St.Arnold's Beer and kits from AHS

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
adamhimself

adamhimself

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
136
Reaction score
1
Location
Portland, OR
Some of my favorite beers come from St.Arnold's in Houston (hometown!!) and I have been trying to hit the nail on the head as to what that distinctive St.Arnold's taste is... I think it has to do with their yeast, which is a proprietary blend. I read somewhere on here (doing a search) that Brock @ St.Arnold's will share recipes for his brew if you email him. I did, but he said they were moving breweries so he couldn't help me out for 3 months. I asked for the Divine Reserve no.9 recipe.

I looked around on here for an extract recipe for any St.Arnold's brews and came up with nothing. I did find some chatter about it, but nothing special.

For those who don't know much about Divine Reserve series:
http://www.saintarnold.com/beers/divine.html

No.9 was an Imperial Pumpkin Stout sitting @ 11% ABV. It tasted amazing and one of the best beers i've ever had.

I am looking to either recreate this or try my hand at one of St.Arnold's other beers. Brown Ale, Amber Ale, Christmas Ale, Winter Stout or DR#9.

Austin Homebrew Supply carries various St.Arnold's kits. I was hoping to try either the Brown or Christmas. St.Arnold's Winter Stout was amazing, but alas... AHS doesn't have that one listed.

Has anyone ever used AHS for St.Arnold's kits? or ever replicated one? and could I get the recipe?

Thanks.

For educational purposes: :tank:
IMG_7282.JPG
christmas.gif


AHS kits: Can be found by clicking here
 
No one?

I decided to go with their AHS' St.Arnold's Christmas Ale clone. The style they make is supposed to be old ale. So, we shall see... I know its not Christmas, but who says you can't have Christmas in Spring? :)
 
My favorite from St. Arnolds is their Fancy Lawnmower. Something about the flavor just screams "Summertime!"

I can't wait to pick up a Lawnmower extract kit from Austin Homebrew. It will probably be my second or third batch.

I've spent many a night in the old St. Arnold's brewery "sampling" the goods. I can't wait to go to the new location.
 
I'm in Houston and our club has some pretty tight ties to Saint Arnold. I'll ask about clone recipes. I like some of their beers and agree wholeheartedly about DR#9. That is one amazing beer and one of the best ever. I, on the other hand, don't appreciate most of their annual offerings. There's something about them that I don't particularly like. The exception is the Elissa IPA which is one of my favorite IPAs. The hops in that one cover up what I think is a yeast character that I don't care for. The DR#8 Strong Scotch Ale was brewed from the winning recipe of a local competition. We have this one annually and the winner gets to brew it with the guys at Saint Arnold on their system as one of the DR series. I already have that recipe if you're interested.
 
I was at the St. Arnold's newery yesterday and got to talk to Brock. They started brewing at the new brewery on Saturday, so they are officially moved. Yesterday they held and AHA Rally at the newery.

I did ask about a couple of things in their brew process with one interesting note about the water. They use the City of Houston water filtered through a charcoal filter system, then through a RO system. He did say that they have to add some city water back into the RO filtered water or they get fermentation issues (still goes through the charcoal filter). I wonder if it is our great Houston water you are tasting?!?!?!

Fun time yesterday. I tried the Elissa IPA for the first time and really enjoyed it. They also had the Spring Bock on tap and it was good too.

Ron
 
I like the Winter Stout and Spring Bock a bit too. That Elissa I can't drink enough of though. I got this from someone in my club...

"Here is a clone recipe for St. Arnold Christmas Ale I found from BYO, December 2004

5 Gal
OG=1.066 FG=1.013
IBU=22 SRM=22 ABV=6.8%
11 lbs. 2 row pale malt
13 oz. Munich malt
7 oz. CaraMunich malt
7 oz. Special B malt
1lb. 3 oz. CaraVienne malt
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min)
10.8 AAU Perle hops (30 min) (1.5 oz. of 7.2% alpha acid)
3 oz. Liberty hops (0 min)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) or While Labs WLP002 (English Ale)
Single infusion mash @ 150. Boil for 90 min. Ferment @ 72 deg"

...and I have an Elissa clone from BYO as well that I'll post in a bit.
 
6 Gal
OG=1.062 FG=1.018
13lb Maris Otter
12oz British Crystal 75
3oz Cascade 5% AA @ 60min
1.5oz Cascade 5% AA @ 15min
1.5oz Cascade 5% AA @ 1min
1oz Cascade dry hop
White Labs London Ale WLP013 or Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast

I brewed this one and it was in the ballpark but I remember thinking it needed an adjustment of some sort. I think my water was off. It was a damn good IPA either way though.
 
Belmont said:
"Here is a clone recipe for St. Arnold Christmas Ale I found from BYO, December 2004

5 Gal
OG=1.066 FG=1.013
IBU=22 SRM=22 ABV=6.8%
11 lbs. 2 row pale malt
13 oz. Munich malt
7 oz. CaraMunich malt
7 oz. Special B malt
1lb. 3 oz. CaraVienne malt
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min)
10.8 AAU Perle hops (30 min) (1.5 oz. of 7.2% alpha acid)
3 oz. Liberty hops (0 min)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) or While Labs WLP002 (English Ale)
Single infusion mash @ 150. Boil for 90 min. Ferment @ 72 deg"
Click to expand...

That is the exact recipe that AHS sells. I am roughly 9 days in to fermenting on the Christmas Ale. I am having trouble getting the FG down to 1.012/1.013. Right now, its at a steady 1.016. I used White Labs English Ale yeast. I think racking to my carboy should help out a little, but its been that gravity for 3-5 days now.

Belmont said:
The DR#8 Strong Scotch Ale was brewed from the winning recipe of a local competition. We have this one annually and the winner gets to brew it with the guys at Saint Arnold on their system as one of the DR series. I already have that recipe if you're interested.
Click to expand...

Yeah! I am very interested. I heard a rumor that DR#10 is going to be Barleywine, because this year (like you said) the beer for big batch brew bash is Barleywine. We shall see...

Personally, my non-seasonal favorite is Elissa IPA too. I love the Christmas Ale and Winter Stout for the seasonals.
 
The style for the next Big Batch Brew Bash will, in fact, be a barleywine. English Barleywine to be exact which is what I prefer. I'm definitely going to get in on the judging for that one. I'll get you the DR#8 recipe shortly.
 
Sorry for the large batch size but I didn't feel like converting it.

10 Gal
OG=1.096 FG=1.023
38lb Pale Malt
1.75lb British Crystal 55L
0.38lb British Crystal 90L
0.11lb Chocolate Malt
1lb Wheat Malt
3.5lb Light DME
2oz Norther Brewer 9.5%AA (FWH)
.5oz North Down 7.9%AA (45min)
3oz Fuggles 4.6%AA (15min)
1oz Goldings 4.75%AA (15min)
1oz Fuggles 4.6%AA (1min)
WLP013 London Ale

They did make changes in the brewery but I had this off the keg from the batch that won the contest and it was better. He did a 2 hour boil on this too for melanoidin
formation but you may be able to add a bit of melanoidin malt to make up for it.
 
Belmont said:
Sorry for the large batch size but I didn't feel like converting it.

10 Gal
OG=1.096 FG=1.023
38lb Pale Malt
1.75lb British Crystal 55L
0.38lb British Crystal 90L
0.11lb Chocolate Malt
1lb Wheat Malt
3.5lb Light DME
2oz Norther Brewer 9.5%AA (FWH)
.5oz North Down 7.9%AA (45min)
3oz Fuggles 4.6%AA (15min)
1oz Goldings 4.75%AA (15min)
1oz Fuggles 4.6%AA (1min)
WLP013 London Ale

They did make changes in the brewery but I had this off the keg from the batch that won the contest and it was better. He did a 2 hour boil on this too for melanoidin
formation but you may be able to add a bit of melanoidin malt to make up for it.
Click to expand...

Hmm. I live in an apartment currently and doing all grain isn't going to happen until I finish up school and move out... so a few months away.

Could I substitute more Light DME or Pale LME for the Pale Malt? I could toss this in BrewSmith and get it close to the same SG.

Since I would be doing a 5 gallon batch, would I want to ease up on some of the crystal and specialty grains?

When is the BBBB? I go to college in Lubbock, but I am originally from Houston (Clear Lake Area). I am home quite frequently and would love to check it out. I actually wanted to go to the AHA meeting that was at St.Arnold's this past weekend while I was in town, but I had a wedding to attend :(
 
You can absolutely substitute the pale malt for an extract to get to the same OG. If the shop you buy from has an extract made from an english pale malt there is a slight difference so it'd be best to find a Maris Otter based extract but far from mandatory. Some people wouldn't notice the difference. If you don't get the Maris Otter extract then I'd defnitely add some Special B or Biscuit Malt to adjust. A very small amount though.

For the specialty malts I'd try to make them equal the same percentage of the grist. You said you were using BrewSmith and I don't remember if they show that or not. Beercalculus does online though if you want to use that or just calculate it yourself.

Here's the info on this year's BBBB.

"For the 15th Annual Big Batch Brew Bash, we will judge English Barleywines (BJCP style 19B). Judging will take place at the Saint Arnold brewery (2000 Lyons Ave.) on May 16, 2010."
 
Cool, thanks.

I meant to say I have BeerSmith. I keep calling it BrewSmith for some reason.

I buy from AHS. Though, next time I am in Houston I was thinking of checking out DeFalcos. There is also some "Homebrewers Guild" homebrew shop in Clear Lake I need to check out as well.
 
I've never been, but have heard from some guys in my club that say that the shop in Clear Lake is not stocked very well. DeFalco's has a pretty solid inventory but it too far for me. I shop at the LHBS in The Woodlands called Brew it Yourself. It's right on I-45 just north of Rayford-Sawdust on the northbound side. The owner, Ray, is the only one that works there and is knowledgeable and keeps enough inventory that I can shop there almost exclusively.

As for brewing software, I'm familiar with BeerSmith. That was the first one I tried. I liked it but wasn't totally satisfied so I tried ProMash because a lot of people raved on it. Both applications were sorely lacking in several areas in my opinion so I kept looking. What I'm using now, and like quite a bit, is a Mac only app called BeerAlchemy. It still doesn't do everything the way I want it done so I'm working on my own app slowly but surely just so that I have what I want.

Oh, and I want to promote another great Texas beer. The guys at Southern Star make some phenomenal beer. Their first beer was called Pine Belt Pale Ale which was an American Pale Ale sold in a maroon 16oz tall-boy can. Very hoppy and does have a pine essence from the Columbus hops but they also put some Cascade and one of the more fruity hops like Amarillo or Centennial IIRC. The branding was marketing genius IMO. Being brewed in what is referred to as the pine belt of Texas. Packaged in the classic redneck tall-boy. Bold enough to represent the state of Texas. Good stuff. They have a blonde that sells well but I'm not a fan of. They also just started canning their Burried Hatchet stout which I don't have any hesitation in saying is the best year round beer brewed in Texas now. You have to look for it the next time you're in the Houston area.
 
Belmont said:
The guys at Southern Star make some phenomenal beer.

They also just started canning their Burried Hatchet stout which I don't have any hesitation in saying is the best year round beer brewed in Texas now. You have to look for it the next time you're in the Houston area.
Click to expand...

Totally agree on the Buried Hatchet, love that beer.

Ron
 
okay I absolutely love this brewery and is some of the tastiest around...has anyone found a clone for the Elissa (for me) and the lawnmower (for SWMBO)?

thanks!

BTW, if there is anyone from Saint Arnold's on here, the new brewery look nice
 
Monty420th said:
okay I absolutely love this brewery and is some of the tastiest around...has anyone found a clone for the Elissa (for me) and the lawnmower (for SWMBO)?

thanks!

BTW, if there is anyone from Saint Arnold's on here, the new brewery look nice
Click to expand...

While I haven't found a recipe for their Fancy Lawnmower, Austin Home Brew has a Lawnmower recipe kit available.

Do some searching on the boards for the Elissa recipe. I could've sworn I read about someone with a comparable recipe on here.
 
This is roughly what I got from a magazine clone recipe a while back. Their house yeast is different but I think this came out slightly better except that it seemed to need a bit more hop bitterness.

6G recipe
13lb maris otter
11oz crystal 80
Cascade 5%AA 74g @ 60min
Cascade 5%AA 50g @ 15min
Cascade 5%AA 50g @ 1min
Cascade 5%AA 28g dry hop
WLP013 London Ale
 
Monty420th said:
thanks for looking, any idea on what kind of grains, specialty, or other on this? I would love to brew it, I just don't want to order and would rather support my LHBS

thanks
Click to expand...

From the looks of it its just Crystal 60L and Marris Otter. You could just drop some light or extra light DME into BeerSmith and add some Crystal and Marris Otter for flavor. Bam, there's your clone.

I found this picture of their grain schedule when searching the forum (credit to Alamo_Beer):

HPIM0695.jpg
 
adam, you da man hoss

now I guess my other question will be in the hops and the addition times...also is this an extract or AG?

sorry for the additional questions, I am not an expert on recipes, only on my own mistakes :)
 
Monty420th said:
adam, you da man hoss

now I guess my other question will be in the hops and the addition times...also is this an extract or AG?

sorry for the additional questions, I am not an expert on recipes, only on my own mistakes :)
Click to expand...

Extract.

Saint Arnold's Website says the OG is 1.061.

It says the IBU is around 60. I know for a fact they use strictly Cascade hops in their IPA. Its all on the website: http://www.saintarnold.com/beers/elissa.html

I tossed this together, though I haven't personally tried it out... it would be my best bet at a Elissa IPA clone in extract form.

Code: 
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Elissa IPA clone
Brewer: Adam C.
Asst Brewer: 
Style: India Pale Ale
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (35.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal      
Boil Size: 2.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 6.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 60.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount        Item                                      Type         % or IBU      
7.00 lb       Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM)         Dry Extract  87.5 %        
0.50 lb       Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)     Grain        6.3 %         
0.50 lb       Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)          Grain        6.3 %         
4.00 oz       Cascade [5.50%]  (60 min)                 Hops         38.8 IBU      
2.00 oz       Cascade [5.50%]  (30 min)                 Hops         14.9 IBU      
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.50%]  (15 min)                 Hops         4.8 IBU       
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.50%]  (5 min)                  Hops         1.9 IBU       
1 Pkgs        English Ale (White Labs #WLP002)          Yeast-Ale

I drank an Elissa IPA at the new brewery and it tasted amazing. The cascade came through very nicely. Its definitely a beer you want to drink as fresh as possible. In fact, I liked the cascade hops so much that I used them for about half of my hop schedule in my IPA.

I have been racking my brain over what yeast they use. They have said in numerous articles that the yeast strain they use is from a major yeast bank, but they won't tell what strain. They filter all of their beers, so harvesting yeast from a bottle is near impossible, but I would love to get some...

If you want some more direction drop me a PM.
 
Belmont said:
I like the Winter Stout and Spring Bock a bit too. That Elissa I can't drink enough of though. I got this from someone in my club...

"Here is a clone recipe for St. Arnold Christmas Ale I found from BYO, December 2004

5 Gal
OG=1.066 FG=1.013
IBU=22 SRM=22 ABV=6.8%
11 lbs. 2 row pale malt
13 oz. Munich malt
7 oz. CaraMunich malt
7 oz. Special B malt
1lb. 3 oz. CaraVienne malt
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min)
10.8 AAU Perle hops (30 min) (1.5 oz. of 7.2% alpha acid)
3 oz. Liberty hops (0 min)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) or While Labs WLP002 (English Ale)
Single infusion mash @ 150. Boil for 90 min. Ferment @ 72 deg"

...and I have an Elissa clone from BYO as well that I'll post in a bit.
Click to expand...

I'm a bit curious about this recipe:
Those 3 Oz. of liberty hops - at 0 minutes?
Am I correct in assuming that means throwing them in, while cooling the wort after boil?
They really wont have a lot of time in there..

Regards
Anders
 
Yeah, I know - I dug up a very old thread :)
But like I mentioned, I'm not entirely certain how to interpret those 0 minutes on the Liberty hops?
 
Ajes said:
I'm a bit curious about this recipe:
Those 3 Oz. of liberty hops - at 0 minutes?
Am I correct in assuming that means throwing them in, while cooling the wort after boil?
They really wont have a lot of time in there..

Regards
Anders
Click to expand...
The recipe calls for Perle hops for bittering. The Liberty hops at 0 minutes are for flavoring and aroma (related) and are not expected to add a lot of bittering. By adding them while the wort is still hot some of the aromatic oils are boiled off. If you want that extra aroma, you would dry hop when fermentation is over.
 
ok - so dry hopping.
I was just curious why they didn't write that specifically in the recipe.
Anyway, thanks for the answer.
 

Similar threads

Luxy
Beer enhancer required if brewing purely from DME?
Replies
37
Views
2K
Rish
R
ChlorineQueen
Constructing a clone recipe for Rogue's 2019 Santa's Private Reserve with candy cap mushrooms
Replies
5
Views
660
NiwotBrew
N
heathm922
Heath's New Member Introduction
Replies
1
Views
232
wallyLOZ
wallyLOZ
SipalayBrew
Coopers DIY Beer Stout: Need your help, guys!
Replies
7
Views
921
BreweyMcHops
B
M
Spiced Bourbon/Milk Stout?
Replies
5
Views
978
Hoochin'Fool
Hoochin'Fool

Latest posts

Back
Top