American IPA Bell's Two Hearted Ale Clone (close as they come)

Time to add sugar

advogold said:

Time to add sugar

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How much sugar do I even add? I only did a 1 gallon batch of this.

JeffoC6 said:

How much sugar do I even add? I only did a 1 gallon batch of this.

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None. You hit 1.061. That's fine.

1.064 was gravity on original post. I agree its probably fine. I try to have corn sugar on hand in case I miss my target. For 5 gallons. Half pound to 1 lb is what Ive added to 5 gallon batches. I had done one gallon IPA. Totally missed my target. Lhbs told me to add. 75 cup of sugar. I haven't done that again. I added in fermenter but I would ideally add during boil. For 1.050 wort I added lb of cane sugar &. It was 1.080 for a gallon.

Brewed this today. OG 1.059. Pitched Nottingham. Tried the real thing last Thursday. Immediately went on the list to brew. :cross:

I'm considering doing a 20 gallon batch.

It been a fun adventure. Culture up some Bells yeast, brew it up, 22 days in the primary and 7 on the dryhopps/secondary. Now for the remaining 3 weeks at 70 degrees. That puts my first glass right when I get home from vacation...about July 15th. Life is good.

I brewed this three weeks ago along with a batch of Janet's Brown. OG came in at 1.066, FG 1.012, used Notty. Fermented at 66 for a week and transferred to secondary and dry hopped for a week. I did not change anything with the recipe. Kegged after a week of dry hopping and its now carbed up nice.

It's kinda bitter and not much of the dry hop aroma/flavor seems to be there. Will it come together after a few weeks? was my FG too low? I've never tried Bells. This batch tastes OK, just more like a pale ale and less like an IPA.

BTW - the Janet's Brown is awesome!

hmm, my favorite up here in the U.P. of Mich ... I know this is an all grain thread but jfyi the Northern Brewer "3 Hearted" recipe nails the product such that I've found nobody who can tell it from a store bottle of Bells... the local 2Hearted on tap around here is mostly even more awesome.

Agreed, the Dead Ringer IPA from Northern Brewer is fantastic! I need to try this recipe next time though so I can compare.

TrubDog said:

I brewed this three weeks ago along with a batch of Janet's Brown. OG came in at 1.066, FG 1.012, used Notty. Fermented at 66 for a week and transferred to secondary and dry hopped for a week. I did not change anything with the recipe. Kegged after a week of dry hopping and its now carbed up nice.

It's kinda bitter and not much of the dry hop aroma/flavor seems to be there. Will it come together after a few weeks? was my FG too low? I've never tried Bells. This batch tastes OK, just more like a pale ale and less like an IPA.

BTW - the Janet's Brown is awesome!

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I had almost exactly the same results with my THA clone. The bitterness will mellow but honestly I think the aroma is still lacking. The taste is dead on ringer to the real thing (I used harvested Bells yeast).

If you have the opportunity I would increase (maybe double) the dry hop. I did a little test where I racked an extra half gallon into a growler at keg time and I added an additional 1/2 oz of centennial... made a world of a difference.

Never tried the Dead Ringer so just looked it up and I see it is what they used to call 3-Hearted Ale ... here's the very easy recipe:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/beerkits/DeadRingerIPA.pdf

I pretty much stick to these ingredients but sometimes cut down the extract and hops to more of a Pale Ale style. Just kegged some up yesterday.

NB Dead Ringer is good but it's not 2 Hearted. Most clones I see have about 2 lbs Vienna and less Caramel, I'd agree this would be better after having mine and then a 2 Hearted on tap at a local bar.

Cracked open a bottle of this today after only two weeks of conditioning and about four hours in the fridge.
Taste was bitter, almost no centennial taste present. Looks like this will have to sit for a bit longer. At least another two to let it mellow. Will report back.

Just took out my dry hops. My carboy smelled very much like Bell's Two Hearted! Woop!

sivdrinks said:

NB Dead Ringer is good but it's not 2 Hearted. Most clones I see have about 2 lbs Vienna and less Caramel, I'd agree this would be better after having mine and then a 2 Hearted on tap at a local bar.

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I wish I hadn't read this and hope you are wrong....I'm doing Dead Ringer tonite.
I finally had someone find me some of the real stuff when out of town and I have 1 left I'm saving to do a sided by side in 6 weeks.

Either way, I'll have good beer. The NB all grain kit is pretty simple too!

Beer-lord said:

I wish I hadn't read this and hope you are wrong....I'm doing Dead Ringer tonite.
I finally had someone find me some of the real stuff when out of town and I have 1 left I'm saving to do a sided by side in 6 weeks.

Either way, I'll have good beer. The NB all grain kit is pretty simple too!

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No worries, it's still tasty!

It's nice! I will have to do a side-by-side with the real thing but Man!, is it drinkable. Just guessing at the differences, my homebrew struck me as slightly more bitter than the real 2HA.

Just to recap. Cultured Bells yeast, brewed on Memorial Day weekend, cracked one yesterday - July 15th. It probably has some mellowing to do - but the thought of 2 cases of this on hand pleases me greatly! I think I will enjoy!

Jhoss

A friend of mine is a great judge of beer (my impression). He knows what he likes, can describe nuances from label to label - He has turned me on to some really super craft beers and I trust his judgement. He is a harsh critic as well. He brought out some Two Hearted, we put both home brew and Two Hearted on ice for an hour or so while we had a chore to do...anyway.

My wife sets us up with a blind taste test. He says "Wow, these are really close" He guessed WRONG which was which! I knew. I could tell by the smell and color. mine smelled better, fresher but the color was muddier - browner that the original.

Really a fine tast test!

Has anyone done this as a BIAB? Going to give it a go next weekend.

TBaGZ said:

Has anyone done this as a BIAB? Going to give it a go next weekend.

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All the time, right on my stove-top with two 7.5 gallon pots. Looks something like this:

Nice... I am going to attempt a no sparge in a keggle.

TBaGZ said:

Nice... I am going to attempt a no sparge in a keggle.

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I use a two step mash process for this beer. I do a 90 min mash @150 (Saccharification rest) and then a 10 min mash out (or rinse) @ 169.

Well I brewed the original recipe with BIAB this afternoon. I am going to call it "Who Farted?" because I have no idea how it is going to turn out. Today was a day full of firsts for me.

First BIAB
First A/G
First brew in my keggle
First time milling grain
First time using a pump and plate chiller
First time making a starter from bottle dregs
Going to be my first time dry hopping as well.

Finally brewed this. Added 1 ounce FWH and used 2 oz drop hop. Maybe back off the 60min addition next time, but otherwise it's REALLY GOOD!

Anyone willing to ship out some Bells yeast?

I'm cold crashing now, will bottle this second batch tomorrow. Due to some new equipment - I missed SG, should've been about 1.062, was actually 1.054(should've boiled longer - new refractometer should fix this)...Here's a shot of FG headed to bottles...1.008 I'll call it. 6.1ABV I guess this batch promises to be "more drinkable".

My SG was 1.052, also. This was my first a/g batch though.

My fermentation was was pretty aggressive yesterday when I checked on it (blowing out of the blow off tube into the jar), so hopefully it will get down low to make up for it a bit.

If you are using Bells yeast (cultured or Wlp1272) I think you will end up down around 1.007 or 8. If you are using other yeast please post up what your FG turns out to be - actually either way - I'd be interested.
Jhoss

I used 001 and ended up at 1.008. Yummy stuff

TBaGZ said:

My SG was 1.052, also. This was my first a/g batch though.

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For those of you who are missing your SG target, you might consider moving to a 90 minute mash schedule to increase your efficiency (you can always boil longer as well). With my process I have found that a 90 min mash gives me a much improved (higher and less variable) efficiency every single time.

My experience with this may be down to my vessel size, preferred Water:Grain ratios and other such variables and may not necessarily apply to you. However, consider giving it a try as an approach to improving your efficiency and getting closer to your target SG.

Having said that, if you are happy with the consistency of your efficiency, you may wish to just accept the efficiency you are getting and modifying the grain bill accordingly to hit your targets.

I harvested Bells yeast from 4 bottles of Amber, and did a 3 step (100ml-400ml-1000ml) starter.

Being that this was my first A/G and BIAB I was kind of expecting my OG to be a little low. I will be going over processes, and crush to figure out why to get it up to where it needs to be without wasting money by adding more grain.

I brewed this Thursday night and took some footage.

Brewed this last Thursday (9 days ago) and the fermentation is freaking me out! Used some different techniques this time so not really sure what to expect but does this look good to you? Its the weird cloudy hazy parts I am really curious about...

Did you just dump some pellet hops right into the fermenter when fermentation was starting?

brewing this up tomorrow with some washed wyeast greenbelt yeast (from AHS), excited to see how it turns out.

My friends and I are loving this stuff. I have the NB AG kit and while it's not exact, it's an awesome brew. Makes me look like I know what I'm doing.

Maybe it's just me but I don't think the NB kit is that close. Mine got too caramelly both times I made it, AG and extract.

Sippin37 said:

Did you just dump some pellet hops right into the fermenter when fermentation was starting?

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lol no hops were added to this fermenter...

sivdrinks said:

Maybe it's just me but I don't think the NB kit is that close. Mine got too caramelly both times I made it, AG and extract.

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I don't get any caramel flavor at all. I tried it side by side and it was a bit close but I'm actually like mine better as do my friends. This one will be a regular.