1.25, or even 1qt/lb for really huge beers (1.085 or bigger), but that's just so I have more sparge water to improve efficiency.
But ya, for 95% of my beers, 1.5qt/lb
Wow great great recipe. I made 10 gallons 5 gallons with WLP007 gelatin and drinking at 3 weeks, superb. The other 5 gallons were with WLP090 no gelatin drinking @ 4 weeks very good but not nearly as good as the Dry English 007 batch. Thanks for the recipe. I think your right though could use a bit more hop nose. Well done.
ReplyDeleteHuh, interesting. I might have to try this with english yeast. Thanks for your notes!
DeleteJust brewed this yesterday, looks to be a solid brew! My OG came in at 1.057 so very close to yours. I will update you once it gets going.
ReplyDeleteVery nice! Hopefully it turns out well for you. This was a huge crowd favorite when I made it.
DeleteHey Scott, I'm a fan of your site. Thanks for taking the time to document all the information.
ReplyDeleteI was browsing old Zymurgy magazine recipes tonight and Vinnie gave the Blind Pig recipe in the July/Aug 2012 issue. You almost nailed it exactly! I've got 5g of your 2.0 recipe above dry hopping now and will be kegging on Friday right before we brew 10g of Pliny the Younger. I'm confident it will turn out great! Thanks again.
Hey Scott, I have a quick question regarding the fermentation temperature readout for this brew.
ReplyDeleteI see that your initial temp is about 63* for 1.5 days, followed by a day at 66* and then finishing out at 68*. Are those temperature increases deliberate, or are they the result of natural fermentation temperature increases during active fermentation relative to the temp-controlled fridge? Basically, I'm just trying to determine if you intentionally raised your temperature at those two points in time.
I just purchased a temperature controller, and I'm trying to get a sense for how I want to use it this first time out.
Hey Scott,
ReplyDeleteWhat is a good substitute for Apollo in this recipe and how much should be used? Thank you!
Hi - I'd second that question - can't get apollo - would summit be a good substitute and would you change the amount used? Also would increasing one of the other hops in the bill (like centennial) be necessary to make the beer dank enough? Sorry if this question posts twice - thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Scott - just read your post about whirlpooling/steeping hops at flameout. If I was to increase flameout hops from 2oz to 3oz in this recipe, what adjustments would you make to the bittering hops in the recipe? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFinal question is whether a vial of 090 will ferment this fine without making a starter as I don't think I'll be able to make one this time around? Have adjusted flameout hops to 3oz to steep - would anyone know what a suitable reduction to the 1oz of bittering hops would be? Cheers!
ReplyDeleteBrewed this yesterday for my first AG batch and brew day couldn't have gone better. I misread my hop schedule in the heat of the moment and tossed in the 60-min Columbus addition @ the 30 min mark instead. Realizing the mistake immediately, I threw in a little more Columbus to bring the projected IBUs back in line, so we'll see how/if that affects the flavor/aroma too much. Can't wait to try it the finished product.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipe and website as always!