Sun King Brewing Company: Tequila Barrel-Aged Fistful of Hops clone

Sun King Brewing Company: Tequila Barrel-Aged Fistful of Hops clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.058 FG = 1.010
IBU = 78 SRM = 13   ABV = 6.4%

“Fistful of Hops is a quarterly rotating seasonal IPA, which means every three months the hops change. We usually combine two to three varieties of hops together for each new release. The same varieties and proportion of hops are used all the way through the recipe including dry hopping.”  – Dave Colt, Sun King Brewery

Ingredients
11 lbs. (57 kg) 2-row pale malt
10 oz. (283 g) flaked rye
8 oz. (227 g) Weyermann Caraaroma® malt (130 °L)
12.5 AAU Warrior® hops (70 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 16.6% alpha acids)
2.4 AAU Mosaic™ hops (20 min.) (0.2 oz./6 g at 12% alpha acids)
2.6 AAU Nelson Sauvin hops (20 min.) (0.2 oz./6 g at 13% alpha acids)
1.9 AAU Amarillo® hops (20 min.) (0.2 oz./6 g at 9.4% alpha acids)
4.2 AAU Mosaic™ hops (5 min.) (0.35 oz./10 g at 12% alpha acids)
4.5 AAU Nelson Sauvin hops (5 min.) (0.35 oz./10 g at 13% alpha acids)
3.3 AAU Amarillo® hops (5 min.) (0.35 oz./10 g at 9.4% alpha acids)
6 AAU Mosaic™ hops (0 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 12% alpha acids)
6.5 AAU Nelson Sauvin hops (0 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 13% alpha acids)
4.7 AAU Amarillo® hops (0 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 9.4% alpha acids)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Mosaic™ hops (dry hop)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Nelson Sauvin hops (dry hop)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Amarillo® hops (dry hop)
Tequila-soaked oak chips (light toast)
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
3/4 cup (150 g) dextrose (if priming)

Step by Step
Mill the grains and target a mash temperature of 150 °F (66 °C). Hold at this temperature for 60 minutes. Sparge to collect about 6.5 gallons (25 L). Boil for 90 minutes, adding the hops at the times indicated. After the boil is complete, turn off the heat and stir in the flameout hop addition and begin a vigorous whirlpool in your kettle. Let settle for 15 minutes. Chill the wort, aerate thoroughly, and then pitch the yeast. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) until primary fermentation is complete. Add dry hops for 4-7 days.

To approximate tequila barrel aging at home, Colt suggests, “get the lightest toasted oak chips you can find and soak them in the tequila of your choice. Now add them to the beer. Taste the beer weekly and pull it off of the chips when it has reached the state where you can taste the wood, the spirit, and beer in harmony. Better still, get a 5-L oak barrel and fill it with tequila and let it age a few weeks to a month at a minimum. Next enjoy the tequila you aged and fill it back up with beer. Make sure to purge out any oxygen from the barrel before filling it with beer.” After aging, bottle or keg as normal.

Partial mash option:
Reduce the 2-row pale malt in the all-grain recipe to 1 lb. (0.45 kg) and add 6.6 lbs. (3 kg) light liquid malt extract. Place crushed grains in a large muslin bag. Heat 1 gallon (3.8 L) of water and target a mash temperature of 150 °F (66 °C). Add the grain bag and hold the mash at 150 °F (66 °C) until enzymatic conversion is complete, about 60 minutes. Remove the grain bag and slowly wash the grains with 1 gallon (3.8 L) of hot water. Add the liquid malt extract and top off to 6.5 gallons (25 L) in the brewpot. Total boil time is 90 minutes. Follow the remaining portion of the all-grain recipe.