Cloning Surly Abrasive

Back in November of 2012 I was afforded the opportunity to try a beer called Surly Abrasive which comes from Minneapolis, MN.  One of my good friends is Dan Banks who provided the Abrasive in exchange for some Heady Topper, which is also an amazing IIPA.  My personal opinion is that they're equally matched, but die hard fans of one or the other will obviously take sides.

Dan and a few of his buddies have taken on the monumental task of cloning Heady Topper and with 6 different hops the hop bill possibilities alone are endless, not to mention the grain bill.  I truly hope they get it down and I believe they will, but with so little to go on for a recipe, my guess is that the first try won't be the winner.  Having a healthy culture of Conan is going to go a long way toward helping them achieve their goal, though.

After reading about their goal of cloning Heady it dawned on me that I could do the same thing with Surly Abrasive.  This will be my first time cloning a beer, but unlike my Heady cloning friends, I have a relative wealth of information to go on.  The Surly website lists everything that goes into Abrasive, but not the proportions, so that is what I'll be guessing at for the first go around.

I have developed a first try recipe that I will be using later this week or early next week:

10.5 lbs Pale 2-row
 4 lbs Golden Promise
1 lb Flaked Oats
.75 lbs Crystal 40L
6.4 oz Corn Sugar

1 oz Citra (14.1%) FWH
1 oz Warrior (16.7%) 60 min
2 oz Citra (14.1%) 10 min
2 oz Citra (14.1%) 5 min
2 oz Citra (14.1%) 0 min

Ferment at 62 F with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II yeast

3 oz Citra (14.1%) Dry Hop for 7 days

I will keep making posts as developments occur. Until then, get your self some Heady or Abrasive if you can and enjoy it.  Otherwise, find your favorite hop bomb and wait for your turn at Heady or Abrasive.  Cheers!