American Pale Ale Nierra Sevada (Session SNPA Clone)

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I'll be brewing this one up this weekend. I've brewed Ed's Haus Pale several times, which I like but I want something a bit stronger with more of a bite. It never gets that cold here, but in the winter I sure do like the hoppy bitter beers more. I'll be finishing this beer with my home-grown cascade hops. One keg will get another 1-2 ounces of my Cascades for a dry-hop. I'll post back with my results!
 
Hi, Biermuncher (and anyone else who wants to chime in!)

First off...sorry for the essay; bare with me if you will!

Wanted to ask you a question about this particular recipe (your SNPA clone). A little bit about me...I've been brewing for a little over 2 years. I've been doing all grain for about 8 months. I'm just getting to the point where my gravities are coming out where I want them...so that's good. I use a yeast starter and I use a son-of-a-fermentation chiller with a digital temperature probe to maintain fermentation temps. I force carb my beer and serve it on tap...and sometimes bottle a few as travellers (beer gun or just straight from the tap if I'm feeling lazy!).

I've used 3 of your recipes so far (either exactly as you laid them out, or as a base for customizations): Centennial Blonde, Blue Balls, and OktoberFAST. All of them have been awesome...and I thank you for that!

So...here's my question. The Sierra Nevada clone has really become my Everest. By this I mean that it has become a seemingly insurmountable challenge--and a source of great frustration. I've tried to clone this relatively simple beer about 6 times total (half of them have been extract + PM; the other half all-grain). In my 2 most recent attempts, I used a recipe that I got from BYO magazine...and in the latest of said attempts, I hit the OG right where I wanted. FG was a little bit lower than expected but I suspect that this was because of lower mash temps than planned (152, rather than 154). I didn't do a mashout for this last batch...just fly sparged with about 180-185 degree water (yes, this is higher than the 170 degree goal, but I'm trying to account for potential heat loss).

Anyway, each of these attempts has come out relatively similar...it's decent and for the most part drinkable, but it just tastes like homebrew. The most recent has a little more bitterness than SNPA, but no where NEAR as nice of a malt aroma or taste. There is a certain caramel sweetness that you get on the nose with an actual SNPA...and this is very much absent from my cloning attempts--Not even CLOSE. Mine also taste more 'dirty'. Hard to explain...I've dry hopped with whole cascades using a mesh bag in the secondary.

I have not yet tried your recipe but yours looks pretty similar to the ones I have tried. In a nutshell, I'm coming to you for some advice because I've brewed your other beers with fantastic results. So, I trust your opinion when it comes to taste, etc. And specifically because you seem to think your recipe for SNPA is pretty good!

Can you think of anything off the top of your head that I'm doing WRONG? Or maybe just some additional insight?

I want to make it clear that my goal isn't necessarily to clone SNPA perfectly per se...but rather to perfect my techniques. SNPA just happens to be a beer that I enjoy thoroughly. Lemme know when you get a chance...thanks, man!

Here's my recipe and some of the results (I use BeerSmith):
10 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 94.21 %
10.1 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.79 %
0.18 oz Magnum [14.40 %] (60 min) Hops 8.2 IBU
0.70 oz Pearle [8.20 %] (60 min) Hops 18.2 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [7.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Cascade [7.50 %] (15 min) Hops 11.8 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [7.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 35 ml] Yeast-Ale

Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.007 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.57 %
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.26 %
Bitterness: 38.3 IBU
Calories: 241 cal/pint
Est Color: 7.5 SRM
 
I've got this one in the boil kettle right now. It just worked out that I had all the right stuff sitting in front of me, so I decided to try it.
 
Tapped a keg of this last night and I gotta say it is one fantastic session beer! It was a mere 3 weeks old and tasted amazing. I have a 10 gal batch of this planned for Feb.
 
I just racked this out of primary today (I brewed it on Dec 20 th) and was thinking about dry hopping it. Amarillo maybe????
 
I just racked this out of primary today (I brewed it on Dec 20 th) and was thinking about dry hopping it. Amarillo maybe????

I can vouch for that. I dry-hopped this recipe with 1 oz of Amarillo for 1 week and it was DEEE-licious! It went too damn fast though...guess I'll have to brew up another batch.
 
Hey guys, trying to brew up a 2.5 gal. extract batch so that I'm able to do a full boil in my small pot. I was wondering if anyone had the extract clone recipe that they could then input into a brewing formula program to get the numbers. Wish I had one of the programs myself, so thanks so much for any help that anyone can give! Also, is there a way to figure out a 2.5 gal. recipe from a 5 gal.? I'm assuming that you can't just cut it in half, at least for the hops.
 
Help second batch all grain , pick everything and got 04 white labs yeast it is a Irish ale .Will this be ok or should I get something else???? Just starting to mash Thanks great website
 
Homebrew tastes good, though...

Hmmm...well you're entitled to your opinion. I guess I should have qualified that by saying that it tastes like less-than-high-quality homebrew. Anyhow, turns out that my thermometer was a POS and was giving me higher than accurate readings. Therefore, I was mashing too low and the beer was coming out WAY too dry. Used a new thermometer for my last batch and problem solved!
 
bueller?

"i have williamette, us goldings, and hersbrucker.....

which one would be a good substitute?"
 
bueller?

"i have williamette, us goldings, and hersbrucker.....

which one would be a good substitute?"

Unfortunately, none of those will get you an SNPA-like beer. Will and goldings are great for English pale ales and hersbrucker is a noble hop.

Try to get your hands on one of the American hops like Cascade, Centennial or Amarillo.

If you can't go ahead and use the goldings for bittering and the Will fro late additions. you'll end up with a nice English pale ale.
 
fair enough. thanks!

i just bought a pound each of those three, so I can't buy any more hops until those are gone. aka, next year, lol
 
I bottled mine today. It sure turned out pretty after cold crashing and gelatin. Finished right at 1.010. Hydrometer sample tasted pretty good.
 
Thinking about trying the extract version posted on page three. But 4 pounds carapils? Gotta be a mistake...plus I think another one pound of caramel?

Only one other person addressed the issue, is it REALLY coming out good with 4 pounds of carapils, or am I right in thinking 0.5-1.0 pounds is more appropriate (for 5 gallons...)?
 
Your recipe in the BeerSmith file is a bit different than what is shown in post #1.
Any specific reason for the differences? Addition of Honey Malt, less Pearle, different yeast.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
16.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 84.21 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.26 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.26 %
1.00 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5.26 %
1.50 oz Pearle [7.80 %] (60 min) Hops 22.2 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [7.00 %] (15 min) Hops 5.9 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [7.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [7.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-56) Yeast-Ale
 
Well, the batch I brewed back on 12-20 is just about perfect now. I'll probably do another batch in a week or so.
 
I brewed this one, and it turned out pretty good! I missed the mash temp by two degrees, and some of the bittering hops jumped out of the kettle early on, so it's not a real clone, but it's still DAMN GOOD BEER!

Thanks for the recipe, biermuncher! :mug:
 
Brewing my second batch of this today. Was wanting to do a 10 gal batch, but I only have 3 primaries, and 2 of em are taken up with a 10 gal batch of Cream of 3 Crops!... LOL
 
This was my first all grain brew. Just tapped it for Father's Day....and happy Father's Day to me!!! It is head and shoulders better than any extract beer I've ever made...and I have had some good ones. Absolutely tastes like Sierra Nevada (but is still a bit hazy for now). Great recipe!
 
I used this as my very first all-grain batch. It is probably the best beer I have ever made! It has the same hop level of Sierra Nevada, but it is much more "sessionable" at the lower alcohol level.

This is a real winner that I will probably be brewing on a regular basis.

Thanks for a great recipe!
 
I am copying this to extent but made changes to up the ABV to 5%

11.75 lbs - 2 row
8 oz - crystal 60
4 oz - cara-pils

1 oz Pearle 60 min
1.5 oz Cascade 15 min
.5 oz Cascade - flame out

Expected OG 1.054
Expected FG 1.016
SRM 7.2
IBU 39

SNPA is also one of my favorite session pale ales so I am looking forward to brewing this and doing a side by side comparison to a SNPA!
 
Just brewed this again; I really like the recipe. I've been stepping up the later hop additions and doing some dry hopping to it as well. So far I have brewed 20 gallons of this beer.

I liked it so much that I included it as one of my "12 Beers of Christmas" Check it out, I even did a label based on Sierra Nevada.

Here is a copy of the label if anyone is interested in using it.
Sierra-Nevada.jpg
 
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