11.06.2010

Green Flash Hop Head Red Ale revelations...revised Malt, same hops

I thought that I'd put up a quick post about a revelation that I just had while sampling my first ever Green Flash Hop Head Red. It's a west coast Red IPA that I can't get my hands on in MPLS, but received one bottle special delivery from my boy in Cali who has a nice blog Slaughterhouse 7. I've brewed the clone of it twice now blind without tasting it, and found the clone online somewhere and then adjusted it to my liking on the second try.

Here are my thoughts on the actual Hop Head Red. It's a nicely bittered Red Ale, using Amarillo Hops for flavor and aroma. The IBU's upon taste seem to be higher then the mid 40's to me but I'm not a great taster. It has an overwhelming raisin / prune / dark fruit flavor that I didn't know about. A bit like a Belgian Dubbel which I believe use the Belgian Special B malt. It's a very dark ruby red, almost a light brownish color.

Here is what I think I need to change to make my clone more like the original.

I think that the lower Crystals 40 and 80 bring in way too much sweetness. I'm starting to question Crystal malts. Instead I'd add in some Special B which will give that prune flavor, also up the mouth-feel, which will allow you to mash at a bit of a lower temp, say 152 degrees and still get a thicker mouth-feel.

Green Flash Hop Head Red Ale Clone - revised grist(5 gallon)

THIS WOULD PROBABLY BE MORE CLOSE...
malt & fermentables
% LB OZ Malt or Fermentable ppg °L
63% 8 0 American Two-row Pale 37 1
24% 3 0 Munich Malt 37 9
8% 1 0 Flaked Oats 33 2
4% 0 8 Belgian Special B 30 220
1% 0 2 American Chocolate 34 127
1% 0 2 American Crystal 120L 34 120
12 12
Original Gravity
1.063
Color
17° SRM / 34° EBC
(Light Brown to Medium Brown)

Hops
60 mins 1.0 Chinook
10 mins 0.5 Amarillo
5 mins  0.5 Amarillo
1 min 1.0 Amarillo
dry hop 3.0 Amarillo

Bitterness
63.7 IBU  

1 comment:

  1. glad you enjoyed the HHR. we popped a bottle the other day that was infected. fortunately, the next one was fine. tasty stuff. save some of your clone for december? i'd love to taste it if you have any left.

    ReplyDelete

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