Block 15 Sticky Hands Clone?

[Tricerahops220]

I had this beer while out in Oregon and fell in love with it. I've done some digging around and haven't been able to find too much information on it other than this. Does anyone have any additional information? Anything that can help? Unfortunately, i was only out west for a trip so I won't be able to do a side by side comparison.

DIPA
8.1% ABV
Website Info
-Yeast: Brewers Choice
-Grain Bill consists of 2-Row, Pale Wheat, and Carafoam
-Color looks to be somewhere in the 7-10 SRM range

Podcasts I have listened to mention the beer having a later addition of hop shot to the boil and the following hops are in the beer.
-Amarillo
-Centential
-Columbus
-Citra
-Mosaic

Let me know your thoughts

 

[knollybru]

I am interested in this recipe too. Never tried before but it’s right in my wheel house as far as IPA’s go. Beer & Brewing magazine has a recipe for Block 15’s Alpha IPA recipe online. Might be a good starting point, although the hopping schedule is a little weird. Lots of early hop additions and no flameout hops. Kind of weird for this day in age but I’m tempted to try it.

 

[anteater8]

I'm so glad you brought this up, Sticky Hands is one of my favorite beers and I've tried to replicate it twice. I heard the same hops you listed with the addition of an apollo extract. There is Centennial in the dry hop, but I don't have much else on the exact schedule.

I've emailed the brewer looking for advice and received the following information back in November '16:

Yeast: American Ale (We have used this for the past 1.5 yrs, before we used Barbarian which was nice as well)

Grain: Rahr 2-row & Crisp Pale (split), touch of carafoam & wheat

Hops: Strong american varieties. Ive found that its not necessarily the variety of hop but the actual character that it gives. I select most of my hops in Yakima each year balancing what I want in my hoppy beers. For example, Ive tried Amarillo that have the character of diesel and ones that are wonderful tangerine. Try to find a supplier that you like in each variety. SH is mainly back hopped, 20 min to flame out with a unique C02 extract addition of Apollo at 15 min.

Water: CaCl & CaS04 additions to get the mouthfeel where you want it.

 

[Tricerahops220]

I'm so glad you brought this up, Sticky Hands is one of my favorite beers and I've tried to replicate it twice. I heard the same hops you listed with the addition of an apollo extract. There is Centennial in the dry hop, but I don't have much else on the exact schedule.

I've emailed the brewer looking for advice and received the following information back in November '16:

Yeast: American Ale (We have used this for the past 1.5 yrs, before we used Barbarian which was nice as well)

Grain: Rahr 2-row & Crisp Pale (split), touch of carafoam & wheat

Hops: Strong american varieties. Ive found that its not necessarily the variety of hop but the actual character that it gives. I select most of my hops in Yakima each year balancing what I want in my hoppy beers. For example, Ive tried Amarillo that have the character of diesel and ones that are wonderful tangerine. Try to find a supplier that you like in each variety. SH is mainly back hopped, 20 min to flame out with a unique C02 extract addition of Apollo at 15 min.

Water: CaCl & CaS04 additions to get the mouthfeel where you want it.

Did he provide you with any additional information such as IBU and SRM numbers? I would like to know how your first two batches came out and maybe use it as a baseline.

I have a beer smith recipe set up but I need to tweek it with the information you provided here. I end up with 65 IBU's and 7 SRM. Maybe I will post it and brew it to see what happens?

 

[anteater8]

Did he provide you with any additional information such as IBU and SRM numbers? I would like to know how your first two batches came out and maybe use it as a baseline.

I have a beer smith recipe set up but I need to tweek it with the information you provided here. I end up with 65 IBU's and 7 SRM. Maybe I will post it and brew it to see what happens?

A local bar has Sticky Hands on tap right now and lists it IBU at 110. I went for 80 IBU from Columbus at 60 min and 20 IBU from Apollo at 20 and it tasted too bitter. I think a hop extract at 60 min is likely the key for such smooth bitterness. No info on SRM.

I can post my first two attempts later when I have my journal, but neither of them were very close. They were fine double IPA's but not Sticky Hands. I'm not sure what to use as the pale malt, as I typically only use standard 2-row or blend with Golden Promise.

I might look to the Heady Topper clone recipe for inspiration as well. I find both beers share that sweet hop saturated flavor, and both have a great balance between citrus, dank, pine and fruit. Both beers use pale malt, wheat, co2 hop extract, columbus, apollo, centennial and amarillo.

 

[TheHopfather]

Experimental Brewing has an episode on this beer. Interview with Nick Arzner from Block 15, I haven't listened to it, but here's the link.

https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/episode-36-sticky-hands-stickier-questions

Lots of reference to 110 IBU's online. Experimental Brewing seems to think there is CryoHops in the recipe. Grain bill is available on the Block 15 website, you'll have to figure out percentages on your own from the looks of things.

Edit: Here is a link to a recipe for Block 15 Alpha IPA posted by Nick Arzner. The grain bill sounds speciously familiar... Just take out the Crystal and bump up the OG perhaps?

https://beerandbrewing.com/block-15-alpha-ipa-recipe/

Note on the Block 15 IPA water profile - "The water in Corvallis, Oregon, is soft. We add calcium chloride and calcium sulfate to the mash to achieve 125ppm of calcium, 180ppm of sulfate, and 85ppm of chloride. Adjust your water accordingly."

 

[Tricerahops220]

Experimental Brewing has an episode on this beer. Interview with Nick Arzner from Block 15, I haven't listened to it, but here's the link.

https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/episode-36-sticky-hands-stickier-questions

Lots of reference to 110 IBU's online. Experimental Brewing seems to think there is CryoHops in the recipe. Grain bill is available on the Block 15 website, you'll have to figure out percentages on your own from the looks of things.

Edit: Here is a link to a recipe for Block 15 Alpha IPA posted by Nick Arzner. The grain bill sounds speciously familiar... Just take out the Crystal and bump up the OG perhaps?

https://beerandbrewing.com/block-15-alpha-ipa-recipe/

Note on the Block 15 IPA water profile - "The water in Corvallis, Oregon, is soft. We add calcium chloride and calcium sulfate to the mash to achieve 125ppm of calcium, 180ppm of sulfate, and 85ppm of chloride. Adjust your water accordingly."

Thanks for this, this is actually the only interview where he states which hops are in the beer which is how I compiled the list above.

Thank you very much for the IBU count and the link below

 

[HomemadeSauce]

I don't have a ton of input on this topic, but Sticky Hands has been my favorite IPA since moving out West, and it does remind me of the few times I've had Heady Topper. It's a shame most bottle shops in Seattle are putting a 2-can limit on it these days. I found this post while searching around the forums. This and the Alpha recipe seem like great jumping off points.

Hi SEPDX_Brewer,

To give you a little background, Block 15 released their hop oil (extract?) for a Sticky Hands clone competition. They use Apollo hop oil but it is VERY different from the hop oil that passedpawn linked to. I'll include a picture of it.

I briefly spoke with the owner of Block 15 and he said they use it late in the boil for a boost of aroma and flavor. I also used Block 15's "Sticky Yeast" which is an English strain that has some really great stone fruit flavors that come out when fermented around 68F. The yeast is also highly flocculent and pretty dry. I also learned that the beer is made up of the following base malts: Pale Ale, 2-row, Carafoam, Crystal 15, and sugar. Nick (the owner) mentioned they use a percentage of Pale Ale and 2-row for the base malt and that the percentage usually changes a little bit every time. All base malts come from Great Western and the brewer's prefer the taste of the organic 2-row which is what they use in Sticky Hands. I'm not sure what brand of carafoam or crystal 15 they use - and I'm not sure which brand I used at the time either.

The clone I made turned out fantastic - it reminded me a lot of their "Tropical Remix" Sticky Hands which is my personal favorite. Here's the recipe - I was batch sparging at the time and getting around 75% efficiency.

Block 15 Sticky Hands Clone:

6.00 lbs. Great Western Pale Ale Malt
5.25 lbs. Great Western Organic 2-row
0.50 lbs. Crystal 15
0.50 lbs. Carafoam
0.80 lbs. Corn Sugar

1 oz. Simcoe @ 60 minutes

1 oz. Amarillo @ 10 minutes
Container of Apollo hop extract @ 10 minutes
Yeast Nutrient @ 10 minutes
Whirlfloc @ 10 minutes

1 oz. Simcoe @ Flameout
1 oz. Amarillo @ Flameout

1 oz. Citra @ 180F Hopstand (30 minutes)
1 oz. Simcoe @ 180F Hopstand (30 minutes)
1 oz. Amarillo @ 180F Hopstand (30 minutes)

1 oz. Citra @ 5 day dryhop
1 oz. Simcoe @ 5 day dryhop
1 oz. Amarillo @ 5 day dryhop

Mashed at 150F for 60 minutes. Batch sparged at 168F until I achieved enough volume to hit 5.5 gallons after a 60 minute boil (probably targeted around 7.5 gallons). RO water used with 3 tsp. of burton salts added to the mash water. Fermented at 67F for 14 days followed by a 5 day dryhop.

Original Gravity was 1.071 and finished at 1.010.

I would probably suggest using something like Wyeast American Ale II at 66 or 67F since Sticky Yeast is not usually available for purchase. I also think Apollo hop hash would get you really close to the extract they use.

 

[aprichman]

From my understanding the recipe changes a bit and is never the same when they brew a batch of Sticky Hands - not sure if this is still true now that they opened their production brewery and can a new batch every week. It used to be a monthly release in a 750ml bottle. People would line up for 1-2 hours and they had a 6 bottle limit I believe. These days it's pretty easy to find it in Corvallis at local grocery stores and they always have cans at the brewery.

Every 3 months they brew a variant - the variants are amazing. The Kine and Tropical Slam are out of this world.

 

[knollybru]

Thanks for all this great info. Block 15 finally started distributing to my city last week. So I finally got to try some Sticky Hands. It’s fantastic. Smooth bitterness, amazing aroma and clean hop flavors. I will definitely be trying to brew a sticky hands like beer myself. Here’s a pic Incase anybody needs visual inspiration.

 

[anteater8]

Pretty anecdotal evidence, but I recently brewed the Trillium Melcher Street Clone. The recipe calls for all Columbus in the boil and whirlpool, and then a massive Mosaic dry hop. I feel like the all Columbus whirlpool got me closer in flavor to that really dank, hop saturated, almost sweet aspect of Sticky Hands. This might not help a ton, but next time I attempt to brew this I will probably be loading up the whirlpool with more Columbus than last time.

 

[aprichman]

Pretty anecdotal evidence, but I recently brewed the Trillium Melcher Street Clone. The recipe calls for all Columbus in the boil and whirlpool, and then a massive Mosaic dry hop. I feel like the all Columbus whirlpool got me closer in flavor to that really dank, hop saturated, almost sweet aspect of Sticky Hands. This might not help a ton, but next time I attempt to brew this I will probably be loading up the whirlpool with more Columbus than last time.

They tend to use a lot of Apollo which is often called Columbus on steroids.

 

[anteater8]

I'm planning to take a crack at a Sticky Hands clone in the next couple weeks. Here is what I'm thinking so far... I'm not too sure about the hop schedule, but I'm borrowing a bit from things I've used in recent IPAs that worked well and reminded me of Sticky Hands in some way or another. Interested in any feedback.

42.5% 2 row
42.5% Pale Malt
7.5% Wheat Malt
7.5% Carafoam

10 ml Hopshot (60 min)
3 oz Columbus (whirlpool)
2 oz Centennial (whirlpool)
1 oz Apollo (whirlpool)
2 oz Citra (dry hop)
2 oz Mosaic (dry hop)
1.5 oz Centennial (dry hop)
0.5 oz Columbus (dry hop)

WY1056

 

[aprichman]

IMO that looks very much like a NEIPA whereas Sticky Hands is an unabashedly hoppy NWIPA

 

[anteater8]

IMO that looks very much like a NEIPA whereas Sticky Hands is an unabashedly hoppy NWIPA

Anything you would change? I think I have roughly the right grains, hops, IBU's and yeast. Hop quantities and timing is something I'm not sold on. I'm obviously leaving out the 20 min Apollo extract addition, but since its a custom made extract I figured I wouldn't bother trying to replicate it.

 

[knollybru]

I think the grain bill looks good. To me the flavor of SH leans heavy towards dank citrus and ripe fruit. I don’t know if your whirlpool hops will give you that. Maybe adding a little citra or Amarillo in the WP instead of the Apollo. I am intrigued to see how your beer turns out. I have been thinking of ways to make this beer myself. Good luck

 

[aprichman]

IMO I would cut back on the hopshot and add in at least 0.5 ounces of Apollo at 10 or 15. I would also think about replacing 1 - 2 qounces of the Columbus whirlpool with Amarillo, Citra, and/or Mosaic

 

[anteater8]

I incorporated some feedback from you guys and ended up brewing this yesterday:

4.5 ml Hopshot (60 min)
1 oz Apollo (20 min)
3.0 ml Hopshot (15 min)

2 oz Centennial (whirlpool)
1.5 oz Citra (whirlpool)
1 oz Columbus (whirlpool)
1 oz Amarillo (whirlpool)
0.5 oz Apollo (whirlpool)

Haven't dry hopped yet but this is what I'm thinking

2 oz Citra (dry hop)
2 oz Mosaic (dry hop)
1 oz Amarillo (dry hop)
1 oz Centennial (dry hop)

 

[aprichman]

Oh man that sounds good can't wait to hear how it turns out. Are you close to Corvallis?

 

[knollybru]

That looks good to me. I have yet to use hop shots. How many IBU’s are you getting from the hop shots?

 

[anteater8]

Oh man that sounds good can't wait to hear how it turns out. Are you close to Corvallis?

Thanks I hope so, I'm in Portland.

The hop schedule actually doesn't look too different from last time I tried now that I think about it, it that came out a little muddled and orange-y. I used Columbus to bitter and Barbarian to ferment that time though, so I'm hoping that the hopshot and wy1056 will lend a cleaner and brighter profile.

That looks good to me. I have yet to use hop shots. How many IBU’s are you getting from the hop shots?

Here is what I calculate for IBU's (this chart was helpful)

4.5 ml (60 min) = 41 IBU
1 oz Apollo (20 min) = 15 IBU
3.0 ml (15 min) = 14 IBU

Last time I went for all 110 IBU's from pellets in the boil, it ended up a bit harsher than I'd have liked. So this time I intentionally kept it lower, hoping the massive whirlpool will make up for the difference.

 

[anteater8]

Alright here are the results you've been waiting for! This was my 3rd and by far best attempt to clone Sticky Hands.

The recipe:
6.25 gal
66% efficiency

8.66 lb Great Western 2-row (in place of Rahr 2-row)
8.66 lb Mecca Lamonta (in place of Crisp Pale)
1.53 lb Carafoam
1.53 lb White Wheat (by accident instead of wheat malt)

4.5 ml Hopshot - 60 min
1.0 oz Apollo - 20 min
3.0 ml Hopshop - 15 min
2.0 oz Centennial - Whirlpool (170 degrees for 30 min)
1.5 oz Citra - Whirlpool (170 degrees for 30 min)
1.0 oz Columbus - Whirlpool (170 degrees for 30 min)
1.0 oz Amarillo - Whirlpool (170 degrees for 30 min)
0.5 oz Apollo - Whirlpool (170 degrees for 30 min)
2.0 oz Centennial - Dry Hop (2 days)
2.0 oz Citra - Dry Hop (2 days)
2.0 oz Mosaic - Dry Hop (2 days)

WY1056 American Ale
Fermented at 64 for 5 days, then 70 for 9 days

Water - 200:100 Sulfate:Chloride

O.G. = 1.070
F.G. = 1.010
ABV = 7.9%


Here are my notes from trying them back to back:

Appearance: Identical to the Sticky Hands

Aroma: Strong citrus, pine, pretty dank, layered in with peach and mango. It's kind of a 'deep' aroma, some major overripe, fleshy tropical fruit. (Sticky Hands has a much stronger aroma and at the same time its cleaner, sharper and brighter. Its heavier on the citrus, pine, marijuana and less tropical fruit)

Taste: Noticeable but extremely smooth bitterness. Mango, citrus, pine. Bitterness lingers but is very pleasant. Everything blends together a bit. (Sticky Hands again is heavier on the citrus and pine, way more resiny, with much less tropical fruit. The bitterness is more noticeable, just as smooth, but lingers longer. There is a sweeter finish, which to me blends with the hop saturated flavor. Goddamn, Sticky Hands is just a masterpiece of a beer)

Mouthfeel: Not quite as crisp as I would like, this is one of the main things I want to improve. It's got sort of a Northeast meets Northwest kind of juicy feel. (Sticky Hands is crisper, the body feels thinner and the bubbles are perceived as tinier)

Overall: As an IPA, I'm extremely happy with this. As a Sticky Hands clone, I'm actually moderately happy with this as a starting point. The grain bill is good, however I will try subbing something for Mecca Lamonta because that stuff is $$$. The hop flavor profile needs to shift from tropical to more citrus, pine and resin (hop schedule recommendations anyone?). The mouthfeel needs to be crisper (I will up my sulfate to 300, maybe drop sulfate to 50. I may also try WLP090 next time or add table sugar).

(Sticky Hands: Left, Clone: Right)

 

[aprichman]

Nice job! First thing that comes to mind when I hear citrus and pine is Simcoe and Amarillo

 

[couchsending]

If you listen to the Session episode from 2013 Nick talks about how they do a small DH charge for a certain beer right after Primary Ferm then cold crash it to 40 for two weeks, then bring it back up to 68 and DH for two days, crash, carbonate. Getting yeast out of suspension before DH is a good idea with 1056. Supposedly it does little in the biotransformation department. This practice is done by a lot of brewers who use it. Vinnie does this as well. Not sure you need 2 weeks of cold conditioning at the homebrew level as our “tanks” are a lot smaller but might be worth trying If you have the vessels to do it in without any O2 exposure.

Also Apollo is the most unstable Hop, it loses its AA faster than any other. Co2 extract is much much more stable. Wouldn’t surprise me if that’s one of the big driving forces behind using it.

 

[goldenknotslim]

Apollo 80%-90% alpha acid after 6 months

 

[anteater8]

Nice job! First thing that comes to mind when I hear citrus and pine is Simcoe and Amarillo

Simcoe was one of my first thoughts as well. However, I sent a recipe to Nick from Block 15 and his feedback was to take the Simcoe out and replace it with Centennial.

 

[anteater8]

If you listen to the Session episode from 2013 Nick talks about how they do a small DH charge for a certain beer right after Primary Ferm then cold crash it to 40 for two weeks, then bring it back up to 68 and DH for two days, crash, carbonate. Getting yeast out of suspension before DH is a good idea with 1056. Supposedly it does little in the biotransformation department. This practice is done by a lot of brewers who use it. Vinnie does this as well. Not sure you need 2 weeks of cold conditioning at the homebrew level as our “tanks” are a lot smaller but might be worth trying If you have the vessels to do it in without any O2 exposure.

Also Apollo is the most unstable Hop, it loses its AA faster than any other. Co2 extract is much much more stable. Wouldn’t surprise me if that’s one of the big driving forces behind using it.

That's pretty interesting, I hadn't heard that bit about cold crashing before. I have been thinking about cold crashing a lot lately, as its something I currently don't do and I've read about the potential benefits of a cold crash before dry hopping.

I'm worried about sucking in oxygen however during the cold crash. I know there are solutions out there to capture CO2 and have that sucked back in, but they all seem a bit more involved than I'm willing to do.

 

[couchsending]

Apollo 80%-90% alpha acid after 6 months

I stand corrected.... I swear I read that somewhere but yeah I looked again and yeah it's HSI is Excellent. My bad,
I wonder what I had it confused with, I swear it was Apollo.

 

[couchsending]

That's pretty interesting, I hadn't heard that bit about cold crashing before. I have been thinking about cold crashing a lot lately, as its something I currently don't do and I've read about the potential benefits of a cold crash before dry hopping.

I'm worried about sucking in oxygen however during the cold crash. I know there are solutions out there to capture CO2 and have that sucked back in, but they all seem a bit more involved than I'm willing to do.

Yeah you need to try to maintain some positive head pressure if possible. I don't ferment hoppy beers in carboys anymore so I'm
not 100% sure but I think I've seen people do it somehow. Google it, I'm sure you'll find a solution.

I think it depends on the yeast and what you're trying to accomplish. Sometimes dry hopping with yeast present is a good thing, sometimes it's not. I would say letting the beer condition cold for a while then dry hopping for a short time and carbonating will give you very fresh hop aroma/flavor in a beer that is already lost it's "green" qualities. Kimmich recommends dropping Conan down to 45 for two days before adding the dry hops. Vinnie recommends getting rid of as much yeast as possible before dry hopping. Brynildson however recommends dry hopping with some activity at least. However the yeast he uses flocs super hard, 1056 does not.

 

[aprichman]

Simcoe was one of my first thoughts as well. However, I sent a recipe to Nick from Block 15 and his feedback was to take the Simcoe out and replace it with Centennial.

Straight from the source!

 

[anteater8]

I took another stab at cloning this beer, although I purposely made some changes that I know are not in the actual Sticky Hands. However, in my opinion this is an improvement from my previous attempt (post #22). Here's what I changed:

Grain: Simplified grain bill with less wheat and carafoam, also added sugar to dry things out a bit. Both of these were improvements as it is definitely cleaner and crisper.

Hops: Simplified to only have 60 min, whirlpool and dry hop. All Columbus and Centennial in the whirlpool works wonders, I knew this from other recipes. I replaced Mosaic with Simcoe for more pine and this worked well for my tastes. Bitterness is spot on. Equal parts citrus, pine, tropical fruit and dank.

Yeast: Replaced wy1056 with Imperial House (WLP007). Another improvement, flavors are better integrated. I generally have not been happy with wy1056 in my west coast IPAs.

Water: Upped the gypsum a lot for a 300:75 sulfate:chloride ratio, and I am finally happy with how crisp it feels. I also mashed at a lower PH than usual (5.3) but its hard to say how this changed the final beer.

Recipe:

6 gal

7.5 lb 2 row
7.5 lb Marris Otter
0.5 lb Wheat
0.5 lb Sugar
0.25 lb Carafoam

3 ml Hopshot 60 min
1.5 oz Warrier 60 min
4 oz Columbus Whirlpool
2 oz Centennial Whirlpool
2 oz Citra Dry Hop
2 oz Simcoe Dry Hop
2 oz Amarillo Dry Hop

Imperial House
300:75 sulfate:chloride
Mash PH = 5.3

O.G. = 1.070
F.G. = 1.012
ABV = 7.6%

 

[oregonboy1995]

I had this beer while out in Oregon and fell in love with it. I've done some digging around and haven't been able to find too much information on it other than this. Does anyone have any additional information? Anything that can help? Unfortunately, i was only out west for a trip so I won't be able to do a side by side comparison.

DIPA
8.1% ABV
Website Info
-Yeast: Brewers Choice
-Grain Bill consists of 2-Row, Pale Wheat, and Carafoam
-Color looks to be somewhere in the 7-10 SRM range

Podcasts I have listened to mention the beer having a later addition of hop shot to the boil and the following hops are in the beer.
-Amarillo
-Centential
-Columbus
-Citra
-Mosaic

Let me know your thoughts

I live exactly 1 mile from the Block 15 Brewery [emoji41]

 

[aprichman]

I live exactly 1 mile from the Block 15 Brewery [emoji41]

Southtown or downtown?

 

[oregonboy1995]

Southtown or downtown?

Southtown!

 

[aprichman]

Southtown!

Hey we must be neighbors

 

[oregonboy1995]

Hey we must be neighbors

I live in the apartments on Rivergreen.

 

[rossi46]

Has there been any progress or final recipe for this, I dont get Block 15 stuff very often where I live, so I would love to make some sticky hands.

 

[Angell]

I just had a pint of sticky hands from the tap at The Horse Brass and I would SWEAR it had a Crystal Malt in it. Beyond the 5-7% carafoam suggested. Im thinking 5-8% crystal 40 or so??

 

[Angell]

...and it was damn tasty.