Heady Topper Clone (BYO)

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thoughts on this revision?

Mash at 150 f for 90 minutes

55.9% Thomas Fawcett Pearl 6 lbs

30.7% extra light lme 3.3 lbs

5.8% toasted wheat 10 oz

4.7% TF Torrified Wheat 8 oz

2.9% TF Cara malt 5 oz

120 IBUs HopShot @ 90 Minutes
1 oz. Columbus @ direct flameout for 20 minutes
1 oz. Simcoe @ direct flameout for 20 minutes

1-1/2 oz. Columbus for 45 minutes when wort is at 165
2 oz. Simcoe for 45 minutes when wort is at 165
1/2 oz. Apollo for 45 minutes when wort is at 165
3/4 oz. Centennial for 45 minutes when wort is at 165

3 stages of 4 day dry hopping

stage 1

2 oz. Columbus @ 12 day (3-stage) dryhop @ 69 F

2 oz. Simcoe @ 12 day (3-stage) dryhop @ 69 F

stage 2

1/2 oz. Apollo @ 12 day (3-stage) dryhop @ 69 F

3/4 oz. Centennial @ 12 day (3-stage) dryhop @ 69 F

stage 3

3/4 oz. Centennial @ 12 day (3-stage) dryhop @ 69 F

3/4 oz. Amarillo @ 12 day (3-stage) dryhop @ 69 F

Wyeast 1968 London ESB


bobbrews said:
I went ahead with this recipe:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/heady-topper-can-you-clone-390082/index81.html

post #'s 796, 798, 801

The dryhop is 12 total days in three stages: 4 days + 4 days + 4 days.

It won't be the same with Extract, but if you had to use it, I would use Muntons Extra Light DME. Use enough of this with the base malt, sugar, caramalt, and torrified wheat to bring you up to 1.072-1.074. You will also need to use more sugar for a partial mash or extract version.

For the hopstand, just quick-chill your wort to about 165 F, then slow-chill your wort the rest of the way down to fermentation temps with the aroma steep hops working mostly at 100-165 F for at least 30 minutes.
Click to expand...
 
You'll need about 8-9% corn sugar to dry out your partial mash version. Take that percentage difference from the Extra Light DME (not LME). Add all DME & Sugar at flameout.

Skip the toasted wheat. Don't use hops at 20 minutes. The last stage of dry hopping should be with Columbus & Apollo. Focus on the fruitier hops for the first stage and the dank hops for the last stages. Split the dryhop up equally among 3 stages, i.e. don't use 4 oz. for your first stage. Instead, use 2.25 oz. for each stage.

You could up it to 6-8 oz. caramalt if desired. Otherwise, it's pretty good. You'll need a very healthy starter of the 1968 fermented at 66 F.
 
BassBeer said:
This is the Heady Topper clone recipe from the current issue of BYO, which I thought I'd share so we can all brew and enjoy the holy grail of IIPA's! I have not brewed this yet, but it looks to be pretty darn close if not spot on. Please post your results! Cheers :mug:

Batch Size: 5 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.074
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 100+
SRM: 6
ABV: 8%
Yeast: Chico (WLP001/Wyeast1056/S-05)
Starter: 1.5L

13 lbs. British pale ale malt
4 oz. Caravienne malt
1 lb. sucrose
1.5 oz. Simcoe (30 min.)
1 oz. Cascade (knockout)
1 oz. Apollo (knockout)
1 oz. Simcoe (knockout)
1 oz. Centennial (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Simcoe (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Columbus (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Chinook (primary dry hop)
1 oz. Simcoe (primary dry hop)
1.25 oz. Centennial (secondary dry hop)
1.25 oz. Simcoe (secondary dry hop)

Mash at 155F for 40 minutes. Sparge enough to collect roughly 7.5 gallons in your kettle to achieve 6.5 gallons at knockout. Boil for 75 minutes, adding 1.5 oz. Simcoe @ 30 min. After knockout add 1 oz. each Cascade, Apollo, and Simcoe. Whirlpool with pump or by stirring for a minute and letting it spin down and settle. After 30 minutes, reduce wort temperature to 170F and add 1 oz. each Centennial, Simcoe, and Columbus. Whirlpool again. After 15 more minutes begin final cooling process. The goal is to get 5.5 gallons into the fermenter to account for loss of wort during dry hopping.

Pitch healthy dose of yeast @ 65F. After FG has been achieved add a clarifying agent such as polycar. Allow 3 days for clarifying agent to work, then add first set of dry hops to primary fermenter. After 7 days rack beer off dry hops & yeast cake either into a keg or secondary vessel. Try to purge with CO2 if possible. Add second round of dry hops and wait 5 days. Bottle or begin carbonation process.
Click to expand...

This recipe is odd:

- It mentions to boil for 75 minutes, but the first hop addition is 30 min?
- Why is the 1 lb of sucrose needed? When is it used? It is not in the written instructions.
 
28 days grain to glass. I think we knew that but John says it here:


Notice the color difference in the beer at 8 months old.

-Mike
 
Last edited by a moderator:
has anyone tried this recipe to see how close/far off it is? there seems to be a lot of criticism but i have yet to hear if anyone has tried it.
 
image-2753073721.jpg

Ahhhhh nothing like a refrigerator full of fresh Heady. Sorry for the humble brag. I just bought this issue of BYO. Can't wait to try some of the other recipes too. Hill clones! :D
 
There are actually 2 different HT clones in 2 different volumes of BYO if I remember correct. I haven't tried either...
 
Stauffbier said:
There are actually 2 different HT clones in 2 different volumes of BYO if I remember correct. I haven't tried either...
Click to expand...

worked amazingly well for me...had several rounds of blind tastings with it. The recipe in the March/April issue scored highest against the real deal and actually was picked as the favorite by several blind tasters. The October was altered based on feedback from Mr. Kimmich. I used Munton's pearl malt in my clone attempts.
Blind results from the march/april recipe showed that aroma was slightly less pronounced compared to HT but hop flavor was abundant and spot on. With a mash temp of 155F and using Chico yeast fermented at 62F, body wasn't quite as big as HT, but some several tasters enjoyed the drier version (my beer) when compared. Also tried Worthington's & Nottingham yeasts in other versions which also scored very high for character. Definitely the preference was for the Simcoe heavy versions. Tried a Columbus/Chinook and an Apollo/Centennial heavy versions which didn't score as high when compared (although both those were very good).

As for those that think that you have to use Conan or use TFS pearl...well if you think it's a must, go for it. But I can tell from experience and from blind reviews that you get a near Heady like beer without it. Nobody has the exact recipe besides those at the Alchemist. Suffice to say this isn't an exact clone, but is pretty good. For the October issue recipes, the two Lawson's recipes and Holey Moley would probably be the closest recipes regarding a "clone" since they received a lot of attention from the brewers. Shaun Hill gave feedback on his recipes, but think those recipes could be tweaked some to get a clone, but neither I was able to do a side-by-side for since they weren't ready by the time I went up there.

(ps i'm the author)
 
telejunkie said:
worked amazingly well for me...had several rounds of blind tastings with it. The recipe in the March/April issue scored highest against the real deal and actually was picked as the favorite by several blind tasters. The October was altered based on feedback from Mr. Kimmich. I used Munton's pearl malt in my clone attempts.
Blind results from the march/april recipe showed that aroma was slightly less pronounced compared to HT but hop flavor was abundant and spot on. With a mash temp of 155F and using Chico yeast fermented at 62F, body wasn't quite as big as HT, but some several tasters enjoyed the drier version (my beer) when compared. Also tried Worthington's & Nottingham yeasts in other versions which also scored very high for character. Definitely the preference was for the Simcoe heavy versions. Tried a Columbus/Chinook and an Apollo/Centennial heavy versions which didn't score as high when compared (although both those were very good).

As for those that think that you have to use Conan or use TFS pearl...well if you think it's a must, go for it. But I can tell from experience and from blind reviews that you get a near Heady like beer without it. Nobody has the exact recipe besides those at the Alchemist. Suffice to say this isn't an exact clone, but is pretty good. For the October issue recipes, the two Lawson's recipes and Holey Moley would probably be the closest recipes regarding a "clone" since they received a lot of attention from the brewers. Shaun Hill gave feedback on his recipes, but think those recipes could be tweaked some to get a clone, but neither I was able to do a side-by-side for since they weren't ready by the time I went up there.

(ps i'm the author)
Click to expand...

:mug:
 
I saw this recipe in the Oct issue and decided to play with it a bit. Couldn't get my hands on Pearl through my lhbs so I used Golden Promise with some Marris Otter as my base. Did some minor changes on the hops (mostly moved around Apollo amounts I think) and fermented with WLP013. No polyclar. Also decided to hop my mash with some of the magnum. My FG was a few points high but still one of the better IPAs I've had lately, and that's mostly what I make. Never tried the real HT so nothing but good IPA to compare to. It's about 28 days old right now and excellently carbed, although possibly too drinkable...
 
I'm planning to try this one for my next batch. I'll thinking of doing a 2.5 gal AG batch. This would be my first AG, right now I am doing 5 gal PM.

I'm trying to understand the difference between knockout hops and hop stand hops. I've read this thread and few others. This is what I've come up with:

Knockout hops go in at flame out (wort is ~211 F) and stay in through the cooling process.

Hop stand hops going in part way through the cooling process (at say ~160 F)

Does this sound right?

I have a 5 gal pot and cool in the sink. My procedure would be as follows:
-Shut off heat at end of boil
-Add Knockout hops
-Cool rapidly to ~160 F
-Add hop stand hops
-Cooling slowly to pitching temp (over ~30 minutes)

I go through a strainer going into the fermenter to remove the hops.

Thanks for the help.
 
Yep, sounds good. I do my hop stand at 170F. I also put the lid on and let it rest for 20 mins or longer. Then remove lid and finish cooling (I don't do it slowly).
 
Thanks for the clarification, I got it now.

The original post says "knockout" so that is where I got it from.
 
IMHO,

BYO is one of the biggest sources or misinformation on clone recipes in the homebrew strata. Go straight here www.homebrewtalk.com to find your clones. That being said, can someone give us a link to a Conan yeast harvesting thread? I really want to get my hands on conan, pacman, and the NB house strain.

ps

Its getting really hard to keep up with cloning the top ranked beers on beer advocate.
\\
 
Get a can or bottle of said beer, pitch into sterile wort thats 1.020 and about a pint, then after a few days of shaking and fermenting pitch into wort that's 1.040 and half gallon, continue shaking and fermenting. Then dump that into your real wort.

This isn't rocket science like people make it out to be
 
I think the biggest thing for me was that I didn't see any activity after 4 days so I warmed it up to 70-75F and then overnight I had yeast on the bottom. The same thing happened with both my Heady and Bells yeast harvest. But yeah, it's not that difficult, but it does take awhile, so you have to plan ahead.
 
I brewed this a couple weeks ago, the Lesson Learned for me was that I didn't realize 11 oz. of hops would soak up so much wort. If I had to guess I will be losing a gallon due to hops. If I brew this again I will collect for a 7.5 gallon pre boil.
 
uncleleon said:
IMHO,

BYO is one of the biggest sources or misinformation on clone recipes in the homebrew strata. Go straight here www.homebrewtalk.com to find your clones. That being said, can someone give us a link to a Conan yeast harvesting thread? I really want to get my hands on conan, pacman, and the NB house strain.

ps

Its getting really hard to keep up with cloning the top ranked beers on beer advocate.
\\
Click to expand...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nice video! I'm pretty far from Vermont, but I will try to find some bottles of Heady and do this.

:off:A little off topic but where could you get the new belgium house strain from? I heard you could get Pacman from rogue stuff? What's the truth?:off:

Does anyone know where the name came from?
 
I was reading that if you ferment US05 at a low temp (approx 61F), it produces a peachy/apricot taste to the beer. Since I'm to understand Conan has some of that profile, I wonder if that would be a reasonable alternative for those of us who don't have access to HT/Conan
 
kchomebrew said:
I was reading that if you ferment US05 at a low temp (approx 61F), it produces a peachy/apricot taste to the beer. Since I'm to understand Conan has some of that profile, I wonder if that would be a reasonable alternative for those of us who don't have access to HT/Conan
Click to expand...


Brewed a Heady clone with us05. Will be fermenting at about 57-61f. I'll report back with findings
 
You can actually get conan from a few places now. Saltcitybrewing is where I got my two gold pitch packs (GY054). I plan on taking one pack and stepping it up to make vials and slants. I've also been harvesting from 5 cans of Heady lol.
 
FYI - I've got the Mar/Apr 2013 BYO magazine in front of me with the recipe (see page 58). The first post here gets everything right but missed the 1oz of Citra (primary dry hop).

Kal
 
kal said:
FYI - I've got the Mar/Apr 2013 BYO magazine in front of me with the recipe (see page 58). The first post here gets everything right but missed the 1oz of Citra (primary dry hop).

Kal
Click to expand...

There is no Citra in Heady Topper. Citra takes over most IIPAs that you add it to with it's tropical fruit dominance. While Heady Topper is somewhat fruity, most of that is coming from the Conan yeast and some fruitiness is had from the supporting hops, which are more complex than Citra.

A hop like Apollo, with its dank, marijuana-like character is key for this beer but a little bit goes a long way. HT should be Columbus and Simcoe heavy. Amarillo and Centennial will add some fruit and citrus... don't use too much but use them for sure.

For a more accurate clone attempt, see here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/heady-topper-can-you-clone-390082/
 
I tried this recipe and I'm at the dry hopping stage and had a few questions. This is my first time dry hopping. Do I stir the pellets in or just place them into my beer?

My second question... I added the Polycar and then afterward noticed it says "requires filtration". So now I'm wondering... how the heck am I going to filter this and then get it ready to bottle because I don't have a keg and I've read filtration strips my yeast for bottle conditioning :-(

So how do I handle this now? grrrrr... I really need to read ahead more often.
 
bobbrews said:
There is no Citra in Heady Topper.
Click to expand...
Possibly, I don't know. Just pointing out an error as the original post says "This is the Heady Topper clone recipe from the current issue of BYO", but it isn't due to this omission.

Kal
 
BassBeer said:
This is the Heady Topper clone recipe from the current issue of BYO, which I thought I'd share so we can all brew and enjoy the holy grail of IIPA's! I have not brewed this yet, but it looks to be pretty darn close if not spot on. Please post your results! Cheers :mug:

Batch Size: 5 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.074
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 100+
SRM: 6
ABV: 8%
Yeast: Chico (WLP001/Wyeast1056/S-05)
Starter: 1.5L

13 lbs. British pale ale malt
4 oz. Caravienne malt
1 lb. sucrose
1.5 oz. Simcoe (30 min.)
1 oz. Cascade (knockout)
1 oz. Apollo (knockout)
1 oz. Simcoe (knockout)
1 oz. Centennial (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Simcoe (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Columbus (30 min. into hopstand)
1 oz. Chinook (primary dry hop)
1 oz. Simcoe (primary dry hop)
1.25 oz. Centennial (secondary dry hop)
1.25 oz. Simcoe (secondary dry hop)

Mash at 155F for 40 minutes. Sparge enough to collect roughly 7.5 gallons in your kettle to achieve 6.5 gallons at knockout. Boil for 75 minutes, adding 1.5 oz. Simcoe @ 30 min. After knockout add 1 oz. each Cascade, Apollo, and Simcoe. Whirlpool with pump or by stirring for a minute and letting it spin down and settle. After 30 minutes, reduce wort temperature to 170F and add 1 oz. each Centennial, Simcoe, and Columbus. Whirlpool again. After 15 more minutes begin final cooling process. The goal is to get 5.5 gallons into the fermenter to account for loss of wort during dry hopping.

Pitch healthy dose of yeast @ 65F. After FG has been achieved add a clarifying agent such as polycar. Allow 3 days for clarifying agent to work, then add first set of dry hops to primary fermenter. After 7 days rack beer off dry hops & yeast cake either into a keg or secondary vessel. Try to purge with CO2 if possible. Add second round of dry hops and wait 5 days. Bottle or begin carbonation process.
Click to expand...



I read through and searched all of this thread and couldn't find any mention of the fact that this recipe is missing it's bittering hops.

Should be 7 AA Magnum for 60 min.
 
kal said:
Possibly, I don't know. Just pointing out an error as the original post says "This is the Heady Topper clone recipe from the current issue of BYO", but it isn't due to this omission.

Kal
Click to expand...

Kal,

can you post a picture of your BYO listing??
 

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