Ballast points sculpin IPA

[jabergess]

I had Sculpin recently on tap at my favorite bar and decided I want to make it. I've followed this whole thread through and think I have a handle on the grain bill and hop additions. Does anybody have a comment about the water they used? My water sucks for IPAs so I have been going with distilled and building a water profile. Plus I recently acquired a pH meter so I definitely plan on trying that out. Does anyone else do this and if so what profile did they build for this beer? Also, I'm torn between no grapefruit and grapefruit. It seems like I should make this at least once without it, but if it just puts the beer over the top...well why not? Thanks for the comments! I have a thread in here called "All My IPAs Taste the Same" and I would like to avoid that with this beer!!

 

[temple240]

Made the extract version today. Ended up with an OG of about 1.050. Kinda weird. Was expecting a little higher. I did half the DME at 60 min, half at 30 min and the corn sugar at flameout.

I cooked it on my kitchen cooktop since I couldn't find my air shutter for the propane burner. I started with 5.5 gal and ended up with about 5 gal since I kept the lid on the pot most of the time. I guess time will tell if it will be any good.

With that low OG, I'm kind of worried there will be too much hoppiness.

Unless you measured something wrong you can't miss your og with extract. If you know that you used the right amount of dme, sugar, and water you can assume your og is exactly what the recipe calls for.

 

[autonomist3k]

I had Sculpin recently on tap at my favorite bar and decided I want to make it. I've followed this whole thread through and think I have a handle on the grain bill and hop additions. Does anybody have a comment about the water they used? My water sucks for IPAs so I have been going with distilled and building a water profile. Plus I recently acquired a pH meter so I definitely plan on trying that out. Does anyone else do this and if so what profile did they build for this beer? Also, I'm torn between no grapefruit and grapefruit. It seems like I should make this at least once without it, but if it just puts the beer over the top...well why not? Thanks for the comments! I have a thread in here called "All My IPAs Taste the Same" and I would like to avoid that with this beer!!

I swear I read somewhere that you should use spring water instead of distilled water due to the lack of minerals. But I've yet to get into water chemistry.

If you're talking about adding actual grapefruit, I wouldn't. The first time I shared this beer the first reaction was "this kinda tastes like grapefruit".
I can't remember if it's the simcoe or the Amarillo, but one of those two hops has a grapefruit flavor.

 

[jabergess]

I swear I read somewhere that you should use spring water instead of distilled water due to the lack of minerals. But I've yet to get into water chemistry.

If you're talking about adding actual grapefruit, I wouldn't. The first time I shared this beer the first reaction was "this kinda tastes like grapefruit".
I can't remember if it's the simcoe or the Amarillo, but one of those two hops has a grapefruit flavor.

You are correct on the minerals in distilled water, but I add them back. There are some on this thread that have added grapefruit zest to their beer. It's mentioned 5-6 times at least.

 

[hezagenius]

Unless you measured something wrong you can't miss your og with extract. If you know that you used the right amount of dme, sugar, and water you can assume your og is exactly what the recipe calls for.

I know, right?! I'm chalking it up to user error...

 

[hezagenius]

Kegged my batch tonight. It smelled amazing. Very nice aroma. I have a bottle of Sculpin to do a side by side comparison when it gets carbed up.

First time I've ever kegged. Went OK but it took a while. Important lesson: make sure your faucet is closed when you turn the CO2 on!

 

[autonomist3k]

Awesome, I should make this one again! It's so good.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[pwortiz]

Kegged my batch tonight. It smelled amazing. Very nice aroma. I have a bottle of Sculpin to do a side by side comparison when it gets carbed up.

First time I've ever kegged. Went OK but it took a while. Important lesson: make sure your faucet is closed when you turn the CO2 on!

When I made my first batch, I found that the aroma at bottling was frickin' crazy great. But, over time, it seems that the aroma hops just....dropped out after a while. It was still a good IPA but that aroma was missing big time.

I'm wondering if this is one that is just that much better "young". I'll be curious to hear how long this lasts for you - I bottled and didn't keg.

 

[Jmoney]

made a "sculpin"-type IPA last year based on random notes I took after reading through various threads on cloning this brew. just found this post again and seems like most of what I used came from this discussion thread. definitely a great IPA, and now my house IPA recipe. in fact my first batch took #1 IPA in last year's S. New England competition. thanks to all who posted their recipes here!

 

[hezagenius]

Tried my keg last night. It's been carbing since last Monday night. I have to say it was pretty good. It was a little "thin" so I dissolved 4 oz of maltodextrin into 4 oz of boiling water and then added it to the keg. Shook it for maybe 30 seconds and had another pint. Much better. Now it feels like a beer should feel. Unfortunately that stirred up the sediment so the pints I had last night were quite cloudy.

 

[GoodDogBadDog]

Thought this video was worth posting to this thread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_11Yn7V9UM

A short video on the production of Sculpin.

 

[hezagenius]

When I made my first batch, I found that the aroma at bottling was frickin' crazy great. But, over time, it seems that the aroma hops just....dropped out after a while. It was still a good IPA but that aroma was missing big time.

I'm wondering if this is one that is just that much better "young". I'll be curious to hear how long this lasts for you - I bottled and didn't keg.

Mine is starting to lose the hops aroma as well. It's been about a month now in the keg. It is taking on a more pronounced grapefruit flavor and aroma. I'm contemplating putting in some whole leaf hops into a bag and dropping it in the keg. Just trying to decide which variety of hops. Maybe 1 oz of Simcoe?

 

[pwortiz]

Well at least I am not totally crazy then. I have been really impressed with the Simcoe hops. I have only just started kegging so let me ask - will hops added to a keg give only aroma or will they add to bitterness level as well? How long will they last?

 

[hezagenius]

I believe the boiling of hops is where the bitterness comes from. That is how the acids are extracted from the hops.

 

[doaradorowans]

I made this recipe my second brew and it came out incredible, which was a relief since my first brew didn't turn out so great. I still need to A/B with the real sculpin but judging from memory it's close. Tasty with some tropical notes and a nice bitterness.

I did 3 weeks primary, one week in secondary dry hopped with leaf hops and cold crashed two days before bottling.

 

[pwortiz]

Mine is starting to lose the hops aroma as well. It's been about a month now in the keg. It is taking on a more pronounced grapefruit flavor and aroma. I'm contemplating putting in some whole leaf hops into a bag and dropping it in the keg. Just trying to decide which variety of hops. Maybe 1 oz of Simcoe?

Did it work on the aroma side? I'm really curious....

 

[mtnagel]

No offense OP, but does it bother anyone else when this thread is bumped that the title is "Ballast Points"? The OCD in me wants to remove the 's'.

Regardless, this beer is on the To Brew List for sure. One of my favorites.

 

[mort012]

Would someone be kind enough to assist a new brewer? I had the opportunity to have a Sculpin while in California a month ago. I would like to try the extract version of this. Would this be a full or a partial boil. I looked through the thread, but did not see if it mentioned which it was. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[pwortiz]

Partial is no prob...In my opinion. Just add the remaining water at the end boil what you can. That's how all my stuff was made in the beginning.

 

[hezagenius]

Did it work on the aroma side? I'm really curious....

I decided not to do it. The new flavor started growing on me so I just left it as-is. I think I will probably brew up another batch soon and dryhop maybe 1oz in the keg. I'll put the bag on a string so when the beer gets low enough, the surface of the beer will fall below the hops and reduce the chance of any off flavors from overexposure to hops.

 

[seehuusen]

I will definitely have to try this one out! We can't get this one, or many of the other ones here in Australia. I was initially looking to do a Big Eye clone, which is the only Ballast Point beer I've tried so far

 

[seehuusen]

I've done a bit of a shopping list to create this beer, I'd like some input on what I've selected for the grain bill

Does the following correspond well to the used grain in the original recipe?

80% Pilsner Pale Malt (Barrett Burston)
7.3% Carapils® Malt (Weyermann®)
3.6% Vienna Malt (Weyermann®)
9.1% Crystal Malt Pale (Bairds)

Also, looking at the amount of hops required, my oh my do I wish we had US prices for the hops over here in Australia, I guess it costs a bit for shops to import them...
For the 14L (3.7 gallon) batch I intend on doing, I'm needing 145g of hops @ AU$15.30, but to get all the varieties used, I need to fork out nearly 60 Aussie dollars! I guess I'll have enough for a few batches then

Cheers
Martin

 

[mtnagel]

Wow, I feel for you. I was just in Australia for 3 weeks last year and I know how expensive it is. Every pint was at least $10 AUD and most were $12. My brother lives in Townsville and he's coming home over the summer. Maybe I can convince him to bring you a Sculpin if you are anywhere near there It's probably cheaper buying retail in the US than you brewing there even though a 6 pack here is $18 USD.

As for your grains, the CaraVienne is actually a caramel vienna so I don't know if Vienna will be the same.

And the Bairds Crystal Malt Pale is closer to a Crystal 80L. According to this chart, the Crystal 10 is the same as Bairds Light Carastan if you can get it or it's similar to the carapils, so maybe you can just use more of that.

 

[CaveBrewing]

I used to live in san diego and sculpin is one of my favorites. I now live in Melbourne and use hopdealzaustralia.com. you can get most lbs or 500g of hops for $25. They have nice selection and quality.

 

[seehuusen]

mtnagel - thanks for the link, that's a fantastic little tool!! I've used it, and come up with this grain bill instead:

80% Pilsner Pale Malt (Barrett Burston)
16.4% Carapils® Malt (Weyermann®)
3.6% Carared® Malt (Weyermann®)

Haha, thanks for the offer on the beer, I managed to find an online dealer in Sydney who can ship it up to me (I live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, a bit far to Townsville from here )

CaveBrewing - Awesome link, thanks for that. Although my outlay initially is about double ($105 + postage), the price of the hops required is nearly halved! and I end up with 3 times as much hops (by total weight) I'll be ordering through them for sure, might even get a mate in on it to make the outlay a bit better on the wallet

 

[makisupapolice14]

Polaris IPA
A.K.A
Sculpin IPA
Recipe
(Using Dried Malt Extract)

Extract:
6 lbs. Dried Light Malt Extract (DME)
1 lbs Corn Sugar
Hops:
.50 oz Warrior hop pellets added to boil (60 Minutes)
.50 oz Magnum hop pellets added to boil (60 Minutes)
.25 oz Northern Brewer hop pellets added to boil (60 Minutes)
.25 oz Columbus hop pellets added to boil (60 Minutes)
.50 oz Crystal hop pellets added to boil (30 Minutes)
.25 oz Centennial hop pellets added to boil (30 Minutes)
.25 oz Simcoe hop pellets added to boil (30 Minutes)

1.0 oz Amarillo hop pellets added to boil (0 Minutes)

2.0 oz Amarillo hop pellets (Dry Hop)
2.0 oz Simcoe hop pellets (Dry Hop)

Yeast:
White Labs California Ale Yeast WLP001



Just in case you're wondering, yes that 1lb of dextrose goes in during the boil.

Has anyone made this one? I'm planning for my next batch soon and I typically use specialty grains in addition to DME. Would it be worth steeping some carapils for some added head retention and possibly some caravienna and/or caramunich to round it out? Seems odd to do a straight extract brew after many extract+grains brews. Also debating adding 4oz malto dextrine for some added body (I know sculpin isn't super full-bodied but I'm worried the table sugar may make it too thin). Also, is this hop schedule based on a full-ish boil? I have the capability to do ~6 gallons.
any thoughts, comments or advice would be great!

 

[pwortiz]

I just made the extract version for the second time yesterday. Looking forward to it when it is fresh! I do 2 weeks primary and 1 week dry hop then to bottle...but may keg this time.

 

[dclarkelon]

I racked to the secondary on top of all 4 ounces right away. Then rouse them every few days for a week. I keg it once everything has settled, usually on about day 8 or 9. I have made this recipe 5-6 times both all grain and extract and it turns out outstanding each time, just like the real thing. I put the all grain version up next to the real thing awhile back, closed my eyes and had the wife give me a smell/taste of each and I honestly couldn't tell which was the real thing, the recipe is that good! Cheers!

I am going to be trying this brew out in two weeks. This is going to be my first IPA and the first time I have dry hopped. My question is, what does rouse mean in dry hopping?

 

[seehuusen]

It sounds to me that he stirred the hops at the bottom every other day for about 7 days, then kegged it after 8 or 9 days. It would probably sit in the keg for a little while cold conditioning to let the beer clear up a bit before serving.

 

[mort012]

Getting ready to bottle this and I must say that the sample I tasted from doing the FG was fantastic. Thanks for this.

 

[mdh384]

just bottled an all grain version of this, except instead of dry-hopping i infused grapefruit zest in to the priming sugar. my hop bill was also slightly different, mainly due to availability and me wanting to focus on citrus. because of my job the beer sat in primary for almost a month.

tasting the dredges left in the bottling bucket right now, it tastes promising. lots of citrus/grapefruit flavor without being super bitter. this was my first AG beer, and the mouthfeel problems i had with extract brews appears to have been solved.

 

[mdh384]

about 1 week in bottles after using a grapefruit infused priming sugar, and i can report that using grapefruit zest in the priming sugar is not enough. there is a hint of grapefruit at the back of the mouth, almost nothing in the aroma, and very little citrus in the middle of the mouth. i went for about 2.2V CO2 and that is not enough carbonation... since almost of the yeast have flocculated i am guessing i won't be picking up any more carbonation as the beer sits. i'm not going to call it a failure as it's certainly drinkable, but definitely not a success.

mine on the left, GF sculpin on the right.

 

[Rock_Toy]

Has anyone used this recipe? Success/Failure? I plan on using this as a base for a Grapefruit Version but replacing Cascade with Amarillo and throwing in some Grapefruit Zest 5 minutes before flameout and then dry hopping with Zest for final 3 days before bottling.

And suggestions? How much sugar should I use for bottling?

Thanks in advance for your help!!!

So here will be my attempt at a partial-mash version of this recipe tomorrow (with slight modifications based on available ingredients: )

5 lbs Pilsen DME 2L
2 lbs American 2-Row 1L
1.25 lbs Carahell 9L
1 lb Cara-pils 8L
0.5 lbs CaraVienne 24L

1.0 oz. Cascade AA 7.7% leaf mash
0.5 oz. Warrior AA 16% pellet boil 60 mins
0.25 oz. Columbus AA 15.2% pellet boil 60 mins
0.25 oz. Magnum AA 13.5% pellet boil 60 mins
0.25 oz. Willamette AA 4.9% pellet boil 60 mins
0.25 oz. Simcoe AA 12.7% pellet boil 30 mins
0.25 oz. Citra AA 11.5% pellet boil 30 mins
0.25 oz. Crystal AA 4.1% pellet boil 30 mins
1.0 oz. Cascade AA 7.7% leaf boil 0 mins
2.0 oz. Cascade AA 7.7% leaf dry-hop 7 days
1.0 oz. Simcoe AA 12.7% pellet dry-hop 7 days

1 Whirfloc tablet boil 5 mins

Wyeast 1056

Brewtoad estimates that my OG will be 1064 and FG will be 1016 with 79 IBU and 6.3% ABV (at 60% efficiency. My efficiency will probably be a little higher, but I'd rather low-ball.) I'll probably mash at 148 for an hour, based on other opinions in this thread.

 

[BrettV]

Has anyone used this recipe? Success/Failure? I plan on using this as a base for a Grapefruit Version but replacing Cascade with Amarillo and throwing in some Grapefruit Zest 5 minutes before flameout and then dry hopping with Zest for final 3 days before bottling.

And suggestions? How much sugar should I use for bottling?

Thanks in advance for your help!!!

I brewed this recipe, and it was delicious! I used Cascade because Amarillo was very hard to come by last summer when I was making this. Hop shortage and all. I'm pretty sure I used about 4 oz. of corn sugar for priming in the bottle for a 5 gallon batch. I've never tried to add grapefruit zest, but seeing as west coast IPA's have a citrusy character to them, I'm sure a little zest would add a nice bitter zip to the final product.

 

[Rock_Toy]

I brewed this recipe, and it was delicious! I used Cascade because Amarillo was very hard to come by last summer when I was making this. Hop shortage and all. I'm pretty sure I used about 4 oz. of corn sugar for priming in the bottle for a 5 gallon batch. I've never tried to add grapefruit zest, but seeing as west coast IPA's have a citrusy character to them, I'm sure a little zest would add a nice bitter zip to the final product.

I brewed it as well. 2 weeks in the bottle and its still a little green but the Grapefruit definitely comes through. Thinking that I should wait another 2 weeks before its really done.

 

[user 198378]

I just brewed this yesterday but I changed the recipe a little by adding a few more fermentables and the hops components to match what I had in stock. OG was 1.070 even though brewtoad said it should be 1.067 (my grain measurements were a little heavy handed). 82IBU with this setup...I entered the original recipe and said it would have 84IBU so this is close.

Grain
- 6# Light DME
- 1# Dextrose (Corn Sugar)
- 2# Munich Light 10L
- 10oz Crystal 10L
- 4oz Carapils

Hops
Magnum 0.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 14.7%
Nugget 0.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 14.3%
Fuggle 0.5 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 4.8%
Cascade 1.0 oz 30 min Boil Pellet 7.0%
Chinook 0.75 oz 30 min Boil Pellet 12.0%
Amarillo 1.0 oz 0 min Boil Pellet 9.3%
Amarillo 2.0 oz 10 days Dry Hop Pellet 9.3%
Chinook 2.0 oz 5 days Dry Hop Pellet 12.0%

Yeast
Started a White Labs WLP001 yeast starter the day before with DME and yeast nutrient.

Will dry hop once primary fermentation settles. Will post later!

 

[user 198378]

I brewed it as well. 2 weeks in the bottle and its still a little green but the Grapefruit definitely comes through. Thinking that I should wait another 2 weeks before its really done.

hey Rock, how'd this turn out?

 

[Rock_Toy]

Turned out incredibly!!! I had family over this past week and shared four of my beers with them. This was by FAR everyone's favorite. So good that I just brewed a variation on it last night using Pomello instead of Grapefruit. Hoping for another success!!!

 

[user 198378]

Turned out incredibly!!! I had family over this past week and shared four of my beers with them. This was by FAR everyone's favorite. So good that I just brewed a variation on it last night using Pomello instead of Grapefruit. Hoping for another success!!!

Nice man! I'll try it out next time I brew this

 

[Rock_Toy]

And as an FYI, I used an oz. of zest five minutes before flameout and then another oz of zest to dry hop 4 days before bottling. Just about perfect. Some pics: