Heady Topper clone recipe

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/heady-topper-clone.7489/

 

Ask telejunkie.

/hides as telejunkie's beermails crash BA

 

got the editors of BYO to run the story & recipe for the march/april issue...suckers
It's close to the recipe i posted in that earlier thread though. Just had a quick email exchange with the venerable Mr. Kimmich, he didn't offer any feedback on the recipe so can't comment further how close it is to the actual recipe, but I'm not sure he was even able to open the document with the recipe...

 

There you have it folks. I guess now that you have put it out there, I can say I had telejunkie's clone side by side with HT and I was happy I did.

On that note, one thing I took away from that clone exchange was how the hops were used to brew as opposed trying to actually clone per se, and the final outcome. If I am so inclined I have a really good idea about how to use my favorite hops to make a HT like beer.

 

I was just looking around for yeast strains that create a peachy note per the other thread and came across this: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=13305

Anyone used it?

 

Haven't used it, but this description, "From the Pacific Northwest, this strain is fruitier than WLP001 with peach/apricot notes with a slightly lower attenuation." doesn't make me believe it'd be particularly suitable for something close to HT, based on HT's dryness. FWIW, culturing the Conan strain is pretty easy from the cans.

 

Conan began as an English Strain. I would say the fruity Wyeast ESB 1968 will get you close. And despite the average attenuation specs, I've gotten it up to 84% on more than one occassion.

Here's another thread:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/heady-topper-310445/

Other notes:

Fawcett Pearl Malt base
Some White Wheat in there as well
Perhaps some sugar, and maybe one other spec malt
No crystal malt, perhaps golden naked oats?
148 F mash temp
6 hop varieties: Maybe Columbus, Chinook, Nugget, Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial
No Citra
Huge focus on late boil additions and dryhop
Multi-stage dryhop between 66-68F
Unfiltered

 

According to the specs, it gets up to 80% attenuation, which is the same as WLP001 and we know it's capable of more. It could possibly reach the 86% required for Heady with a fermentable enough wort and plenty of cells.

I'd also be glad to attempt to culture some yeast from a can of Heady if I could get a can of Heady. Wish I had thought of it over the summer when I had a case of the stuff.

Some people here may call me crazy, but I get some Heady-like esters from US-04.

 

I've heard Conan is the original Ballantine Ale strain, which is available from East Coast Yeast (ECY10 Old Newark Ale). Haven't used it though.

 

Totally unrelated, but I just realized your name is OldSock, not OldStock. For years, on here and on homebrewtalk.com, I've been reading it as OldStock. I just assumed you really liked that beer. I feel like everything I know is a lie.

 

I did the same thing like two weeks ago!

 

The true origin: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/02/first-batch-of-homebrew.html

 

I've always believed that Chico yeast was the Ballantine strain. Any links about Conan?

 

edit: Wyeast purports a Ballantine origin for 1056 on their website (but they have been wrong before).

 

Chico certainly could have started as Ballantine, but may have drifted to become cleaner, less flocculent, more attenuative etc. over the years. Something similar could have happened to Conan...

Here is Al's description on the his culture:

Sourced from a now defunct east coast brewery, this pure strain was identified as their “ale pitching yeast”. Good for all styles of American and English ales. Top fermenting, high flocculation with a solid sedimentation. Suggested fermentation temp: 60-68°F. Apparent Attenuation: 68-72% Resurrected from a freezed-dried deposit library, this pure strain of S. cerevisae is NOT the rumored Chico strain.

 

I've heard people say the chico strain will throw peach if fermented at low temps.

 

I've heard this too, especially about the dry version. I once fermented 1056 at 50F and got a sort of artificial citrus note, kind of like orange Push-ups frozen treats. It decreased some with a diacetyl rest and some more with age but never totally went away. I guess that's pretty close to peach.

Re: Chico vs Conan... they could both have Ballantine origins, with 50 years or so to diverge, though Noonan claimed Conan had an English origin (of course the original Ballantine ale yeast could have come from England).

BTW, Conan is still the workhorse yeast at the VT Pub & Brewery in Burlington but the Alchemist has had 9+ years to make it their own.

 

In Mitch Steele's IPA book, there are two black IPA recipes, one from VPB (Black Watch) and one from the Alchemist (El Jefe). Both use Conan, but El Jefe prescribes a pitching rate ~1/2 of the Black Watch. I would not be surprised if the pitching rate makes a significant difference, in particular, for the elusive peach ester.

 

That makes a lot of sense. There has been much talk about some brewers deliberately underpitching to get more esters in Belgian styles. It should apply to 'English' ale yeasts as well.

edit: I think John ferments Conan cooler than Greg did too (~62F vs 68-70F).