Good Morning All.
I was looking through some recipes in the “Clone Brews” book and the AG recipes seem to use less bittering hops than the extract version of the same brew.
I’m hoping that somebody can tell me why.
Many Thanks. Aamcle
They figure that extract brewers are using the concentrated boil method where you top up with cool water after the boil. The concentrated boil reduces hop utilization slightly, in theory. However my experience is otherwise. Use either amount and you should get into the right ballpark. Post the recipe and we can help you.
Dave.
There was no one recipe, I was just looking through them and noticed that the AG recipes generally used less bittering hops. As I didn’t know why that should be I decided to ask and find out.
Many Thanks. Aamcle
FWIW, those are some of the worst recipes I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t waste the time or ingredients brewing anything in that book.
Ouch! And I thought I was opinionated… :cheers:
Have you ever read the recipes in there? I think you’d feel the same way!
They revised the book couple years ago and the new version is much better.
Yeah, they’re antiques I guess. Not much different from the recipes in Papazian’s Complete Joy of Homebrewing. If updated based on today’s available ingredients, maybe they’d be alright. Anyway, you can still make beer out of them, so that’s a plus, even if they’re not really clones at all.
Good to hear! I’ll keep my mouth shut until I have a chance to review it.
Any opinions on Beer Captured? I’ve only attempted their Young’s London Ale and it turned out reasonably close despite a few mistakes I made when I was much newer to brewing.
Never thought much of that one, either.
What is/are the best source for clone beer recipes?
The best source is yourself. Conduct a little research, talk to the brewer, then take a stab at brewing the recipe yourself. Taste the beer, and adjust the recipe as necessary. Then brew it again. Then taste and tweak again. Then brew it again. And again. And again. Repeat until you’ve got it.
Don’t trust information in books or on the interwebs. You can use them as inputs, but you will usually always need to tweak the recipes yourself for your own process.
Asking the brewery is the best way. Not to sound self serving, but the best book of real brewery recipes (I HATE the word “clone”, because even with the recipe you won’t make the same beer exactly) is a book I just worked on called “Craft Beer for the Homebrewer”. The recipes came straight from the brewmasters at each brewery. There was no guessing about what the “might” be doing.
Thanks! And have to admit, I’m not in love with the term clone either, just continuing the thread. Therefore real brewery recipes it shall be! I’ve done Dead Ringer extract and Surly Cynic partial mash with Tallgrass Halcyon “on deck” from our host and am working toward all grain and getting the processes down before experimenting more but working more independently is the goal.
I’ve made Denny’s Waldo Lake at least 3 times. Denny gave all the info from his notes per mash temps,
water volumes, hop and boiling schedules, and with the exact ingredients I think I came reasonably close, and I make it a lot because it’s my kind of beer. I’ve also done things the way Dave does, if it’s a beer you love, make it over and over until you have dialed it in to your tastes. Remember, it’s you who you need to please, and if someone else likes it, then that’s another plus. We all taste things differently.
I never brewed from either of Mark and Tess’s books but I buy my supplies from their brew store Maltose Express and they always have some of their beers on tap and they are quite good. They are mostly their own recipes. I think their books are mostly written for extracts. They just got permits to open a full blown brewery. They have some competition around here with some good breweries. I wish them well, they have been doing this along time
As do I.
Where can we fine your book Danny
You can get it from amazon - I tried to post the link but NB would not allow a link to amazon…weird. Also available on Barnes and Noble site.
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Voyageur Press; First edition (January 15, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0760344744
ISBN-13: 978-0760344743
