Sixpoint Sweet Action Clone?

Anyone familiar with this beer? I used to drink it when I lived in Brooklyn, but I haven't been able to find anything like it since I moved away. I want to try to make it for my first all-grain batch.

I've done a little bit of research (mostly on these forums) and come up with this recipe after fiddling around with Beersmith. Keep in mind that I don't really know what I'm doing, so if any of this doesn't make sense, let me know. And if anyone has tried to clone Sweet Action and gotten close, I'd love to hear about it.

(5 gallon batch)
9 lb Maris Otter
1 lb Gambrinus Honey Malt
1/2 lb Flaked Barley
1/2 lb Cara 20L
1/4 lb Cara 45L
1/4 lb Cara 55L
3/4 oz Horizon (60 min)
1/2 oz Glacier (10 min)
1/2 oz Glacier (FO)

Mash at 154F.

Yeast is WL007 (Dry English Ale)

According to my research, these are all the correct ingredients. (The Cara malts should actually be 25L, 45L, and 60L, but the place I'm buying from doesn't have those exact malts. There may also be some Simcoe hops, but I'm not sure what they would be used for.) I just don't know if the proportions are right.

Beersmith say 1.069 OG (I read somewhere that it should be 1.067), 31.7 IBUs (should be 31-33), 10.7 SRM. The color seems slightly dark, at least in the little sample area on the Beersmith screen. Also, I think the ABV may be a little higher than the original, but that makes it even better, as far as I'm concerned. Anyone have any ideas/suggestions?

PS This forum is an amazing resource.

I had it on tap near here a few times. 1.067 seems high IMO

Utopeya, I was curious how this came out for you. Did you think it was close or not?

It was pretty good, but not Sweet Action. I talked to the brewers a little bit at one point, and they gave me some hints. First of all, there's a big Simcoe addition at the end of the boil. (I'm guessing the Glacier goes in at 10 or 15 minutes.)

The malt bill's also more complex than this recipe. I was told there are around seven different malts in Sweet Action, including (if I remember correctly) a few different base malts. My current recipe, which is in the fermenter right now, has 4 lbs of MO, 3 lbs of pilsner, and 3 lbs of wheat malt, along with the honey, crystal, and flaked barley.

I also read somewhere that there may be some Vienna in there, but I didn't add that.

let me know how that works, I'm gonna give it a go. how was the coloring with the 3 crystal malts?

It was a little darker than I expected, but then when I went back to Brooklyn, Sweet Action was a little darker than I remembered. Still, I've gone down to 1/4 lb of each.

After doing some chasing down, I've settled on this for a recipe. The IBU's and the SRM are dead on. Any thoughts? Do you think the "massive hit of Simcoe" is ok as a flame out addition?

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Cooler (48 qt)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00

Ingredients

4.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 38.10 %
2.00 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 19.05 %
1.75 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 16.67 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.14 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
0.25 lb Caraamber (30.0 SRM) Grain 2.38 %
0.25 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.38 %
0.50 oz Horizon [12.00 %] (60 min) Hops 21.3 IBU
0.50 oz Glacier [5.60 %] (30 min) Hops 7.6 IBU
0.25 oz Horizon [12.00 %] (15 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
0.25 oz Glacier [5.60 %] (5 min) Hops 1.0 IBU
2.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) Yeast-Ale

Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.42 %
Bitterness: 35.2 IBU
Est Color: 12.0 SRM

Looks pretty good, although for some reason I'm still committed to the idea that there's honey malt in this thing. I think FO is a good place for the Simcoe--I split mine into a 5 min addition and a FO addition (though I have no idea whether that was wise). Also, I've been operating under the assumption that Horizon is just used for bittering.

Let me know how yours turns out--mine won't be ready for several weeks, plus I don't live in NY anymore and won't be able to do a comparison.

UPDATE: Well, I don't know whether my version is Sweet Action, but it's delicious. I think it's going to be my house ale.

I'm going down to NYC in a couple of days--I'll try to do a comparison. Here's my recipe, for reference:

Batch Size: 6.0 gal
Boil Size: 7.5 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 71.00

4.0 lb Crisp Maris Otter
3.0 lb Weyermann Pale Wheat
3.0 lb Weyermann Pilsner
1.0 lb Gambrinus Honey Malt
0.5 lb Briess Flaked Barley
.25 lb Crisp Crystal Malt 15L
.25 lb Crisp Crystal Malt 45L
.25 lb Crisp Crystal Malt 60L

.75 oz Magnum (13.6%) @ 60 min (I didn't have access to Horizon.)
0.5 oz Glacier (4.5%) @ 10 min
0.5 oz Simcoe (12.4%) @ 5 min
.75 oz Simcoe (12.4%) @ FO

WLP007 - Dry English Ale Yeast

Mash @ 154F for 60 min
Ferment @ 64F (I raised the temp to 66F after about a week.)

Est. OG 1.055
Est. FG 1.012
Est. ABV 5.7%
Est. IBU 34.7 (Tinseth)
Est. SRM 8.8

Edit: osmodeus, I think the flaked barley in my version here is basically doing the job that the Carafoam is doing in your version. Also, can I ask why you are using Caraamber? I didn't see it mentioned anywhere. I probably should add some Vienna to my recipe, but I'm reluctant to make changes since I'm really happy with it as is.

Thanks guys,
Six point sells sweet action in cans and I can't wait to do a side by side with
Utopeya's recipe.

Looks good Utopeya. Glad to hear it came out good. I'm sorry to say I haven't been able to find the time to try out my recipe. I will post some results when I finally get some free time to brew.

I hope to brew this weekend.
I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

OK, I couldn't do a side by side, but I did drink the Sweet Action and my version within about an hour of each other. And... there are significant differences. The main one is that Sweet Action tastes like it's pretty aggressively dry hopped. I didn't remember this aspect of it (or they messed with the recipe at some point). Anyway, that's a big difference between the real beer and my version.

Any other differences were less obvious, especially with the dry hop flavor distracting me. But I do think my version was a little sweeter than Sweet Action, so maybe the mash temp needs to come down a bit.

Good luck everyone.

Utopyea
What do you think, 2 ozs of simcoe dry hop for two weeks? Mash at 152?

To be honest I don't have much experience with dry hopping, but that seems like as good a place as any to start. Let us know how it comes out.

Well, I finally got to brew this past weekend. Made a couple of changes to the above recipe. Decided to not use the Simcoe at flame out. Gonna dry hop with it. Also, thought I had the wl007 and didn't. I pitched the wyeast British ale yeast instead 1098. O.G. came in high at 1.062, so it looks to be a stronger than expected brew. First time using my own grain mill, and efficiency was close to 80% not the 70%. It seemed quite tasty pre-fermentation, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Bottled this, this morning. Finally got a true taste. Pretty damn close, if not spot on. The dry hopping with the Simcoe was definately the way to go with this. The color seemed accurate, but I wasn't doing a side by side (drank my last sweet action yesterday like an idiot). Gonna give it a couple of weeks to bottle condition, and then do a side by side. I will let you know. As for the crazy grain bill in mine, I took it from a post in another thread. Someone who said they had worked there listed these grains.

utopeya said:

OK, I couldn't do a side by side, but I did drink the Sweet Action and my version within about an hour of each other. And... there are significant differences. The main one is that Sweet Action tastes like it's pretty aggressively dry hopped. I didn't remember this aspect of it (or they messed with the recipe at some point). Anyway, that's a big difference between the real beer and my version.

Click to expand...

They are probably still tweaking the recipe. However you are lucky you got cans with the dry hop aroma. It seems that a lot of distributors didn't keep the cans in good cool conditions during the summer based on my and a friend's observations earlier this year.

I'm thinking of brewing this soon - anyone have any new recipe tweaks since this thread happened in 2011?

btw, utopeya, I noticed you're in Providence too - in case you haven't found it yet they have Sweet Action in cans at the English Ale House off Thayer Street...

becsbrew said:

I'm thinking of brewing this soon - anyone have any new recipe tweaks since this thread happened in 2011?

btw, utopeya, I noticed you're in Providence too - in case you haven't found it yet they have Sweet Action in cans at the English Ale House off Thayer Street...

Click to expand...

More Rhodies! sweet!

I am trying this later this week. I based it on Utopyea's recipe and adjusted for my system which required a bit more grain to reach 1.055.(5.5gal)
Going to mash at 150 to dry it out a bit.
I have to wait for the Horizon hops to arrive cause I couldnt find them local.
I will post progress

I'm trying it this week too - using this recipe: http://hopville.com/recipe/716495

I couldn't find Horizon either (not that I looked all that hard), so I'm subbing Magnum instead. I'm also going to dry hop with simcoe instead of glacier just because I got glacier in pellets and would rather dry hop with leaf. Mashing at 150 sounds like a good idea, I hadn't decided yet what temp to shoot for. I'll let you know how it turns out!

okay, so its been a while and this beer is long gone, but I figured I'd let everyone know it came out fantastic - maybe the best beer I've made so far. That being said, it didn't taste dead on at all. Some of the folks who tried mine side by side with the real thing liked it more (but maybe they were just being polite). Mine ended up a little sweeter, more citrusy. I think I'm going to brew it again, mash maybe a little cooler and leave out the orange peel. Yum!

I checked out Six Points web site and the description for Sweet Action is Part pale ale, part wheat, part cream ale- all Sweet Action. Since its part cream ale I decided to modify osmodeus recipe slightly by adding corn. I brew it this weekend.

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (15 gal) and Cooler (10 gal)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00



4 oz - Crystal Malt - 20L
4 oz - Crystal Malt - 40L
8 oz - Crystal Malt - 60L
4 oz - Caraamber
8 oz - Flaked Barley
4 oz - Vienna Malt
1 lbs 8 oz - Plisner German
1 lbs 12 oz - White Weat Malt
2 lbs - Flaked Corn
4 lbs - Maris Otter
0.5 oz - Horizon 60mins
0.5 oz - Glacier 30mins
0.25 oz - Horizon 15mins
0.25 oz - Glacier 5mins
2.00 oz - Simcoe 0mins

Mash at 154F.

Yeast is WL007 (Dry English Ale)



Est Original Gravity: 1.061 SG
Original Gravity: 1.057
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.8 %
Bitterness: 35.2 IBU
Est Color: 9.7 SRM

Good luck, let me know how the flaked corn works out.

Magee said:

I checked out Six Points web site and the description for Sweet Action is Part pale ale, part wheat, part cream ale- all Sweet Action. Since its part cream ale I decided to modify osmodeus recipe slightly by adding corn. I brew it this weekend.

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.41 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (15 gal) and Cooler (10 gal)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00



4 oz - Crystal Malt - 20L
4 oz - Crystal Malt - 40L
8 oz - Crystal Malt - 60L
4 oz - Caraamber
8 oz - Flaked Barley
4 oz - Vienna Malt
1 lbs 8 oz - Plisner German
1 lbs 12 oz - White Weat Malt
2 lbs - Flaked Corn
4 lbs - Maris Otter
0.5 oz - Horizon 60mins
0.5 oz - Glacier 30mins
0.25 oz - Horizon 15mins
0.25 oz - Glacier 5mins
2.00 oz - Simcoe 0mins

Mash at 154F.

Yeast is WL007 (Dry English Ale)



Est Original Gravity: 1.061 SG
Original Gravity: 1.057
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.8 %
Bitterness: 35.2 IBU
Est Color: 9.7 SRM

Click to expand...

No Dry hop additions? I feel like Sweet Action has to be dry hopped to get the same taste when its fresh. Maybe 1oz Simcoe and 1oz Glacier for 5-7 days?

jglazer said:

No Dry hop additions? I feel like Sweet Action has to be dry hopped to get the same taste when its fresh. Maybe 1oz Simcoe and 1oz Glacier for 5-7 days?

Click to expand...

Yes and No. I will wait for fermentation to complete and give it a taste test. If I feel that dry hopping is required I'll dry hop with Simcoe for 7-14 days. So far it’s been fermenting for 94hrs at about 64 to 66 degrees Fahrenheit.

Magee said:

Yes and No. I will wait for fermentation to complete and give it a taste test. If I feel that dry hopping is required I'll dry hop with Simcoe for 7-14 days. So far it’s been fermenting for 94hrs at about 64 to 66 degrees Fahrenheit.

Click to expand...

That makes sense.

Definitely be prepared to dry hop with the Simcoe. That was spot on when I did this.

osmodeus said:

Definitely be prepared to dry hop with the Simcoe. That was spot on when I did this.

Click to expand...

Yeah I figured I would have dry hop no matter what. How much Simcoe did you use for 5gal and how much time did you dry hop for? Crazy thing is I have two cans of Sweet Action left over from a memorial day party in 2011 and I have some left over from this year’s memorial day party. I drank them side by side and there is a slight difference between the 2011 version and the 2013 version. 2011 ver. was slightly more hoppy than the 2013.

I used 2 ounces of simcoe for dry hopping 5 gallons. Dry hopped for 7 days. According to sixppoint, there's a massive hit of simcoe at the end.

Hey folks, I know this thread is 10 years old, but I've been trying and trying to make a Sweet Action clone and borrowed from contributors here (thanks to utopeya, magee, osmodeus) to build a recipe, then translate it into an extract. Anyway, finally got something good enough to share so in case it is useful to anyone, here you go! I'm calling it Plot Twist Creamy Pale Ale.

Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 6.4 gal

0.5 lb Briess Flaked Barley
1 lb honey malt
.25 lb Crystal Malt 40L
.25 lb Crystal Malt 60L
.25 lb Carahell

3.3 lbs CBW Golden light LME
2.4 lbs CBW Pilsen light LME
1 lb Bavarian Wheat DME

.75 oz Magnum @ 60 min
0.35 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 10 min
0.25 oz Willamette @ 10 min
0.5 oz Simcoe @ 5 min
0.5 oz Simcoe @ FO

WLP007 - Dry English Ale Yeast

OG: 1.052
FG: 1.012