Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone from BYO

Hi There,

I want to give the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, shown on the BYO web-site (http://***********/recipe/708.html), a try. But there seeme to be some discrepancies:

- the boil times for the hops shown in the ingredient list doesn't match the times given in the receipe
- How much is the boil volume? Is it really just 1.5 gal water with the LME. This would bring me to 17 IBU on the Perle. If it would be 5 gal, it would be 67 IBU for the Perle.

What are my target IBUs for that beer. I usually do full wort boils and want to adjust my hops.

Thanks,
Kai

according to the SN web page, it's 37 IBU's too. add hops at 60, 15, and 0 min as per the directions/ingredients list says for the grain/extract recipe. is it the BYO issue May-June 2005? it's all there......

you want to boil as much of the 5 gallons as possible. you'll steep your grains, sparge the grains w/ hot tap water into the kettle. then add as much water as possible, heat to boil, turn off heat, stir in extract, and return to boil, then follow hop additions.

ah, just looked at the link. different than the magazine recipe. want me to type it up?????

DeRoux's Broux said:

according to the SN web page, it's 37 IBU's too

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37 IBUs? I already find 28 IBUs (in my home brew pale ales) pretty bitter and I like the taste of SNPA. I'll adjust the hops to get close to that IBU value. And I'll check SN for more info. I never thought that can can find IBU values on the breweries web sites

ah, just looked at the link. different than the magazine recipe. want me to type it up?????

Click to expand...

That would be nice, Thanks.

yep, some, but not all brewery web pages have a lot of info. SN is one that gives out a good bit of info on their brews.

SNPA Clone in May June '05 BYO
5 G / extract w/ grains
og 1.052 fg 1.011 ibu 37 srm 11 abv 5.3%
1.8 lbs light dried malt extract
4 lbs light liquid malt extract (add after adding 15 min hop addition and irish moss, kill heat, stir in well, then resume the boil)
1 lb 2-row
1 lb crystal malt 40
2.5 aau magnum hops (0.18 oz) 60 min
4.8 aau perle hops (0.7 oz) 60 min
5 aau cascade hops (1 oz) 15 min
0.75 oz cascade hops 0 min
0.75 whole cascade hops dry hop
1 tsp irish moss @ 15 min
Wyeast American Ale (1056) or White Labs Cali Ale (WLP001)
1.5 qt yeast starter
7/8 cup corn sugar for priming

Well, this is indeed quite different than the one on the web-page. Luckily, I already modified the (other) recipe to use LME and DME and also bought additonal 2 row for the mini mash.

DeRoux's Broux, Thanks for the effort and Merry Christmas.

Kai

hey, no problem. that's what we're here for.

you have a Merry Christmas too!

I made this clone a few months ago, and was it ever close. Very good beer. Course......its all gone now.......

i did too (the all grain version) and it went pronto!

I just picked up grains to make a clone of SNPA myself, and cant wait.

I did one too--it was like my second AG brew. It rocked. I think mine came out at around 45 IBUs though.
Lake Walk Pale Ale was born from that BYO recipe!

Today, after 4 weeks and 4 days of brewing I did the first comparison sampling of this SNPA clone:

partial mash:
1lb Carmel 20
1lb Pale 2row
0.5lb Dextrine
@67C for 45min

boil:
3lb light Dry Malt Extract
3.3lb light LME
1oz Perle 9% 60min
1oz Cascade 4.6% 15min
0.75oz Cascade (whole in bag) 0min

fermentation:
WYeast 1056
0.75oz Cascade dry-hop

color: mine came out much darker. I knew this from BeerSmith. But I was using Carmel 20 instead of the Carmel 40 suggested by the recipe printed in BYO. Next time I have to try it as AG since I will have a better control over the color this way.

aroma: mine didn't have any significant hop aroma even though I dry-hopped it for 11 days with 3/4oz Cascade in the secondary. I placed the hops on top if the beer. SN doesn't mention any dry-hopping for their PA.

taste: there is this flower-like hop taste in SNPA, that was missing in my beer completely. This is to me the identifying character of SNPA and I definitely would like to know how to get it. They say that they use Cascade as finishing hops, so did I .

bitterness: mine seems to have a harsher and more lingering bitterness than the SNPA. Getting the IBUs right seems to be difficult anyway since there are so many factors that we don't account for when calculating bitterness. I also didn't have the Magnum, so I was using only Perle.

misc: there seems to be some astringency in my brew that may have been due to over sparging. I will be watching this from now on more closely.

conclusion: I hit the target of an APA , but I definitely didn't come very close to SNPA . Though time will improve the flavor a bit, I don't expect it to do wonders for me. I know what to change for everything but the unique floral flavor of SNPA. Is this just Cascade used as flavoring hops??

Any thoughts?

Kai said:

bitterness: mine seems to have a harsher and more lingering bitterness than the SNPA. Getting the IBUs right seems to be difficult anyway since there are so many factors that we don't account for when calculating bitterness. I also didn't have the Magnum, so I was using only Perle.

misc: there seems to be some astringency in my brew that may have been due to over sparging. I will be watching this from now on more closely.

Click to expand...

I think both of these problems could be related to one thing. Perle hops. My LWPA had the exact same astringency and harsh bitterness that overwhelmed what could have been a good beer.

Its funny, almost your whole post was like a re-run of what I thought about my LWPA after I tried it.

At any rate, I'm convinced it is the Perle. A brewer friend whom's opinion I trust immensely told me to not use Perle next time, so I bittered my last LWPA batch with Amarillo and that harshness was gone.

Mine is in the secondary clearing. My gravity is hit, and within a few days, it will be on tap. So far so good.

Dude said:

At any rate, I'm convinced it is the Perle. A brewer friend whom's opinion I trust immensely told me to not use Perle next time, so I bittered my last LWPA batch with Amarillo and that harshness was gone.

Click to expand...

Thanks, this will hopefully fix the bitterness.

The only thing missing would the the floral hop taste. I will try to make hop teas, with different boil times, with the cascade that I have left over. But since I wasn't able o detect this unique taste at all in my brew. If it weren't for the SN webpage, I'd say they are using different hops.

Tony,

let us know how yours compares to the original.

Kai

i used northern brewer and perle for bittering, then cascade for everything else. it was pretty damn close to SNPA.

I let mine stay in the secondary a while, and just racked it to the keg tonight. Crystal frigging clear!!! I pulled a small glass while racking, and YES! Its the real thing! Nice amber color, good malt flavor, and just the right hop flavor.

Two row and Caramel 40L is the way to go. I cant wait for this one to carbonate!

3 lbs. d.m.e. lbs. 2-row
5 lbs. 2-row
1/2 lb. crysatl 20
1/2 lb. cara-pils

mash 133, 30 min. 152 60 min.158 1o min.

2 oz. cascade (60 min.) pellets
1/2 oz. cascaed (30 min.) pellets
1/2 oz. cascade (15 min.) pellets
1 oz cascade (0 min.) plugs (broken up by hand before putting in boiler, cover immediatelty)

california ale yeast 1.5 qt. starter
1 tsp. irish moss
primary 68f 1 week
secondary 66f 2 weeks
bottle d.m.e. + 1/c turbinado sugar

o.g. 1.052
i.b.u. 35

I just racked my all-grain SNPA clone from the northern brewer forum into secondary. It really is spectacular. 87.5% 2-row, 12.5% 60L. Gotta use some magnum bittering hops to get the real effect!

djmd said:

...Gotta use some magnum bittering hops to get the real effect!

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You got that right! Any day now for mine to be carbonated and ready to drink! This recipe will be one I brew over and over.

Well, this is an old post, but I'll give it a bump.

The author of the online recipe for SNPA is Greg Snapp, who happens to be the owner of my LHBS.

Here it is, direct from Greg,

1/2# Crystal 30L
1/2# Carapils

Drop the grains into pot at room temp. Bring to 150deg. and hold for 20min. Then bring to 170deg. and remove the grains. Liberal "dunking" throughout the process.

Remove from heat and add/stir:

6# Light LME

Bring to boil. 60min boil time.

Hop Schedule:
1oz Perle at 50min remaining
1oz Cascade at 15min remaining
1oz Cascade at flame-out, steeped for 3min

Pitch Wyeast 1056.

Rack to secondary and dry-hop with:
1oz Cascade

Primary was 7 days. Secondary was 18 days. FG was: 1.006.

After 5 days in-bottle I couldn't stand it and had to pop one open. Most definitely young, however it tasted wonderful and had a great color. I'll know in a few weeks how "close" it is.

EDIT: I don't know how "close" it is, but it sure is tasty! A somewhat dry beer with citrus aroma and tastes. Aftertaste is somewhat citrusy...and lengthy. My next brew of this I will attempt to remove those lengthy after-tastes....it's not the recipe...it was the methods.

Tony
Could you post your SNPA recipe I would like to do a partial extract and you were SOOoooo excited about yours I would like to try it.
Thanks
JJ

I just all-grained this clone using BYO recipe for advice. The only substitutes I made were the hops (i know, the most important part right?) I ended up using .75perle+.25cascade for 90 mins and .25perle+.75cascade for 15 and dry hopped with 1oz cascade. Gonna be ready in three weeks, i like em dry and bottled. Took a hydro and taste when going to secondary, tasted amazing. Will post again when crackin em'!
-RC

just wanted to update: my brew came out amazing. was everything i liked about snpa, but the missing addition of the magnum left it missing a bit of the bitter bite. I would definately suggest this recipe though...

Could you guys post the all-grain recipe versions that you used that came out so good? Sounds like the Magnum is the key...

bnscherm said:

Could you guys post the all-grain recipe versions that you used that came out so good? Sounds like the Magnum is the key...

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+1. 10 Chars.

Here's mine:

If you click on the pic it takes you to webshots, once there click on it again and then choose fullscreen and you should be able to see it fine.

DeRoux's Broux said:

yep, some, but not all brewery web pages have a lot of info. SN is one that gives out a good bit of info on their brews.

SNPA Clone in May June '05 BYO
5 G / extract w/ grains
og 1.052 fg 1.011 ibu 37 srm 11 abv 5.3%
1.8 lbs light dried malt extract
4 lbs light liquid malt extract (add after adding 15 min hop addition and irish moss, kill heat, stir in well, then resume the boil)
1 lb 2-row
1 lb crystal malt 40
2.5 aau magnum hops (0.18 oz) 60 min
4.8 aau perle hops (0.7 oz) 60 min
5 aau cascade hops (1 oz) 15 min
0.75 oz cascade hops 0 min
0.75 whole cascade hops dry hop
1 tsp irish moss @ 15 min
Wyeast American Ale (1056) or White Labs Cali Ale (WLP001)
1.5 qt yeast starter
7/8 cup corn sugar for priming

Click to expand...

Maybe i'm not reading this correctly but doesn't .18 oz and .7 oz for 60 min seem like too little amount for the hops?

This may be an old thread but I am looking forward to brewing this SNPA this weekend!

I bought the SNPA clone from Northern and I'm looking for suggestions on how to improve the flavor and/or increase ABV. I'm thinking of adding some honey but I've never done that before so I thought I'd ask and see what you guys thought.

Adding table sugar at flameout would increase the ABV without changing the flavor much.

I was thinking honey since I like the flavor. Flameout is the last 10 minutes of the boil right? How much would you recommend using?

Heard from a VERY reliable source that SN is currently using Bravo and Palisades in SNPA.

Sorry to bump this thread, but I haven't seen any specifics on steep times from the extract brewers. 20 minutes at 150-170? I have to ask, because the Stone clone I'm doing right now calls for a crazy-long steep beginning at 150°. So what is it? can someone help me out? Looks like I'm goin' 2-row pale and Crystal. Will probably be a little dark, but so long as it tastes good!

Thanks,
Brad J