Belhaven's Twisted Thistle Ipa Clone

[jyo]

I tried this about a year ago and loved it, going to grab another bottle this week for another sample in hope of knocking up a clone.

From their site- (not much in the way of description of ingredients, yet the bottle boasts Challenger and Cascade.
Abv 5.3%
A stunning India Pale Ale (IPA), don't think that Belhaven's Twisted Thistle has anything jaggy, spikey, prickly or otherwise pain-inflicting in its nature. Quite the opposite. Your taste buds will tingle with pleasure after a sip or two of this golden nectar. A real treat from our master brewers in Dunbar.

I remember it as being very clean with the yeast profile, so I'm going to use Wyeast British Ale II and ferment at 18' to keep the esters low. This is what I have come up with:

Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA
English IPA

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 6.150
Total Hops (g): 160.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.062 (P): 15.2
Final Gravity (FG): 1.016 (P): 4.1
Colour (SRM): 8.7 (EBC): 17.1
Bitterness (IBU): 45.4 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 73
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
6.000 kg Bairds Golden Promise Malt (97.56%)
0.150 kg Wey Crystal 120 (2.44%)

Hop Bill
----------------
60.0 g Cascade Pellet (4% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (2.6 g/L)
40.0 g Challenger Pellet (4.5% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil) (1.7 g/L)
20.0 g Cascade Pellet (4% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
20.0 g Challenger Pellet (4.5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
10.0 g Cascade Pellet (4% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
10.0 g Challenger Pellet (4.5% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
Single step Infusion at 64.5C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 18C with Wyeast 1335 - British Ale II

5 minutes are at whirlpool to allow for no-chill
Recipe Generated with BrewMate

I have Caraaroma to play with too.
Cheers for any advice, guys.
John.

 

[jyo]

Bump for the night crew.

 

[Brad Churchill]

I'll nudge it again for you John.

Never tried it myself. But that looks and sounds pretty bloody tasty.
Challenger normally an EB hop mixed with cascade.
Marmelade flavour and aroma mixed with grapefruit and pine resign.
Think I will have to try and find a bottle of twisted thistle to try.

Cheers

 

[jyo]

I'll nudge it again for you John.

Never tried it myself. But that looks and sounds pretty bloody tasty.
Challenger normally an EB hop mixed with cascade.
Marmelade flavour and aroma mixed with grapefruit and pine resign.
Think I will have to try and find a bottle of twisted thistle to try.

Cheers

Cheers, Brad. I thought it was a cracker of an IPA. My current grain bill is set to up the alcohol to about 6%, I might drop this and aim for the actual 5.3% I'm really enjoying my brews with Challenger at the moment, and with Cascade being one of my favs.... well.
Cheers, John.

 

[malt_shovel]

Cheers, Brad. I thought it was a cracker of an IPA. My current grain bill is set to up the alcohol to about 6%, I might drop this and aim for the actual 5.3% I'm really enjoying my brews with Challenger at the moment, and with Cascade being one of my favs.... well.
Cheers, John.

Just knocked off a bottle of this and thought about a clone, hence the dredging up of old threds.

For those in Perth, the Moon & Sixpence on Murray St has this on tap. I like it.

Did you get around to brewing your recipe below?

I think you must be pretty close with what you suggested. I agree the esters seemed pretty low, so I was thinking the 1098 may be a good option (at a low enough temp). Still plenty of malt to back up the bitterness, so I think the GP + medium crystal is a good idea.

Interested to know the results.

Cheers
:beer:

 

[jyo]

G'day, Malted.
I emailed Belhaven but didn't get any kind of clues.
I ended up adding some caraaroma too and hopbursted the second last additions.
I was really happy with how this worked out. It was a cracker. I couldn't find any Belhavens to do a side by side with, but I really enjoyed the cascade and challenger combination. Definitely worth a go.
I have been meaning to try this again.
Cheers.
This was the final brew:

Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA
English IPA

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.850
Total Hops (g): 190.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.049 (P): 12.1
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.81 %
Colour (SRM): 9.1 (EBC): 17.9
Bitterness (IBU): 47.5 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 73
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
4.500 kg Golden Promise Malt (92.78%)
0.200 kg Caraamber (4.12%)
0.150 kg Crystal 120 (3.09%)

Hop Bill
----------------
40.0 g Cascade Pellet (4.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.7 g/L)
40.0 g Challenger Pellet (4.5% Alpha) @ 25 Minutes (Boil) (1.7 g/L)
20.0 g Cascade Pellet (4.6% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
20.0 g Challenger Pellet (4.5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
40.0 g Cascade Pellet (4.6% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (1.7 g/L)
30.0 g Challenger Pellet (4.5% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 65C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 18C with Wyeast 1335 - British Ale II

Notes
----------------
10 minute additions are hop burst from 10 minutes to flameout.
5 minutes are whirlpool

Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Just knocked off a bottle of this and thought about a clone, hence the dredging up of old threds.

For those in Perth, the Moon & Sixpence on Murray St has this on tap. I like it.

Did you get around to brewing your recipe below?

I think you must be pretty close with what you suggested. I agree the esters seemed pretty low, so I was thinking the 1098 may be a good option (at a low enough temp). Still plenty of malt to back up the bitterness, so I think the GP + medium crystal is a good idea.

Interested to know the results.

Cheers
:beer:

 

[jyo]

That should have read "added some caraamber too", not caraaroma...also, mashed this at 66'