# Recipe Help - Pirate Life IPA Clone



## brewdjoffe (25/5/16)

Hi all 

I love absolutely love the Pirate Life IPA and wanted to brew something that tastes similar to it. I want it to be very hop forward and refreshing. As a bit of background I'm a new brewer and am only trying my hand at extract brewing for the moment. Once I am comfortable that I can brew a decent extract beer I will move on to partial-mash, BIAB and all grain (eventually). I have brewed 3 batches so far, mostly IPAs and Pale Ales, and they have all turned out pretty good. Nothing world class but better than expected. 

I've taken this off Pirate Life's website: _"Sitting nicely between our Pale Ale and IIPA at 6.8% ABV the IPA has a gentle orange hue and a round, full bodied malt character care of Pale Malt, Munich and Crystal. With our Pale Ale and IIPA having withdrawn most of our funds from the dank bank we thought it was time to make a beer that brought something a little different to the table. Chock full of Centennial, Riwaka and Simcoe our IPA is bright, fruity and full of liquid fun."_

I have been reading Randy Mosher's book "Mastering Home Brewing" and thought for my next project I would create a beer from scratch. So far it has been kits and recipes I have found online. With all this considered I have come up with the following recipe for the Pirate Life IPA clone: 

21 Litres (I will boil around 11 litres and use top up water for the rest)

*Malts/Grains*

3.4kg Light Liquid Extract (2 x 1.7kg cans of Black Rock; one added at the beginning of the boil and one added with 15mins remaining in the boil)
400gm Munich Liquid Extract 
400gm Crystal 20L 
200gm CaraPils

*Hop Schedule*

25gm Simcoe - 60 mins 
25gm Centennial - 30 mins
50gm Riwaka - 10 mins 
75 gm Simcoe - 0 mins
25gm Riwaka - Dry Hop 
25gm Simcoe - Dry Hop

*Yeast *

WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast

I put the above into my brewing software and it gave me ABV 6.8%, OG: 1.063, FG: 1.013 and IBU 69

Any general comments would be appreciated, considering I've never tried to clone a beer before. All the stats look good from the brewing software so far but wanted to get some second opinions 

Thanks!


----------



## Brownsworthy (25/5/16)

I'd probably use a Briess Munich lme 1.5kg in place of a black rock light lme, as it is half pale half munich,and instead of having a 30min hop addition go heavy on hops late say 10-0 min.

Cheers


----------



## Grainer (25/5/16)

I'd imagine there would me more dry hopping in this one..


----------



## brewdjoffe (31/5/16)

Brownsworthy said:


> I'd probably use a Briess Munich lme 1.5kg in place of a black rock light lme, as it is half pale half munich,and instead of having a 30min hop addition go heavy on hops late say 10-0 min.
> 
> Cheers





Grainer said:


> I'd imagine there would me more dry hopping in this one..


Thanks Grainer and Brownsworthy 

Think I might tweak the hop schedule a bit - 

25gm Simcoe - 60 mins 
25gm Centennial - 10 mins
50gm Riwaka - 0 mins 
75 gm Simcoe - 0 mins
50gm Riwaka - Dry Hop 
50gm Simcoe - Dry Hop

Also, with regards to the Munich LME, from what I've read I've heard that if you're using 2row as a base (pale extract), then you should limit munich to max 15%. Might be wrong. Does this only apply to all grain?


----------



## soundawake (31/5/16)

Pirate Life use US05 for their yeast. The brewer told me when I was at the brewery. They also ferment at 21 degrees.


----------



## brewdjoffe (31/5/16)

soundawake said:


> Pirate Life use US05 for their yeast. The brewer told me when I was at the brewery. They also ferment at 21 degrees.


Great, thanks for the tips. Considering that I am finding it hard to source WLP090 I was leaning towards just using US05 anyways!


----------



## Brownsworthy (31/5/16)

I've used more than 15% and not noticed any issues I think I've pushed it up to near 25%.

The last extract IPA I did used 1.5kg Briess Liquid Munich malt, 1.5kg Coopers Light Malt Extract, 800g light dry malt, 200g dry wheat malt, 300g Caramunich 2, 200g CaraPils and it was a cracker.


----------



## razzmeister (31/5/16)

Sorry brewdjoffe, not meaning to hijack here!
But would you guys also know how to tweak this to use partial grain and use some Briess LME?
I just saw this topic and was interested as I also rather liked the Pirate Life IPA and I have a 9L (I think) tub of the briess golden light LME sitting here waiting to be used!
Thanks


----------



## Brownsworthy (31/5/16)

Just sub the briess for the other lme they're near enough the same thing.


----------



## blotto (31/5/16)

soundawake said:


> Pirate Life use US05 for their yeast. The brewer told me when I was at the brewery. They also ferment at 21 degrees.


I'd imagine they ferment under pressure also? This would provide a cleaner ferment as discussed some what in this thread http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/66163-fermenting-under-pressure/


----------



## jimmyj (31/5/16)

Got too love those big late hop additions. Good luck brewdjoffe


----------



## Dan Pratt (31/5/16)

Wort said:


> I'd imagine they ferment under pressure also? This would provide a cleaner ferment as discussed some what in this thread http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/66163-fermenting-under-pressure/


I highly doubt they ferment under pressure at all, I'd even bet on it. No offence. 

They would be pitching healthy viable yeast and well over the required amount, enough to prevent the formation of esters. It would also allow for faster turn around times for production timelines.


----------



## soundawake (31/5/16)

Pratty1 said:


> It would also allow for faster turn around times for production timelines.


Yep that's why. Not under pressure, the fermenters had blow off hoses going into big white buckets. The activity in the buckets... was going BANANAS.


----------



## blotto (31/5/16)

No offence taken at all, I suppose there is more than one way to skin a cat. I never would have thought brewing at 21 would be that tasty, depending on style and what your after I suppose. Would you say they'd have on average more than one packet of yeast per 21ltr batch to achieve such results at that temp?


----------



## blotto (31/5/16)

I should say I mostly brew at the 18 to 19 mark with my ales. I've never really made anything spectacular that suited my taste above that.


----------



## Dan Pratt (1/6/16)

Wort said:


> No offence taken at all, I suppose there is more than one way to skin a cat. I never would have thought brewing at 21 would be that tasty, depending on style and what your after I suppose. Would you say they'd have on average more than one packet of yeast per 21ltr batch to achieve such results at that temp?


For a homebrewer a 2 packet would be plenty and in order to not spend cash on 2 packets for the beer, make your beer with one and keep the yeast cake and repitch that into the next beer at higher temps (21-23c). You will see that the beer is just as clean as when you ferment at lower temps with less yeast. Fermentation with an entire yeast cake @ 22c takes about 3hrs to start forming a krausen and about 48hrs to finish fermenting. If you NC then just add the next beer directly to the FV with the yeast. 

Sorry to the OP but as usual the best stuff learned on the forum is within the thread itself. 

As a side note, on monday night i moved my summer ale to the corny keg for dry hopping and kept the yeast cake, got about 700mls of clean fresh yeast, This will be pitched this weekend for my next beer. alot of brewers just take 1 cup full and that is plenty for a 21lt batch to rip through at higher temps or at lower temps for that matter. 

Edit - Im currently figuring out how much yeast i can use to ferment at higher temps yet still get enough Lag phase for the purpose of the lag phase and the yeast to eat fatty acids and lipids etc during that phase. reason is that the stability of the final beer is reduced and doesn't stay as fresh for as long as other beers done at lower temps with correct pitch rates v's massively over pitching.


----------



## brewdjoffe (1/6/16)

jimmyj said:


> Got too love those big late hop additions. Good luck brewdjoffe


Thanks mate - will let you know how it turns out


----------



## Killer Brew (1/6/16)

They are very particular on their dry hop schedule rotating out the used hops and replacing with new every 2 days for a total of 6 days.


----------



## Ferg (1/6/16)

Killer Brew said:


> They are very particular on their dry hop schedule rotating out the used hops and replacing with new every 2 days for a total of 6 days.


This makes me wonder - I just dry hopped my 5am Saint with a lot of hops ~ 10g/L. I wonder if it would have been more effective splitting that up and doing the dry hopping in batches?


----------



## brewdjoffe (1/6/16)

Killer Brew said:


> They are very particular on their dry hop schedule rotating out the used hops and replacing with new every 2 days for a total of 6 days.





Ferg said:


> This makes me wonder - I just dry hopped my 5am Saint with a lot of hops ~ 10g/L. I wonder if it would have been more effective splitting that up and doing the dry hopping in batches?


Have you ever done this in your home brew? I generally dry hop in my primary FV and would imagine that I would need to put the hops in a sanitized bag/sock and then fish them out after a couple of days and replace with a new fresh bag of hops.


----------



## Killer Brew (2/6/16)

brewdjoffe said:


> Have you ever done this in your home brew? I generally dry hop in my primary FV and would imagine that I would need to put the hops in a sanitized bag/sock and then fish them out after a couple of days and replace with a new fresh bag of hops.


I haven't but i plan to give it a go and that is exactly how i will do it.


----------



## jimmyj (7/7/16)

Hey Killer Brew 
I'm keen to know how you went with this recipe?
How did it turn out?


----------



## doctr-dan (30/8/16)

How did this turn out?


----------



## ScottyDoesntKnow (7/9/16)

Yeah also interested, keen to try and come up with a biab version myself


----------



## Killer Brew (7/9/16)

jimmyj said:


> Hey Killer Brew
> I'm keen to know how you went with this recipe?
> How did it turn out?


Wasn't actually my recipe so haven't brewed it. Perhaps the OP could update us? I have since though tried the hopping regime of splitting my dry hops into thirds and rotating every 2 days for a total of 6 days. Was really happy with the results and will do again.


----------



## ScottyDoesntKnow (7/9/16)

What was your method? Just drop in a hop sock and fish out each time? I'm so paranoid each time I uncover the wort my risk of infection increases!


----------



## Killer Brew (7/9/16)

Correct. I was very careful but yeah there is always the risk.


----------



## Liam_snorkel (7/9/16)

soundawake said:


> Pirate Life use US05 for their yeast. The brewer told me when I was at the brewery. They also ferment at 21 degrees.


The top of their cans all say 16deg.


----------



## dkaos (7/9/16)

&nbsp;


Liam_snorkel said:


> The top of their cans all say 16deg.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


&nbsp;

It does indeed say 16 degrees, but there are no words next to it


----------



## mr_tyreman (9/9/16)

pitch at 16*C, let rise to 21*C and hold until VDK negative


----------



## Liam_snorkel (10/9/16)

Cool


----------



## Doctormcbrewdle (21/9/17)

Definitely US05, but they ferment at 16 degrees (as stated on packaging)

I spent alot of time mimicking this one and finally have it correct. I ferment at 18, Cascade only for flavouring at 20 - 10 and 0. (Around 100gms total to equal 44 ibu) Dry hop with Mosaic (must be fresh) at around 200gms loose. Cold crash for a day, keg/bottle and enjoy! 

I find the 'extreme' dry hop does give sone sense of bitterness so I don't quite go all the way to 50ibu in the kettle. Loads of crystal balance this nicely



soundawake said:


> Pirate Life use US05 for their yeast. The brewer told me when I was at the brewery. They also ferment at 21 degrees.


----------



## Dan Pratt (22/9/17)

why don't you just email and ask them the recipe? They would be stoked to know the homebrew community are trying to clone their beer.


----------



## Nizmoose (22/9/17)

blotto said:


> No offence taken at all, I suppose there is more than one way to skin a cat. I never would have thought brewing at 21 would be that tasty, depending on style and what your after I suppose. Would you say they'd have on average more than one packet of yeast per 21ltr batch to achieve such results at that temp?



If it puts your mind at ease in any way we ferment at 22 with 05 at work and get clean fermentations in hoppy beers, just need to ensure the pitch is nice and healthy and I dare say a bit of O2 would help on a homebrew batch!


----------



## xenon2000 (4/11/17)

Jumping in a little late here , but just wanted to say I brewed this a couple of months ago and it was extremely close to the original. Friends said they weren't able to pick the difference, although people tend to say the nicest things if it involves free beer .

Estimated OG: 1.067 SG
Estimated Color: 16.2 EBC
Estimated IBU: 65.1 IBUs
Estimated ABV : 6.7 %
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.8 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name 
5.50 kg Pale Malt, Ale (Barrett Burston) 
1.20 kg Pale Malt, Golden Promise
0.60 kg Munich I (Weyermann)
0.20 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 65L (Bairds) 
0.10 kg Acidulated (Weyermann) (3.5 EBC) 
18.00 g Warrior [16.20 %] - First Wort 60.0 min
30.00 g Centennial [8.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min 
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) 
20.00 g Centennial [8.30 %] - Boil 5.0 min 
45.00 g Simcoe [12.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 60 
25.00 g Riwaka [5.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 60 
15.00 g Centennial [8.30 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 60
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) 
35.00 g Centennial [8.30 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days 
25.00 g Riwaka [5.00 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days 
25.00 g Simcoe [12.50 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days 

I know they don't use Warrior but as I have some on hand I used it for the bittering.


----------



## Batsuperhulk (10/7/20)

I have a partial mash of this recipe is the fermenter at the moment.

OG of 1.072 and seemed to have finished or stalled at 1.022 which gives me 6.6% which isn't too bad. about to dry hop... How did you go with the 50g of each?


----------

