# Gage Roads Sleeping Giant IPA



## Taylor (27/11/13)

Hi everyone
I found this little gem the other day (Sleeping Giant IPA) and thought it was fantastic.
I would *love *to know if anyone has been able to replicate the recipe! I really want to make an IPA just like this.
Please share your thoughts.
Thanks


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## mr_wibble (27/11/13)

I like this beer with a good spicey curry, but I can't help thinking of it as a Woolworths "Home Brand" beer. (Woolies owns 25% of Gage Roads).

I guess that makes me an anti-big-brand snob, and there's no pleasing me. 

I must also admit that I was handed a beer the other day, and I enjoyed it. Then I found out it was Tooheys' New... oh the mirth it precipitated. :blush:

How come Tooheys always forgot the apostrophe ?


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## stakka82 (27/11/13)

My guess would be pale ale malt or marris otter, some dark crystal, a bunch of fuggles or ekg to about 45-50 ibu.

Neutral-ish english yeast like s-04.


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## Taylor (27/11/13)

Thanks for your help guys.
I have only been brewing for about 6-8 months now, and have been kegging for about 5 months.
I am still not 100% down on all the lingo, so if you could elaborate, that would be great 

I know EKG is East Kent Golding Hops, and I know what IBU is, but I don't quite understand the context.


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## JB (27/11/13)

Mr Wibble said:


> I like this beer with a good spicey curry, but I can't help* thinking of it as a Woolworths "Home Brand" beer.* (Woolies owns 25% of Gage Roads).


Same, but it isn't a bad beer at all, I reckon.

@Taylor, how do you brew? K&K, Extract or AG?


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## stakka82 (27/11/13)

Yes sorry mate, what method of brewing do you employ?


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## hoppy2B (28/11/13)

I've only had on Sleeping Giant IPA, but from memory found it a bit sweet. I thought it had a lot of caramel to it rather than toffee. So I would recommend a medium crystal.
Use a Coopers can, for example the Lager as it is the cheapest. Steep 300 grams of medium crystal malt. Add a kilo of light dry malt extract. Bring it up to the boil and drop in 100 grams of hops, half and half EKG and Fuggles should do. Flame out. Let cool naturally. Pitch a 1 litre starter of Coopers bottle yeast.
Won't be a clone but should get you started. Try different yeasts and so on.


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## Taylor (28/11/13)

]


JB said:


> Same, but it isn't a bad beer at all, I reckon.
> 
> @Taylor, how do you brew? K&K, Extract or AG?


I don't really know what any of those mean sorry. I have a good knowledge of the brewing etc, just don't understand the abbreviations and acronyms people use. 



stakka82 said:


> Yes sorry mate, what method of brewing do you employ?



I buy ingredients from my local Brewers Choice. I have 2 x 30L carbouys for fermentation. Sometimes I just use canned malt, and aftermarket yeast. Others I add some fresh hops, grain mash etc. Also, as I said, I now keg, instead of bottle. 



hoppy2B said:


> I've only had on Sleeping Giant IPA, but from memory found it a bit sweet. I thought it had a lot of caramel to it rather than toffee. So I would recommend a medium crystal.
> Use a Coopers can, for example the Lager as it is the cheapest. Steep 300 grams of medium crystal malt. Add a kilo of light dry malt extract. Bring it up to the boil and drop in 100 grams of hops, half and half EKG and Fuggles should do. Flame out. Let cool naturally. Pitch a 1 litre starter of Coopers bottle yeast.
> Won't be a clone but should get you started. Try different yeasts and so on.


Thanks. When you said medium crystal malt - that's in liquid form? Should be available at my brew shop I'd imagine? And I've never heard of Coopers bottle yeast. 

Thanks for all your help guys


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## O'Henry (28/11/13)

I haven't had this beer in a while, but I remember it having a more 'New World' hop character. Has this changed?


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## Taylor (28/11/13)

I haven't had this beer in a while, but I remember it having a more 'New World' hop character. Has this changed?


Yes, very nice hoppy flavour.


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## O'Henry (28/11/13)

Taylor said:


> Yes, very nice hoppy flavour.


I'm confused. I thought it had a nice hop character, are you saying it is better than before, or that it is just the same?


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## hoppy2B (28/11/13)

Click on the Craftbrewer sign at the top of the page and go to the malt section. 

Crystal is a grain that you steep in water at about 70 degrees to extract the flavour from. It doesn't require mashing, only steeping.

If you find a bottle of Coopers Pale Ale at the bottle shop you will see yeast in the bottom of it. You can culture that yeast up in say a 1 litre batch of wort and use that for pitching into your brew. 

If you bring up say 20 litres of water to 70 degrees and then drop a bag of 300 grams of crushed medium crystal into it for an hour. Lift the bag and drain. Then add the Coopers can. The Lager can is nice and light in colour and doesn't have a high bitterness, which is important if you are adding hops because they can contribute a fair bit of bitterness to your beer as well. I normally fill the can with water I have boiled from the kettle to dissolve the rest of the malt left in the can. Then add your kilo of Light Dry Malt Extract (LDME). Bring it up to the boil. You'll probably want to let it cool a bit before dropping in the hops. 90 degrees is pretty good if you only want a little bitterness. Try it like that, and if its not bitter enough try it at 95 next time. 

I don't know how bitter you want it. I thought the Sleeping Giant wasn't very bitter and quite sweet when I tried it. Other people have said similar.

Normally people drop their hops in when its boiling and turn off the heat source. They then wait x amount of minutes and chill their brew in an ice bath or something like that. Or they drop them in at flame out and no chill.

You can google John Palmer's online book, 'How to brew' for more information. If you come across terms you don't understand try googling them as well, might come up.


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## hoppy2B (28/11/13)

Actually, sorry correction. They normally boil their hops for x number of minutes and chill their brew when they turn the heat source off.


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## Yob (28/11/13)

Boil 20 liters for a 300g steep? A tad excessive?

You can also cold steep crystal overnight in a few liters (3) and then remove grain and boil that then follow regular process.


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## Taylor (28/11/13)

Thanks, very extensive. I don't have any equipment that I could boil that much water in. Is there another way? Or should I invest in some mashing equipment and some large tuns? Also, how do I cultivate the yeast? I've read about that, have been told it's better.


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## Dave70 (29/11/13)

Glot said:


> *Who is to say what is good and what is not.* It is all relative to what the drinker prefers.
> I have had some quite expensive and apparently excellent red wines but my favourite is one cheap cask red. To me it is better than the others


Yeah..kind of on thin ice with that one. In matters of beer I'd tend to lean toward the opinions of the experienced brewer and seasoned imbiber of multiple styles over say, a bloke at the pub who's drank only New for the past twenty years. I'd argue there are _certainly_ rules that apply to objectivity. For example, a mate of mine couldn't wait for me to sample some of the KISS beer he purchased at the time, describing it as 'excellent'. The fact he's also a rabid KISS fan and primarily a bourbon drinker, and that I a keen student or all things beer and brewing who can - at a basic level at least - derive the ingredients of a beer by taste, makes my assertion that KISS beer is indeed_ pus_ more reliable than my friends assertion of 'excellent'. I believe this would also be the general consensus among my peers.

You would likely find the same with a beer voted 'best of show'. May not be everyone's favorite, but you can bet that - unless they recruited the judges from under a bridge and cardboard boxes - it would surely be a decent brew.

To that end, if you prefer goon to expensive red, I'd say your field of expertise isn't judging wine comps.



For the record, here's what Gage Roads looked like when it was awesome. Don't know why they went and changed the recipe.
Far more floral and less crystal from memory. Almost more like a AIPA. 







{edit - italic on_ pus._.}


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## Taylor (4/12/13)

Well this has gotten out of hand lol

So does anyone else have any input, Olin the original topic? Maybe some links to places that explain making yeast, mashing etc?


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## bradsbrew (4/12/13)

Thread cleaned. If you want to discuss water etc, do it in the relevant forum or sub section.

Taylor I like sleeping giant as a beer to grab from a basic bottlo, it's not a perfect example of an IPA but it's better than most mainstream beers.
I have thought about brewing a similar beer but have not yet tried.

Plenty of info in the all grain forum regarding mashing and there is a section regarding yeast in the ingredients forum, if you look at the pinned topic called " yeast farming" plenty of good info in there.

Cheers Brad


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