I need help/critique on an Abita Andygator clone

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boomtown25

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I have been asked to do a clone of this for a friend and this is the best clone recipe I have come across so far:

10# Blegian Pils
3# Briess Pilsen Light DME
1# Munich Malt
0.8# Carapils/Dextrine
0.8# Briess Caramel 80L

1oz Perle at 60 min.
1oz Perle at 40 min.
1oz Perle at 20 min.
1oz Perle at 10 min.

This recipe has the yeast listed as Wyeast 3787, but all the rest of the other clone recipes I have come across had a lager yeast. I do not have the ability to do a lager. So here are my questions:

1. Does this sound pretty decent (as a clone)
2. Can someone tell me how to turn this into AG (or if not, should I wait late in the boil to add the DME?)
3. Am I good with this yeast?

Thanks in advance beer ninjas!
 
This was one of the first craft brews I ever had...Cant remember much about it except that the guy that I was drinking with had an arrogant bastard and that I was blown away by that in comparison.
 
It's a Hellesbock, a lager, so you'll want to use a lager yeast and cold age it if you want it to come out close. Swamp coolers are pretty easy to make and if you use a towell/t-shirt to wick some of the water, a cheap fan blowing on it, and maybe some frozen water bottles in the swamp cooler if necessary...it can be done cheap.
 
Add me to the andygator AG recipe hunt. If I ever find that recipe (and can produce it somewhat close to the real thing) my life will be complete. I would even settle for a retailer that is less than 100 miles away that sells it.

It is always my road trip treat to myself.
 
With New Belgium being just 3 hours from here we get all of their brews in the grocery store even. Of course, the HyVee where I live has a pretty expansive craft/micro brew section. Probably 50' of non BMC beers, all cold.
 
I have been asked to do a clone of this for a friend and this is the best clone recipe I have come across so far:

10# Blegian Pils
3# Briess Pilsen Light DME
1# Munich Malt
0.8# Carapils/Dextrine
0.8# Briess Caramel 80L

1oz Perle at 60 min.
1oz Perle at 40 min.
1oz Perle at 20 min.
1oz Perle at 10 min.

This recipe has the yeast listed as Wyeast 3787, but all the rest of the other clone recipes I have come across had a lager yeast. I do not have the ability to do a lager. So here are my questions:

1. Does this sound pretty decent (as a clone)
2. Can someone tell me how to turn this into AG (or if not, should I wait late in the boil to add the DME?)
3. Am I good with this yeast?

Thanks in advance beer ninjas!

Dude, I am surprised to see all the blog traffic on this recipe, I just signed up to this blog site. Here is the original recipe as best I can remember it, I have lost my notes from 1988 when it was originally made. It competed through to Best of Show in the Crescent City Homebrewers competition in New Orleans back in the day. Then because of a kind offer from the then-owners of Abita, it went to Abita Springs and we brewed her up again. It was supposed to be a one time brew up, the rest is history.

For an original gravity of 1.080, we used 95 percent Ireks Pilsener malt and 3% Carapils and 2% Munich. This is a triple decoction beer as in keeping with German tradition, so that is what we did. The hopping would have been Hallertau pellets and Saaz pellets, for an IBU of about 25. The hopping would have been Hallertau dependant, probably 3:1 Hallertau:Saaz. Other German noble hops will do.

The yeast is Wyeast 2206. It was a great lager yeast back in the day and I think still is a great yeast, but my last conversations with Dave Logsdon at Wyeast suggested that over the years, 2206 has changed slightly and become less able to throw protein off of itself as good as it used to. Make a nice starter. I am sure we ran the yeast at somewhere near 55F, no warmer.

The key to the original Andygator, and the thing you have to factor into the grain bill, is the runoff cut off. We stopped the runoff at 6 Plato so as not to pull anything but sweet wort and leave the tannin behind. This was the idea of my brewing partner, Guy Hagner, who still rocks.

A historical note. The original name of the beer was not Andygator, it was Alligator. We were struggling with a name for a Louisiana dopplebock, and my wife Sally said "hey, if it needs to end in =ator, call it Alligator." Brilliant. While fermenting, strange things happened. Rush Cumming and Jim Patton called up and said "Dude, it mutated". And I said what? because I thought something was wrong with the beer. They said "no man, the beer is fine, the name mutated. We think it should be Andygator. " And so that is how it got done back in the day.

Ciao, let me know how you get on. Andy Thomas
 
Wow, the original brewer posted his recipe...that's friggin amazing.

Wow. I need to buy that guy a beer - thanks for the initiate details on the brew. And how do you go from brewing in NOLA to living Western Australia? Me and SWMBO are both from Louisiana and I'm pretty sure Andygator is what got me in her pants for the first time :ban:

Which reminds me I need to brew this :D
 
Hey guys, just a note.
The Anygator you 're drinking now is NOT the same as the original.
 
Wow. I need to buy that guy a beer - thanks for the initiate details on the brew. And how do you go from brewing in NOLA to living Western Australia? Me and SWMBO are both from Louisiana and I'm pretty sure Andygator is what got me in her pants for the first time :ban:

Which reminds me I need to brew this :D
dude, the move to australia was simple really. At the Andygator time, I was working for Texaco as a geologist. Chevron eventually bought Texaco, I moved to Houston, then the Australian NW offshore gas operations beckoned. Here we are. But good luck with the beermaking, and your other activities. andy
 
We have an Andygator tap in my man cave. it's my wifes favorite beer.
Was going to try to clone it, but haven't yet.
Now another challange, to make the original too!
Thanks for sharing Andy!
 
Here's the receipe from the October 2012 issue of BYO. Very simple all grain recipe too, just Pilsner & Perle.

----------
Abita Brewing Co.
AndyGator clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.078 FG = 1.017
IBU = 25 SRM = 8 ABV = 8%

Ingredients
6.6 lbs. (3 kg) Briess Pilsner unhopped liquid malt extract
2.0 lbs. (0.9 kg) dried malt extract
3.0 lb. (1.36 kg) Pilsner malt
6.2 AAU Perle hop pellets (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21.3 g of 8.25 % alpha acids)
2.1 AAU Perle hop pellets (30 min.) (0.25 oz./7.1 g of 8.25 % alpha acids)
4.1 AAU Perle hop pellets (5 min.) (0.5 oz./14.2 g of 8.25 % alpha acids)
½ Tsp. yeast nutrient (last 15 min.)
½ Tsp. Irish moss (last 30 min.)
White Labs WLP 830 (German Lager) or Wyeast 2308 (Munich Lager) yeast
0.75 cup (150g) of corn sugar for priming (if bottling)

Step by Step
Steep the crushed grain in 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water at 154 ºF (67.8 ºC) for 30 minutes. Remove grains from the wort and rinse with 2 quarts (1.8 L) of hot water. Add the liquid and dried malt extracts and boil for 60 minutes. While boiling, add the hops, Irish moss and yeast nutrient as per the schedule. Now add the wort to 2 gallons (7.6 L) of cold water in the sanitized fermenter and top off with cold water up to 5 gallons (19 L).

Cool the wort to 75 ºF (24 ºC). Pitch your yeast and aerate the wort heavily. Allow the beer to cool over the next few hours to 65 ºF (19 ºC). When evidence of fermentation is apparent drop the temperature to 52 ºF (11 ºC). Hold at that temperature until fermentation is complete (approx. 10 days). Transfer to a carboy, avoiding any splashing to prevent aerating the beer. Condition for 2 weeks at 42 ºF (5º C) and then bottle or keg. Allow to carbonate and age for four weeks and enjoy your Andygator Doppelbock clone.

Note: For tips on cooling your fermentation refer to the July/August 2006 issue of Brew Your Own. For more about brewing doppelbock, turn to page 19 of this issue.

All-grain option:
This is a single step infusion mash using an additional 13 lbs. (5.9 kg) Pilsner malt to replace the liquid and dried malt extracts. Mix the crushed grains with 5.2 gallons (19.7 L) of 174 °F (0 °C) water to stabilize at 154 ºF (67.8 ºC) for 60 minutes. Sparge slowly with 175 ºF (79 ºC) water. Collect approximately 6 gallons (23 L) of wort runoff to boil for 60 minutes. Reduce the 60-minute hop addition to 0.6 oz. (17 g) of Perle hop pellets (5.0 AAU) to allow for the higher utilization factor of a full wort boil. The remainder of this recipe and procedures are the same as the extract with grains recipe.
 
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