Ruination Clone – Hops Schedule Question

I was going to brew this myself, using the recipe from the December 2008 issue of Brew Your Own. My understanding is that the recipe has changed since then, which might explain why you're seeing different amounts of the various ingredients in different places. The original recipe calls for about 2.25 oz Magnum @ 90 and doesn't have any Chinook hops.

 

Maybe the Magnum they get now has a lower AA%? I know the old recipe calls for 2.25 oz of 16% hops, but shopping online I can only find 13-15% AA Magnum.

 

Have you plugged it into one of the brewing calculators to see what IBU each size addition will give?
IIRC, the specs of Ruination are easy to find, so adjusting the additions to match and / or to personal taste should be relatively easy.

 

I've brewed the 2008 recipe 20 times ... the most recent being this evening.

The bittering charge gets you 120 IBUs
The 15 min addition gets you another 25

BUGU about 2

 

Fookin'delish especially after I got the water profile adjusted properly.

 

Just finished brewing this - my first all-grain batch! Of course, I messed part of it up, because I read my thermometer wrong while mashing (thought each tick was 2F, but in fact they were 5F each). I did a 90 minute mash and thought I was losing a bit less than 2F every 30 minutes. In actual fact, I started high (around 152) and finshed low (around 140). Any idea what the effect of this will be on the beer? I'm guessing it'll end up too dry, but I don't have any experience with this stuff.

On the bright side, I was right-on with my OG at the end of the process. Bitterness might be on the weak side, because the AA of the hops I got was lower than I thought it would be. Oh well, I'm sure it will be beer. With any luck it'll even be decent beer - and since I've never had Ruination, I won't even know if it tastes off-model.

 

I used RO water and added 2/3 tsp each of gypsum and calcium chloride. I also removed some of the 2-row so I could use about 2% acidulated malt. I'm just following instructions that I read online to get a decent water profile for an IPA, this is my first time making water adjustments and I don't really know what I'm doing. Glad to hear that this should be a very hoppy beer - there honestly doesn't seem to be a huge amount of hops in the recipe, but none of the Stone beers I've had have been wimpy. My only issue is that I'll probably be lacking IBUs, since the Magnum that I ordered was 12.4% AA instead of the 16% the recipe calls for. I tried to compensate by adding a bit of the Centennial early, since I had extra, but even so I'm probably going to come up short. We'll know how it is in 5 weeks, once the bottles are carbed!

 

Calcium Carbonate has drawbacks, as it dissolves very slowly, even at mash pH. You can make it dissolve quicker by injecting CO2. It also raises mash pH, which is not always a good thing, probably not a good thing for an IPA. Baking soda is better for increasing pH as long as you don't have too much sodium. Pickling Lime works well, and you get Ca out of it, and an increase in pH.

CaCl2 is a good source for calcium, and it enhances the malt. CaSO4 (gypum) increases Ca and the SO4 enhances the hop bitterness.

 

Less is more. 1 tsp for 5 gallons is a good starting point.

 

My water comes from a well on the coastal plain of VA.
Sent a sample to Ward Labs (W-5 Household Complete) and used Bru'nWater to make adjustments.

The recipe had produced a harsh bitterness and it lacked the malty backbone found in the commercial version before the water was tested and its profile adjusted. The bitterness had been so harsh ... I tried cutting the hop additions in half to compensate. Now .. with the proper profile ... the hop schedule is full-on.

Per Bru'nWater's 'Pale Ale' profile ...
Gypsum
Epsom Salt
Canning Salt
Baking Soda
Calcium Chloride
... are added to my mash and sparge volumes.

I'd suggest having Ward test your water for $27 and use brewing water freeware before adding salts and minerals willy-nilly to your water.

 

My clone is bubbling away happily in the basement - ambient temp of about 62F right now, so I think I'm in the ballpark (recipe calls for 68F). I might want to move it to a warmer room by tomorrow, once things have slowed down. I've got to say, I've never made a beer this cloudy - I checked it last night and it was still completely opaque after 48 hours of fermentation. It also has a thick, craggy, uneven layer of krausen that's pretty neat, so I think fermentation is going well.