I was looking at the recipe in the latest issue of Zymurgy.

Talk about expensive to brew. And is it even possible to find all the hops to do so?

16.75oz of leaf hops in the 5 gal recipe.

If I'm using pellet hops, I would need to buy 16oz. At approximately $5 an ounce (Northern Brewer for example), that is roughly $80 for the hops alone. Grain plus sugar would be roughly $22. Throw in some yeast and add another $6. We'll assume no shipping charges (or gas for driving around) and no sales tax. That's $108 ballpark.

The four gallons of mead that I split into two batches (two different yeast strains) and made from 12lbs of sourwood honey (that I had to ship to California from North Carolina) was significantly less.

Yikes.

That is an awesome beer, enjoy them while you can.

Look at a late hopped (to get that killer aroma and flavor) APA and with some high-alpha bittering hop to boost the bitterness.

Fred

My understanding is that RR, using their new brewery, is planning on upping production and bottling Pliny The Elder.

I actually prefer Blind Pig to Pliny The Elder (if I absolutely had to choose one). But both are worth the 4 hour plus round trip drive.

Just kegging mine tomorrow. 3.5 pounds of hops. Sweet.
This is the 2nd time I've made this beer. I've also made Blind Pig - awesome and tomorrow I'm brewing up RR's house IPA (recipe courtesy of vinnie)

I was lucky enough to have all the hops for this beer. I brewed a 6 gallon batch of it in April and oaked 1/2 on cubes for 2 weeks. I bottled both versions and it is a tasty beer. But I don't think I'll brew that again at those hop prices.
I went camping a few weeks ago and had a growler of Pliny to share with my buddies along with the home brewed version. Both were equally good in their own rights.

Is there a blind pig recipe going around? I like to give that a try.

Ya Mike post that Blind Pig recipe please!

I'll third that.

Pretty please, with sugar on top.

Ok, Ok, sorry about the delay. Was traveling for work, got home and just wrapped up the RR House IPA. That was fun, 21 gallons at 1068 OG in the fermenter.

So, here's the Blind Pig:
Pale male 89.5%
Wheat, Carapils and C-40 each 3.5%

Chinook 58 IBU 60 min
Cascade 8 IBU 30 min
Cascade 9 IBU 15 min
Cascade 2 oz dry hop (20 gallon batch)
Centennial 4 oz dry hop (20 gallon batch)

OG 1066
IBU 75
5.6 SRM

Mash 154, 60 min
WhiteLabs 001

Dry hop with 4 oz American oak chips, 2 oz cascade hops and 4 oz centennial hops 7 days into the fermentation. Rack off the chips and dry hops after another 7 days.

A lb of hops in a 5 gal!? Woah, talk about a bitter, though I don't know the recipe you're talking about. All that came to mind reading these were those Sam Adams commercials where they say they use a pound of hops, and I laughed since that doesn't seem like much for the massive brews they probably make.

Hey Mike-
Thanks for sharing that recipe, it may have to be my next batch.

fyi, blind pig is not oaked anymore. that recipe is representative of what vinnie brewed back in temecula, current blind pig is way different. wish i had a curreent clone to post, but i don't.

That may be true (I have no idea, I'll take your word for it), but in any case, that recipe above (which is scalable - note that the dry hop ounces are for a 20 gallon batch) is awesome. One of my favs for sure.