Quad IPA as per Bent Spoke

[steveski]

Any know how to go about doing the Cluster 16+ that the Bent Spoke in Canberra brew?
All quad IPA recipes I've found come in at no more than 10% ABV but they get 16%+ whilst still being a beer, not a barley wine. The balance of malt, hops etc is perfect.
Any thoughts?

 

[altone]

Any know how to go about doing the Cluster 16+ that the Bent Spoke in Canberra brew?
All quad IPA recipes I've found come in at no more than 10% ABV but they get 16%+ whilst still being a beer, not a barley wine. The balance of malt, hops etc is perfect.
Any thoughts?

Sorry mate, never actually tried it - is it an IPA or a Belgian quad, perhaps a Belgian quad is an IPA and I just don't know.

Only thing I could suggest would be to use something like WLP099 it's meant to go as far as 25% ABV with enough fermentables.

Here's a link https://byo.com/article/21-alcohol-all-grain-beer/

Wow done lot's of searches but best I can come up with without walking to Dan's and buying one (Can't drive drinking APA already) Is it's an IPA using a Belgian yeast.

So, BIG IPA grainbill, Use a Belgian strong ale yeast to start ferment then add more oxygenated sugars as per the above link and the WLP099 to keep it going.

 

[theSeekerr]

Any know how to go about doing the Cluster 16+ that the Bent Spoke in Canberra brew?
All quad IPA recipes I've found come in at no more than 10% ABV but they get 16%+ whilst still being a beer, not a barley wine. The balance of malt, hops etc is perfect.
Any thoughts?

Are you interested in Cluster 16, which is more of a Belgian Quad with some vague leanings towards being an IPA (16% and only 52 IBU), or Cluster 18, which is a frankly insane sextuple IPA at 18% and 160-odd IBU? You said 16, but you should know that it's really not a Quad IPA at all.

At 16% Cluster 16 is on the high side for a quad, but only a little outside the usual ABV range for Abbey/Trappist yeasts (Wyeast 1214, WLP500, WLP530 etc). Those should make it to 12-14% with no real difficulty. Getting it up to 16% can probably done with oxygen and a really big pitch - a massive starter, or the yeast cake of a lighter beer.

I'd probably go the second route if I wanted to try this - brew up a normalish Tripel (maybe, I dunno, 8%) and then rack your crazy-high gravity Quad wort onto that yeast cake.

The recipe itself would be dead simple - a lot of pilsner malt, a little less pale malt, belgian candi syrup, maybe a touch of cara-pils or carahell. There's lots of quad recipes out there - this one is much too small but very well regarded, so you might try scaling from here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/westvleteren-12-clone-multiple-award-winner.500037/

I haven't tried Cluster 16 so I have no idea how it's hopped. I think it's a reasonably traditional trappist quad, though, so I'd just pick a recipe and roll with it.

 

[Schikitar]

I've got a triple IPA recipe (12.5%) that has a cool 600g of Citra in it (or your choice new-wave hop), if you're interested..

 

[find_another_slave]

I've got a triple IPA recipe (12.5%) that has a cool 600g of Citra in it (or your choice new-wave hop), if you're interested..

I'm interested! I need a summer smasher...

Also lots of love the Bentspoke Beers - Cluster 8 and Cluster 12 very decent at the source. They didn't have Clusters 16 and 18 on when I was there though...

 

[Schikitar]

I'm interested! I need a summer smasher..

I don't know if I'd call it a smasher, unless in you mean in terms of getting smashed (quickly)!

Anyway, it's here - https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/698474/citra-burst-triple-ipa - it's not my recipe but it's from a book that every recipe I have brewed has been outstanding (and this is on my list to do one day)! There are some notes I've thrown in there, be careful with ensuring good attenuation, temp control and minimise oxidisation. You'll need to account for your system in terms of water chemistry, volumes, efficiency and the AA of your hops etc - so your numbers might be different to mine in the outcome. If you do brew it please let me know how it goes!

 

[ABG]

I don't know if I'd call it a smasher, unless in you mean in terms of getting smashed (quickly)!

Anyway, it's here - https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/698474/citra-burst-triple-ipa - it's not my recipe but it's from a book that every recipe I have brewed has been outstanding (and this is on my list to do one day)! There are some notes I've thrown in there, be careful with ensuring good attenuation, temp control and minimise oxidisation. You'll need to account for your system in terms of water chemistry, volumes, efficiency and the AA of your hops etc - so your numbers might be different to mine in the outcome. If you do brew it please let me know how it goes!

12.5% ABV will definitely get you smashed quickly! Thanks for sharing your recipe. Out of curiosity, which book is it from?

 

[Schikitar]

Out of curiosity, which book is it from?

James Morton "BREW" - https://www.amazon.com.au/Brew-Jame...ZVDO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542236627&sr=8-1 - he's well known in the UK for his bread/yeast books and this was one of the first books I was given to learn BIAB. He covers a lot of topics and styles, I've found it great, it's no John Palmer book in terms of technical detail but it's easy to understand and has some great recipes in it..

 

[steveski]

I've got a triple IPA recipe (12.5%) that has a cool 600g of Citra in it (or your choice new-wave hop), if you're interested..

Sounds great, would love to give it a go.