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

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Crumb, that hop schedule that you are using gives you 66 IBU. Pretty high. If you like the bitterness and understand 66 IBU it's ok. Eschatz recipe calls for 53. My last batch came out at 53 and it's plenty bitter, just about the same as a TH. You may want to think about going:

1 oz 60 min
1 oz 15 min
1 oz 5 min
.5 oz 1 min

I would then use the leaf hops in the carboy with 10 days to go. You are correct about bucket and carboy. The leaf hops are going to give it a really fresh scent. It's not an exact TH clone but it is really a great way to go.

The above hop schedule gives you 53 IBU.

It comes down to personal preference but at least this should help understand where you are going before you start. This thread has been following the eschatz recipe and what success others have had following the recipe. Any variations from his recipe will give you something different than what he and others have been trying to do, clone the TH.

You should still end up with a variation that should give you a great drinking beer.
 
dmaher, does it make a difference that I am doing a 3 gallon boil? I plugged the original hop schedule into Beer Calculus, and the IBU I got was in the low 40's.

I am still very new to brewing, and I am still coming to grips with the differences between boil sizes - hop utilization, etc.
 
The IBU's depend very heavily on the crop of hops you are using. Check the alpha acids and make sure they are entered properly.

Your utilization will be much worse in a three gallon boil because of the sugar density. This explains the relationship rather well.
 
I have been getting an almost soapy-dishwasher soap flavor from the use of too much centennial as the bittering hop. I'm experimenting now with dropping that first addition down a bit and seeing if it makes the beer slightly smoother.... (always something to tweek)! :mug:
 
Based on reading this thread, and advice from a brew buddy who swears by Bell's Two Hearted Ale (which I've never had sadly), I decided to make this my next brew.

Brew Day came, and I went to Home Brew Mart here in SD to get my ingredients. Wouldn't you know they were out of Vienna! So, had to improvise. Based on their recommendations, I ended up substituting Victory Malt for the Vienna. Yes, I know it's a darker malt. But I think it was the best choice for what my options were at the time.

I also adjusted the recipe upward to hit closer to 1.070, which seemed more likely to yield a 7% ABV beer to me, based on my experience. Of course, I had a bit hight efficiency than expected, and the boil resulted in a bit more volume loss than I'd planned. Goal was to end with 6 gal (enough for a keg, and to bottle condition some), and ended with 5.8 gal.

So, long story short 1.076 was the OG post boil. IBUs had been adjusted slightly upward to 57. I also First Wort Hopped 30% of the late hop addition, which hopefully will smooth it out a little.

Wort tasted awesome, and the old WLP001 is chugging away on it now. I suspect it'll be a great brew...but how close to Bell's is any ones guess.

Any thoughts on how different a beer I am looking at given the Victory substitution?

Cheers,

Mike
 
Your beer will be great. It won't be true to the original recipe but it'll knock your socks off. That's for sure!
:mug:
 
I brewed this on Saturday... SG was 1.058-1.060...

Its taking off like a rocket ship in my Conical right now...

Ferm temp has jumped from 63* to about 70* So im cooling it down...

Anyone here tried a warmer ferment? I typically always ferment in the low 60's...

I imagine that it might bring out a different profile to this beer.
 
It's a pretty clean beer. I usually ferm around 65F. Ramping it up would obviously bring more character from the yeast. But the yeast is natrually very neutral anyways.
 
Your beer will be great. It won't be true to the original recipe but it'll knock your socks off. That's for sure!
:mug:

Thanks! Smells great now! I suspect it'll be a month before I can post up results...but will be sure to post pics! Thanks again for the inspiration!

Cheers,

Mike
 
^^^ As does mine... It smells freaking divine... The Centennial Hop aroma from the fermenter is out of this world... Sure it calls for a good deal of hops but I'll tell ya, its so worth it... This is going to be compared to my Ruination clone as well.
 
Well, thought I would post up some pics of the brew, and some of the wort post boil, to try to convery what the color will be what with the Victory for Vienna substitution.

It's a beautiful brew and smells great. So hard to be patient!

Cheers,

Mike


DSC02376.jpg

DSC02380.jpg

DSC02382.jpg
 
I love that first pic. It looks like your beer is well below your temp sensor. That must be one big ass kettle!
 
I tried to brew an imperial version of this in texas summer without temperature control....
I pitched the beer on top of old orange/cascade pale ale s04 yeast....
it was ok at first with lots of centennial smell.... but I checked 1 day later... bubblegum flavor came out...:(
I think this beer will be in my primary for at least 1 month to see if I can get rid of some bubblegum smell....
 
I love that first pic. It looks like your beer is well below your temp sensor. That must be one big ass kettle!

Oh, it is. It's the 20 gallon Boilermaker. Basically I rationalized getting the 20 gallon over the 15 becuase it was "just 30$ more than the 15".

Easy to do, when you've already rationalized the first 350 or whatever it was...

It's a little big for just 5 gallon batches. I sure don't have to worry about boil overs, though!

The temp sensor is right at the 8 gallon mark. Something I never envisioned when I was getting it. That being said, I generally heat up 10 gallons, and the temp sensor is fine for that, so when I hit my mash temp (accounting for heat loss), I just let 'er rip. Once it's time for the boil, the temp gauge is pretty academic.

This is why I end up doing 6 gallon batches. I'm limited mainly by my mash tuns (5 gallon coolers). That way I have enough for a keg, and to bottle condition some extra for the "fun factor". Pretty amazing though that I can get 8 gal of 1.054 wort using 5 gallon coolers. But, the hydrometer doesn't lie!

I drained trub last night and checked gravity. Was down to 1.028. So, already at 6% ABV in 4 days. Still need to to drop at least another 8 points, to feel real good about it, but seems like I should be on my way!

Here is the boil set-up from a bit of a distance. The pot is so big, I had to set up a grill on cinderblocks to give some clearance from the Banjo Burner. It's SUPER stable though, so that makes it pretty nice as well.

DSC02373.jpg


More to follow as the brew develops!

Mike
 
Ok, I'm finally going at this. I didn't have enough Centennial, so I'll have to sub with some Cascade. The AAs are very close anyway, so the conversion should be easy. I got some Bells Yeast ready to pitch!
 
Brewed this on May 11, using:

75.7% Pale Malt (2-row)
17.3% Vienna Malt
3.8% Crystal 10L
3.2% Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt

Mashed 60 min @ 150F

I had to jigger the hop schedule and amounts a little, as my hops were a little old (but well-stored). Used ProMash to adjust the AA accordingly, and set the recipe up for 55 IBU (Rager):

2.00 oz. Centennial 6% 60 min.
0.75 oz. Centennial 8.25% 10 min.
0.75 oz. Centennial 8.25% 2 min.
0.88 oz. Centennial 8.25% Dry Hop

Used yeast harvested from a sixer of the original; fermented @64F for 15 days; transferred to keg and dry hopped for 6 days. Sampled frequently, waiting for the beer to clear and the flavors to settle in.

Today was the day! Pulled a pint this evening, and it was crystal clear. Tasted it; seems close. Time for the side-by-side. So I went out and picked up a sixer of the real deal, came home, and tapped one of my clone...4 ounces into the pint, and the keg blows! (guess I was "sampling" a little harder than I thought :drunk: , might be time to think about 10-g batches!)

Anyway, here's my take: Bell's lists an OG of 1.058, and an ABV of 7.0%, which implies a FG of ~1.005 (damn, forgot to measure that tonight. Next time). That's attenuation of 90%+. I figured there was no way I'd get that, and so set up my recipe for an OG of 1.064 and a FG of 1.010-11, which would give me the target 7.0% ABV. Nailed those gravities, and so had the right ABV.

On tasting side-by-side: the original has a slightly stronger hop aroma. The hop flavor was virually identical. My brew had a slightly heavier mouthfeel (expected, given the FG), and just a touch less sweetness. Also, the original seemed to have just a bit more hop "bite" at the finish...could have been the carapils drowning out some bittereness, or my slight misadjustment for my old hops.

Anyway, next time I'm going with:
75% Pale Malt (2-row)
20%% Vienna Malt
5% Crystal 10L

and dropping the carapils. Shooting for an OG of 1.058, and hoping the Bell's yeast will take it down to 1.005 (seemed voracious enough on this batch, and the lower OG along with the lack of carapils should help).

Gonna go with eschatz's original hop schedule. Thinking that the fresher hops and lack of carapils will boost the bitterness "bite" on the finish without having to move the calculated IBUs too far from ~55.

And this time, I WILL NOT TOUCH IT UNTIL IT'S 6 WEEKS OLD :eek:
 
My Bell's yeast took off really well in my IPA (OG 1.062), but attenuation was more like 70%.
 
Are you still using the original hops schedule?

Yeah, I'm using the same schedule. The only thing that I've thought about changing is dropping the bittering addition slightly. Centennial gives an almost laundry soap taste when it's used heavily as a bittering hop. Still working with the yeast and body though
 
Yeah, I'm using the same schedule. The only thing that I've thought about changing is dropping the bittering addition slightly. Centennial gives an almost laundry soap taste when it's used heavily as a bittering hop. Still working with the yeast and body though

What are you thinking of dropping it down to? I'm brewing it for a party and it will be the first time a lot of them have tried an IPA, so I want it to be as good as possible. I've got some extra Cascades, what do you think of throwing some in for bittering?
 
Mysteriously, the Bell's web site has changed in the last month or so, and now shows an OG of 1.064 for Two Hearted. Maybe they were reading this thread, and got some ideas ;)

Anyway, no more worries about how they get to 7% from 1.058.
 
Bell's, if you're watching... PLEASE DON'T CHANGE MY TWO-HEARTED ALE! :eek:
 
Guys - I asked Bells if the 1.058 OG is correct and they said no. It should be 1.064. They've corrected their website to reflect the new OG.
 
It never made sense to me how 1.058 could be correct. Seems like 1.064 and a lower mash temp might get you there. Oh, I wish I could get Bell's in CA to see what the real thing tastes like! Guess I'll just have to settle for Alesmith, Stone, Green Flash, Russian River...:drunk:

Seriously, this thing smells so great, not sure if it could get much better!
 
They also said that 7% ABV is correct and they get there using a mash temp around 150F and a yeast strain that easily attenuates into the low to mid 80% range.
 
What yeast have you guys decided on for this beer? I've seen at least 6 different recommendations.

I've only made it with the yeast cultured from the real deal, but I have a hard time believing any of the other suggestions would get you exactly there. I think you need the attenuation of Notty or S-05, with a little of the estery profile of WLP051 etc.

If you can't get the original, I'd choose attenuation over esters, and go with Nottingham (as eschatz says in the OP).
 
Hater...I'll ship you some Bells (Hopslam and Two Hearted) as well as some Odell's IPA for some Stone Ruination and some Pliny the Elder

It never made sense to me how 1.058 could be correct. Seems like 1.064 and a lower mash temp might get you there. Oh, I wish I could get Bell's in CA to see what the real thing tastes like! Guess I'll just have to settle for Alesmith, Stone, Green Flash, Russian River...:drunk:

Seriously, this thing smells so great, not sure if it could get much better!

Lower mash temp and an addition of a few ounces of maltodextrin (if you go that route) would do the trick for stabilizing the mouth feel.
 
Just finished brewing up a ten gallon batch using this recipe. OG was 1.062. Mashed at 150 which dropped to 149. Used the Nottingham Yeast. Made a mistake on the grain bill (had lots of helpers) Used 4lb of Crystal instead of 1lb, 2lbs Vienna instead of 4lb. My helpers added the crystal and stirred it up before I could stop them. Oh well, **** happens. What do you expect when you start drinking at 10AM?? All that grain kind of looks alike anyhow. May have created something yummy, sure smelled good. Any insight on how this will affect the final brew??

On another note, my new Crankenstin grain mill works WICKID PISSA.... (Thats Bostonian for great)
 
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