Crafty Dan - 13 Guns American IPA

[5hakesbeer]

Hi all, so I've been asked to make a clone of "13 Guns" made by Thwaites, under the "crafty Dan" brand. I'ts insanely hoppy, at 5.5% it's a really dangerous beer for the summer. It goes down a treat.
Anyway, I've had a look everywhere and I can't seem to find anyone that has tried to clone it.
They are nice enough to specify the malts, hops and yeast that is used for the beer but I don't even know where to start in terms of ratios and temps. etc.
You can see the malt bill/hop bill in the attached photos.

Thanks for any help!
Cheers

 

[Hanglow]

You can get thwaites yeast from Nutty Black and their porter, both are bottle conditioned assuming Marstons haven't changed things around since they took over their brewing operation.

Not sure on the ratios though

 

[Redlantern]

As a guess, based on the IBU, it seems that there is very little in terms of bittering - rather late hop additions.

One ounce of Centenial at 60 gives almost 40 IBU's. Half an ounce give 32 IBU's - well, according to beer smith.

Would be willing to wager that a small bittering with Apollo (cost effective and a good bittering hop) was used - not having tasted it, of course I do not know, but from a manufacturing stand point, it sounds reasonable.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

This is off the ratebeer.com site

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Cask: Unfiltered; Bottle/Can: Filtered
Malts: Pale Ale, Munich, Caramalt, Rye
Hops: Centennial, Citra, Amarillo, Apollo, Chinook, Kotatu
An Intense Hit of Hops. American IPA. A salute to the original 13 states of America.

 

[JKaranka]

When I've had 13 Guns (bottle) it's not been that hoppy; more on the malty side. Homebrewed is probably going to be pretty good with those hops :-D

Thwaites yeast is probably another one that has evolved from S04? It doesn't seem to play that much of a part in that beer given the hops.

 

[5hakesbeer]

Thanks for all the interest and input!
JKaranka, you're right, it is also very malty, I find it incredible how well balanced it is; it makes me quite nervous even attempting a clone. There must be so much trial and error with this, I imagine it will be very easy to overdo it.

Redlantern, that's a good heads up about the apollo. I'll have to play around with the others a little!
And Hanglow, I think that's a good a reason as any to go and get a few bottles of Nutty Black!

I'll let you all know if I manage to get anywhere with a recipe.

Cheers!

 

[chri5]

Are we assuming flaked rye instead of rye malt based on their comment of rich mouthfeel?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

just a shot in the dark to start things off
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/343914/13-guns

 

[5hakesbeer]

Ozark, That looks like a great starting point, thanks!
So you think that centennial is probably the best bet for the main source of bittering rather than Apollo as Redlantern had suggested?

I'm yet to use either hop so I'm not very well placed to make a decision either way!


With the Amarillo, would that be a whirlpool addition?

Cheers

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

yes on the whirlpool,

most major brewers that post a recipe, post 1 or the other hop for bittering based on what they have but not both then the rest is usually in order and thats what I go by

 

[5hakesbeer]

I see!
I don't know why I didn't make that connection before. It's standard practice for most foodstuffs in terms of putting the main contributors first etc.

I like the look of your malt bill etc. I think I'll have to give this a go. It looks much less daunting now I can see a recipe that looks like it should produce something similar to the original! Unfortunately I think my next brewday will have to be in about three weeks

 

[5hakesbeer]

.

 

[Redlantern]

yes on the whirlpool,

most major brewers that post a recipe, post 1 or the other hop for bittering based on what they have but not both then the rest is usually in order and thats what I go by

Nice little tip there. Should help for my own efforts. Thanks!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

oh and Apollo adds kind of a citrus peachy flavor to a dry hop so yes it can be dry hopped

 

[Redlantern]

oh and Apollo adds kind of a citrus peachy flavor to a dry hop so yes it can be dry hopped

. Just started to learn how nice high AA% hops do in dry hopping