I'm looking to brew a Firestone Pale Ale clone for my brother to have at his college graduation party. Based on what the Firestone-Walker website says, this is what I've come up with:
5# Pale 2-Row
4# Maris Otter
1# Munich
0.5# Crystal 60L
0.5# Cara-Pils
1 oz. Fuggle @ first-wort
0.75 oz. each of Centennial, Cascade, and Chinook @ 10 min.
1.25 oz.each of the three C's dry-hopping in secondary.
Whirlfloc @ 15 min.
The main goal of this recipe is to approximate the low-bitterness, yet solid hop-flavor with a lightly sweet backbone. Ingredients were based on Firestone's suggestions for items, but they obviously don't give any quantities...
Has anyone made a successful clone of this beer? Any suggestions for my recipe?
So you are making 10 gallons of this correct? To me it doesn't seem like it will be too sweet, more malty maybe. Might want to add maybe .5lb Crystal 40L for more sweetness. Lastly is that it seems that there is a good amount of hopping, without calculating the IBU's, is there enough bitter on that guy?
So you are making 10 gallons of this correct? To me it doesn't seem like it will be too sweet, more malty maybe. Might want to add maybe .5lb Crystal 40L for more sweetness. Lastly is that it seems that there is a good amount of hopping, without calculating the IBU's, is there enough bitter on that guy?
Looks like a fun recipe!
Batch size is 6 gallons, with an assumed 70% brewhouse efficiency (I'm still working on that).
Yeah I forgot to add the bitterness info in. The IBUs are basically 50/50 early and late additions, with a final IBU of about 36. The commercial version seems to be pretty low bitterness, IMO.
When I describe it as "sweet", I just mean that to me it doesn't have a caramel or chocolate/roasty flavor, it really just tastes like residual pale malt sweetness. This beer is very light, so it really seems that the detectable sweetness is mostly because hop bitterness is kept very low.
But no matter how close it comes to the original, it is still going to be a fun brew and probably taste great!
I think then that you might be looking for "malty" rather than sweet, possibly. I think that it is going to be good. Brew it up, try it and let us know if it is close to the original.
This is my favorite commercial pale ale. I think it is just fantastic.
If it were my recipe, I think I'd stick with all C hops, probably just Cascades and Centennials. I think the grain bill looks worth a shot. It's a pretty damn malty pale ale as they go.
No bittering addition at all? FWH doesn't create a whole lot of bittering...I was under the impression you would still need a 60 minute hops. Haven't done this myself, but my buddy has been experimenting like crazy.
No bittering addition at all? FWH doesn't create a whole lot of bittering...I was under the impression you would still need a 60 minute hops. Haven't done this myself, but my buddy has been experimenting like crazy.
Definitely get enough bittering from FWH for a beer like this. I put no 60 minute additions in many of my beers these days.
I like the oak chip idea above. Don't overdo it, but it would be a good addition. I forgot about that.
edit: My FWH/no 60 minute addition beers are all Centennials or similar, and it definitely does cut the bittering down. Not sure how well it would work for milder hops. I love the effect on most of my pale ales and ambers. IPA's or beers where more bitterness is desired need the 60 minute addition IMO.
Alright, OP said he had the ingredients, but not the amounts. Now that I'm actually paying attention I see that fuggles was used for bittering. That being the case, I'm not sure I like the FWH idea with those. I haven't used a ton of fuggles, so I'm not positive about this, but I doubt you'll get the required bitterness out of them with FWH. I think I'd just use them at 60 myself.
Firestone Walker Pale 31 / Pale Ale Clone
I see that fuggles was used for bittering. That being the case, I'm not sure I like the FWH idea with those. I haven't used a ton of fuggles, so I'm not positive about this, but I doubt you'll get the required bitterness out of them with FWH. I think I'd just use them at 60 myself.
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