Clone or Blown

[phildo79]

I've made a lot of basic kits and a few ginger beer kits from scratch but I've been mulling over the idea of making a clone beer for some time now. It's more to do with seeing how close I can get to the real deal. Not a bad idea nowadays when you consider the prices of some of these beers. Especially in Ireland at the moment as there is a craft beer revolution going on.

However, a beer I tried some time ago was Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar and I thought it was really nice. Not only was it bloody expensive but now I can't get it any more. So I had a look at a clone recipe:

5 gallons, extract with grains; OG = 1.056; FG = 1.014; IBUs = 33
Ingredients

• 4.5 lbs. Alexander’s light dry malt extract
• 1.5 lbs. Munich malt (10° Lovibond)
• 1.2 lbs. crystal malt (75° Lovibond)
• 0.56 lbs. Hugh Baird brown malt
• 0.35 lbs. crystal malt (120° Lovibond)
• 0.35 lbs. crystal malt (15° Lovibond)
• 0.24 lbs. pale chocolate malt (187° Lovibond)
• 7.8 AAUs Perle pellet hops (1 oz. at 7.8% alpha acid)
• 1.75 AAUs Saaz pellet hops (0.50 oz. at 3.5% alpha acid)
• 1 tsp. Irish moss
• American Ale Yeast (Wyeast 1056)
• 3/4 cup corn sugar to prime
• 1/8 oz. Stearns and Lehman Flavor-mate hazelnut flavouring

Step by Step
Steep specialty grains in 3 gal. of water at 150° to 153° F for 45 min. Remove grains and add DME. Bring to boil and add Perle. Boil 60 min., add Irish moss. Boil 30 min., add Saaz. Cool to 70° F, transfer to fermenter with yeast. Ferment cool (60° F) until complete (7 to 10 days). Transfer to secondary or rack with corn sugar and hazelnut flavoring.

Sounds like a lot of stuff that could turn out expensive. My question is this; could I just buy a decent brown ale kit and add hazelnut flavouring to it when I'm priming it? I know it's not going to be the same but...

 

[clibit]

You could do that. But it won't be Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar!

I once had a superb lamb curry with yoghurt in a London restaurant. Inspired, I bought a Vesta instant curry and added some plain yoghurt after dehydrating and heating it. I then realised how different two similar things could be! ***

*** this story might not be true

 

[Covrich]

People will argue about this but my opinion is try not to clone your favourite beers.. no matter how good your beer will be, to you it just will not be what you want.. commercial beers use yeast and ingredients and processes which we will not have access too.

 

[Slid]

Well, this recipe looks a bit of a step up from kit brewing, for sure. It is in US Imperial units, so a real pain to interpret - for instance it is probably for 19L.

The Munich and Brown malts need mashing, hence the 45min "steep" in a very narrow temperature range.

The most expensive ingedient is the 2kg of DME - grains are cheap if you buy in bulk.

If you want to try something that is a short step on from a kit, you might try getting hold of 250g of dark-ish crystal malt and some Saaz hops.

Steep the crystal malt grains (250g?) at the recipe temps for 30 mins and remove grains, add hops (30g?) and boil for 10 mins or so and add this to a two can, fairly dark kit.

Ferment out as usual then add the hazelnut extract and bottle?

 

[phildo79]

Slid

That sounds a lot more achievable than the recipe. I can foresee a lot going wrong, especially with those tight temperature parameters and then I’d end up with a disappointing brew. Think I’ll give your suggestion a go.

I’ve got a Cooper pale ale kit which I’m going to dry hop (Chinook). Hoping for a quicker turnaround time for an IPA. Although I’m considering adding some sarsaparilla or birch bark to it as well. You never know, might turn out nice.

Cheers