Well this thread is harder to kill than Hitler! :unsure:
How'd this last attempt end up Molly? I'm keen to give an Alpha clone a go and wondering if you got any closer on the last recipe?
Gidday Frothie
Yep, this thread will live on for a while yet I'm sure.
I've only attempted it twice since then as I like to keep a variety of styles on tap at any time, but ready to give it another go very soon.
For my first go, there was no Simcoe around anywhere so I just stuck with a small amount of POR for bittering as I'd done in my previous attempt. I got the colour spot on with the Dark Crystal addition with the TF FM MO, but it was still lacking in terms of maltiness that Alpha has. To me, this beer is beautifully balanced (for my palate) and is malty with those caramelly sort of flavours but also with a decent hit of flavour/aroma hops that just can't be beaten. It was nice, but no cigar!
Then, inspired by McLaren Vale IPA, which I've been drinking a bit of lately, I tried a recipe inspired by the 10min IPA on the database using the same grain bill, I think I put in a single 180g addition of Cascade flowers at 10min to the end of the boil. Once again - nice but a little more bitter than I thought it would be and not as much flavour/aroma as I was hoping for....all gone now so can't have been too bad! Still not enough maltiness to get close to an Alpha clone.
I think given these results, I will be trying to capture that maltiness by possibly adding some Munich or Melanoidin as someone suggested earlier in the thread. (But as I've never used either, I'm not exactly sure how this will work) and I think I'll go back to my very first attempt where I used a combination of Cascade/Amarillo with a fair whack of it very late and some dry hopping.
Just finishing off my Brutus 10 inspired brew stand at the moment, so I've promised myself no more stove-top brewing until I get off my arse and finish the gas plumbing (probably in the next few days) then I'll give this recipe another go this weekend.
I shall return and report back!
