The Clone Wars: Part 1

Do you remember you first time?

By John Borders - Contributor, recipe wizard, and all around nice guy.

This is the beginning of a series here on Counterbrew about clone beers, clone beer recipe development, and how home brewers can mimic some of the commercial practices to create great clone beers.  We will explore where to get recipes, how to tell if they are any good, and how to make them consistently.   We will be cloning and brewing; Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Heady Topper, Pilsner Urquel, Kentucky Breakfast Stout, and Westvleteren Abbey #12. UPDATE:  Several of you have sent private messages requesting Boulevard's "the Calling", so it is definitely on the agenda. Enthusiastic, and passionate home brewer John Borders is heading up this series for Counterbrew.   Don't let John's modesty fool you, he has brewed more batches this year than many of you have brewed in your entire brewing career.  Over 20 so far this year.  So he really has the fundamentals down.  And, he has a talent for cloning beers.  Somehow the right combination, of malt, hops, and yeast just makes sense to him.   Enjoy.   We welcome your input on other beers you would like to see cloned, King Julius anyone?  John gives his first recipe clone at the bottom. 

Do you remember your first time drinking one of the really rare beers?  Did you want to shout from the social media mountaintop about your achievement in sourcing, consuming, and enjoying that rare craft beer?  Or did you contemplate keeping it a secret in an effort to consume the sweet nectar all by your lonesome.  While these instances have been few and far between for this Midwest guy, the glorious occasion of scoring a white whale has happened to me several times.   Recently a friend brought both Blind Pig and Pliny the Elder over for a tasting.  

For those of you who are new to the craft beer world or have just begun “hunting” for the latest and greatest the industry has to offer, a white whale is a beer that so infrequently hits your area that a mere Facebook or Twitter post about it from a libation retailer breaks the local Internet.  A few breweries have really figured out the supply/demand equation that drives us wild as our mad dash for these elusive whales has us pondering their actual existence. Can you blame them, really?  By limiting release they sell everything they make, control costs predictably, and create loads of buzz.

The tactic of limiting production of certain, mostly high ABV brews, has become so effective that small stadiums of beer consumers have become willing to travel hundreds of miles – or more – for as little as 12 ounces of what some might describe as heaven in a bottle. For those who can drop the cash required to visit the California wine country to sip on Russian River 's Pliny The Younger, my jealousy is immeasurable. If you have the time and energy to drive through the winding roads of the Northeast to acquire as much Heady Topper the store clerk will let you take of their hands, I commend you. Or better yet, if you ever get lost en route to Chicago and end up in Munster, Indiana, a stop into 3 Floyds Brewing Company is as imperative as that last rest stop you just passed. Those three are only but a sampling of the most desirable, hard to find beers in the USofA. Even more of these whales exist globally as import gold. Ever heard of Westvleteren Abbey 12?

So, maybe you’re not in a position to schedule your entire year around white whale releases. You live in SoCal, and Burlington Vermont might as well be Honolulu. Well, you could trade Pliny for Heady or for Abner.  if you have something of equal scarcity to offer up, you could offer that. Or you could find a retailer with an online store, but be prepared for purchase minimums – possibly waiting lists. You can get one (1) can from Alchemist or Lawson’s if you add on six bombers from somewhere else that you hadn’t planned trying. But hey, you ‘ll get to taste a bunch of new beers.  Check local laws before you order online, some states do not allow this practice.  So what options do we normal, beer aficionados do when we neither claim desirable geographic proximity to these breweries or just do not have the funding available to acquire them through “beer trading”? The answer is, you search for an alternative. My alternative is to make it myself.  To head to the internet,  find some recipes, discuss them with my brewing partners, and make the beer myself. 

100 quart mash tun
capable of 10 gallon no sparge
or 20 gallon batch sparge.

Now I have been guilty of this searching, trading, and having friends source beers for me before.  I also must admittedly say as an all grain home brewer, my ability is still growing.  Luckily, I have a great team, and in the past 6 months, We have made over 40 batches of beer.  So what I lack in years, I make up for in consistency, and practice. The other benefit of brewing with a team is the splitting of costs not only of ingredients, but also equipment.  We have the ability to do a small, 2-3 gallon batch on the stove top, all the way up to a 10 gallon, no sparge system.   As a brewer, I am just now getting into designing my own beers, so up to this point I am what you would call a “Clone Brewer”. Basically, I find recipes for my favorite beers, or beer styles and I make it myself. It is fun, it is cheap, and it is addicting.  I carefully vet these recipes out before I brew them.  I'll write more on that at a later time.  You have to do your due diligence with clone recipes. There are a lot of guys writing recipes for home brew that have a lot of enthusiasm but no real experience. 

Now for those of you wondering if I have the capability of tricking your very advanced pallets into thinking I have perfectly replicated the illustrious Zombie Dust.  I am flattered by your regard but, I must let you down. I will never perfectly replicate the taste of Pliny, Kentucky Breakfast Stout, or Pseudo Sue; but in my efforts, I will in fact make something I am proud to put my name on. And in the end I get damned close.  Close enough that the differences are very subtle.  At the end of the day, isn’t that all we really want anyway?  A great beer, and to know in general the flavor of one of these great white whales?

My Zombie Dust and the real
thing.  Mine was actually
lighter in color...

My first clone attempt was of the aforementioned Zombie Dust. It was a fun time and as many of you in the craft brewing community, finding a recipe to closely replicate this gem is not too difficult. I did however luck into some of the real stuff to try while comparing next to my effort (aren’t friends business travels the best?). I must say it was a treat, I had my concoction in a glass right next to this near mythical beer, and it was glorious.

Since this first clone attempt I have made numerous cloned batches including several offerings from Russian River, Dogfish Head, and Saison De Pipaix by the great Belgian brewery, Brasserie à Vapeur. If the task of cloning these particular beers seems to be too momentous for you, I advise you start your clone-brewing hobby by making something that is readily available to you. A suggestion may be to try and replicate your favorite craft beer from the local brewery, or maybe even replicating the one that got you into beer in the first place which for me was the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Home brewing isn’t for everyone. It requires a lot of time, effort and patience but can certainly be considered a labor of love. If your quest to find the White Whales in the craft brew jungle is as determined and noble as the Knights of The Round Table, I salute you. If your ambition does not run quite as deep, try making it in your kitchen; you may surprise yourself with what you are capable of creating!

If you have a favorite clone recipe you would like me to try, or would like some advice on finding great clone recipes, comment below and I will be more than happy to help!

Here's my Zombie dust clone - Oh and make sure your hops are fresh and well cared for it it the key to making this beer great.   Always adjust your recipe based on alpha acids.

How to make a Session IPA clone... spring and summer are coming!

Yes, I know... alright.  You don't have to tell me... session beers have become all the rage. Every micro pub and brewery has them now.  But I was brewing sessions before they had a cool name.  Not because I was some trailblazer, I wasn't,  but rather because that is what we brewed in the dark ages.  In the early years of home brewing we didn't have all of the computer software, and technology we have now.   Most of the recipes we brewed were between 1.040 and 1.050 original gravity.   Because... well that's just how it was.   No one had thought of a double IPA in 1992.   So we made lots of American Pale Ales, and English IPAs.    Sure, when we made a Russian Imperial Stout, or an Imperial Porter we bumped that gravity up as high as we could but we only brewed  those maybe once a year.

Why?, you ask?   Well the main reason is that the beer culture in America was centered around light american lagers that were all 3.2% alcohol.  So making a 4-5% alcohol beer was comparatively strong.  But I think the quality of the yeast, and what we knew about yeast had a factor in our brewing too.

So we brewed a lot of lower alcohol beers.  Beers we now call Session Beers.   When you think about it, session beer makes a lot of sense.   With a session beer you can enjoy multiple beers with out becoming intoxicated.   Intoxication and alcoholism are real problems.  We often make lite of them in our hobby, but I believe that if we were being real and honest we would all admit that drinking too much is a problem among some home brewers.  (And if you do choose to get drunk, do it at home and never ever freaking drive drunk!)  But session beers offer more than the ability to have multiple beers . Session beers are fun.  It is fun to try to make a beer reminiscent of one of your favorite high alcohol beers. It requires thought, planning and creative experimentation.  And finally session beers cost less than high OG beers.  They just do, less grain, less extract, less yeast always equals less cost.

So with those things in mind I am going to give you some tips to cloning the big beers you love into reminiscent session beers.  These are not true clones.  They are homages to their bigger inspirations. Today I present to you Pliny the Petulant.  A less than 5% alcohol version of a great IPA.   I'm sure most of you have heard of Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger.   Some of you may have even heard of Pliny the Toddler.   For those of you who haven't,  "Pliny" is a beer by Russian River Brewing.  It is debatably the penultimate imperial India pale ale.  I'll let you research and try for your self.


I have a long love affair with this beer.  It is with out question one of my 2 favorite dIPAs (the other being Boulevard The Calling, which I don't think lends itself well to a session approach).  So when I set out to make a session IPA for spring and summer... I'm setting out to make a version of Pliny.   I'm setting out to capture the flavor profile of this beast.   Having said that I am not the first,  Drew Beechum's recipe for "Pliny the Toddler" is widely available online.  As is the recipe from The Maltose Falcons brew club.  I have made these recipes many, many times.  I have even blogged about them several times. They are great recipes.  But I have brewed them and made certain tweaks over time.  Tweaks that have gotten me exactly what I want.

In Planning a session, There are two approaches.   The first approach is to try to capture the flavor profiles of the original beer with out worrying about the balance of IBU to OG.  When you take this approach, and I certainly prefer this approach and have taken it many times,  you aren't as worried about the ratios and % of the hops, or the balance index?   Wait, you did it again, you used some term no one has ever heard...  You're right I did.   The balance index is merely the IBUs / OG.  In Pliny the real laboratory IBUs are insanely high... approaching 250.  But the perceived IBUs are around 95.    And this is the gist of the other approach.  Leave the % of hops the same,  and leave the balance index the same. make a smaller beer with exact percentages.  I have done this too and... I think the first approach is actually the better one.  But with either approach we still have to do some math and some planning and we have to look at the original recipe carefully.   So here is the American Home brewers Association published clone recipe for Pliny the Elder.  

6 Gallons (22.7 L) 5.5 to the second fermenter
75% efficiency
OG 1.072
FG  1.011
IBUs  90 -  95 (200)
Balance Index - 1.319
ABV is around 8%

13.25# of 2 Row Barley
.6 # of Crystal 40
.6 # of CaraPils
.75# of Corn Sugar (late boil)

3.5	28.00%	oz (99 g) Columbus* hops, 13.9% a.a. (90 min)
0.75	6.00%	oz (21 g) Columbus* hops, 13.9% a.a. (45 min)
1	8.00%	oz (28 g) Simcoe hops, 12.3% a.a. (30 min)
1	8.00%	oz (28 g) Centennial hops, 8% a.a. (0 min)
2.5	20.00%	oz (71 g) Simcoe hops, 12.3% a.a. (0 min)
1	8.00%	oz (28 g) Columbus* hops, 13.9% a.a. (dry hop, 12-14 days total)
1	8.00%	oz (28 g) Centennial hops, 9.1% a.a. (dry hop, 12-14 days total)
1	8.00%	oz (28 g) Simcoe hops, 12.3% a.a. (dry hop, 12-14 days total)
0.25	2.00%	oz (7 g) Columbus* hops, 13.9% a.a. (dry hop, 5 days to go in dry hop)
0.25	2.00%	oz (7 g) Centennial hops, 9.1% a.a. (dry hop, 5 days to go in dry hop)
0.25	2.00%	oz (7 g) Simcoe hops, 12.3% a.a. (dry hop, 5 days to go in dry hop)

West coast ale yeast (WLP 001, Wyeast 1056, Safale US05)  appropriate starter.
1 tsp Whirlflock at 15 M
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient at 12 M
Aerate
Ferment at 67 F till fermentation subsides.
Rack to secondary.   Yes actually rack it, there are loads of dry hops in this beast.
Dry Hop in secondary, again you'll thank me... you'll lose way less beer with secondary in this particular recipe.
Let it finish, and package it!


So A little math and planning tells us that we want a recipe that looks something like this...

6 Gallons (22.7 L) 5.25 to the fermenter
75% efficiency
OG 1.045
FG  1.007
IBUs  50 to 55
Balance Index - 1.319

The goal is creating a beer that captures the beer being cloned.   It's that easy to "sessionize" your favorite big beers.   Of course you'll have to brew it, drink it all, and tweak it a couple of times.   I've done that bit for you... you're welcome!   But if you do you'll end up with something that looks like this...

Pliny the Petulant

Method: All Grain 
Style: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min 
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons 
Boil Gravity: 1.033 (recipe based estimate) 
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)
Source: Counterbrew 
Rating:

5

 of 

5

Original Gravity:

1.045

Final Gravity:

1.008

ABV (standard):

4.91%

IBU (tinseth):

57.31

SRM (morey):

2.99

Fermentables

Amount	Fermentable	PPG	°L	Bill %
7.6 lb	American - Pale 2-Row	37	1.8	88.4%
0.5 lb	German - Caramel Pils	35	2.4	5.8%
0.5 lb	Corn Sugar - Dextrose	46	0.5	5.8%
8.6 lb	Total

Hops

Amount	Variety	Type	AA	Use	Time	IBU
0.3 oz	Warrior	Pellet	16	First Wort		11.71
0.5 oz	Columbus	Pellet	15	Boil	45 min	27.73
0.5 oz	Simcoe	Leaf/Whole	12.7	Boil	30 min	17.87
0.25 oz	Centennial	Leaf/Whole	10	Whirlpool at 180 °F	0 min
0.5 oz	Simcoe	Leaf/Whole	12.7	Whirlpool at 180 °F	0 min
0.25 oz	Cascade	Leaf/Whole	7	Dry Hop	4 days
0.25 oz	Centennial	Leaf/Whole	10	Dry Hop	4 days
0.25 oz	Simcoe	Leaf/Whole	12.7	Dry Hop	4 days

Hops Summary

Amount	Variety	Type	AA
0.25 oz	Cascade	Leaf/Whole	7
0.5 oz	Centennial	Leaf/Whole	10
0.5 oz	Columbus	Pellet	15
1.25 oz	Simcoe	Leaf/Whole	12.7
0.3 oz	Warrior	Pellet	16

Mash Guidelines

Amount	Description	Type	Temp	Time
8.72 gal	No sparge brew in a bag	Temperature	150 F	60 min
Starting Mash Thickness: 4.36 qt/lb

Yeast

Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05

Attenuation (avg): 81% Flocculation: Medium Optimum Temp: 54 - 77 °F Starter: No Fermentation Temp: 67 °F Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / ° P) 175 B cells required

This is what we'll be brewing this coming weekend.  And to make things even easier, we will be doing a no sparge batch.   We put all but 1 gallon of the water into the mash tun and all of the grains. If our temp is spot on we add the withheld 1 gallon when it is at the mash temp.  if we are too high we add up to 1 gallon of cold water until we are at temp.  Were almost never too low, but if we were we could add up to 1 gallon of 170 F. water to get to temp.  This is the easiest way to brew by far.   We use a bag as a filter medium, but you don't have to if you prefer a false bottom or stainless supply screen. After 60 minutes we stir, check our gravity, and usually we are ready to drain into the kettle.   Yes I know some of you are  freaking out right now  what about pH, what about ideal mash thickness, what about, what about... Kai says... John Palmer says.... Just adjust your water, use good buffers, and give it a try it works just fine. (OK clearly I've touched a nerve with a disciple of the BrauKaiser who has chosen to PM me rather than post publicly,  Listen, I am a huge fan, nearly a devotee of Braukaiser... but no sparge works every stinkin time, so just try it!)

From there on it is just like any other batch... It is really that straight forward.    With No sparge brewing you can reduce your brew day to under 3.5 hours if you are organized and plan in advance.  

That's all for now sports fans.  Prost!

A Pliny Inspired All Grain American IPA brew day. for the Mr. Beer Fermenter

So Saturday I had a day to my self.  The SWMBO and the hobbits were all gone.   It was just me and the animals.   College Football on the television and home brew on the stove...  relaxing.  In actuality, I had 3 batches to bottle, loads of cleaning and organizing to do.   But my main focus was on brewing my AIPA.    A 2.25 Gallon batch that I will ferment in a Mr. Beer LBK.

I posted the recipe in the last post.  The recipe was originally Drew Beechum's Pliny the Toddler. But like all of my recipes, it has kind of morphed over time.  Drew uses Maris Otter,  I use 2 row and I now add some Biscuit malt.  My hop schedule has changed as well.  This is a great way to develop a recipe.  Start with a proven recipe from a great brewer,  change 1 thing at a time until you have what you love. 

Since I was alone, I decided to really geek out. I did a full on step mash.  I doughed in low for a protein rest, then rose slowly to 152 F where I held the mash for 60 minutes, then I rose to 168 F for 10 minutes.   I'll admit it took a long time, the total mash time was 115 minutes, nearly two hours. Was it worth it?  probably not.  I haven't noticed a huge difference in step mashing vs single infusion mashing.   But it is kinda fun, and you know with out a doubt you are getting the kind of conversion you want.

We used to always step mash, but that was because we had under modified grains to deal with.   We had to.

The mash went very well.  I got a lot of cleaning and bottling done during the mash.   I bottled my Saison / Chardonay Blend (freaking amazing I will make it again and post the recipe soon).  I bottled my Bells Two Hearted clone, for this I actually used the Mr. Beer Bottles.  I figured, why not?  I have them, they're easy, I have the carbonation drops.  Let's give it a try.   You can get a lot done during a 115 minute mash.   At the end of the mash I pulled my grains and let them drain.  Perfect, after draining I had 2.9 gallons of wort.   I let the bag drip into another pot for a gravity sample.  1.032 (81% efficiency remember this is a session beer)

Started the 60 minute boil. But this time I added a hop stand at the end of the boil.  At flame out I added my hops and moved my kettle off of the heat.   Then I let it stand for 20 minutes before I started chilling. The idea behind a hop stand, or a hop burst if you prefer is that the essential oils (alpha and beta) of a hop are released into the wort, but nothing is evaporated,  So you get awesome aroma and flavor compounds with out too much bitterness.

Then I chilled it and aerated the heck out of it.   I can't stress enough the importance of aeration.  In fact, I would say that the 3 most important things you can do to improve your beer are, pitch a healthy and adequate yeast,  ferment at correct temperatures, and aerate.    It got foamy.   Then I pitched most of a sachet of US-05. (8 g)

pre boil reading
post boil was 1.032

It is Sunday morning the Krausen is already starting to form.  Really loving these, small batches.    The gravity came out at 1.042.  My recipe calls for .5 # of cane sugar to be added at High Krausen.   So that is going to boost this closer to a standard AIPA, but I need the addition to get back up to 2.25 gallons, because I took some out for a gravity reading.

Cane Sugar is 46 ppg so 23 ppg /2.25 = 10.22 so this beer is going to be about 1.054 OG... If it ferments out all the way to 1.010 it will be a 5.78 % abv beer.  Not a super high abv, but certainly not a session beer either.  I may just leave it, because, it was supposed to be a session-able beer after all.

Pliny the Toddler... Brewday

OK, Im obsessed.  I admit it.  (isn't that the first step?)  I enjoy beer,  I really enjoy brewing beer,  I even enjoy bottling beer.  So, yes... I brewed again this weekend.  This time a beer that I have been wanting to try for years.   Pliny the Toddler.  The original recipe is by Drew Beechum.   If you don't know who Drew is, he wrote (along with Denny Conn) Experimental Homebrewing a great book.  He also wrote the best book on home made hard cider, The Everything Home Cider Making Book.   Several years ago he developed a recipe inspired by Russian River's Pliny the Elder.   (look it up).  The idea was to make a recipe that was similar in flavor to Pliny, but far lower in alcohol.  I love Pliny the Elder.  It is probably the best beer I have ever tasted.  So I have been wanting to make this for years.  So... here you go.

Orgainized my stuff.   This is an all grain batch.  3.5 gallons (5 gallon boil).  A great thing about smaller batches is the cost is way less.   This whole batch cost me less than $20.00.   It uses the same hops that Pliny uses.  The basic recipe is

• 4.3# of 2 row
• 1 # of Corn Sugar
• .5# of Biscuit Malt
• .3# of Carapils
• .4 oz of Warrior at 60
• .4 oz of Centennial at 10
• .4 oz of Columbus at 5
• .4 oz of Cascade at 0
• 1 tsp of Irish Moss
• 1 tsp of yeast nutrient
• 6-8 grams of Lallemand Nottingham Ale Yeast
• Dry Hop .2 oz of Cascade, Centennial, & Simcoe at 4 days to bottling.

As I have stated here before, I often dough in low, and slow rise to strike temperature.   This approach yielded an 84% efficiency on this batch. The low dough in temperature creates a quasi protein rest.  It allows the enzymes that break down proteins to do their thing.  Protein rests are not necessary with fully modified barley malts, and they can create a thin bodied beer, so you have to think your way through on this topic.   Here is my general guideline, for light bodied beers I dough in at about 135 and let it slow rise to strike temp.   With full bodied beers I generally dough in right at strike temp (which is generally higher for full body beers) and bring it back up to rest temp.  It works for me.  

Here is the mash resting comfortably at 150.  It stayed there with almost no fiddling around for the entire 60 minutes.  It is all about knowing your system.   What works on my ghetto electric turkey fryer, may not work on your system.  Babysit your brew!

Before the sugar addition (always late in the boil) I was at 1.030.  That is spot on.  The sugar will add roughly 1.006.  So after boil we get a gravity of about 1.045.  Which is what we want.  You always gain gravity in the boil.  Water evaporates, sugars do not. By the way I need to get a new hydrometer tube, that one is just too big, it takes way too much wort to determine the gravity. 

The boil.  Nothing fancy here just 5 gallons of boiling wort.  No boil overs this week, I was diligent.

I force chilled it with my wort chiller.  It was raining out side, so I had to use the sink.  Chilling it took 45 minutes.  Gotta figure something out to chill the wort faster and use less water.  Still thinking the jaded brewing chillers, or a prechiller system is probably the way to go.

 My final gravity was a little higher than expected. (.002 higher) Just means I did a good job with my mash and boil.  And here is Nottingham pitched into well aerated yeast.  I shook the heck out of this one.