Flying Monkeys Smashbomb IPA Clone

I have never bothered to update the AA values of the hops, the bitterness, flavor, and aroma are all very subjective. I just don't see the point in splitting those hairs myself. Not to discourage you from being detailed in what you do, just to say that it will not make or break your beer. As Nosy so eloquently stated, brew this as a beer inspired by "X", as opposed to trying to brew an exact replica.
 
From what i hear, its hard to keg / bottle IPAs and have the beer retain the aroma / bitterness.
Oxidizing i guess really reduces the aromas / effect of the hops. Will be researching pressure transfers. But in the mean time, if you have any other suggestions / comments about this recipe please let me know
 
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Brewer #230611 said:
From what i hear, its hard to keg / bottle IPAs and have the beer retain the aroma / bitterness.
Oxidizing i guess really reduces the aromas / effect of the hops. Will be researching pressure transfers. But in the mean time, if you have any other suggestions / comments about this recipe please let me know
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Biggest reason I don't brew IPAs is that I can't drink them before they go bad.
 
Craigerrr said:
I have never bothered to update the AA values of the hops, the bitterness, flavor, and aroma are all very subjective.
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To each his own, but if you set up a 1.060 Pale Ale recipe with Amarillo, for instance, at a nice 57 IBUs based on the 7% default rate and end up with 11% hops, you'll get 90 IBUs and be pretty far beyond anything that you might have expected or may be prepared to enjoy. :eek:
 
Brewer #230611 said:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/817828/smashbomb-atomic-ipa-for-robobrew
That’s what I ended up with. My supplier said they shipping me citra that has 12.8 % so i adjusted for that. And they recommended a citra cryo that packs a punch for the whirlpool phase.
Baked that into the mix and this is what I ended up with.
Thanks for all the help guys
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I've used the Cryo hops and they do make a very nice whirlpool addition...very dank, lush, juicy.
Good luck.
 
They drop off significantly... We brewed backed to back hoppy IPAs of the same recipe, separated by 3 weeks, and the malt, color, bitterness was identical but the nose and taste was significantly less between the 3 week older ipa and the fresh one.

Are we saying that oxidation is the only cause, or at least the most significant cause for aroma and flavor drop off? If that were the case, someone should invent a hop packet that is nitrogen filled and the packet dissolves when introduced to beer. Or something of the sort to ensure the hop additions don’t introduce additional oxidation opportunities.
 
Guys with this recipe, what mash temp should I use? Any opinions? From reading 152 F seems to be a common temp. But since I have some sweeter grains/malts like the munich dark, should i drop it to 150?
 
A little more body and residual won't hurt you with this much Citra. I like dry and fermentable and most often mash at 148 but for a single infusion with a beer like this, 152 is probably a sweet spot.
 
What I have learned in my short time brewing is. For a light coloured hoppy ale, start your mash in the low 150's (you will drop a degree or three), and shoot for a mash pH of 5.3 to 5.4.

But... don't get too caught up in the finite details. For me, it is better to have hopped and faded, than to have never hopped at all.

Drink it up and share it while the hops are at their peak!
 
152F should be dry enough. It's a good all purpose temp for single infusion mashes. Not too low, not too high. That's why a lot of all grain kits recommend 152F mashes.
 
Maybe this should go in the what are you drinking right now thread, but it seemed fitting to post this here. Burgers, beef, and turkey, and some (blech) kale Weiner's!
IMG_20190427_1809355.jpg
 
...and of course the Flying Monkeys Smashbomb Atomic IPA!
 
J A said:
Pale Malt, Weyerman’s Munich Type II, Weyerman’s Melanoidin Malt, and Great Western Crystal 60.
That's the malt listed on the web site. Very solid, basic malt bill for an IPA. The clone recipes using Victory and Black Patent will give you a very different beer, IMO.
Knowing nothing about the beer but based on the ingredients,specs and my experience with malts of those specific types, here's a starting place:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/817470/smashbomb-atomic
I'd probably opt for a little Special Roast or maybe even Special B for color in place of some of the C-60, but maybe the dark caramel/ fruit quality of the 60 is part of the flavor profile of this particular beer. These percentages are based on what I've had success with and should give a pretty solid malt base for the hop showcase that's what beers like this are all about.
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So it’s been a few weeks and I’m finally getting ready to brew this beer.
I just noticed though on the official website towards the bottom they actually say they use a mix of centennial and cascade and citra which is different from the hops list they provide at the top. I guess unless you know IPAs and you’ve tried this one, its hard to advise whether I need to change my recipe or not. But I thought I’d ask if you think i should substitute the magnum for either the cascade or centennial?

Also in playing around with the recipe tool, i noticed that the dry hops doens’t Affect the IBU value at all. I tried to remove them from the dry hops section and add to whirlpool and it didn’t change the values.
Any explanation / help to understand why?

This is the latest version of my recipe:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/817828/smashbomb-atomic-inspired-ipa

Thanks.
 
Brewer #230611 said:
...

Also in playing around with the recipe tool, i noticed that the dry hops doens’t Affect the IBU value at all. I tried to remove them from the dry hops section and add to whirlpool and it didn’t change the values.
Any explanation / help to understand why?

This is the latest version of my recipe:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/817828/smashbomb-atomic-inspired-ipa

Thanks.
Click to expand...

You've got to work out what the IBU value means for you. I use it to set a stake in the ground to know whether I need to bring it up or down for the next batch. Other brewers here use it in other ways and will change utilisation numbers at the whirlpool and dry hops stages to help them get closer to the hole on the first batch.

The reason I say you've got to work out what it means to you is because it's a far more abstract number than it appears. Most of the calculators are based on experiments from the 80s and 90s that probably didn't even use pellet hops (Tinseth didn't). In those experiments they also probably didn't add late hops and they almost certainly didn't model whirlpool hopping. And I'm ignoring perceived bitterness, which is where all the innovation in different hopping schedules is going currently, as IBUs are even worse at predicting that.

If I've got a source recipe I'll try and match those IBUs, but the minute I change some of those hop additions from 10 minutes to post boil (which i generally do) I know that the IBU prediction is very academic.

So back to the dry hopping giving no bitterness observation. Yep, you're right, dry hopping will definitely increase the IBU number. If you want to show that, change the utilisation from zero to a few % (it's the field below the time field). Traditionally people haven't added this in as there was this weird reasoning that only isomerised alph acids equal IBUs.

I don't change it myself, as I tend to think of the dry hop as adding flavour and aroma, so I don't really track the extra bitterness that comes from that. I possibly should. I'm thinking of scaling back my dry hop on one of my beers so I'll have to work out whether I want to increase the initial bittering charge to make up for that. If I added a small IBU number from the dry hop I'd probably be more likely to remember that.
 
Remember: IBUs are a very specific thing, mg/l of iso-alpha acids. Bitterness is perceived flavor. So, again, calculators are a best first guess as to how bitter your beer will be. I brew a beer the first time using the recommended values, then vary it based on outcome. Best approach I can imagine without purchasing a gas chromatograph.
 
I would say run with it as it is, report back as to what flavors are, let's say "missing", or "not expected".
You will get all kinds of advice here on what to change if you want to adjust the flavor.
I forget who phrased it here, possibly Nosybear, but I personally have dropped "clone" from my vocabulary, and adopted "inspired by" in it's place. Maybe your version of this beer will be different, but it could also be better. Don't make the goal to copy a commercial brew, have fun and make beer.
Good Luck!
 
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