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
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20L Braumeister
Recipe Specifics
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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
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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
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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
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Fermentis US-05 American Ale
Fermented at 18 degrees.
Mash Schedule
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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
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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
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.
