I've done the Heady Topper clone 4 times, and the last time I did it was better than the actual Heady Topper. I'm working on my own hop bursted IPA now based on all the things I learned. The last time I did it, it was almost as good as Heady, so I decided to try it as a session IPA this time. I still haven't done a head-to-head comparison using my hop bursting technique vs getting most of the IBUs from IBU injector at the beginning (as per the Heady Topper clone), but I'm sticking with the hop bursting technique for my recipe for now. Here is the recipe:
6 Gallons:
5 lbs Golden Promise
5 lbs 2-row
(from my experience I can't tell the difference between a mix of GP and 2-row vs using Pearl malt)
1/2 lbs Caramalt
(I like the malt bill better without wheat or oats - I've heard that Heady Topper now uses oats instead of wheat)
2 oz Acidulated malt
4 tsp Gypsum
(the pH and the hardness is what finally made my Heady clone better than Heady, aside from the hops and Conan yeast, IMO this is what will give you an IPA that is on par with the real HT.)
Mash at 144* for 60 minutes
Mash at 154* for 10 minutes
3 ml IBU injector @ 60
Hop Mix for hop bursting(1.5 oz Simcoe, 1/2 oz CTZ, 1/4 oz Apollo)
1/2 oz Hop Mix @ 20 minutes
3/4 oz Hop Mix @ 15 minutes, Whirlflock
1 oz Hop Mix @ 10 minutes
1 oz Simcoe, 1/2 oz Apollo @ 5 minutes (just like HT clone)
2 oz Simcoe, 1 oz CTZ @ Flame out (just like HT clone)
1 oz Simcoe, 1 oz CTZ, 3/4 oz Centennial, 1/2 oz Apollo, 1/4 oz Citra, 1/4 oz El Dorado, 1/4 oz Azacca @ 170* Aroma steep (my current 7 hop mix)
1.042 OG, 104 IBUs
Pitched 180 billion cells of Conan yeast
Everything is now bubbling away at 68*. At 1.042 OG, this should attenuate very fast so I plan to add the first dry hop in 3 days.
6 Gallons:
5 lbs Golden Promise
5 lbs 2-row
(from my experience I can't tell the difference between a mix of GP and 2-row vs using Pearl malt)
1/2 lbs Caramalt
(I like the malt bill better without wheat or oats - I've heard that Heady Topper now uses oats instead of wheat)
2 oz Acidulated malt
4 tsp Gypsum
(the pH and the hardness is what finally made my Heady clone better than Heady, aside from the hops and Conan yeast, IMO this is what will give you an IPA that is on par with the real HT.)
Mash at 144* for 60 minutes
Mash at 154* for 10 minutes
3 ml IBU injector @ 60
Hop Mix for hop bursting(1.5 oz Simcoe, 1/2 oz CTZ, 1/4 oz Apollo)
1/2 oz Hop Mix @ 20 minutes
3/4 oz Hop Mix @ 15 minutes, Whirlflock
1 oz Hop Mix @ 10 minutes
1 oz Simcoe, 1/2 oz Apollo @ 5 minutes (just like HT clone)
2 oz Simcoe, 1 oz CTZ @ Flame out (just like HT clone)
1 oz Simcoe, 1 oz CTZ, 3/4 oz Centennial, 1/2 oz Apollo, 1/4 oz Citra, 1/4 oz El Dorado, 1/4 oz Azacca @ 170* Aroma steep (my current 7 hop mix)
1.042 OG, 104 IBUs
Pitched 180 billion cells of Conan yeast
Everything is now bubbling away at 68*. At 1.042 OG, this should attenuate very fast so I plan to add the first dry hop in 3 days.