Cloning Pliny The Elder – My First Double IPA

Well I’m going to attempt a Pliny the Elder clone this weekend.   Consistently rated as one of the best beers on the planet, Pliny deserves its reputation.  With ratings of 100 on BA and 100/100 on ratebeer.com, it seems the rest of the craft beer geek world agrees.  If you’ve ever had Pliny, you’ll probably agree too.  I don’t think I’ll quite do it justice, but it’s a great place to start for my first attempt at brewing a Double IPA.

Yeast is California Ale Yeast.

Fermentables:

• 13.25 lbs 2-row
• 8 oz carafoam
• 8 oz caramel-40
• 10 oz corn sugar

Hops:

• 1.5 oz millenium FWH
• 1.5 oz cascade FWH
• 2 oz cascade FO
• 1 oz belma FO
• 1 oz bravo FO
• 1 oz millenium FO

quickly cool to 170F and let stand 30 minutes

Dry Hops

• 2 oz millenium 14 days
• 1 oz cluster 14 days
• 1 oz belma 14 days
• 2 oz bravo 5 days
• 2 oz cascade 5 days

Targets:

• OG: 1.075
• FG: 1.011
• SRM: 7
• IBU: 108

Total fermentation time should be 3 weeks from boil to bottle, plus conditioning time.  I’ve gotten advice to bottle and enjoy as quickly as possible to preserve delicate hop aromas and flavors.  Makes sense to me.

This will be a unique beer for me because it’s only got first wort hops and flameout hops, and a lot of them at that.   Thanks to Barfdiggs on beer advocate for the hops schedule!