Doom Bar Clone Revisited

[pbuffono]

Hello everyone, as a big fan of Sharp's Doom Bar but living abroad I had to brew my own Doom Bar.
There are other threads about this ale but they are quite old so I decided to create a new one and share my experience.

So when I decided to brew my Doom Bar I made a research and found this discussion
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=45934

In which a user says he emailed Sharp's brewer and he said the malts used were pale ale malt, crystal, roast barley; the hops were Northdown, Northern Brewer and Perle; and the yeast was a Whitbread B derivative.
Mash was a light body single infusion and hops schedule was 5% Start of boil, rest at end, steep for 1 hour before transfer to FV leading to:

EBU 22
OG 1040
FG 1009

There's also this clone made by "The Malt Miller":
http://themaltmiller.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=937&review=read

With the information above it seemed a little off, so I didn't pay much attention so I made my recipe for 40 liters (about 10 gal):

Since they didn't have any english malt I used the Belgian from Castle Malting:
6 kg - CHATEAU PALE ALE
2 kg - CHATEAU CARA BLOND
0.05 kg - CHATEAU BLACK

Hops:
50 g - Northern Brewer
50 g - Perle
50 g - Challenger (couldn't find Northdown here)

Yeast:
15 g dry Lallemand Nottingham
15 g dry Fermentis S-04

Mash:
Double infusion - 55 C (131 F) for 30 min 65 C (149 F) for 30 min.

Hops schedule:
30 g - Nothern Brewer boil for 90 min.
All other hops were added at flame out and let to steep for 30 min + 15 min to cool.

What I got was about 50 liters:

OG: 1.046 (measured)
IBU: 24 (beersmith)

This isn't a Doom Bar clone, it's an APA...
The beer is very very hazy, I blame the long steep after boil. It is very bitter, not smooth as Doom Bar. The color isn't right, it should be darker.
I can post a photo later...

I will try to change the malt to Maris Otter, and try to change the hops schedule as well as its quantities, probably try a dry hopping instead...

Any ideas on what should I try? Anyone got a good clone yet?

 

[BeerCat]

Hi and welcome. Seems like a lot of hops to me. Isn't Doom Bar a malty type of beer? Been a while since i drank any. Sounds like your IBU's are way too high. The link says "EBU 76" (typo?) but its actually IBU 20. Probably does not have much late hop additions or any dry hopping either. Also are you using 2 different yeasts? Even my IPA'a are only about 65 IBU.

 

[DoctorMick]

I'm brewing a Doom Bar clone in a few weeks and most of the hops are going in at the end to hot steep, only uses 20g each of Northdown, Northern Brewer and Perle tho so shouldn't be very hoppy.

 

[pbuffono]

Hi and welcome. Seems like a lot of hops to me. Isn't Doom Bar a malty type of beer? Been a while since i drank any. Sounds like your IBU's are way too high. The link says "EBU 76" (typo?) but its actually IBU 20. Probably does not have much late hop additions or any dry hopping either. Also are you using 2 different yeasts? Even my IPA'a are only about 65 IBU.

Hello, thank you for your reply. Yes I'm using two yeasts it was kinda a silly decision, I never liked much s-04 but it is a whitbread-b derivative (I think it's closer to Doom Bars yeast), on the other hand I really like nottingham... So I thought "why not?", well that wasn't the best decision...

You're right about second link, something isn't right there and I tried to reach 23 IBU... Doom Bar is malty but you can taste the hops, it's very fresh on the mouth and very present, but not on a bitter way it's more like on the taste, that's why I thought dry hopping...

 

[pbuffono]

I'm brewing a Doom Bar clone in a few weeks and most of the hops are going in at the end to hot steep, only uses 20g each of Northdown, Northern Brewer and Perle tho so shouldn't be very hoppy.

Hello, how long do you think is good on hot steep?
If I'm doing a hot steep again I will probably use a floculant... The beer is very hazy...

I forgot to mention on the other post, fermentation temperature was 20 celsius (68 F).

 

[DoctorMick]

I'll be doing half an hour I think.

Fermentation temp for doom bar is ridiculously high I think, hence the fruitiness. I'm not that brave tho so will do mine at 22c.

 

[MyQul]

I'll be doing half an hour I think.

Fermentation temp for doom bar is ridiculously high I think, hence the fruitiness. I'm not that brave tho so will do mine at 22c.

You also need to mash low 63.5C-64C tops from what I've read

 

[DoctorMick]

You also need to mash low 63.5C-64C tops from what I've read

Yep, I've read that too so will be mashing at 64. Last time I done that I didn't get great efficiency but hopefully that will have been down to less than fresh grains.