Heady Topper Clone?

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

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  1. BigAB

    BigAB Initiate (0) Aug 4, 2008 Iowa

    Midwest has it - sure there's shipping, but if ya gotta have it...
     
  2. BigAB

    BigAB Initiate (0) Aug 4, 2008 Iowa

  3. danedelman

    danedelman Initiate (0) Apr 3, 2011 Pennsylvania

  4. telejunkie

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

    yeah, muntons is now widely available through hb supply chains and iirc, they've got a pearl pale ale malt.
     
  5. danedelman

    danedelman Initiate (0) Apr 3, 2011 Pennsylvania

    I am even going to try other recipes with pearl malt.
     
  6. sergeantstogie

    sergeantstogie Initiate (0) Nov 16, 2010 Washington

    Try something simple like Pearl and Fuggles and 1968! Delicious.
     
  7. telejunkie

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

    okay, so just currently drinking a boot full of extra from 1st attempt at this clone, leftovers from kegging. Did the exact grain bill as I laid out, fermenting with Nottingham instead of chico. Here was what I actually did for hopping:
    1.5oz Simcoe -30min
    1oz Cascade - KO
    1oz Apollo - KO
    1oz Simcoe - KO
    1oz Centennial - 30min into whirlpool
    1oz Simcoe - 30min into whirlpool
    1oz Apollo - 30min into whirlpool
    1oz Chinook - DH
    1oz Citra - DH
    1oz Simcoe - DH

    Pondering Keg hopping but holy shit it's pretty got the hop intensity of Heady...not sure if I need the keg hops. Maybe 1oz Simcoe, 1oz Centennial. OG was 1075, FG was 1013.
     
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  8. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    BTW a homebrewtalk member mentioned recently that the Alchemist Cannery had a sign on the wall stating Heady Topper was made with 6 different hops. My best guess so far is:

    Columbus
    Centennial
    Chinook
    Simcoe
    Nugget
    ??????? (maybe Amarillo, maybe Cascade, maybe something else....I still think Summit is a possibility but I know I'm in the minority on that idea)
     
  9. hopfenunmaltz

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

    :slight_smile:
    How long is your whirlpool?

    Let me be the first to say - those 30 minute simcoe hops don't do anything... oh wait a minute. :wink:
     
    jlpred55 likes this.
  10. telejunkie

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

    Ended up with like 45mins total and 5 min spin down. yes...30-min additions are a waste...
    Just like the original...it's scarily drinkable to my palate and fellow hop-head friends. Had friends over and we did some serious damage to the keg (thank god for pregnant wives who are willing to play dd for the night). Hopefully brewing a 2nd batch later this week. Have some ideas of how I will change the hop schedule for the second round, but suffice to say I it will be only tweaks to the hop choices & amounts. It's 5 o'clock and drooling for one now...:slight_smile:
     
  11. JimmyTango

    JimmyTango Initiate (0) Aug 1, 2011 California

    I'm fully with you on the Summit. Next to Pliny Heady is decidedly oniony-- in the best way of course!

    Also, I don't know if a beer can be this tasty and NOT have Amarillo :slight_smile:

    Ima say nix the Nugget for a pinch of Amarillo.

    My interpetation of the hop break-out based on tasting notes (from most dominant relative presence to most subtle):

    Simcoe, Columbus, Summit, Centennial, Chinook, Amarillo.

    Now adjust for process and hop potency... and 1,000,000 other factors...
     
  12. FATC1TY

    FATC1TY Pooh-Bah (2,502) Feb 12, 2012 Georgia
    Pooh-Bah

    It's got to have Amarillo in it.... Not sure about the summit... Cascade seems to be the better choice.
     
  13. nathanjohnson

    nathanjohnson Initiate (0) Aug 5, 2007 Vermont
    Deactivated

    I'm pretty sensitive to the onion-ness of summit, and I don't get that flavor at all in HT, which I've been drinking since 2007. If it's in there, it's not really present.
     
  14. skivtjerry

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

    CTZ often gives a lighter onion note; that's my guess.

    I have heard 7 hops in past years; my pick for #7 would be Nugget. However, the recipe has no doubt been tweaked considerably over the last 5 years so anything we heard in the early years might be invalid now.

    The next thing I want to play with is a double whirlpool addition, one at flameout and one at ~150F. There is a hop chemistry podcast on the Beersmith website that makes a pretty good case for this.
     
  15. hopfenunmaltz

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

    The onion and garlic note in hops comes from sulfur compounds, that some varieties have more than others, growing conditions, and how late the hops are harvested once mature (later=more).

    Summit is expoecially known for onion and garlic notes if used late in the kettle, used early as a bittering hop the sulfur compounds are driven off in the longer boil exposure.
     
  16. telejunkie

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

    follow-up to my 1st attempt since I finally got around to a blind side-by-side tasting with friends who brought some Heady Topper down from Northern VT. The group was filled with all HT fanatics.

    I did do the tastings blind-folded since there was a clear difference in the fact that my beer was relatively bright & clear while HT shows it's classic hazy & murkiness in the glass. Tasters noted more hop aroma from HT but also a blaring sweetness. For my clone they noted more phenolics but much more crisp. Out of 4 tasters, 2 chose mine, 2 chose HT as preference. Hop flavors were nearly identical. Not bad I'd say for a 1st attempt, definitely no where near spot on but definitely on the same ball field. The two who chose mine said the sweetness of HT was something they've never really noted or thought of as a flaw, but was pretty apparent in the side-by-side. Those that chose HT said the smoothness of HT and phenols in mine are what put them on that side.

    Looking forward to tasting the 2nd attempt...
     
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  17. abraxel

    abraxel Initiate (0) Aug 28, 2009 Michigan

    Sounds awesome; I'm definitely gonna give this a shot at some point.
     
  18. theveganbrewer

    theveganbrewer Initiate (0) Jun 4, 2012 Oregon

    I have come across some information regarding this beer:

    CO2 hop extract is used as the only bittering agent in the beer to avoid grassy tastes.
    All hops are added at 5 minutes or less. Nothing longer than 5 minutes.
    There is no Citra in the beer. They use a NZ hop variety.
    Private yeast strain, called Conan, is responsible for "a lot of the aroma and character"
     
  19. koopa

    koopa Initiate (0) Apr 20, 2008 New Jersey

    Can you elaborate a bit on the source of your info?

    As far as your claims go ....

    Aware of the hop extract.

    Makes sense that all other hops are late additions considering the massive nose heady has, but since I don't have/use hop extract I do my hop additions ranging from 20 minutes - flame out to get the ibu's to where they need to be.

    Any idea which NZ hop? If this is true, I'd be surprised if a NZ hop was in recipe back when Heady was relatively new to the scene. This is the claim I'm most interested in for sure.

    John Kimmich has indeed been quoted making this claim about Conan.
     
  20. NiceFly

    NiceFly Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2011 Tajikistan

    I am pretty sure Telejunkie can straighten you guys out.
    That is all I am going to say.
     
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