Hop Hammer / Pliny the Elder Clone

I brewed this around the New Year, and just got it kegged.  I can’t remember all the substitutions I made, here’s the recipe as written:

Hop Hammer

8 lbs Light LME

.5 lb Wheat LME

1.5 lbs Corn Sugar

Grain Bill:

.5 lb Great Western Crystal Malt

Hops:

1.75 oz Warrior Pellets 15% – 90 min

1.75 oz Chinook Pellets 13% – 90 min

1 oz Simcoe Pellets 12% – 45 min

1 oz Columbus Pellets 14% – 30 min

1.75 oz Centennial Pellets 9% – 0 min

1 oz Simcoe Pellets 12% – 0 min

2.5 oz Columbus Pellets 14% – Dry

1.5 oz Centennial Pellets 9% – Dry

1.5 oz Simcoe Pellets 12% – Dry

Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Crack the malt, place in a grain bag.  Steep the bag in 1/2 Gallon of 170 F water for about 30 min.  Remove the Grain Bag and rinse with warm water, do not squeeze the bag.  Add water and malt extract to make a pre-boil volume of 6.5 gal.  Make sure LME is dissolved then bring to a boil.

Once boil is acheived, add the hops per the schedule.  Total boil time is 90 min.  Chill wort to 67 F as quick as possible, rack to fermentor, and pitch the yeast (healthy starter or 2+ vials of liquid yeast recommended).  Aerate very completely.  With healthy yeast, primary fermentation should be complete within a week, but don’t rush.  Transfer the beer to a second fermentor and add dry hops.  Let pellets break up & start to sink, then allow the beer to sit for another 7 days.  Bottle or Keg. 

Substitutions I remember for this batch:

Increased Wheat Extract to 1 lb, decreased Corn Sugar to 1 lb for ease of purchase.  I couldn’t find Warrior or Simcoe, so used the strong hops available, I don’t remember which. 

Recipe calls for OG = 1.079, FG = 1.013, ABV = 8.8%.  I of course didn’t test on either end, but it tastes and feels pretty strong.  The color is darker than Pliny, and it’s not as crisp, but it’s pretty darn good.  Expensive though.