All Grain Recipe: #16 Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA

I finally tried Firestone Walker's Union Jack IPA and I was floored. It has an incredible hop character, strongly pine-y and resin-y with hints of citrus. It is balanced by just enough malt sweetness to combine with the hops to create a candy-like, vanilla, date, cake sort of flavor. However, it is dry enough to not be cloying. It has a very similar character to Lagunitas Hop Stoopid and Green Flash Imperial IPA, but way drier. Where Hop Stoopid is thick and chewy and Green Flash is sweet to the point of cloying (I could barely finish the bottle), Union Jack manages to hit the same level of complexity without becoming overpoweringly sweet.

I immediately sought out a clone recipe and found that The Brewing Network did an episode of Can You Brew It on Union Jack. Huzzah!

Episode here.

It turns out to be a pretty complicated recipe.

The flavor is primarily tons of Cascade and Centennial in the boil, followed by a whirlpool aroma steep of more Cascade and Centennial, followed by two huge dry hop additions.

The mash is done really low (145) to dry out the beer, but then they use WLP002 English Ale yeast to maintain some residual sugar. Their mash is also a double infusion, where they raise the temp for the last 10-20 minutes to make sure it is fully converted.

Even their fermentation is complicated, requiring that you pitch at a low temperature and keep it there until yeast growth is complete (a day or so), probably to minimize ester production by the english yeast, then raise the temp (but still not too high).

The main thing I learned when making this beer is to always use a hop bag and make sure it is tied off super tight so no hops come out of the top. Holy shit was it a disaster!

The centennial I got from MoreBeer was not fully pulverized. Instead of a thick hop sludge, I had a chunky mass of hop leaves. Some got out because I didn't tie off my hop bag well enough and the hops clogged my siphon. I ended up just dumping the whole pot into the fermentor because I couldn't siphon it all out.

I also had the bright idea of dry hopping without a bag (note: I used a bag for batch #12, my last dry hop experience, and it was fine). I ended up losing close to a gallon of beer due to absorption by the hops and spigot clogging. To avoid losing even more, I ended up pouring from the top of the keg through a sanitized strainer into the bottling bucket. Bottling took forever.

I will never go without a hop bag again. I don't care if you get better extraction, or more flavor, it isn't worth the hassle.

Here's my recipe, immediately followed by the original 6 gallon CYBI recipe.

Union Jack IPA

American IPA

 

Type: All Grain	Date: 5/28/2011
Batch Size: 12.00 qt	Boil Size: 17.74 qt
Boil Time: 90 min	Equipment: Brew Pot, Full Boil All Grain (5 Gallon)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 0.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: 85.00
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 5 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 81.84 % 13.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 11.53 % 6.0 oz Carapils (1.5 SRM) Grain 5.34 % 1.5 oz Carastan (30.0 SRM) Grain 1.30 % 7.00 gm Amarillo (MoreBeer 2011) [9.30 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops - 22.00 gm Centennial (MoreBeer 2011) [9.20 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 15.00 gm Cascade (MoreBeer 2011) [6.40 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops - 22.00 gm Cascade (MoreBeer 2011) [6.40 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 15.00 gm Centennial (MoreBeer 2011) [9.20 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops - 7.00 gm Simcoe (MoreBeer 2011) [12.20 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops - 15.00 gm Columbus (Tomahawk) (MoreBeer 2011) [14.40 %] (60 min) Hops 44.2 IBU 26.00 gm Cascade (MoreBeer 2011) [6.40 %] (30 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops - 11.00 gm Cascade (MoreBeer 2011) [6.40 %] (30 min) Hops 11.1 IBU 26.00 gm Centennial (MoreBeer 2011) [9.20 %] (30 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops - 9.00 gm Centennial (MoreBeer 2011) [9.20 %] (30 min) Hops 13.0 IBU 1.00 gm Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min) Misc 1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc 4.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc 1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.072 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.072 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.64 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 7.58 %
Bitterness: 68.3 IBU	Calories: 325 cal/pint
Est Color: 5.9 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: BIAB Double Sparge	Total Grain Weight: 7.03 lb
Sparge Water: 11.11 qt	Grain Temperature: 70.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	TunTemperature: 146.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
BIAB Double Sparge Step Time Name Description Step Temp 55 min Mash In Add 8.00 qt of water at 157.0 F 145.0 F 20 min Step Add 2.00 qt of water at 202.9 F 155.0 F
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar	Volumes of CO2: 2.6
Pressure/Weight: 79.3 gm	Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 68.0 F	Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 70.0 F
Notes
Pitch at 17 C and raise to 19 C after 18-24 hours, once yeast growth is complete. Do first dry hop in primary after about a week, or when gravity is within 0.5 plato of terminal. Transfer to secondary and do second dose of dry hop. In general, don't dry hop more than 14 days. Subbed columbus for warrior because I have some on hand.

The original, 6 gallon recipe from Can You Brew It:

Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA

American IPA

 

Type: All Grain	Date: 7/19/2010
Batch Size: 24.00 qt	Boil Size: 29.05 qt
Boil Time: 90 min	Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 50.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00
Taste Notes: Piney, resin-y sweetness from the hops melds well with the malt to produce a flavor like savory candy. Has some of the vanilla/date sweetness of Green Flash IIPA and Hop Stoopid, but less big and cloying - similar flavor profile but drier and more drinka
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 13 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 81.89 % 1 lbs 15.7 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 11.79 % 13.4 oz Carapils (1.5 SRM) Grain 5.00 % 3.5 oz Carastan (30.0 SRM) Grain 1.31 % 30.00 gm Cascade [7.00 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops - 44.00 gm Cascade [7.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 25.00 gm Warrior [17.00 %] (90 min) Hops 42.6 IBU 30.00 gm Centennial [10.50 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops - 44.00 gm Centennial [10.50 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - 14.00 gm Amarillo Gold [9.00 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops - 14.00 gm Simcoe [12.00 %] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops - 52.00 gm Centennial [10.50 %] (30 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops - 52.00 gm Cascade [7.00 %] (30 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops - 18.00 gm Cascade [7.00 %] (30 min) Hops 9.1 IBU 18.00 gm Centennial [10.50 %] (30 min) Hops 13.6 IBU 2.00 gm Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 min) Misc 8.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc 1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.071 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.070 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.018 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.98 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.80 %
Bitterness: 65.2 IBU	Calories: 318 cal/pint
Est Color: 6.7 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Firestone Walker Double Infusion	Total Grain Weight: 16.79 lb
Sparge Water: 13.11 qt	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Firestone Walker Double Infusion Step Time Name Description Step Temp 55 min Mash In Add 20.00 qt of water at 159.9 F 145.0 F 10 min Step Add 5.00 qt of water at 203.6 F 155.0 F
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar	Volumes of CO2: 2.5
Pressure/Weight: 149.4 gm	Carbonation Used: 139g
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 68.0 F	Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 70.0 F
Notes
Pitch at 17 C and raise to 19 C after 18-24 hours, once yeast growth is complete. Do first dry hop in primary after about a week, or when gravity is within 0.5 plato of terminal. Transfer to secondary and do second dose of dry hop. In general, don't dry hop more than 14 days.