Heady Topper Clone?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by geneseohawk, Mar 24, 2012.

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  1. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

  2. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    Oh and Amarillo hops became available to the "general public" around 2008 so that may be a reason to discredit it being in the Heady Topper recipe (unless it has changed over the years) considering the Alchemist has been selling it since at least early 2004. I myself first tried Heady around 2008 so I wouldn't know if the recipe has changed throughout the years or not.

    I'm revamping to:

    Centennial, Columbus, Simcoe and Nugget

    Amounts for each:
    0.75 @ 20
    1.50 @ 10
    1.00 @ 0
    0.75 @ Dry Hop
    119 IBU's
     
  3. geneseohawk

    geneseohawk Initiate (0) Nov 4, 2008 Illinois

    Has anyone ever written them to get some help? Are they pretty tight lipped?
     
  4. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    Notoriously tight lipped. Rightfully so of course. While some brewers are very open with said information, it is never to be expected.
     
  5. mjw52

    mjw52 Initiate (0) Jul 14, 2010 New Jersey

    They are probably very tight lipped since this is the only active beer they really brew.
     
  6. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    They have been tight lipped about the recipe for over 9 years now and its been "the only active beer they really brew" for just the past 7 months. Again, not knocking them for it, just responding to your point.
     
  7. mjw52

    mjw52 Initiate (0) Jul 14, 2010 New Jersey

    This forum is making me anxious for the case I have coming next week.
     
    koopa likes this.
  8. telejunkie

    telejunkie Savant (1,107) Sep 14, 2007 Vermont

    while i realize it doesn't seem right given the timeframe, I'd be looking at adding some Galaxy & Citra into my hop mix if I were to brew a heady topper clone. Not saying that they use it in the mix...but man it tastes like they do.
     
  9. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,611) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society

     
  10. Longstaff

    Longstaff Initiate (0) May 23, 2002 Massachusetts

    What is the source of this info? I have a hard time believing that this inishes @ 1.010 considering the residual sweetness and mouthfeel of this beer. That would be ~86% apparent attenuation too...
     
  11. nathanjohnson

    nathanjohnson Initiate (0) Aug 5, 2007 Vermont
    Deactivated

    See reply #12 above.

    Sweet taste and actual sugar levels are not completely linear. Fruitiness can lend a sweet impression, without actual sugar. I think a large part of it is the base malt, Pearl, which gives a soft toastiness without sweet maltiness.
     
  12. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,611) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society

    "Oh and Amarillo hops became available to the "general public" around 2008"

    I checked my records in Promash, and I brewed my first Amarillo Pale ale in 2005. Patent was granted in 2003. They may have been available for the 2004 to the pros. I had read about Amarillo in Zymurgy and based my recipe on an article written about a pro who had been brewing with Amarillo.
     
  13. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    Thanks for the correction on the Amarillo hops everybody. I was going off of a web link (which of course I can't find now) that stated Amarillo hops were first introduced to the World Brewers Conference (I believe that was the title) in 2008. Shouldn't have assumed that meant they were patented at that time.
     
  14. skivtjerry

    skivtjerry Pooh-Bah (1,841) Mar 10, 2006 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah Society

    The source is me. I degassed a sample and measured FG with my ordinary brewday hydrometer. I was not prepared to believe that it was this low so I checked it with a hydrometer from my work that we pay several hundred dollars every 2 years to have calibrated and certified by NIST (yes, we are a government lab :slight_smile:). 1.010 again. I also took a little to work and compared it to distilled water on our 5 place (i.e. 0.00001g) balance. 1.010 again, making the gross assumption that pure water is about 1.0000g/ml at room temp.

    But what if I failed to remove all the CO2 when I degassed? Good question. That would raise the FG above the true value due to the bouyancy of the gas bubbles coming out of solution (no, dissolved CO2 doesn't add much to the density of the water, at least in quantities you can keep dissolved at familiar temperatures and atmospheric pressures). So I see 1.010 as a maximum FG - could be a little lower.

    To be fair, as noted, it tastes a lot thicker to me too. As far as the fruity sweetness goes, I'll quote Vinnie Cilurzo: "Coming from a wine background, I got an understanding that a fruity wine can be dry". To my palate, the hops contribute some sweet notes as well. The hop floaties could give a heavier mouthfeel too. Finally, I only degassed one can from one batch. Things can change (though probably not much, in my several Headies per week opinion).
     
    mschofield likes this.
  15. skivtjerry

    skivtjerry Pooh-Bah (1,841) Mar 10, 2006 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I love Galaxy and wish I had a few pounds in the freezer. The most amazing thing about it to me, though, is it's uncanny resemblance to a mixture of 3-4 other great hops. John might have approximated that mixture pretty well before Galaxy even existed. I could be wrong but I don't think John is a big Citra fan... that doesn't mean he couldn't use it to good effect in small quantities though.
     
  16. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    I literally just read that Cilurzo quote no more than 5 minutes ago (and just prior to logging on and reading this thread) in "Brew Like a Monk" by Hieronymus!
     
  17. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,611) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Malty beers can also be well attenuated. Read through Gordon Strong's book.
     
  18. brkstoutfiend

    brkstoutfiend Initiate (0) Feb 5, 2010 Michigan

    What about the mash schedule?? Lower temps with a protein rest??
     
  19. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    No idea about the protein rest but I would assume a lower temperature mash (say 148 - 152F at most) would be necessary to get the FG down to 1.010 I also feel Heady has a medium (at thickest) mouthfeel so that would support a lower mash temperature as well. My guess would be 148-150F for the sacch. rest.
     
  20. BattleRoadBrewer

    BattleRoadBrewer Initiate (0) Oct 8, 2005 Massachusetts

    How does he get that "raw" hops aroma? And I mean that in a good way! I can't think of any other beer, not even Pliny the Elder or Unearthly, which smells like hops crushed between your palms the way HT smells. It's an amazing nose.

    This beer is not very bitter at all--on the hairy edge of being insufficiently bitter, with tons of hop flavor and aroma. I wonder if all bittering is from late editions like Evil Dead Red. And does he dry hop like 24 hrs before canning, or even run it though a hop bed while canning? Is all that haze just from lack of fining and filtering, or is it hop matter?

    As far as the hop bill, I think it's fruity with some sweet noble, like Hallertauer maybe?

    Unbelievable that such an amazing beer has such a modest price. Lesser beers put in bombers for 4x$ or more oz for oz.
     
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