How many have brewed Jamil's recipes? (Nice...Red Rocket)

So I just tapped Jamil's Red Rocket clone (highly hopped Amber Ale) which was the first of Jamil's recipes that I've brewed. I still have his American Brown in a fermenter, and I brewed his Robust Porter today. I kept his grain bills exact but sometimes needed to do hop substitutes, but tried my best to keep close to his intent.

Like I said, I tapped the Red Rocket. Still a bit undercarbed but, wow. I don't think it's quite to style for an Amber Ale, but dang this is a fine recipe. If any Fort Wayne brewers are reading, it reminds me of the Imperial Red that Mad Anthony's had on tap recently. Not a session brew, but a nice one pint pour.

So how many of you have brewed Jamil's recipes? Have most people had good luck with them? Any stand out?

Jamil's Red Rocket Clone as brewed by StunnedMonkey

12.4 lbs 2-row
1 lb Munich
.5 lbs Victory
1 lb Crystal 40
.5 lbs Crystal 120
3 oz Pale Chocolate
1 oz Horizon (10.9) 60 minutes
1 oz Columbus (12.2) 10 minutes
1 oz Cascades (6.0) 10 minutes
1 oz Columbus (12.2) 0 minutes
1 oz Cascades (6.0) 0 minutes
Safale US-05

5.5 gallons
OG 1.066 (69.43% efficiency)
FG 1.011
IBU 61.9
ABV 7.26 (!!!)

I've brewed or based beers off:

A ProMash Recipe - Kolsch
Dry Stout

..and just brewed one based off his Belgian Wit in his BYO styles article.

I used the same grain bill (well, subbed for the pale choc.) for my Bravo Red. It turned out quite nice.

I have also brewed a lot of his recipes from Brewing Classic Styles. They are a great place to start if you have never brewed the style.

I've done a couple of his recipes, all with good success.

I'm doing his Berliner Weisse next.

I have done several, here's the latest. Blonde, American Wheat, Saison All have been quite tasty so far.

I just did the Southern English Brown. Brewed the recipe verbatim. Went into bottles last night. Seems like it should be pretty good.

I've also done Janet's Brown Ale (which I've put in the RDB) and it is flat out phenomenal (but McDole's recipe, not Jamil's). Cross between an IPA and Brown ale - it's a great "session" or "everyday" beer for me, even though mine's still around 7%.

Those two and the 888 are the only recipes I haven't concocted myself. I prefer to make my own style, but it was nice to not have to think too hard about it and know I was going to get a good brew in the end.

I have JZ's Evil Twin kegged and ready to tap as soon as there is room in the keggerator.

Early samplings are a pretty tasty Amber. This is an all late addition beer with Centennial and Amarillo.

I brew almost exclusively out of his style book, although I sometimes put a twist on the beer....lets see, I've done the Dunkelweizen, Am. Pale Ale, Belgian Pale, Saison, IPA, porter, Belgian Blonde, Southern English Brown (although I soured it and am fruiting it), and some more I can't remember. They have all come out phenomenal.

I brewed a mild, which I think is Jamil's recipe. I say I think so, because Beerrific gave it to me in chat one night, and he said it was from Jamil.

So, that makes one so far.

I really need the styles book- I would really like to try most of the ones ColoradoXJ13 mentioned. (I'll drop hints for Christmas).

I've brewed his mild twice and his dry stout. The mild as both extract and AG, but both times with a few substitutions (the extract with a lower amount of dark chocolate malt for the light chocolate malt, the AG with Pioneer hops for the EKG; I believe the light chocolate malt had the largest influence on the flavour). The dry stout was excellent.

I usually make my own recipes, but have been stung in the past when I'm trying a new style for the first time. So now, when I'm doing a new style, I'll use BCS as a guide. I usually won't copy his recipe exactly, but close enough. Then I'll see how it turns out and tweak it from there if necessary. His Southern English Brown Ale, which I've had on tap for awhile, is simply sublime. The Special Roast malt in there was sheer brilliance! I've got several beers based on his recipes in my brewery now. Spiced holiday ale, Munich Dunkel, Rauchbier, Flanders Red, Strong West Coast Amber, Belgian Golden Strong. All those were new styles to me, so I turned to BCS for guidance. And so far, all of them are awesome.

I recommend to anyone out there who is trying a new style for the first time to use BCS as a guide and tweak it from there. It's better than going through 2 or 3 iterations of bad beer first...

I have been quite happy with all of the JZ recipes I've used.
So far I've brewed & drank the American IPA twice, Nutcastle twice, ESB and the Robust Porter, which is my favorite beer I've brewed.
I have in process a Lambic & two Belgain Blondes (using different yeasts), the Dry Stout & a Scottish 70.
JZ's book says he aims for 6 gal in the kettle at the end of the boil & puts 5.5 gal in the fermenter, and transfers 5 gal into a keg after fermenting.
My current setup has a 5 gal max in the kettle (using PM), and I put all 5 gal in the fermenter, so I adjust all recipes by 5/6ths.

I have done his strong scoch ale and it is still in secondary. However, all my recipes are inspired by his. Brewing Classic styles is awesome

Jamil

I don't think I have brewed any of his recipes exactly, however many of my recipes have been strongly based on the ones in his book. It is a good way to get any idea of what a recipe for a particular style should look like.
I have done a RedRocket that was based on his recipe, however mine ended up varying quite a bit due to substitutions and some unexpected efficiency issues with my mash. Still was delicious.

Craig

I've done the Robust Porter 3 times now.The third time we did it (2 weeks ago) was at a HBT Meetup (Maryland Brewday). I loved it so much the times I did it, that I felt the need to share that particluar brew with the rest of the group.

One guy even put some chocolate in it to make it a little 'different.'

I've done his cream ale "Weed Feed and Mow" and also "Jamil's Extra Yellow" - both were very good.

I have not used any of his recipes but his show on Brown Porters convinced me to add some brown malt to my recipe.

You should bring some of that to the meeting next month StunnedMonkey, everyone liked Mad Anthony's Imperial Red.

Tonedef131 said:

I have not used any of his recipes but his show on Brown Porters convinced me to add some brown malt to my recipe.

You should bring some of that to the meeting next month StunnedMonkey, everyone liked Mad Anthony's Imperial Red.

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If I make it out there I'll definitely bottle up a couple. Of course, when I said it reminded me of MA's Imperial Red, I didn't mean it was as good as MA's Imperial Red. Just so we're clear.

I've got a Northern English Brown (not Jamil's) that I might bring as well for a little feedback. I'm a new brewer and I've never had anyone knowledgeable sample my efforts.

I brewed his American Amber that he wrote about in BYO, turned out great. Only took two weeks to float that keg

Displaced MassHole said:

I brewed his American Amber that he wrote about in BYO, turned out great. Only took two weeks to float that keg

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Was that the "Red Rocket" clone. Because that's the one I brewed. He lists is as an Amber Ale, though Beer Tools Pro shows it way out of style for an Amber Ale.

i did his american brown 1 time and i thought it was ok maybe it was something i did wrong(it was my 2nd all grain). i am willing to give his recipes another try since his accomplishments they speak mountains of the man.

gxm said:

JZ's book says he aims for 6 gal in the kettle at the end of the boil & puts 5.5 gal in the fermenter, and transfers 5 gal into a keg after fermenting.
My current setup has a 5 gal max in the kettle (using PM), and I put all 5 gal in the fermenter, so I adjust all recipes by 5/6ths.

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I should really read more carefully, no wonder I am hitting all the OG's +0.01, I double the recipe, end with 11g in the pot and transfer 5.5g to two carboys...my efficiency is also very very high, I need to start reducing the grain bills.

I've done the Weed/Feed/Mow exactly as written and it came out awesome. I've also done the Brown Porter without the brown malt and it came out so-so...I'm guessing it wasn't the recipe but my poor substitution. I look forward to brewing it again but with the brown malt in it.

I've listened to the brewing network podcasts and they have quite a few listeners who have been brewing Jamil's recipes and winning contests with them.

broadbill said:

I've also done the Brown Porter without the brown malt and it came out so-so...I'm guessing it wasn't the recipe but my poor substitution. I look forward to brewing it again but with the brown malt in it.

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Yeah. I listened to the Brown Porter show recently, and he made a pretty big deal of how important the brown malt was to the recipe. I've never used brown malt in anything myself so I'm not sure what it adds, but apparently it's something.

I did his Imperial IPA and his West Coast Blaster (Amercian Amber Ale)...the two were really good.

There's a reason they call him The Pope.

I've brewed a bunch of these, but the only one I've yet sampled is the West Coast Blaster, his West Coast version of an amber ale, highly hopped and generally bigger than the style calls for. I love this beer. It is awesome. I need to make more.

I'm now waiting on the ESB, the American IPA, the Dry Stout, and the Cream Ale. I've got the Robust Porter fermenting.

One of the things that I really like about this book is that you know you're getting good stuff. So much on the Internet turns out to be sub-par; Jamil's recipe's have been tested, tasted, and tried. They're good.

I will actually sit and read through the book and check across styles and recipes. It is a great way to understand similarities and differences and how small changes in a formulation can make a large difference in the final beer.

Palmer's contribution to the book are also very informative; he tends to get overlooked in this.

Along with How to Brew and Designing Great Beers, I think Brewing Classic Styles is an essential reference for every home brewer.

I did his Ordinary Bitter. I don't know if I have accurately captured it, though. It's not bad, but it's nothing special, either.

Given that he had like 30 beers or something in the final round of competition this year, I think you're safe with his recipes.

I've done Jamil's ordinary bitter, robust porter, american wheat (twice), IPA, and english pale ale. They were all very good. BCS is an excellent resource, to be sure.

Jester369 said:

I did his Ordinary Bitter. I don't know if I have accurately captured it, though. It's not bad, but it's nothing special, either.

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So Ordinary Bitter = Nothing Special?

Sounds like you've captured it perfectly!

<now stopping smart@ss>

Sounds like you should have done the "special" bitter. The "ordinary" bitter is...ordinary.

Jester369 said:

I did his Ordinary Bitter. I don't know if I have accurately captured it, though. It's not bad, but it's nothing special, either.

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jsullivan02130 said:

I've brewed a bunch of these, but the only one I've yet sampled is the West Coast Blaster, his West Coast version of an amber ale, highly hopped and generally bigger than the style calls for. I love this beer. It is awesome. I need to make more.

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I'm almost certain that the West Coast Blaster from the book (which I don't have) is the same as the Amber Ale (Red Rocket Clone) from his podcast. That's the one I just tapped and I like it quite a bit. If I'm still liking it after half the keg, I'm definitely going to brew another batch.

blacklab said:

So Ordinary Bitter = Nothing Special?

Sounds like you've captured it perfectly!

<now stopping smart@ss>

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jsullivan02130 said:

Sounds like you should have done the "special" bitter. The "ordinary" bitter is...ordinary.

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Ok, smartarses

What I mean is that it wasn't a particularly shining example of an O.B.!

Jester369 said:

I did his Ordinary Bitter. I don't know if I have accurately captured it, though. It's not bad, but it's nothing special, either.

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Just too ordinary? (sorry couldn't resist)

(Damn, I should read all the posts)

Beerrific said:

Just too ordinary? (sorry couldn't resist)

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You type too slow - blacklab and jsullivan02130 beat you to it!

StunnedMonkey said:

I'm almost certain that the West Coast Blaster from the book (which I don't have) is the same as the Amber Ale (Red Rocket Clone) from his podcast. That's the one I just tapped and I like it quite a bit. If I'm still liking it after half the keg, I'm definitely going to brew another batch.

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Well, in the book, he makes special note that while the WCB is not within the BJCP guidelines for Amber Ale, it's indicative of the direction that West Coast hoppy ambers are going.

Every beer I've made from his recipes has turned out great and I've won a few first place ribbons (and some BOS) with them too.

Trying to figure out what is going on with Jamil's Amber-Red Ale (as described here: http://beerdujour.com/Recipes/Jamil/JamilsAmber-RedAle.htm). It note that it is almost exactly the same as the Red Rocket, except that it has twice the hops (same schedule though) and a bit higher OG. I want to brew this less hoppy version, but am concerned that this might just be a poorly transcribed version of the Red Rocket. I also note that the Amber-Red recipe calls for a British 2-Row. On the podcast describing his Red Rocket clone, Jamil commented that the recipe (for that clone) incorrectly called for British malt. Would this be the case here too?

I am confused! (I wrote to Jamil, but have not heard back yhet.)

His dunkelweizen is seriously in my top 2-3 brews (out of about 24 or so at this point). A friend is doing it now as well and it smells freaking awesome.

Also, I did his ordinary bitter and its just so-so, but I messed up as it was my first time doing No-Chill and boiled the flavor hops for too long.

However, I did his Belgian Golden Strong and it was ASS-LIKE. I did use a different yeast (WLP500 instead of the WLP Strong-whatever) so maybe it was me to blame. Dumped it after 9 months.