I have a Abner IPA brew in the fermenter right now even though I have never tried the commercial version of it. How many of you try brewing a recipe of a beer you haven’t tasted before?
I’ve never tasted any of the beers in Brewing Classic Styles, but I’ve brewed at least 7 or 8 of them. It’s no different than any other recipe as far as I’m concerned.
That’s true. Can’t compare them but who cares really…
I’m planning on doing this for my next batch. I keep reading about all of these great IIPAs & stouts on Beer Advocate, which I have no access to in Wisconsin. So I figured I would find a clone recipe for one of the top rated ones (Heady Topper, Pliny the Elder, Founders KBS, etc…) and try to make it myself. Only problem is that I, like you, will have no means of comparison.
On that note, if anybody has any really solid recipes that come close to their commercial counterparts, I’d welcome any suggestions. I’ve heard Austin Home Brew Supply has a lot of commercial recipe clone kits (sorry, I hate to bring up a competitor’s product on NB’s site) but, I haven’t heard much regarding how close they come to the real deal. Therefore, if anybody knows a great clone recipe for one of the top-rated beers on BA, please let me know, as I’d prefer to purchase all of the ingredients from NB. Prost! :cheers:
I rarely will brew any recipe exactly as written so I don’t expect it to taste like a particular beer. I will refer to clone recipes though since the commercial beer being copied must be a good example of a style, or just darned tasty.
I agree. For the most part (with one solitary exception), “clone” recipes don’t interest me very much, probably because for the most part commercial beer in general (big or small) doesn’t interest me a whole lot anymore, especially in the last 10 years or so.
The vast majority of ‘new’ commercial beers out there seem to have started out as homebrews anyway, and for the most part seem to be no better (and in more and more instances, actually measurably worse) than what can be brewed at home.
The only so called ‘clone’ recipes (though I dislike that term) that sometimes interest me are ones based on historical brews–particularly some 19th century ones from the Durden Park Beer Circle, as well as some of the Kristen Englund/Ron Pattinson recreations on the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins website (adaptations based directly on actual brewery archive records from the 1800’s).
I’ve taken a stab at some of those and in more than a few cases have been very pleasantly surprised…not because they tasted to me like the originals (which would be impossible to ascertain let alone actually accomplish) but rather because they just turned out to be very good, interesting tasting brews on their own merits.
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http://www.durdenparkbeer.org.uk/Recipes.html
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http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com
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[quote=“S Wagner”]I’m planning on doing this for my next batch. I keep reading about all of these great IIPAs & stouts on Beer Advocate, which I have no access to in Wisconsin. So I figured I would find a clone recipe for one of the top rated ones (Heady Topper, Pliny the Elder, Founders KBS, etc…) and try to make it myself. Only problem is that I, like you, will have no means of comparison.
On that note, if anybody has any really solid recipes that come close to their commercial counterparts, I’d welcome any suggestions. I’ve heard Austin Home Brew Supply has a lot of commercial recipe clone kits (sorry, I hate to bring up a competitor’s product on NB’s site) but, I haven’t heard much regarding how close they come to the real deal. Therefore, if anybody knows a great clone recipe for one of the top-rated beers on BA, please let me know, as I’d prefer to purchase all of the ingredients from NB. Prost! :cheers: [/quote]
I’m pretty sure the Imperial IPA recipe in Brewing Classic Styles is a Pliny the Elder clone straight from the brewer at Russian River.
[quote=“GeerBoggles”]
I’m pretty sure the Imperial IPA recipe in Brewing Classic Styles is a Pliny the Elder clone straight from the brewer at Russian River.[/quote]
Jamil notes that it’s essentially the same recipe. He says, “The recipe below, while a little bigger than Vinnie’s, is a direct descendant of his.” He mentions that any differences come from scaling down to homebrew size.
I brewed that recipe from BCS, and it was amazing.
A couple years back I made Denny’s Waldo Lake Amber, and tried to follow all details as close as I could. It’s was a hit and I make it at least 1 or 2 times every year. I like to stick to my own stuff, but like Denny’s beer a particular style may be one of my favorite styles and I get curious, so I jump into it. My favorite thing about brewing is to treat your self, and if someone else likes it too, that’s just as cool!
I did it - I heard a buddy at work rave about Alaskan Amber, and we can’t get it around here (Chicago), so I found a recipe online and made it. Turned out great.
Then earlier this year I had a trip to SF for work, and found it at the grocery store so I bought some. I don’t remember that mine was exactly the same, but it had much of the same character. I may have liked mine better, as the commercial bottles had more of that carmelly/yeast/bread character similar to the taste in Fat Tire that I don’t like.
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/a ... bleIPA.pdf
Pliny the Elder recipe, as provided by Vinny a while back.
I will almost never try to clone a commercial beer these days, I was always disappointed when I tried back when I was a new brewer. But I have in recent years attempted to make styles of beers that I have never tasted (mostly because I read something related to the history or methods involved, and it sounded interesting), and then compared them against commercial offerings. Usually, I find my brews compare quite well to what I’ve bought, unless you count my attempts at Koelsch. Still needs more work.
I sometimes make up a new recipe without there even being a commercial example. Problem is that I make 22 gallon batches and I hope it turns out good. The recipe formulation spreadsheet I use gives me a very good idea what the final product will taste like.
brewing clones is a little boring, but doing it every once in a while lets you know how good you are (or aren’t :mrgreen: )
Best answer.
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/a ... bleIPA.pdf
Pliny the Elder recipe, as provided by Vinny a while back.[/quote]
Make sure to input that recipe into a recipe formulation program, or at least do the math for your system’s efficiency, as I’m sure most do. I remember that Zymurgy, which is where this article comes from, put out the Pliny recipe in consecutive years, but the recipes were different. They issued an apology because the base malt amount was off in the first one, but I can’t remember if the article contains the corrected version, or the incorrect version. Just a heads-up.
I’ve made this recipe (scaled for my system, of course) and I’ve also had Pliny while I was in San Francisco over the summer. I didn’t have them side-by-side, but this recipe is extremely close. Very , very enjoyable.
