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tonymark · 02-04-2013, 08:46 PM

I plan on making this clone this weekend. I harvested yeast from 3 bottles of Bell's Midwestern Pale Ale last night. Did a 1.023 700 ml starter, which I will bump up to a 2 l. I chose the MPA because their was way more yeast than in the 2-Hearted bottles and the lower alcohol (5.2%) would result in healthier yeast. I was under the understanding that Bell's uses their "house yeast" in all their beers. Do they use the same yeast in the 2-Hearted and the Midwestern Pale Ale? I ask, because I really didn't care for the taste of the MPA. I thought it was bread-like.

**barhoc11** · 02-04-2013, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonymark

I plan on making this clone this weekend. I harvested yeast from 3 bottles of Bell's Midwestern Pale Ale last night. Did a 1.023 700 ml starter, which I will bump up to a 2 l. I chose the MPA because their was way more yeast than in the 2-Hearted bottles and the lower alcohol (5.2%) would result in healthier yeast. I was under the understanding that Bell's uses their "house yeast" in all their beers. Do they use the same yeast in the 2-Hearted and the Midwestern Pale Ale? I ask, because I really didn't care for the taste of the MPA. I thought it was bread-like.

Yes, you can use the MPA yeast. Make sure you have enough yeast built up before pitching, especially when starting with only 3 bottles worth of dregs.

Jhoss · 02-05-2013, 01:46 PM

I too will be brewing this weekend (Sat Feb 9th) - my 3rd run at this 2HA clone. Just for reference. I had some washed Bells yeast stored in the fridge since late November. I made a starter wort (1/2 cup DME, 1 pint water) on Saturday Feb. 2nd (1 week in advance). Last night Monday I made 6 quarts more wort and pitched the raging brew on in. On Thursday I will cool it to drop the yeast and pitch into my 5 plus gallons. This is a repeat of my process from my best batch....the bottom line....huge starter!

MMJfan · 02-05-2013, 02:00 PM

I harvested some yeast from Bells Smitten Golden Rye Ale. I'm hoping it's the same as their house strain? I've got some Bells yeast that I washed from an Oberon clone I made if the Smitten is a different strain. Anyone know if it is the same strain?

Two Hearted is on my list to brew for the 3rd time as well, but I'm doing my first attempt at Bells Best Brown this weekend.

davekippen · 02-06-2013, 07:57 PM

I have done a fair amount of reading on this website about Bells yeast and it appears that all of their "normal" ales use the same yeast. Some of the really oddball stuff is different.

I harvested yeast from Oberon and brewed this recipe - damn near impossible to tell my clone from the original. In fact, I had 2 guys over last weekend for a brew day and gave them the test. One of them guessed right and one wrong. 50/50 odds I guess

**ThickHead** · 02-06-2013, 10:58 PM

To be honest, I really don't think (in this case) that the yeast is all too important. Using just about any highly attenuating ale yeast that does not impart much flavor seems to work very, very well. I have used Notty, US-04, US-05, and WLP-001, all to great effect. I suppose it all depends on how close you want your end product to be to the real thing. I mean...I like clone recipes to get a beer in the ballpark of good commercial beers I like. However, making it an exact replica has never been my goal. Just a strong base of a particular example within the style to build my own recipe from.

All things being equal, I think the greatest variation between the beers where I used different yeast was probably more down to slight variation in my mash temps, mash schedule and hop variation between years than anything to do with the yeast i used.

Rahahb · 02-07-2013, 11:36 AM

Thanks for the recipe. Mine is fermenting now. I have a question though. I've never dry hopped before so what did you do?

Do I add the hops @ 5 days and let stay in til I rack? (It's already day 7 and I plan on racking to secondary).

Thanks!

**passedpawn** · 02-07-2013, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahahb

Thanks for the recipe. Mine is fermenting now. I have a question though. I've never dry hopped before so what did you do?

Do I add the hops @ 5 days and let stay in til I rack? (It's already day 7 and I plan on racking to secondary).

Thanks!

When fermentation is complete (yes, about 5 days ) just open your fermentor and drop the hops in. I leave my beer on the dry hops for 4 or 5 days then rack to keg.

**sivdrinks** · 02-07-2013, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by passedpawn

When fermentation is complete (yes, about 5 days ) just open your fermentor and drop the hops in. I leave my beer on the dry hops for 4 or 5 days then rack to keg.

How long do you let your kegs sit before carb and serve? In the recent past I've been serving my IPA's at about 4 weeks because everyone says drink fresh. I'm starting to think they lack in balance though, they all seem one dimensional. Unless, that's the point. Maybe I just need a maltier IPA through the winter.

logangclem · 02-07-2013, 02:59 PM

Just brewed this as my first all grain Brew. Hit 1.068 on the dot! It smelled amazing. Cannot wait to rack over to secondary and sneak a taste