Spotted 2-Below today at the local shop while snagging some groceries, and am kicking myself for forgetting about this beer. (For forgetting about brewing something nice for the holidays in general - should really have done this last month!)
Loads of info on the recipe on New Belgium's site. They list the grains as Pale, Munich, Caramel, Crystal 80L, Carapils, and Victory. Hops are Target, Sterling, and Liberty. IBUs are 32, ABV is 6.6%, with an OG of 18.3 plato. (about 1.075, which seems high, since that would have the ABV coming out around 8%) I want something that's a little more sessionable, so I'm sticking with the goal of 6.5% or so. I'm guessing at the SRM of this, but I think 15-17 seems about right.
So after messing around in Beertools, and checking some of the clone recipes mentioned in this thread, this SHOULD be pretty close. (I'm sticking with the original clone suggestion of 2oz each of Liberty and Sterling for dry hopping, but am just going to go with American Ale II, I think, with a nice big starter.) Here goes...
------------------------------------------------------
[size=+1]2-Below Clone?[/size]
Size: 11.0 gal
Efficiency: 80.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 203.87 kcal per 12.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.062 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 17.18 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 6.48% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 31.7 (0.0 - 100.0)
Ingredients:
17.5 lb American 2-row
4.0 lb Munich Malt
3.0 lb Caramel Malt 80L
1.5 lb Victory® Malt
1.0 lb Cara-Pils® Malt
1.0 tb 5.2 pH Stabilizer - added during mash
1.5 oz Target (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.0 oz Sterling (7.5%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1272 American Ale II
2.0 oz Liberty (4.0%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
2.0 oz Sterling (7.5%) - added dry to secondary fermenter
------------------------------------------------------
(I go with 11 gallon batch sizes, to make sure I end up with 10 gallons after accounting for trub, hop absorption, angel's share, etc.)
I'm thinking I'd want a bit more body to this, so mashing high may be a good idea, 155 or so?