This was the Hardcore IPA clone I brewed for Jason's birthday back on December 14. This tasting was on the 27th February. No photo because it was dark and I was lazy.
OG: 1.082
FG: 1.020
IBU: 86
ABV: 8.3%
Aroma: Pine, resin, sweet malt. Some floral aroma too. No alcohol detectable.
Appearance: Verging on red, very clear and with a nice sticky white head that lingers.
Flavour: Intense. Layers of malt and resin. Pine again and some passionfruit. Some husky malt happening at the end. The alcohol is very well hidden.
Mouthfeel: A little more full than the original, with a lowish-moderate carbonation. Assertive but not rough bitterness that lingers in the aftertaste.
This was my first attempt at cloning a beer and I guess it's moderately successful as a clone. It's not something that has interested me at all in the past but over the last couple of months I've turned around on that. It's a measure of where my brewing is at and a chance to learn from the recipe formulation of the pros.
The big difference between this one and the original Hardcore IPA is the extra sweetness and body that came from the lower than expected level of attenuation. I did everything right in terms of pitching rate and yeast management so my hunch is that I just need to alter the process a little and mash at a lower temp. Aside from that it seems pretty similar to how I remember the official version but with lots more hop aroma. I guess that's got to do with the suffering that a Brewdog goes through as it's shipped to the other side of the world. I think I've got one more bottle left so I'll try to track down a commercial one and see how they actually compare.
As a beer rather than a clone it's pretty good, definitely one of my better brews. It's very balanced and the resinous bitterness is very satisfying. There's plenty of malt from the Maris Otter and when it was fresh the hop aroma was climbing out of the glass. If I was going to brew my ideal IIPA I'd prefer a drier version but with a similar balance but this is very nice nonetheless.
At the request of Jason and Luke and so I can try to get it exact for my own satisfaction I've got two more shots at this one planned for later in the year. I'm looking forward to seeing if I can get it right.
Showing posts with label Brewdog Hardcore IPA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brewdog Hardcore IPA. Show all posts
Feb 27, 2014
Jan 5, 2014
Birthday Brew #1: Brewdog Hardcore IPA Clone
For the past 3 years my friend Jason's birthday has been an occasion to gather a bunch of beer loving friends and share some interesting commercial beers. He loves good beer and has been one of my most ardent home brew supporters. This year is his 30th and he's going all out with around 20 people coming to a 2 day event centred on camping out and slow cooking some delicious BBQ.
My part in it has been to brew 3 beers for the event. Jason and I were talking about the possibilities a couple of months ago and it was obvious that hops were going to be a big part of things. Jason wanted a version of a Nelson Sauvin single hop Pale Ale we brewed several times 3 years ago so that was easy. I'd just bought Mitch Steele's IPA book and saw the Brewdog Hardcore IPA recipe. The Hardcore IPA was one of the early Imperial IPAs was available to us and it made a big impression so that seemed like a good choice too. Finally, I'd been itching to brew my Playoffs IPA again so I took the opportunity to add that one to the list. Lots and lots of hops. Unlike the wedding, this birthday is mostly made up of people I know who are relatively educated in craft beer and Jason himself loves the hoppy beer so I didn't feel like I needed to moderate my choices like I did with the wedding.
Part of the challenge of brewing a big and hoppy beer with the BIAB method and using a 40L urn is in planning for and managing the losses. As the planned OG increases, the efficiency of converting and extracting the sugars decreases. I planned for 73% efficiency, down from the 80% which is my normal level, and ended up with 72% so I was pretty close. The good thing is that this information allows me to plan some other big beers with more confidence. Along with reduced efficiency, more hops means more wort losses at the end of the brew with the trub and hop debris left at the bottom of the urn. So factoring all of that in I was aiming for 15.5L of finished beer instead of the 19.5-21.5L I normally get.
In addition to the quantity challenges, I've also found quality a bit lacking in the higher ABV beers I've brewed. They've tended to be good but not great, often suffering from off flavours. I've managed to get off flavours through an inadequate pitch of yeast, high alcohol levels or insufficient O2 stressing the yeast and high fermentation temperatures. I've collected the whole set. So with this one I was trying to do everything I could to make sure the yeast was happy and the fermentation was clean. I oxygenated the wort for 2 minutes, twice what I do for a beer in the 1.050s and I built up a massive pitch of yeast (an estimated 330 billion cells). Everything went quite well and the only problem with it was that it didn't ferment all the way down to the 1.014 I was after. With hindsight, I think I should have picked up some yeast nutrient to give them a little extra love and perhaps mashed lower than the 65C I went with.
Brewdog Hardcore IPA Clone (17L batch)
OG: 1.083 (1.082 measured)
FG: 1.014 (1.020 measured)
IBU: 148
EBC: 21.8
ABV: 9% (8.3% measured)
90% Maris Otter
6.5% Caramalt
3.5% Simpsons light crystal
25g Columbus @ 75 minutes
25g Centennial @ 75 minutes
12g Columbus @ 60 minutes
12g Centennial @ 60 minutes
33g Columbus @ 0 minutes
33g Centennial @ 0 minutes
33g Simcoe @ 0 minutes
50g Columbus @ dry hop
Estimated pitch of 330 billion cells of WLP 090
120 seconds of oxygen
I added 200g acidulated malt to correct the mash pH and added 11g CaSO4, 2g CaCl2, 3g MgSO4 as the recipe said to burtonise the water. I wasn't keen to push the sulphate levels higher than I did although I may test the limits of that another time.
Stepped mash: 65C (45 minutes), 72C (15 minutes) and a 78C mash out.
14/12/13 - Brewed with Huw
24/12/13 - Added 50g Columbus dry hops
28/12/13 - Bottled
Tasting notes
My part in it has been to brew 3 beers for the event. Jason and I were talking about the possibilities a couple of months ago and it was obvious that hops were going to be a big part of things. Jason wanted a version of a Nelson Sauvin single hop Pale Ale we brewed several times 3 years ago so that was easy. I'd just bought Mitch Steele's IPA book and saw the Brewdog Hardcore IPA recipe. The Hardcore IPA was one of the early Imperial IPAs was available to us and it made a big impression so that seemed like a good choice too. Finally, I'd been itching to brew my Playoffs IPA again so I took the opportunity to add that one to the list. Lots and lots of hops. Unlike the wedding, this birthday is mostly made up of people I know who are relatively educated in craft beer and Jason himself loves the hoppy beer so I didn't feel like I needed to moderate my choices like I did with the wedding.
Part of the challenge of brewing a big and hoppy beer with the BIAB method and using a 40L urn is in planning for and managing the losses. As the planned OG increases, the efficiency of converting and extracting the sugars decreases. I planned for 73% efficiency, down from the 80% which is my normal level, and ended up with 72% so I was pretty close. The good thing is that this information allows me to plan some other big beers with more confidence. Along with reduced efficiency, more hops means more wort losses at the end of the brew with the trub and hop debris left at the bottom of the urn. So factoring all of that in I was aiming for 15.5L of finished beer instead of the 19.5-21.5L I normally get.
In addition to the quantity challenges, I've also found quality a bit lacking in the higher ABV beers I've brewed. They've tended to be good but not great, often suffering from off flavours. I've managed to get off flavours through an inadequate pitch of yeast, high alcohol levels or insufficient O2 stressing the yeast and high fermentation temperatures. I've collected the whole set. So with this one I was trying to do everything I could to make sure the yeast was happy and the fermentation was clean. I oxygenated the wort for 2 minutes, twice what I do for a beer in the 1.050s and I built up a massive pitch of yeast (an estimated 330 billion cells). Everything went quite well and the only problem with it was that it didn't ferment all the way down to the 1.014 I was after. With hindsight, I think I should have picked up some yeast nutrient to give them a little extra love and perhaps mashed lower than the 65C I went with.
Brewdog Hardcore IPA Clone (17L batch)
OG: 1.083 (1.082 measured)
FG: 1.014 (1.020 measured)
IBU: 148
EBC: 21.8
ABV: 9% (8.3% measured)
90% Maris Otter
6.5% Caramalt
3.5% Simpsons light crystal
25g Columbus @ 75 minutes
25g Centennial @ 75 minutes
12g Columbus @ 60 minutes
12g Centennial @ 60 minutes
33g Columbus @ 0 minutes
33g Centennial @ 0 minutes
33g Simcoe @ 0 minutes
50g Columbus @ dry hop
Estimated pitch of 330 billion cells of WLP 090
120 seconds of oxygen
I added 200g acidulated malt to correct the mash pH and added 11g CaSO4, 2g CaCl2, 3g MgSO4 as the recipe said to burtonise the water. I wasn't keen to push the sulphate levels higher than I did although I may test the limits of that another time.
Stepped mash: 65C (45 minutes), 72C (15 minutes) and a 78C mash out.
14/12/13 - Brewed with Huw
24/12/13 - Added 50g Columbus dry hops
28/12/13 - Bottled
Tasting notes
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