Bottling night: Modus Hoperandi clone
First, a preface.
Just a few weeks ago, before the launch of FuzzyBrew.com, we were sweating buckets in 100-degree heat in Jeff Marvin’s garage.
It was so hot that Grant nearly passed out. (See image to left)
But there was beer to make. 10 gallons, in fact.
Half the beer was an American Stout that we brewed for the Cooper-Young Regional Beerfest in October. The other was a recipe Grant found online for a clone of Ska Brewing Co.’ s Modus Hoperandi.
The Modus clone called for 3.5 lbs. of U.S. two-row malt, 1 lbs. caramel 120°L malt, .75 lbs. wheat malt and 7.5 lbs. pale malt.
The goodness, however, came from a slew of Centennial, Cascade and Columbus hops pellets.
For hops, the recipe called for:
1 oz. Centennial Pellets (9%) – 90 min
0.33 oz. Centennial Pellets (9%) – 30 min.
0.66 oz. Cascade Pellets (5%) – 30 min.
0.66 oz. Columbus Pellets (12%) – 5 min.
0.66 oz. Cascade Pellets (5%) – 5 min.
1.0 oz. Columbus Pellets (12%) – 0 min.
2.0 oz. Cascade Pellets (5%) – 0 min.
1.5 oz. Columbus Pellets (12%) – dry
3.0 oz. Cascade Pellets (5%) – dry
Despite the heat, brew day was a success — two carboys full of yummy beer.
That brings us to Wednesday night, and bottling of the Modus Hoperandi clone. First, we siphoned the beer from the carboy into the bottling bucket, as show below.
We sanitized all bottles, surfaces and equipment. And divided up the bottling duties into prepping bottles/adding carb drops, filling bottles and capping. It took about an hour to bottle 4.5 gallons.
All the while we sampled some interesting beers — a raisin-infused Dogfish Head Raison D’Etre, an amber ale in the Magic Hat Hex and a wheaty Magic Hat Odd Notion.
Nearly 1.5 inches of hop residue was left over at the bottom of the carboy, and it smelled glorious. We had a taste of the Modus clone, and it was quite promising. Cheers to a good night.
