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MadTree PsycHOPathy Clone 1.0

MadTree PsycHOPathy is an American IPA brewed in Cincinnati by MadTree Brewing.  They post the recipes for all of their beers on their web site. These recipes list the ingredients and most of the vial information for the beer, but omit some of the details you might need to precisely replicate their beer. However, if you ask nicely, I've found that they will fill in the blanks.  For example, they told me the mash temperature they use is 149.5 degrees Fahrenheit.  I'll use 149F myself, knowing that the temp in the Brewie+ varies a little during mashing, so it will hover around 149.5.

I took MadTree's published recipe and reproduced the grain bill for the Brewie+ and ran that through my mill.  I then took the alpha acid values for all the hops and reworked the amounts so that I am getting approximately the same number of IBUs from all my hop additions that MadTree gets from theirs (according to the published recipe).  This should mimic their hop flavor profile as best I can reproduce it.  The resulting recipe and process appears below.

Ingredients

6 pounds, 7 ounces of 2-row Pale Malt
1 pound, 6 ounces of Vienna Malt
3 ounces of Carapils/Dextrine Malt
3 ounces of Caramel 40L Malt
0.20 ounces of Galena hops pellets @ 13.8% AA (60 min.)
0.21 ounces of Chinook hoops pellets @ 11.6% AA (45 min.)
0.37 ounces of Centennial hops pellets @ 10.8% AA (30 min.)
0.42 ounces of Centennial hops pellets @ 10.8% AA (15 min.)
0.35 ounces of Cascade hops pellets @ 6.9% AA (15 min Whirlpool)
0.09 ounces of Centennial hops pellets @ 10.8% AA (15 min Whirlpool)
0.90 ounces of Centennial hops pellets (dry hop 3-7 days)
0.55 ounces of Chinook hops pellets (dry hop 3-7 days)
1 package Wyeast 1272 American Ale II yeast
1/4 tsp. Yeast Nutrient (15 min.)
1/8 tsp. Brewtan B (mash water)
1/4 tsp. Brewtan B (boil 30 min.)
1/4 tablet Whirlfloc (15 min.)
1.5 tsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer (mash)
1/2 tsp. Gypsum (mash)
1/2 vial White Labs Clarity Ferm

8.8 liters of mash water (approx.)
6.2 liters of sparge water (approx.)

BeerSmith estimates the beer will have the following characteristics:
  • BJCP Style: 21.A American IPA
  • Batch Size: 2.9 gallons (actual was approximately 2.9 gallons)
  • Original Gravity: 1.064 SG (15.3 Brix) estimated (1.057 SG actual)
  • Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.052 SG (12.5 Brix) estimated, actual was 1.061 at 11 liters, diluted to 1.053 and 13.2 liters
  • Final Gravity: 1.014 SG 
  • ABV: 6.9% 
  • IBU: 71 
  • SRM: 6.4
  • BU/GU Ratio: 1.103
Mash Schedule
  • Mash in at 140F for 15 minutes
  • Mash at 149F for 60 minutes
  • Mash out at 168F for 10 minutes
  • Sparge at 168F for 15 minutes 
Boil Schedule
  • 60 minutes: Galena hops 
  • 45 minutes: Chinook hops 
  • 30 minutes: Centennial hops (0.37 oz.) plus Brewtan B 
  • 15 minutes: Centennial hops (0.42 oz.) plus yeast nutrient and whirlfloc
  • 0 minutes: Heat off, add whirlpool hops (Centennial and Cascade)
  • Whirlpool 15 minutes with hops
  • Chill to 62F
Fermentation Plan
  • Ferment at 60-66F for 7-10 days or until gravity is approximately 1.020 SG.
  • Add Dry Hops and leave until FG is reached or 3-4 days, whichever is longer.
  • Add gelatin finings and cold crash until clear.

Post-Brew Notes and Observations

04/08/2019: The water loads were a little high and had to be adjusted slightly. However, I did notice that the mash water level was too low to cover all the grain so I ended up adding back about 48 ounces.  Sparge water also loaded high, so I adjusted it down by about a liter or so.

Gravity read 17.1 Brix (1.072 SG) late in the mash before the sparge water was added.

Pre-boil gravity was 14.5 Brix (1.061 SG) and volume was estimated to be 11 liters.  This gives a brew house efficiency for this batch of 76.6%

Adding water to dilute it a bit to get the gravity closer to the estimate of 1.052 SG pre-boil gravity. This raised the volume to 13.2 liters and dropped the gravity to 12.75 Brix or approximately 1.053 SG.

Post-Brew approximately 2.9 gallons ended up in the fermenter at 60F and a gravity of 1.057 SG per the Tilt Hydrometer. US-05 yeast was pitched along with Clarity Ferm.

04/09/2019:  The beer has warmed from 60F to 62F since the yeast was pitched last night. The cooler temperature must have kept the US-05 sleepy, as it showed no sign of fermentation for about 20 hours, when the gravity of the wort began to drop.  Gravity has only dropped a point or two in 24 hours, but I expect that will start to pick up.

04/10/2019:  The beer has warmed up to 64F and the gravity has dropped to 1.040 SG. That is 29.31% attenuation and approximately 2.2% ABV.

04/12/2019:  Gravity is down as low as 1.017 SG (though it's varied as high as 1.024 SG) and the temperature has gone as high as 65F (but currently 63F).  Tonight I dry-hopped it.  If past experience is any indicator, this will spur some additional fermentation and bring the gravity down further, perhaps lower than the estimated 1.014 SG.

04/14/2019:  Since dry-hopping, the beer has reached its estimated FG and seems (for the last several hours at least) to pretty much be holding there.  I'll need to bottle it in the next 2-5 days to avoid any grassy notes from the dry hops.  For now, I'm waiting to make sure it really has reached FG since dry hops can spur additional fermentation activity, which can lead to burst and overflowing bottles if you bottle the beer too soon.

04/16/2019: The beer has been holding in the 1.014-1.015 SG range and should be ready to bottle.

04/18/2019:  The beer was bottled with a single Coopers carbonation drop per bottle.

04/27/2019: A test bottle was chilled and opened. It was compared to a can of the MadTree beer. The color of my version was a bit darker, and the hop aroma less evident despite a long contact time with the dry hops. The flavor was very close, though. Mine exhibits a bit of diacetyl that the real beer lacks, and I'm hopeful that the yeast will clear this up.
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