Zombie Dust Clone

[RedBEERd]

Have any of you fine folks brewed this yet? Beerlord helped me with it today and it seemed to come out pretty good. it's supposed to be 1.065 and his refractor (is that the right word)? showed that but my hydrometer has it at 1.070. It tasted nice and sweet, lots of citra.

We only got a tad more over 5 gals but we wanted 6 to get a few more bottles out of it. I'm really interested in seeing how this comes out.

[russki]

Mmm...Zombie Dust... Yum. What recipe did you use? I think that there's no way to have too much late Citra!

[BlackDuck]

I've never had it, but I've heard great things about it.....I'm sure yours will be awesome.

[Beer-lord]

Here's the recipe we used. We were very close to 5.75 gallons in the fermenter. His kettle is an awesome thing, short but wide (that's what she said) and with low humidity, the boil off was hard to predict.
I can't see how this one won't be a great, enjoyable beer. The smell was great. I'm sure the fermenter will smell good and then we have to add 3 more oz of Citra dry hopped. My kind of beer.


Batch Size: 6 gallons
Estimated Original Gravity: 1.065
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.018
Estimated Color: 8.5 SRM
Bitterness: 65.9 IBU
Mash Temp: 152 F

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.75 lb 2 Row (2.0 SRM) Grain 81.7 %
1.13 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 7.8 %
0.50 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
0.50 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
1.25 oz Citra [12.40%] (15 min) Hops 21.1 IBU
0.75 oz Citra [12.40%] (First Wort Hop) Hops 17.0 IBU
1.25 oz Citra [12.40%] (10 min) Hops 15.4 IBU
1.25 oz Citra [12.40%] (5 min) Hops 8.5 IBU
1.25 oz Citra [12.40%] (1 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
3.00 oz Citra [12.40%] (Dry Hop 10 days) Hops -
SafAle English Ale (S-04)

[Kealia]

I've not had either the clone or original but I hear good things about this beer.

[RedBEERd]

I'm hoping for a test taste about Thanksgiving time. This could be one of those beers I make every year. Of course we'll let you guys know how it turns out.
In the meantime I got some good practice with Beerlord, learning new things every time and more than that, hoping to get more comfy with brewing. Personally I enjoy brewing with someone else because it helps the time go by, helps in cleanup, helps with the large pot and heavy grain bill etc. But sharing beers while brewing in this gorgeous weather is just awesome. Make me want to wake up and brew again (by the wife is quietly watching all this equipment pile up, wondering where it's going to go etc...whilst quietly taking notes )

[RedBEERd]

Just an update..........beerlord helped me bottle this today and it seems we were DEAD ON! Supposed to end up 1.018 and that's where it was. It was a little lighter in color than I expected and not as sweet as many of my other brews, tho I've never done this one before. IT had a very CITRA (cat piss), DANK taste which is what we kinda like now and then so I think I'll name it Zombie Piss and taste a 1/2 liter in a few weeks.
Thanksgiving would be just under 3 weeks carbing so I guess that's when it should be ready.

Now I gotta do a small mr beer size batch of something the wife likes, wheaty, hefe type or maybe something with smoked grains. She seems to like those. Then its on to something else in the big pot...........might need some ideas but I'd like a different taste than cat piss next time, might try the Sweetwater IPA clone or go the dark route.

[russki]

Just an update..........beerlord helped me bottle this today and it seems we were DEAD ON! Supposed to end up 1.018 and that's where it was. It was a little lighter in color than I expected and not as sweet as many of my other brews, tho I've never done this one before. IT had a very CITRA (cat piss), DANK taste which is what we kinda like now and then so I think I'll name it Zombie Piss and taste a 1/2 liter in a few weeks.
Thanksgiving would be just under 3 weeks carbing so I guess that's when it should be ready.

Now I gotta do a small mr beer size batch of something the wife likes, wheaty, hefe type or maybe something with smoked grains. She seems to like those. Then its on to something else in the big pot...........might need some ideas but I'd like a different taste than cat piss next time, might try the Sweetwater IPA clone or go the dark route.

That is very odd... I never get "cat" from Citra, especially not with late additions. Tons of tropical fruit - Lichee, mango, passionfruit... That's what Zombie Dust tastes like. I wonder what happened...

[Beer-lord]

Nothing happened, that's just the way some of us relate to Citra. I use it all the time and there's nothing wrong with this one.
I've read for years that's what some say it smells like. Really, it's not like that but there is a similarity.
I've never had a Zombie Dust before and it is early but this one's gonna be a good one.

[losman26]

I wish I had seen this thread earlier, but I have done the ZD clone three times (BIAB once, extract twice), and all three were amazing. I would suggest the 1968 Wyeast, as I have heard that it is their "house" strain. Eventually I was able to get my hands on an actual ZD bottle and found it to be slightly drier than the homebrew version. Next time, I'm going to mash lower to try and get it to finish around 1.014 instead of 1.018 which it has been finishing. Using the s-4 yeast will get it lower, but I feel that the 1968 is closer to the original ZD. For the BIAB version, I did 7.5 gals, splitting the yeast (5 gal-1968 yeast, 2.5- Nottingham). I will say that the 2.5 gal Nottingham yeast batch was not good at all, maybe it was just a bad yeast packet, but it had off flavors.

If you think that the ZD clone is awesome, trying doing the Kern River's Citra Double IPA clone. It's hard to say which is better, but I think that the Kern clone is better, because they use Amarillo and Nugget hops as well, but you still have a strong Citra taste. The key to getting these clones right is to research the IBUs and match them. For the Kern River clone, I adjusted the hop schedule by listening to the "Can you Brew It" pod cast for this clone. A lot of the clone recipes had the IBUs way too high. Overall, I feel that Citra beers are best in the mid 60's IBUS to low 70's.

I'm thinking of doing some sort of a hybrid recipe combining both of these clones. They are simply, the two best citra based beers out there.

Also, be sure to check out BYO's Vermont issue. They had an amazing Citra IPA- Double Sunshine from Lawson's finest Liquids. I brewed this up about 6 weeks ago, but screwed it up. I left my valve open while doing a sparge, and lost almost half of my wort. Because it was such a small batch (2.5 gals) I added DME and water to compensate. Nonetheless, it turned out great. I'm going to brew it up again after Thanksgiving.

[RedBEERd]

This is great info because we will likely brew this again and want to tinker with the recipe, ie liquid yeast instead of dry etc. Also, I'd really like to try the Kern River's Citra Double IPA clone and the Citra IPA- Double Sunshine as they sounds awesome.

Thanks for sharing this info. I'm very much anxious to pop my first 'sample' 1/2 liter in 2 weeks.

[losman26]

This is great info because we will likely brew this again and want to tinker with the recipe, ie liquid yeast instead of dry etc. Also, I'd really like to try the Kern River's Citra Double IPA clone and the Citra IPA- Double Sunshine as they sounds awesome.

Thanks for sharing this info. I'm very much anxious to pop my first 'sample' 1/2 liter in 2 weeks.

Let me know how it comes out. If you had this in a keg, you'd probably be hitting the tap non-stop immediately after tasting your sample. My ZD was so good as soon as it was carbonated, that I was drinking like 8 of them every night after work. LOL

Definitely do any of those recipes I'd start with the Kern one though. The main thing with the Kern one is to follow the dry-hopping schedule. Every 3 days you are adding hops. The double Sunshine was fairly easy from what I recall. I used the Danstar BRY-97 west coast ale dry yeast and it came out awesome. Have you tried Galaxy Hops? There are awesome as well, very pear/ watermelon with some floral notes. Slightly different than Citra, but I still prefer Citra. I did a Belgian Tripel recently using Saaz,Hallertau, Citra, Kohatu and Galaxy hops. At first I hated it, but after aging for a couple of months it tastes a lot better. I'm seriously considering dry-hopping this one with Citra but that would go against the rules for a Tripel.

[Kealia]

I tried a smash from a local brewery that used Galaxy. Loved the aroma but they over-bittered the pale ale so I can't speak for its flavor or bittering properties.

Off topic a bit, sorry.

[RedBEERd]

Well, I tried a 1/2 liter bottle test today, but I really don't think I can fully judge this yet because 1) it's only been 15 days carbing and 2) it was the VERY LAST bit of beer at the bottom of my bottling bucket, I got a good bit of sediment in it etc. Also, when I opened it, it really foamed up a lot and wouldn't stop foaming. I'm really 99% sure we didn't over carb because we used less sugar than I would usually and went by the priming sugar calculator.

It DEFINITELY has the wonderful aroma of Citra and also has the very DANK flavor. However, because it foamed up a lot and brought up lots of the hop particles for the bottom of the bottle, it's hard to get a good fix on the taste.....tho it is a tasty beer if not too over carbonated.