Ballast Point Sculpin IPA

[San_Diego_Matt]

George and Doug, who are featured in that YouTube video still work at the Home Brew Mart in San Diego (the one on Linda Vista Road). Might not hurt to try and get one of them, I'd recommend George, on the phone and ask.

[J.Brew]

You are the man, Charlie! Good find. Definitely gonna tweak the hop varieties and additions for my intial brew. I'll try to get as close as I can with all Briess malts as well. I have a double IPA in my fermentation fridge at the moment but when it's done I'm gonna tackle this.

[Charlie]

Did anybody make this recipe? I have it queued up for tomorrow, and would definitely appreciate some last minute input.

Since I last posted we moved into a new house. It'd definitely more homebrew friendly than the last house, but it took months to get everything the way I like it. I have five brews under my belt at the new location, so I'm comfortable trying something adventurous.

[Charlie]

I brewed this clone on October 5. It went long in the fermentor (3 weeks) and I just kegged it yesterday.

OG 1.0640
FG 2.70 P (about 1.010)
ABV (calc) 7.09

Between the time I made the brew and kegged it I switched from SG to Plato saccharometers. At GRB the brewer insists on using Plato, which I thought was archaic of him, but I gradually came to love the things. They have a built in thermometer and temperature correction scale, and seem to be a great deal more accurate than the "precision" SG hydrometers I had been using. My local HBS got them for me from his supplier at BSG. They cost $22.00 each, and the part numbers are:

0 to 8.5. PN 9364
7.5 to 16 PN 9365
15.5 to 24 PN 9366

[Charlie]

The Sculpin clone has been on CO2 at 30 psi for 48 hrs, so I gave it a try. We don't get BP Sculpin here, so I couldn't side-by-side it, but I have pics and notes.

The SRM looks similar if not identical. The malt character is much as I remember Sculpin. The hop flavor and aroma are similar. It's a good recipe, but I don't know if it's totally cloned. I got the impression that genuine Sculpin had late hops layered in although that is unlikely if they whirlpool (which commercial rigs do, and I don't).

There's a store in Longview, TX that gets Sculpin, so the GF and I are going to wend our way over there Friday and pick some up (and also visit Schlotzskys. Yum!) .

Charlie

[brewinhard]

Cool. Thanks for sharing. Sounds delicious!

[Charlie]

I was (finally!) able to get a couple of sixers of BP Sculpin in Longview today. The clone is long gone, but at first taste genuine Sculpin is nothing like it.

Sculpin has an excellent American hop aroma and a deep hop flavor reminescent of Founders Centennial IPA, but much more prominent. What I taste is centennial, centennial and centennial. I'm not about to say that the other hops aren't in there, they probably are, but overall I get centennial.

Analysis: Not cloned.