Carlsberg ‘clone’?

[marshbrewer]

The new one tastes like the old one but with more DMS to me

 

[An Ankoù]

I'm going to give it a go:
First let me say that I haven't been able to many references to a recipe for the Carlsberg brewed in England in any of the beer databases- only Special Brew and Elephant beer which use a variety of traditional noble hops. I suspect the Brit version uses hop extract. Googling turns up this page:
https://www.google.com/search?clien...hUKEwi6sqPz56fvAhVX3IUKHe4vAu0Q4dUDCAw&uact=5In Szamatulski's "Clone Brews" they have a recipe for Heineken Lager, which, if I remember right was in competition with Heineken in fizz's heyday.
Their recipe for 19 litrs : 5% abv : OG 1051 : FG 1011 : 24 IBUs
It's an extract recipe with some steeped grains.
113 g 2.5 lovibond German light Crystal Malt (I take that to be Carapils or Carahel) Steeped in hot (65C ish) water for 20 minutes.
1.5 Kg Bierkeller light malt syrup
1.5 Kg M&F extra light DMW
(These are American brands, I think. Just use 3Kg of the lightest malt extract you can lay your hands on).
14g Northern Brewer @ 8% alpha acid
28g Hallertau Hersbrucker @ 3% alpha acid
(Use either Magnum to give 24 IBUs or Hallertauer Mittelfüh or Saaz or Hersbrucker or Tettnang- any noble hop)
Boil for 50 minutes then add:
7g of whatever noble hop you've selected
½ tablet of protofloc
Ferment with Wyeast 2042 or 2247 if you can keep the fermentation temperature low, otherwise use saflager W-34/70 which is more forgiving of temperature, but, once you've got a decent yeasty head going, keep it as close to 10-12 C as possible. Even lower in secondary fermentation.
The important factors are:
Keep the IBUs down
Choose the right yeast
Keep the fermentation temperature down and once you've transferred it into your secondary fermenter, keep it cold: below 10C for at least 6 weeks before bottling.

Good luck

 

[JFB]

I went to the Carlsberg museum in Copenhagen.
They brew a old style from yeast they recovered from an old bottle.
I found it very nice
The history of Carlsberg is really quite interesting. Reminds of of the right twix and left twix advert.

 

[yrhendystu]

It's been a while since I've drunk Carlsberg but I reckon he would enjoy a Cooper's 86 days kit. In fact if Carlsberg did beer kits I reckon they'd do that.

 

[JFB]

https://www.carlsberggroup.com/products/carlsberg/carlsberg-1883/

 

[Galena]

I racall there was something called Carlsberg Hof, which had a bit more flavour, and the bottled Special Brew of the day was nearly a decent beer.

I have a recipe for Carlsberg Hof, not tried it though

Batch Volume 18 Litres
Targets:
ABV 5%, OG 1.042, FG1.004, EBC 5.5, IBU 18

Fermentables
2.52 Kgs Pilsner Viking Malt
320g Table Sugar
188g Carapils Briess

Hops
24g Saaz 3%
14g Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 3%

Misc
1ml Protoflac
1.7g Yeast Nutrient

Yeast
2pkg Fermentis SafLager German Lager

Mash profile
20 min 50C
45min 66C
45min 72C

Fermentation
21 days at 10C

Water
10.8L mash
15.6 L Sparge
26.4L Total

Water Profile
Ca: 20 Mg3 Na:17 Cl:27 SO4: 21 HCO3: 50

Carbonation
2.4 volumes CO2

 

[An Ankoù]

I have a recipe for Carlsberg Hof, not tried it though

Batch Volume 18 Litres
Targets:
ABV 5%, OG 1.042, FG1.004, EBC 5.5, IBU 18

Fermentables
2.52 Kgs Pilsner Viking Malt
320g Table Sugar
188g Carapils Briess

Hops
24g Saaz 3%
14g Hallertauer Mittelfrueh 3%

Misc
1ml Protoflac
1.7g Yeast Nutrientf

Yeast
2pkg Fermentis SafLager German Lager
f
Mash profile
20 min 50C
45min 66C
45min 72C

Fermentation
21 days at 10C

Water
10.8L mash
15.6 L Sparge
26.4L Total

Water Profile
Ca: 20 Mg3 Na:17 Cl:27 SO4: 21 HCO3: 50

Carbonation
2.4 volumes CO2

That looks interesting. The low IBUs should suit the OP. When Hof was around the standard lager was really weak, I recall and the Hof was 5%. Now they're pretty much all 5%, but the Carlsberg of today is not the same as the Hof of yesterday. At the same time Heineken released a premium lager called "Special Export", I think, and that had some real flavour.

 

[RustyV8]

Thanks everyone - must admit I’m surprised at the interest and level of response this sparked

@An Ankoù: that’s an interesting recipe. Probably a real newbie question, but If it’s mainly DME based why the 50min boil? (or is that only boiling the wort from the steeped grains and then adding the DME after in the FV or boiling everything together?)
Also it says 14+28g of hops but then says just add 7g of chosen hoops- is the remainder then used as a dry hop?

 

[An Ankoù]

Thanks everyone - must admit I’m surprised at the interest and level of response this sparked

@An Ankoù: that’s an interesting recipe. Probably a real newbie question, but If it’s mainly DME based why the 50min boil? (or is that only boiling the wort from the steeped grains and then adding the DME after in the FV or boiling everything together?)
Also it says 14+28g of hops but then says just add 7g of chosen hoops- is the remainder then used as a dry hop?

You need to boil the hops in the DME to isomerise the alpha acids in the hops and get the bitterness (you must have some bitterness to balance the residual sweetness). The 14 + 28 grams of the the two hops, boiled for an hour will give you the (low) bitterness you require, but boiling them for so long boils off the aroma. The last 7g are boiled for only the last 10 minutes to give extra flavour and aroma. Trad lagers are not usually dry hopped. Certainly not a Carlsberg clone.

 

[phildo79]

Why not just buy a load of carlsberg? It's the real deal and not exactly "expensive". It would save you a lot of time and effort. Unless your friend is Danish and doesn't want the UK muck?

 

[Cwrw666]

I went to the Carlsberg museum in Copenhagen.
They brew a old style from yeast they recovered from an old bottle.
I found it very nice
The history of Carlsberg is really quite interesting. Reminds of of the right twix and left twix advert.

Back in the 80s I had a rather nice 9% Carlsberg stout with my breakfast in the Carlsberg works canteen. My Mrs. was there on a works trip.

 

[RustyV8]

Why not just buy a load of carlsberg? It's the real deal and not exactly "expensive". It would save you a lot of time and effort. Unless your friend is Danish and doesn't want the UK muck?

Well that’s the reason he asked me to make it because it’s not readily available here (in Finland).

 

[RustyV8]

You need to boil the hops in the DME to isomerise the alpha acids in the hops and get the bitterness (you must have some bitterness to balance the residual sweetness). The 14 + 28 grams of the the two hops, boiled for an hour will give you the (low) bitterness you require, but boiling them for so long boils off the aroma. The last 7g are boiled for only the last 10 minutes to give extra flavour and aroma. Trad lagers are not usually dry hopped. Certainly not a Carlsberg clone.

Ah, now it’s clearer thanks. I couldn’t see those details at the link you sent and my understanding was that DME didn’t need to be boiled. I assume I boil the DME together with the wort from the grain steep?

 

[Manners]

For what it's worth I saw a program the other night where Greg Wallace did a tour of a carling factory... They did a 45 minute boil

Of old underpants and cabbage?!

 

[strange-steve]

In all seriouslness, while we might not approve of the Carlsberg that was ladled out in the 70s and 80s, making a reasonable copy is no easy matter and takes as much skill, if not more, than cloning some other beers

Exactly right, the beer may not be to our particular tastes but I would be very surprised if anyone here could actually create a good clone.

 

[An Ankoù]

Ah, now it’s clearer thanks. I couldn’t see those details at the link you sent and my understanding was that DME didn’t need to be boiled. I assume I boil the DME together with the wort from the grain steep?

Exactly.

 

[phildo79]

There is a recipe for carlsberg hof in Graham wheeler's 1995 book. A quick search online will get you it without buying the book.

 

[foxbat]

Carlsberg Elephant was a very good beer. Brew him some of that as a birthday present!

 

[phildo79]

Was in Copenhagen a few years ago and had a pint of carlsberg IPA. I was pleasantly surprised. Never seen it before or since.

 

[timtoos]

I have an old Dave Lines book (Brewing Beers like the ones you buy), Im sure theres a recipe in there if you want it - let me know. I have no idea of its accuracy.