Magic Hat #9 from Austin Homebrew Supply

I am going to order my extract kit tonight from AHS but I can't decide on the best yeast to pick. My choices are:
White Labs English Ale WLP002
or
Wyeast London ESb 1868
or
Danstar Windsor Dry Yeast

Has anyone brewed this, or can anyone recommend the best yeast to use?

Also should I get the fuel? I have plenty of time before I am going to drink it, but if it makes it that much better or clearer I guess I will buy it.

I would go with either one of the liquid strains, they are both fine products that produce great beer. I have no problem using dry yeast, I use dry most times myself, I just don't like windsor. Safale S-04 would be my choice of dry yeast.
As for the fuel, I have never used it with any brews, and I have always been happy with how they turn out. I know others that swear by it. Maybe try it this time and not next time and see how you feel about it.

BYO has a clone that says to use WYEAST British Ale II 1335, which is what I used and am enjoying right now.

VTBrewer said:

BYO has a clone that says to use WYEAST British Ale II 1335, which is what I used and am enjoying right now.

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Sounds good, but that isn't an option with the kit they have. Did you buy the kit or make your own clone?

They still have that yeast though. You could always just select the "None" option for yeast and then add the 1335 manually if you wanted to. It will work out to the exact same price.

underwaterdan said:

Sounds good, but that isn't an option with the kit they have. Did you buy the kit or make your own clone?

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Clone from BYO

Club HomeBrew -- An Online Homebrew Club > Club Recipes > Magic Hat #9 Clone [Specialty Beer]

FYI I used Wyeast London ESb 1868 and it came out just fine. It is a close match to #9 but not exact. The color was spot on(which I was suprised) the taste was slightly off, but tasted great anyway.

underwaterdan said:

I am going to order my extract kit tonight from AHS but I can't decide on the best yeast to pick. My choices are:
White Labs English Ale WLP002
or
Wyeast London ESb 1868
or
Danstar Windsor Dry Yeast

Has anyone brewed this, or can anyone recommend the best yeast to use?

Also should I get the fuel? I have plenty of time before I am going to drink it, but if it makes it that much better or clearer I guess I will buy it.

Click to expand...

I have this kit bottled right now. I did half the batch with the apricot extract and half without. This saturday will be 3 weeks and I plan on trying one.

I used 1335 with mine w/fuel. Keep us posted, we'll have to compare notes.

I did all of it with the apricot extract. I think maybe adding all the extract was a bit too much, that might explain the taste...

underwaterdan said:

I did all of it with the apricot extract. I think maybe adding all the extract was a bit too much, that might explain the taste...

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From my experience, that fruit extract flavor fades quickly. I did a cherry wheat w/cherry extract, probably 2 months ago. The flavor is still there but nowhere near as noticeable as it used to be. Great beer either way.

Pick anyone.

If you like it and want to make it again then experiment - make 3 batches back to back, with different yeasts. It would be a nice comparison to fine tune your beer to how you like it.

underwaterdan said:

I did all of it with the apricot extract. I think maybe adding all the extract was a bit too much, that might explain the taste...

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We use to include 2 oz. of Apricot and we received complaints that it didn't have enough Apricot to match Magic Hat #9. We bumped it up to 3 oz. and the complaints stopped.

Forrest

Austinhomebrew said:

We use to include 2 oz. of Apricot and we received complaints that it didn't have enough Apricot to match Magic Hat #9. We bumped it up to 3 oz. and the complaints stopped.

Forrest

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Just to let you know in no way was that a jab at the kit. I would and will buy and follow it again. I did a blind taste test and they were pretty close, there is no way I am going to be able to match it 100% with an extract kit. Out of the three I have on tap that is the most popular by far.

On a side note, the clone kits I have gotten from AHB are always a safe bet, in addition they have such a huge list when people request a particular beer I can usually follow it.

I didn't take it as a jab. I was just letting people know why there is 3 oz. of Apricot in there. The flavoring fades over time. I am afraid that people add the flavoring and then taste it right away. At that point the flavor would be strong and the beer would be green. The kits with flavorings are balanced for once the beer has matured and has been aged.

That being said you can add as much as you like or as little as you like. No harm no foul.

Forrest
Austin Homebrew

Austinhomebrew said:

We use to include 2 oz. of Apricot and we received complaints that it didn't have enough Apricot to match Magic Hat #9. We bumped it up to 3 oz. and the complaints stopped.

Forrest

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The book Clone Brews has 3 oz in their recipe.

Very strange... This tread does not come up if I search for magic or magic hat or austin.

Forrest
Austin Homebrew

I used the British Ale II and I used 4 oz. of the extract for the flavor and it came out really close to MH #9. FYI I made an all grain batch from BYO magazine.

im doing something similar to this ... plan on using apricot extract .... do you still put it in the secondary ... im thinking you could just add it at bottleing?

thoughts?

So, is everyone pretty happy with this one? My wife loves #9 so am thinking of making this my next batch.

Extract should go in at bottling.

Jamil and Tastey Cloned this on their latest episode of Can you Brew it:

The Brewing Network.com - :

Any idea what hops are in the Austin version of this? I didn't see it.

Do you add the extract at bottling for this or is it worth adding to the primary?