Firestone Walker Wookey Jack Clone Attempt

[Bramstoker17]

Wanted to provide my feedback on this brew. AMAZING. Tastes nearly identical to the Wookey Jack I sampled a pint of. I am literally going to brew it again this weekend, but I don't have any English Ale yeast. I only have California Ale and Safale 05. Any suggestions? Worth a trip out the LHBS?

I used 05 when I brewed it and I thought turned out great. Haven't tried it side by side with the real deal though, but its close. I'd say go for it unless you're really set on an exact clone.

 

[Sjorge3442]

Wanted to provide my feedback on this brew. AMAZING. Tastes nearly identical to the Wookey Jack I sampled a pint of. I am literally going to brew it again this weekend, but I don't have any English Ale yeast. I only have California Ale and Safale 05. Any suggestions? Worth a trip out the LHBS?

Well Im a huge fan of Cali Ale and Cali V, so I say go for it. I love using Cali V in my black ipas. Then again the 05 will give you really clean flavors, but you will be missing that yeast character that the wookey has. I say use the cali ale. I am brewing this, this weekend to break in my new kegerator and I plan to use Safale 04

 

[sk888smooth]

I went with 05 and will report back the difference. My original go at this one was using English Ale yeast as calls the recipe and it turned out outstanding. hope this matches it! Mmm just had a sip now. So delicious!

 

[Stauffbier]

I'm boiling this right now, and I'm super excited for it to be ready to drink! I'm using the wlp002 as called for, and I'm hoping I manage to get the 80% attenuation that the recipe shows..

 

[samandbekah]

I'm boiling this right now, and I'm super excited for it to be ready to drink! I'm using the wlp002 as called for, and I'm hoping I manage to get the 80% attenuation that the recipe shows..

Good luck and enjoy!! My 4th batch of this is waiting for the dry hop additions... I agree, cannot wait to have this on tap!

 

[sk888smooth]

I fear for the one week gap when my family drinks the rest tomorrow and the next batch is ready next week! I should have bottled some for reserve!

 

[samandbekah]

I fear for the one week gap when my family drinks the rest tomorrow and the next batch is ready next week! I should have bottled some for reserve!

haha I hear ya, that's why I started doing 10 gallon batches of this stuff... its just too good not too...

 

[Stauffbier]

I'm not sure if it's what Skeezer intended, but I ended up steeping the flame-out hops at 170F for a half hour. I also increased the amount of each flame-out hop to two ounces each, because I hate using partial packs of hops. I gotta tell ya.. the inside of my fermentation chamber has never smelled so fantastic! I can tell this beer is going to be phenomenal!

Thanks again for putting it together and sharing the recipe Skeeze!

 

[guillermo81]

i've just tasted this beer before the dryhop and the aroma and flavors are just f*king amazing!!! i'm wondering to use the same malt bill for an imperial stout just chaging the hop bill...

This beer is TERRIFIC!!!

 

[Stauffbier]

i'm wondering to use the same malt bill for an imperial stout just chaging the hop bill...

This beer is TERRIFIC!!!

Not a bad idea. I'm thinking maybe it would be good if you subbed the carafa with black barley for a stout. Just a thought..

I recently made an imperial stout with a bunch of wheat in the grain bill, and it really adds nice body and mouth feel.

 

[victornixon]

Thinking of doing this recipe soon, as I have the Amarillo & Citra, but don't have the Magnum. Would Columbus be a good substitution? I have to order some of the grains, so I could order Magnum, but I already have the Columbus on hand...

 

[ilikeguns]

Thinking of doing this recipe soon, as I have the Amarillo & Citra, but don't have the Magnum. Would Columbus be a good substitution? I have to order some of the grains, so I could order Magnum, but I already have the Columbus on hand...

Magnum is just for bittering.. I'm sure if you match the IBUs you'd probably not notice the difference..

 

[chalkdust41485]

Looking to make this my New Years brew on 1/1... Sounds like its a winner. Don't have Firestone down here in FL, but I'm sure its awesome!!

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[sk888smooth]

Just kegged my second batch of this bad boy yesterday. Should be ready for NYE! I think I am going to make this my house brew for a while.

 

[samandbekah]

Magnum is just for bittering.. I'm sure if you match the IBUs you'd probably not notice the difference..

Yeah I agree with that but if you do substitute, let us know the results, it would be great to know what to use in a pinch...

 

[Stauffbier]

Out of curiosity have any of you done the second dry hop addition in the keg and just leave it there while serving?

 

[skeezerpleezer]

Out of curiosity have any of you done the second dry hop addition in the keg and just leave it there while serving?

Yeah. I did last time. Worked well.

 

[Stauffbier]

Yeah. I did last time. Worked well.

Awesome! Thanks bro!

 

[samandbekah]

Yeah. I did last time. Worked well.

Was this your only method for the 2nd dry hop addition or have you done it using primary then secondary, then kegged etc?

Curious to know what the difference is... If you got way more aroma/flavor in the keg I might have to switch to that...

 

[skeezerpleezer]

Was this your only method for the 2nd dry hop addition or have you done it using primary then secondary, then kegged etc? Curious to know what the difference is... If you got way more aroma/flavor in the keg I might have to switch to that...

I have done both. Also done primary with first addition, then secondary with 2nd addition, then kegged. I couldn't really tell a big difference. The reasons I have done it differently were due to time constraints or to free up equipment.

The aroma/flavor doesn't come out as fast when cold, so if you add to a cold keg, it may take longer to get those qualities, but they will last longer also. Unfortunately, I never had to worry about this beer getting old.

 

[samandbekah]

Thanks Skeezer great to hear... Yeah I have always done primary then secondary then kegged with spectacular results... Can't wait to have this back on tap again

 

[jdhasse]

This is going to be the next beer that I brew, really like this beer by FW and enjoyed reading this thread. Thank you

 

[skeezerpleezer]

I may brew another batch this weekend also!.

 

[Stauffbier]

I'll be racking from the primary into the keg tomorrow night. I did the first dry hop in the primary, and I'll do the second dry hop in the keg. I figured I'd leave the keg at room temp for about 4 days and then chill it and carb it up, so it doesn't take too long for the dry hop to do its thing.

 

[sk888smooth]

Feedback on the S-05 Yeast use - similar, but cleaner than the English Yeast as suspected. I pref the slight yeasty flavor addition the English Ale offers, but still delicious and worked fine since I had forgotten the English Ale East.

 

[te-wa]

brewing this today. just added first wort (magnum). i replaced a couple items, first off my LHBS didnt have domestic 2 row!!!???
so i had to get marris otter as my base malt. also, no cara rye so i used de-bittered black. and finally, in place of carafa III i used crystal 60.
let's hope this works! wont be identical (clone) but looks good so far.

*i want to think with all this hop goodness the otter will help add more body..

 

[Stauffbier]

brewing this today. just added first wort (magnum). i replaced a couple items, first off my LHBS didnt have domestic 2 row!!!???
so i had to get marris otter as my base malt. also, no cara rye so i used de-bittered black. and finally, in place of carafa III i used crystal 60.
let's hope this works! wont be identical (clone) but looks good so far.

*i want to think with all this hop goodness the otter will help add more body..

De-bittered black is the same thing as Carafa III, and is WAY darker than C60..

 

[skeezerpleezer]

De-bittered black is the same thing as Carafa III, and is WAY darker than C60..

This. And the C60 for Cara Rye would of been good. The good news is that the amounts are the same, so it should be good.

 

[te-wa]

heh. that came out wrong. thanks for the correction..
(carafa III / de-bittered - and cara rye / c60)

 

[mtnagel]

I confirmed my LHBS has every ingredient in this (the cara rye wasn't on their site, but they had it) except the midnight wheat, but they said they'd special order me some. They said they used to stock it, but it didn't sell so they don't carry anymore. So I'll be brewing in a few weeks. Can't wait. It should be the first beer I keg too!

 

[te-wa]

man, i thought i really blew it on this batch.
i installed new carbon and 5 micron filters for my water faucet. i ran about 3 gallons thru them to prime - then proceeded to gather my strike water. what i failed to do was taste the water before brewing! ugh, i got a lot of chlorine dioxide smell and taste in a sample AFTER i mashed in..
so far as i can tell there is no medicinal/band-aid smell or flavor in the sample i just had.
i was really worried that mashing with bad water would be nasty, so far so good. might the dry hop hide anything i cannot detect.. or will the band-aid taste become detectable with time?
i have since installed a scrubber filter and the water now is clean and scentless.
been one week, gravity is .020 so i'll sample again, then dry hop by next w/e.

 

[juggabrew]

brewing this today. just added first wort (magnum). i replaced a couple items, first off my LHBS didnt have domestic 2 row!!!???
so i had to get marris otter as my base malt. also, no cara rye so i used de-bittered black. and finally, in place of carafa III i used crystal 60.
let's hope this works! wont be identical (clone) but looks good so far.

*i want to think with all this hop goodness the otter will help add more body..

No 2row!!! That should never happen to a brew shop. Sounds like terrible management and planning. Or a very popular place to go.

 

[mtnagel]

Why are the IBU's for this recipe so much lower than the real thing? 60 vs 80.

 

[skagit991]

I'm wanting to make a 10 gallon batch of this but my mash tun is not large enough for all the grain and strike water. Anyone successfully modified this recipe to substitute some grain for extract?

 

[JackofAllAles]

Getting ready to add my second dry hop, hoping to bottle by the end of the week. I did an extract version of the recipe posted in the first thread. very excited to see how it turns out.

I am hoping to brew an extract clone as well but I am having trouble converting the recipe (or the 3 lbs of rye anyway). What exactly did you end up for specialty grains?

 

[MeanDeuce]

I am hoping to brew an extract clone as well but I am having trouble converting the recipe (or the 3 lbs of rye anyway). What exactly did you end up for specialty grains?

Here's what I used:

5.50 gal Washington, DC Water 1 -
1 lbs 8.0 oz Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 2 8.8 %
8.0 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.9 %
8.0 oz Caramel Rye (Weyermann) (35.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.9 %
8.0 oz Wheat, Midnight Malt (550.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.9 %
14 lbs Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 6 82.4 %
1.00 oz Magnum [13.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 7 34.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 25.0 min Hop 8 14.5 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.40 %] - Boil 25.0 min Hop 9 21.1 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 10 -
1.75 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.75 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
2.0 pkg English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [35.49 ml] Yeast 13 -
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 15 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days Hop 16 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [12.40 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days Hop 17 0.0 IBUs

 

[chalkdust41485]

So I brewed this on 1/1 and has been on gas for about 2 weeks. While I know it's not completely carb'd, it's enough to drink a pint here and there. Ya know, sampling... :cross:

It's my first dark IPA and I love the IPA aroma and the dark rye beer. However, I have found my brew to be overly bitter. I used a half of an ounce of Magnum just like the OP's recipe. Does the bitterness fade or does the beer blend better over time? I've always known IPAs to be best fresh. Does that not apply here because of the dark roasted grains that need more mellowing time?

 

[mtnagel]

Interesting you say it's too bitter because the calculated IBUs for this recipe of 60 IBU are lower than the real beer at 80 IBU. I'm brewing this today and I plan on upping the magnum addition to 0.75 oz to add my IBUs.

Have you had the original? Was that too bitter?

 

[samandbekah]

So I brewed this on 1/1 and has been on gas for about 2 weeks. While I know it's not completely carb'd, it's enough to drink a pint here and there. Ya know, sampling... :cross:

It's my first dark IPA and I love the IPA aroma and the dark rye beer. However, I have found my brew to be overly bitter. I used a half of an ounce of Magnum just like the OP's recipe. Does the bitterness fade or does the beer blend better over time? I've always known IPAs to be best fresh. Does that not apply here because of the dark roasted grains that need more mellowing time?

I have this on the gas as well and I always end up not being able to wait until its fully carbed... but yes, I enjoy the sampling process very much

It does age well and IMO, it gets better the longer its on the gas/in the keg... I didn't even really notice too much loss in aroma or hop flavor and my last keg was on tap for about a month, maybe 6 weeks... Just keep sampling

 

[chalkdust41485]

Interesting you say it's too bitter because the calculated IBUs for this recipe of 60 IBU are lower than the real beer at 80 IBU. I'm brewing this today and I plan on upping the magnum addition to 0.75 oz to add my IBUs.

Have you had the original? Was that too bitter?

I have not had the original. Its not easy to get down here in Florida. So I cannot compare to the original. I guess I'll let it sit for another week or so and see..

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