Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Try some of these great recipes out, or share your favourite brew with other forumees!
Post Reply
Bigbud78
Piss Artist
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 2:32 pm
Location: Manchester

Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by Bigbud78 » Fri Jun 16, 2017 9:57 am

One of my favorite IPA's is Magic Rocks Cannonball and I'd love to brew something similar, having trawled the internet I cant find anything specifically regarding the brew other than whats on their web site.
ABV: 7.4% GRAVITY:1067 COLOUR: Pale MALTS: Acidulated, Extra Pale, Golden Promise HOPS: Amarillo, Centennial, Citra, Columbus, Magnum, Simcoe
I've never really come up with my own brew so I'm looking for some pointers if anyone can or could you suggest a similar recipe that's know to be good ? Have I got OTT on the hops or is anything going to over power the rest ?

3.00 kg Extra Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 EBC)
2.50 kg Golden Promise (5.0 EBC)
0.50 kg Wheat Malt (3.5 EBC)
0.20 kg Corn Sugar (Dextrose)
25.00 g Magnum [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
50.00 g Amarillo [9.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 min
50.00 g Centennial [10.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 min
50.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 min
50.00 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 min
50.00 g Amarillo [9.20 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days
50.00 g Centennial [10.00 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days
50.00 g Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days
50.00 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days
Est Original Gravity: 1.069 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.2 %
Bitterness: 79.7 IBUs
Est Color: 8.5 EBC

User avatar
Jocky
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2738
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:50 pm
Location: Epsom, Surrey, UK

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by Jocky » Fri Jun 16, 2017 10:30 am

I think you're in the ball park - it's just a pale, medium-strong American IPA with a shed load of late/dry hops.

What you might struggle with is that BOOM of hops on the nose and initial taste. A lot comes from the process, not the recipe - keeping low exposure to oxygen.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.

Bigbud78
Piss Artist
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 2:32 pm
Location: Manchester

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by Bigbud78 » Fri Jun 16, 2017 10:35 am

yeah, I've been looking at a conical or stainless FV to do sealed transfers to the keg. Currently auto syphon it in to a CO2 purged keg out the top of the bucket :/

Just cant decide on the 7 gal conical of the flat bottomed FV from MR Lard xD

User avatar
Barley Water
Under the Table
Posts: 1429
Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 8:35 pm
Location: Dallas, Texas

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by Barley Water » Fri Jun 16, 2017 8:50 pm

Just a couple thoughts: first of all, I like the sugar to keep the beer drinkable and not too heavy, it will accentuate the hop presentation as well. If you are using wheat to enhance head retention, I don't think that will be a problem as in my experience heavily hopped beers tend to do really well in the head retention department without any help. I would also consider dropping one of the hop varieties since mixing a whole bunch together can sort of give you a muddled effect and simple is usually a good thing. If it were me, I would drop the Centennial since I think Amarillo can do the job without any help although of course YMMV. If you look at recipes with really complex grain bills or hopping schedules (and we just love to do that on this side of the pond) frequently simplifying will get you a better beer. You should spend some time looking at your water chemistry and yeast strain. If your water is really hard it will make the hop presentation potentially harsh although your bittering hop is low cohumolone which is a good thing. Finally, that's a fairly big beer (bordering on double IPA) so you want as good attenutation as you can get. To that end, I would also consider a relatively low mash temperature so that the resulting wort will be highly fermentable. Anyhow, good luck and have fun. Don't worry so much about making a clone, do your own thing there man. :D
Drinking:Saison (in bottles), Belgian Dubbel (in bottles), Oud Bruin (in bottles), Olde Ale (in bottles),
Abbey Triple (in bottles), Munich Helles, Best Bitter (TT Landlord clone), English IPA
Conditioning: Traditional bock bier, CAP
Fermenting: Munich Dunkel
Next up: Bitter (London Pride like), ESB
So many beers to make, so little time (and cold storage space)

User avatar
alexlark
Under the Table
Posts: 1403
Joined: Thu May 02, 2013 12:29 pm
Location: Rhondda, South Wales

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by alexlark » Sat Jun 17, 2017 8:50 am

I had a good result with aroma in my last brew by soaking the zest of 2 grapefruit in vodka (just enough to cover) in a small plastic container in the fridge over night and tip the whole lot in the FV 2 days before racking. Brewdog do it with one of their beers in the DIY Dog PDF. I'm going to up it to 3 grapefruit next time. This added a lot of aroma.

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by orlando » Sat Jun 17, 2017 9:12 am

alexlark wrote: Brewdog do it with one of their beers in the DIY Dog PDF. I'm going to up it to 3 grapefruit next time. This added a lot of aroma.
Elvis Juice?
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

User avatar
orlando
So far gone I'm on the way back again!
Posts: 7197
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:22 pm
Location: North Norfolk: Nearest breweries All Day Brewery, Salle. Panther, Reepham. Yetman's, Holt

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by orlando » Sat Jun 17, 2017 9:24 am

I noticed in your quote from their site the word Acidulated. This refers to acidulated malt, a favorite of US brewers that don't fancy handling "hazardous" acids. It's used to reduce alkalinity in the mash water, though arguably you should be reducing alkalinity in the sparge water too. Do you know the alkalinity of your water? Keeping the alkalinity of the brewing iquour to between 20-30 will help to get you closer to the original. Calcium at 150-200 would be good too.

I'm less sure about the advice to mash really low. Some supporting malt to buffer high alcohol and a big hop punch would be what I would favour, look at the New England IPA phenomenon as a counterr argument. If you truly want a match, well close you'll never match it, then you will need a lot more information from the brewer. The level of hops you have in this are unlikely to give you a clear beer, if you are trying to brew 23-25 litres make sure you adjust for hop reetention. I agree with the comment to brew it your way rather than going for a clone. "Inspired by", is a better epithet.
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

User avatar
alexlark
Under the Table
Posts: 1403
Joined: Thu May 02, 2013 12:29 pm
Location: Rhondda, South Wales

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by alexlark » Sat Jun 17, 2017 9:34 am

orlando wrote:
alexlark wrote: Brewdog do it with one of their beers in the DIY Dog PDF. I'm going to up it to 3 grapefruit next time. This added a lot of aroma.
Elvis Juice?
That's the one. I'm sure their words are 'add as much as you dare'. I played it safe with 2 but could easily go to 4 I recon. Never done that type of addition before so was keen to try the process. I think an orange zest in the mix would work well too.

f00b4r
Site Admin
Posts: 1528
Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:54 pm
Location: Berlin

Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by f00b4r » Sat Jun 17, 2017 9:53 am

orlando wrote:I noticed in your quote from their site the word Acidulated. This refers to acidulated malt, a favorite of US brewers that don't fancy handling "hazardous" acids. It's used to reduce alkalinity in the mash water, though arguably you should be reducing alkalinity in the sparge water too. Do you know the alkalinity of your water? Keeping the alkalinity of the brewing iquour to between 20-30 will help to get you closer to the original. Calcium at 150-200 would be good too.
It might also being used as part of the recipe in this case. I had a fantastic beer from a homebrewer (GeeTee) in Newcastle a couple of years ago that used it in the following grist:

Pilsner malt(93%)
Flaked oats (4%)
Acid malt (3%)

That and a whole bunch of relatively restrained Slovenian hops in the beer gave a really refreshing light summer ale, the acidulated malt just gave a very slight tartness that made it all the more drinkable (it wasn't sour as such and you might not have recognised the tart edge if not really looking for it).

UpTheToon
Piss Artist
Posts: 171
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:39 am
Location: Whitley Bay

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by UpTheToon » Sat Jun 17, 2017 8:21 pm

The founder of Magic Rock, Rich is very generous with advice and recipes. I asked him for the Cannonball one a while ago and he sent it.

Its for a 5000L batch so you may want to scale it down :)

Volume 5000L
Target Gravity 1065
Finishing Gravity 1007

Malt
525Kg Golden Promise
575Kg Extra Pale
50Kg Acid Malt

Bittering
2Kg Extract
4Kg Magnum

Hopback
Citra 10Kg
Columbus 10Kg
Centennial 10Kg

Dryhop 1
Simcoe 10Kg
Amarillo 10Kg
Centennial 10Kg

Dryhop 2
Simcoe 10Kg
Amarillo 10Kg
Centennial 10Kg

Dryhop 3
Simcoe 8Kg

I've made it a few times and it's awesome. I do the dry hopping batches in primary 24 hours or so apart and leave all the hops in there.

User avatar
Hanglow
Under the Table
Posts: 1399
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2012 6:24 pm

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by Hanglow » Sat Jun 17, 2017 9:09 pm

Cheers for the recipe

that's about 400 -500g hopback/dry hop or so on our volumes?

Nice

Bigbud78
Piss Artist
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 2:32 pm
Location: Manchester

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by Bigbud78 » Sat Jun 17, 2017 9:27 pm

UpTheToon wrote:The founder of Magic Rock, Rich is very generous with advice and recipes. I asked him for the Cannonball one a while ago and he sent it.

Its for a 5000L batch so you may want to scale it down :)

Volume 5000L
Target Gravity 1065
Finishing Gravity 1007

Malt
525Kg Golden Promise
575Kg Extra Pale
50Kg Acid Malt

Bittering
2Kg Extract
4Kg Magnum

Hopback
Citra 10Kg
Columbus 10Kg
Centennial 10Kg

Dryhop 1
Simcoe 10Kg
Amarillo 10Kg
Centennial 10Kg

Dryhop 2
Simcoe 10Kg
Amarillo 10Kg
Centennial 10Kg

Dryhop 3
Simcoe 8Kg

I've made it a few times and it's awesome. I do the dry hopping batches in primary 24 hours or so apart and leave all the hops in there.
Awesome thank you :) What did you do about the hop back ? i.e. hop timings in the boil ?

UpTheToon
Piss Artist
Posts: 171
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:39 am
Location: Whitley Bay

Re: Magic Rock (UK) Cannonball clone help

Post by UpTheToon » Sun Jun 18, 2017 9:06 am

I did a steep/whirlpool in place of hopback. I do 10-15 mins post boil and leave them in for cooling. Yep, its about 500g for 25L. Not a cheap brew :)

Post Reply