Karl Strauss: Red Trolley Ale Clone?

holjim · 04-16-2008, 09:31 PM

I live in L.A. but I never miss filling a gallon up with Karl Strauss' Red Trolley Ale when I get down to San Diego.

Their site has most of the ingredients listed but with no amounts.

I'm still pretty new to all this and can't really judge how much of this or that is a logical start point when trying to replicate a particular beer.

Here are their stated malts and hops:

Malts: Pale 2 Row, Carapils, Carmel 60 and Carmel 80
Hops: Glacier and Willamette.

It comes out to 5.8 abv with 17 IBU

Any suggestions (esp if you are familiar with the beer) on what amounts might deliver (I'm also not an all-grain guy yet...).

I'm certainly willing to take a few shots at it.

Thanks in advance!

Jim

riored4v · 04-16-2008, 09:40 PM

looking forward to seeing if anyone can get this down.

my g/f really liked this beer

**Mk010101** · 04-17-2008, 12:01 PM

I made up my own recipe based on what they have on their site. I was told by my brother who wanted me to make it that it tastes very close to their beer. I will post the recipe later when I get a moment.

**Mk010101** · 04-17-2008, 03:48 PM

Here is the recipe that I used. It is a partial mash recipe using a 3 gallon mash tun.

3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 30.0 %
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 50.0 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.5 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 7.5 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %

1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (60 min) Hops 11.4 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (15 min) Hops 5.1 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 2.0 IBU

1 Pkgs Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-) Yeast-Ale

Some brew notes here: This is actually my second time brewing this beer. The first time I did a small all-grain brew, but it was basically the same recipe. I couldn't find Glacier hops and found out they are very similar to Williamette, so I just used all Williamette. Since they are nearly the same alpha, you can probably sub 1 for 1.

Second, soon after I brewed this, I read somewhere on this site about using too much crystal malts. Maybe I did, I don't know, but this worked out well on this brew. If you are doing an extract brew, remove the pale malts and up the dry extract to 5.50 lbs.

I am sure you can use whatever yeast you want, but I use Nottingham because it ferments so clean. After using many yeasts this past year, I really prefer Nottingham for most of my ales.

riored4v · 04-17-2008, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mk010101

Here is the recipe that I used. It is a partial mash recipe using a 3 gallon mash tun.

3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 30.0 %
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 50.0 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.5 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 7.5 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %

1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (60 min) Hops 11.4 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (15 min) Hops 5.1 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 2.0 IBU

1 Pkgs Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-) Yeast-Ale

Some brew notes here: This is actually my second time brewing this beer. The first time I did a small all-grain brew, but it was basically the same recipe. I couldn't find Glacier hops and found out they are very similar to Williamette, so I just used all Williamette. Since they are nearly the same alpha, you can probably sub 1 for 1.

Second, soon after I brewed this, I read somewhere on this site about using too much crystal malts. Maybe I did, I don't know, but this worked out well on this brew. If you are doing an extract brew, remove the pale malts and up the dry extract to 5.50 lbs.

I am sure you can use whatever yeast you want, but I use Nottingham because it ferments so clean. After using many yeasts this past year, I really prefer Nottingham for most of my ales.

thanks

What ratio did you mash at? I have a 2 gallon cooler that i'll probably try this in, so i'm not sure if i should go down to 3 lbs of 2-row and then add the rest in DME (1lb extra pound of DME).

**Mk010101** · 04-17-2008, 04:07 PM

I use this calculator to figure out how much grain I can put into my mash tun:

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

I think you would be pushing it at 5 lbs of grain in a 2 gal mash tun.

holjim · 04-17-2008, 04:11 PM

I'm excited. That has been one of my favorites for years. I'll have to tweek a bit since I don't have a mash tun but I'm sure it will still be very tasty!

Thanks so much!

Jim

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mk010101

Here is the recipe that I used. It is a partial mash recipe using a 3 gallon mash tun.

3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 30.0 %
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 50.0 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.5 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 7.5 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %

1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (60 min) Hops 11.4 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (15 min) Hops 5.1 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 2.0 IBU

1 Pkgs Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-) Yeast-Ale

Some brew notes here: This is actually my second time brewing this beer. The first time I did a small all-grain brew, but it was basically the same recipe. I couldn't find Glacier hops and found out they are very similar to Williamette, so I just used all Williamette. Since they are nearly the same alpha, you can probably sub 1 for 1.

Second, soon after I brewed this, I read somewhere on this site about using too much crystal malts. Maybe I did, I don't know, but this worked out well on this brew. If you are doing an extract brew, remove the pale malts and up the dry extract to 5.50 lbs.

I am sure you can use whatever yeast you want, but I use Nottingham because it ferments so clean. After using many yeasts this past year, I really prefer Nottingham for most of my ales.

riored4v · 04-17-2008, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mk010101

I use this calculator to figure out how much grain I can put into my mash tun:

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

I think you would be pushing it at 5 lbs of grain in a 2 gal mash tun.

agreed. To early for me still..lol I forgot to factor in the crystal

Thanks though... I might make this the next brew so i'll work on it a bit later.