Torpedo clone.

[Charlie]

Last night's brewcast featured Steve Dressler of Sierra Nevada. They spent so much time talking about rail spurs and 12 person bicycle bars that I went to sleep. Checking out the podcast (now available) I find...

Steve did mention Torpedo late in the brewcast. About hopping he says:

1. Magnum is the bittering hop (check).

2. There's a bit of magnum in the middle (check, but delete the crystal).

3. The late boil (flameout?) hops are magnum and crystal, heavy on the crystal (now we're getting somewhere!).

He gave very little dry hop info, but implied that he uses less citra (1/2 lb/bbl) than he does magnum and crystal. I get the feeling that the dry hops are also heavy on the crystal. I'm thinking Crystal:Magnum:Citra dry hop ratio 3:2:1.

Torpedo V 0.0.5 coming up!

Charlie

[NikoBrew]

I friggin' love torpedo and will definitely brew this or base a recipe off it. May throw in more hops or something for fun

[NikoBrew]

In case anyone is interested...

From the September 2009 BYO

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA Clone
5 gallons - all-grain

OG = 1.070
FG = 1.018
IBU = 70
SRM = 11
ABV = 7.2%

Ingredients

14 lbs pale malt
11 oz caramel malt (60 degrees L)

1.2 oz of 14% AA Magnum hops (60 mins)
1.0 oz Magnum hops (5 mins)
1.0 oz Crystal hops (5 mins)
.67 oz Magnum hops (dry hop)
.67 oz Crystal hops (dry hops)
.67 oz Citra hops (dry hops)

Yeast: White Labs WLP001 or Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Mash at 152 degrees. Boil for 90 minutes. Ferment at 68 degrees. Dry hop for 10 days to 2 weeks or use a Sierra Nevada "torpedo" to add hop character.

What efficiency does BYO figure? And at 5 gallons, that's post boil or post ferment? I'm assuming post ferment.

[Rhoobarb]

...What efficiency does BYO figure? And at 5 gallons, that's post boil or post ferment? I'm assuming post ferment.

65% extract efficiency.

1lb. of 2-row with a potential extract value of 1.037 in 1 gal. of water will yield a wort of 1.024.

Yes, post ferment FG.

[Charlie]

I'm revisiting the SN Torpedo clone (finally!), using the hop schedule mods suggested by Steve Dresler's visit to TBN (see above), and looking for advice on yeast. The available choices are WLP-001, PacMan, Cry Havoc, Green Belt and WY-1272.

I plan to mash at 149F, OG 1.072, and want to get high attenuation (around 1.011) to hit 7% ABV (Torpedo is 7.2% ABV).

1. I've used WLP-001 quite a lot. It has good attenuation, but not as high as I want.
2. Pacman doesn't attenuate particularly high.
3. My one experience with green belt did not get particularly high attenuation.
4. My limited experience with Cry Havoc suggests that it does not attenuate particularly high.
5. WY-1272: About the same as WLP-001.

Any thoughts on yeast choice? Should I consider others?

If nothing better turns up I'll use WLP-001.

Charlie

[beltbuckle]

I'd stick with WLP001 or Pacman. Pacman is my first choice for American styles. From my experience they have around the same attenuation. I think if you use a water containing what the yeast need, some yeast nutrient for good measure, oxygenate properly, and rouse the yeast and warm up the fermenter as fermentation is slowing down I think you'll get close to your target O.G.

[Charlie]

Version 0.5 has been in the primary 7 days, and I hope to rack it onto the dry hops sometime this week.

The recipe has evolved quite a bit (has it been almost 2 years?). V 0.5 is a 10 gal batch, and I have high hopes for it:
________________________________________________

O.G. 1.076 (actual)
F.G. 1.016 (est)
ABV 7.0 (est)
IBU 82.7 (Tinseth, est)
SRM 8.8 (est)

23 lbs Great Western 2-row
2 lbs Cara-Pils Dextrine
1.5 lbs Crystal 60

70g Magnum 10.5% 90 minutes
28.3g Crystal 3.3% 90 minutes

50g Magnum 30 minutes

50g Magnum 10 minutes
100g Crystal 10 minutes

85g Crystal DRY 7 days
57g Magnum DRY 7 days
28g Citra DRY 7 days

Mash at 150 F
Mash Efficiency 80%

Yeast: White Labs WLP-001
________________________________________________

All I've got in the can right now is an ESB and a CDA, so I'll be glad to see the Torpedo hit the glass.

Charlie (it's about time for another Pliny!)

[Charlie]

The Torpedo was 17 days in the primary before I was satisfied that fermentation was over. Although I have a fermentation chamber (Upright fridge. Ranco 001) set at 68F the cold weather here may have been a factor. It was racked and dry hopped on 1/19 and kegged yesterday ( Jan 26th. 7 day dry hop).

I nicked a sample when I got home from work today, and I am very agreeably surprised. This brew is almost, if not exactly, like the freshest Torpedo I've ever had. And I'm talking about the first Torpedo we got here when I was going "Holy Shit" and burping what I thought was Cascade aroma. Not the later stuff that sat on the dock in the August heat, had zero aroma, and a flavor like burnt cotton candy.

Long story short, the above recipe is now "Torpedo Version 1.0". Teh Torpedo clone iz finished, y'all!

Charlie (doesn't have an FG yet, but who cares)