Conan vs WLP090 for Heady Topper clone and another CTZ/Apollo bittering hop battle

[ianmatth]

I did another big brew day with 16 lbs of grain (7 lbs Golden Promise, 7 lbs 2-row, 1 lbs White Wheat, 1 lbs Caramalt) to make another Heady clone as well as a few other beers. I mashed with 8 gallons of water at 150* for 60 minutes, pulled 4.8 gallons (3.2 gallons after boil) for my Heady clone and 1.6 gallons (1.2 gallons after boil) for a Bravo/Kohatu IPA. While those were boiling I added 1.5 gallons of water 2 different times to get a 20 minute mash rest and a REALLY long mash rest at 160* and 165*. I used the final 3.2 gallons of water to make two beers (1.2 gallons each after boil) that differed only in the bittering hops (CTZ vs CTZ/Apollo). I also split my Heady clone in half and pitched Conan in one batch and WLP090 in the other.

Heady clone:
Based on theveganbrewer's 4.0 recipe (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/heady-topper-can-you-clone-390082/)
5/8 oz CTZ and 5/8 oz Apollo @ 90 min
80% of the hops @ 5, 0, and Aroma Steep since I thought it would be a 4 gallon batch
No corn sugar as I hit 1.073 OG on the dot after boil off
100 billion cells of either Conan or WLP090
1.6 gallons each, 1.073 OG

Bravo/Kohatu IPA:
1/8 oz Bravo @ 60
1/8 oz Kohatu @ 20
1/8 oz Kohatu @ 15
1/8 oz Kohatu @ 10
1/8 oz Kohatu @ 5
1/4 oz Kohatu @ 0
1/4 oz Kohatu @ Aroma Steep
50 billion cells of Conan
1.2 gallons, 1.059 OG, ~65 IBU

CTZ 7 IPA
1/8 oz each CTZ or CTZ/Apollo @ 60
Mix of Centennial, Citra, CTZ, El Dorado, Galaxy, Kohatu, and Simcoe
1/8 oz @ 20
1/8 oz @ 15
1/8 oz @ 10
1/8 oz @ 5
1/4 oz @ 0
1/4 oz @ Aroma Steep
50 billion cells of 75% WLP090/25% Conan mix in each
1.2 gallons each, 1.059 OG, ~90 IBU

 

[ianmatth]

I've added the first 2 dry hops so far for the Heady clones. The Bravo/Kohatu IPA and CTZ 7 IPA both finished at 1.010.

I also saved the beer from my yeast starters, dry-hopped it with Kohatu and bottled it. There was a huge difference between the Conan starter beer and the WLP090 starter beer. The Conan starter beer had a very definitive lemon taste. At first I thought it was from the Kohatu since Southern Hemisphere hops have a bit of that lemon taste, but it was clearly from the Conan because the WLP090 starter beer didn't have that taste at all. It tasted a lot more like a normal beer and was very bland compared to the Conan starter beer. So while some people describe the Conan taste as peach or apricot, I would have to say it is more lemon. I'm sure a heavier beer that used a lot more hops would have had a much more balanced taste and I can really see how that lemon taste would accentuate a highly hopped beer. I also kept my temperature under 70 the whole time so there was absolutely no Belgian taste from the Conan yeast.

 

[ianmatth]

FG for the Conan and WLP090 versions of the HT clone were 1.011 and 1.014 respectively, so it appears Conan attenuates better than WLP090.

 

[ianmatth]

I carbonated one HT clone of each one at room temperature and tried them tonight. The Conan version is a little better, and is probably my best beer to date. They both have the HT taste, but the Conan version pops a bit more and the WLP090 version seems a little muted in comparison.