Dano's All Grain Feral Hop Hog Clone

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I kegged and carbed my Feral Hop Hog version 2 this afternoon and have just done a side by side with an authentic model. I am pretty damn impressed! The issues with the first version were; too bitter and the dry hops changed aroma the longer they sat in the fermenter. This version has turned out pretty well bang on for bitterness :D The aroma and hop flavour are 90% there, however I will need to do some further tweaking to try match it exactly. My palate isn't like a judges would be however I think I need to push the citrus slightly more in both aroma and flavour. The colour once again came up pretty good however it looks like it could do with a week in the keg to clear slightly more.

Overall, super happy! Only very minor tweaks from now on :chug:
 
nice work so yours is the one on the left?
 
Westo said:
nice work so yours is the one on the left?
Yep. Might be a bit of chill haze or may just need a week in the keg to settle. Hop hog is never completely clear anyway, they only coarsly filter their beers which lets most of the yeast through.
 
i put mine in the fermenter last night. starting to show some signs of life this morning.
 
I was at the feral brewery back in 2011 before they sold out to the big guys (just jokes), anyway they had a special 'Hop Hog' on tap that was only available there and on very rare occasions at the Sail and Anchor at Freo I was told. It was the original Hop Hog aged in i think it was whisky oak barrels or something for 6 months. OMG to this day have never had a better brew. Was amazing. I will one day recreate that beer. This will be a good start on that road.

Edit: there it is at the bottom of their beer list. YUM. http://www.feralbrewing.com.au/our-beer/
 
I sent a couple of stubbies to my local Devine Cellars staff to try today. They were also sporting the new labelling I've been working on. I look forward to the feedback when I next drop in.

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dry hopped mine Monday, going to remove hops Friday morning, then go to America for a week.... then bottle.

then wait....

then try! :drinks:
 
from my attempts at this and the fact that I had one on tap last night in belmont, I would swear that there is a good percentage of galaxy hop in there
 
Aces High said:
from my attempts at this and the fact that I had one on tap last night in belmont, I would swear that there is a good percentage of galaxy hop in there
Yeah possibly however the hops I have used are based on reliable information I received personally from someone in the know. Maybe the info was slightly off the mark, maybe the recipe has changed slightly over the years (which I know it has due to hop availability year to year etc) or maybe my ratios of each particular hop are slightly different. Ive not actually used galaxy so I know nothing about it however I would like to use it at some stage sonn because it sounds delicious when used correctly.
 
Well here is a substantial update on the tastings of my Hop Hog Clone (Revision 2).

I went back into Devine Cellars yesterday and the 3 gentlemen there had a taster of my beer and comments were along the lines of; "Best homebrew I've had in a while", "If it was a commercial beer I would have thought that it's a good one", "it really has that fruity American IPA nose", "Balanced" and "the taste lingers". The only criticism was that the mid palate could be improved a little. I'm not sure how I'd go about that or what exactly it means but I'll sit on it and see what the case swap guys say. This taster was not had in parallel to a genuine Hop Hog.

I had my last taste last night and the keg is now empty because the rest has been bottled up for the WA Xmas in July Case Swap this weekend. My comments and what I am trying to achieve with the 'Revision 3' below are:

More aroma - Adding a whirlpool addition.
Very slightly more bitterness - It is well balanced ATM however upping the IBU's to 58 to try balance it a little more toward bitterness to give that iconic IPA hit.
Adjusting the individual hop amounts - Trying to bring a bit more pineapple and citrus to the beer.
Reduce hop flavour slightly - Reduced the 15min addition by 20%
Adjusting the OG and target FG - OG to 1.057 and aiming for a FG of 1.013 (as measured in a genuine Hop Hog this morning) equalling 5.8%
Slight Mash sched. adjustment - Trying to sneak the FG down 1 point.

Planned recipe below.

Enjoy!


Recipe: Dano's Hop Hog Clone (Recipe 3)

Equipment
-------------
20L Braumeister

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (L): 25.00 (post boil)
Anticipated OG: 1.057
Anticipated FG: 1.013
Anticipated EBC: 15.6
Anticipated IBU: 58 (more than the Feral website's 48 IBU - yes)
Mash Efficiency: 80 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Alc by Volume: 5.8%



Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
85.8 4.86 kg. Barrett Burston - Ale Malt Australia 1.038 6
10.0 0.57 kg. Weyermann Munich I Germany 1.038 15
4.2 0.24 kg. Weyermann Caramunich II Germany 1.035 125

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
30.00 g. Magnum Pellet 10.28 33.0 60 min.

10.00 g. Citra Pellet 12.00 6.4 15 min.
10.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.62 4.6 15 min.
7.00 g. Cascade Pellet 7.93 2.9 15 min.
7.00 g. Centennial Pellet 9.33 3.5 15 min.
7.00 g. Simcoe Pellet 10.40 3.9 15 min.

6.00 g. Citra Pellet 12.00 0.0 Whirlpool at 70 deg C
6.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.00 0.0 Whirlpool at 70 deg C
4.00 g. Cascade Pellet 5.60 0.0 Whirlpool at 70 deg C
4.00 g. Centennial Pellet 9.90 0.0 Whirlpool at 70 deg C
4.00 g. Simcoe Pellet 10.40 0.0 Whirlpool at 70 deg C

Once the boil is up I will immediately immersion chill to 70 deg to lock in the IBU's and stop isomerisation, add the whirlpool hop addition then do a whirlpool/stand for 15 mins prior to plate chilling into the fermenter. On revision 1 I didn't immersion chill straight away which resulted in a large overshoot in IBU's (even though I based that recipe on 48 as opposed to this one's 58).

13.00 g. Citra Pellet 13.20 0.0 Dry Hop
13.00 g. Amarillo Gold Pellet 8.62 0.0 Dry Hop
8.00 g. Cascade Pellet 7.93 0.0 Dry Hop
8.00 g. Centennial Pellet 9.33 0.0 Dry Hop
8.00 g. Simcoe Pellet 9.89 0.0 Dry Hop

Dry hop for 4 days toward the end of fermentation in hop bag then remove (revised procedure).


Yeast
-----
Fermentis US-05 American Ale

Fermented at 18 degrees.

Mash Schedule
-------------
Dough In Temp: 38 Time: 20
Intermediate Rest Temp: 66 Time: 20
Intermediate Rest Temp: 67 Time: 40
Saccharification Rest Temp: 72 Time: 10
Mash-out Rest Temp: 76 Time: 10
Sparge Temp: 76 Time: 0

Water
-------
RO/DI water built up to the following profile.

Calcium 110
Magnesium 20
Sodium 15
Sulphate 250
Chloride 50


Edit: Fixed an error with the dry hopping
 
dano whats the difference betweem the 2 dry hops?
 
time01 said:
dano whats the difference betweem the 2 dry hops?
Sorry mate, an error on my behalf. There shouldn't have been 2 lots of dry hopping. I've fixed the post. Cheers.
 
Looking forward to tasting this beer after reading this.
 
my SG is currently at ~1.011, which i would imagine pretty much FG.
tasting pretty good, starting to clear up, but still a ~2L krausen on top.
 
n87 said:
my SG is currently at ~1.011, which i would imagine pretty much FG.
tasting pretty good, starting to clear up, but still a ~2L krausen on top.
What was your OG, how much yeast did you pitch and what temp/s did you mash at?
 
danestead said:
What was your OG, how much yeast did you pitch and what temp/s did you mash at?

Yeast: MJ's west coast
OG: i think it was 1.058... would have to check my notes.
i did a step mash at the temps spec'd in your recipie, or as close as possible. lost ~1.5 degrees over the 60 mins.

the SG was at 1.017 3 days ago, and 1.011 last night.
 
danestead said:
Yep. Might be a bit of chill haze or may just need a week in the keg to settle. Hop hog is never completely clear anyway, they only coarsly filter their beers which lets most of the yeast through.
Every time ive had it on tap its been as cloudy as yours mate.
 
n87 said:
Yeast: MJ's west coast
OG: i think it was 1.058... would have to check my notes.
i did a step mash at the temps spec'd in your recipie, or as close as possible. lost ~1.5 degrees over the 60 mins.

the SG was at 1.017 3 days ago, and 1.011 last night.
Ahh maybe the MJ yeast is where that extra attenuation has come from.
 
and, forgot to mention, 2 packs.
pitched at 16-17
fermented at 17-18

was still attempting to climb out of the fermenter on Tuesday... had to change the glad wrap again.
that's with 10L+ headroom...
 

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