2-Below clone anyone?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

markg388

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Messages
380
Reaction score
22
Location
seattle
New Belgium 2-Below is my favorite winter beer and I'm looking to clone it. I tried last year and came out with a heavier-bodied version of fat-tire... close but no cigar.

Here's what I know about it: it's a bit lighter in color than fat tire, brighter hop character than fat tire, similar biscuit-malt taste, uses liberty and sterling hops, not very bitter at all, dry hopped, cold-crashed, tastes like an ordinary american ale type yeast, and 6.6% ABV. Anyone out there have a tried and true recipe, or good at formulating recipes for these kinds of beers? Any help is appreciated.
 
If you haven't had this year's batch of 2 Below, it's $&#@%* fantastic. That recipe looks solid to me. Think I'll be doing a double header of brewing this weekend as I already had a Bitter queued...
 
Anyone have an extract version? I don't think that I am up to an all-grain brew yet.

2 Degrees Below is my new favorite beer.

if you're goin straight extract/steeping, you can replace the pale malt with 8.5 lbs of light DME to get an OG of 1.074 for a 5 gal batch.
 
I'm leery of 2 below now. Had it for the first time in 2007 after it's best by date and it was good. Bought it last season and it wasn't spectacular at all. Might have to give this years batch a go.
 
if you're goin straight extract/steeping, you can replace the pale malt with 8.5 lbs of light DME to get an OG of 1.074 for a 5 gal batch.

So you would still steep the:
2.25 pounds Crystal 40L
1.13 lb German Dark Munich Malt
.65 lb Brittish Toasted Pale Malt
for 25 minutes or so?

Then start the hop schedule?
 
yeah, a normal steeping of those grains (25 minutes should work)... i don't know if you'd need the british toasted pale malt, but it might still throw off some flavor and a little color. and start the hopping once your get to a boil.
 
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 68.84 %
1.80 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 13.04 %
1.50 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 10.87 %
1.00 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 7.25 %
1.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 42.8 IBU
1.00 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) Yeast-Ale

I'm brewing this right now. Should be a good one.
 
I am crazy about 2 - below. it is my favorite winter beer as well. I thought it was a lager though? am i just sadly mistaken, but thrilled that i might be able to brew this soon? (i dont have a fridge for doing lagers yet).
 
I am crazy about 2 - below. it is my favorite winter beer as well. I thought it was a lager though? am i just sadly mistaken, but thrilled that i might be able to brew this soon? (i dont have a fridge for doing lagers yet).

Definitely not a lager though it is cold-conditioned like one, according to the bottle. My batch is fermenting now. I'll dry hop for 7 days and then cold condition for 2 weeks at 30 deg.
 
I guess you could after it's done carbing. I'm just going to cold crash it for a while longer then I normally would, after a week of dry hopping.
 
Thanks for all the replies, this is what I ended up brewing, courtesy of kappajoe, because it looked like it would taste like the real thing.

9.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
2.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
1.25 lb Munich Malt, Dark - forgot to record the lovibond =[
0.50 lb Toasted Malt

OG. 1.066

.9oz Magnum (13.7%) for 60 mins - 36.1 IBU

Dry hop 3 days with 1oz Sterling, and 1oz Liberty hops.

I just bottled it yesterday and it tastes great even when flat. I must say the recipe is pretty much dead on accurate and mighty delicious, I can't wait untill it's carbonated. Mine isn't nice and clear like theirs is as i used wyeast scottish ale (which i can never get clear), but I don't really care so much about that. A bit more toasted malt might be better too, I backed it off from 4.8% of the grist to 3.7% because I like it subtle, but it's alot less toasty than I had expected.

2 thumbs up for home-brewed 2-below!
 
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 68.84 %
1.80 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 13.04 %
1.50 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 10.87 %
1.00 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 7.25 %
1.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 42.8 IBU
1.00 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Sterling [7.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) Yeast-Ale

I'm brewing this right now. Should be a good one.

Do you pitch both of the yeast packs at the same time?
 
Im an idiot. I ordered all the grain and yeast to brew this in the next week. guess what i forgot?

hopefully my LHBS has the hops. I am planning on only pitching the 1056.
 
Which of the dry hop varieties gives this beer its kind of sprucy taste?

Also, I found this one to feel almost too sweet, I'm not sure I could drink more than one 2 Below in a row. Does anyone get a kind of honey taste out of there? I'm wondering if I'm mixing up the flavor of biscuit or toasted malts for a honey perception, because I swear I can taste the same honey flavor in the Sam Smith Winter Welcome.

2 Below struck me as fruity in a way too. Is that the New Belgium yeast? An interaction of the sprucy and honey / malt flavors?
 
How 'bout it, MrGaryFish?? I'm sure you've tried this by now. I'm excited to hear how this recipe worked out for you.
 
i just brewed this this morning. and i pitched onto the yeast cake from my last batch. it's been two hours and it has 1 inch of krausen. i'm scared. i'm almost positive that it's gonna blow. but i have a big blow off tube into a bucket of water. i like toasted malt. used a little less caramel. i love 2 below. i'm totally amped

2 Below Clone modified from RMHBS Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)

Type: All Grain Batch Size: 5.00 gal Boil Size: 5.72 gal Boil Time: 60 min

Est Original Gravity: 1.068 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.77 %
Bitterness: 32.9 IBU
Est Color: 16.0 SRM
*

Date: 12/19/2009 Brewer: ShaneTrain
Asst Brewer: Cousin Kyle
Equipment: My Equipment Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00

Ingredients

Item
8.00 Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.80 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)Grain
1.50 Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)Grain
1.50 Toasted Malt (27.0 SRM)Grain

2 oz. Hops Fuggles [4.80 %] (60 min)Hops (had no magnum hops)
1 oz. Saaz [4.00 %] (5 min)Hops
2 oz. Sterling [7.50 %] (Dry Hop 4 days)
Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
Misc American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)Yeast-Ale(YEAST CAKE)
Calories: 43 cal/pint Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body Sparge Water
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE
add 16.00 qt of water at 165.9 F
10 min Mash OutAdd 8.96 qt of water at 196.6 F
Total Grain Weight: 12.80 lb
 
So my friends from A'dam arrived in last night and we tapped this 2-Below clone to celebrate. While I wouldn't call it a perfect clone, it's definitely in the ballpark and is an absolutely outstanding winter ale. I'll try to snap a pic when I've got a daytime pour. This recipe is definitely going into regular rotation here.
 
FWIW, I toured the NB Brewery just after Christmas and when we went upstairs to look at the top of the Mash/Lauter/Holding/Boil kettles I looked over the rail and saw a pallet of 7 labeled barrels plus a partially-full blue, plastic bag (bag looked to be 2-row in color) about to go into the grain crusher. I don't know the amounts obv and it's a wild guess what the beer was but here's what was on the pallet (looks Fat Tire-ish to me):
All one barrel each
Coors Pale 2-row
Rahr Pale 2-row
Munich
Victory
Carapils
Caramel 80
And the last one was labeled 'MENA'; dunno what that is
Most of the 'other' malts (but not the MENA) were Briess.

If Two below has a good bit of sweetness maybe try some Gambrinus Honey malt.
 
i'm in the last half hour of my boil. super excited to try and brew one of my all time favorites. I couldn't find the right hops at LHBS so i substituted most of them with matching AA. hope it does not have an ill effect.
 
Try this recipe... I have not tried it, but it may be a good starting point.

http://logs.rockhoppersbrewclub.com/index.php?page=recipeDetail&filter=wchleva&id=125

I bought all the ingredients for this and I am going to brew tomorrow morning. This is my first AG batch. How long should I mash the grains for at the suggested 154 F temp? Should I do any steps after that? I have just built my HERMS system and I am looking for a good Mash process for this beer. What temp water should I use for my sparge water? 178 F?

Thanks!
Craig
 
I brewed up 10 gallons of this about 3 weeks ago. Half went to bottles and half went into a keg. My curiosity got the best of me and I had to crack open the last of the bottles that I brewed. I can't get 2-below in FL, so it has been about a year since I had any, but this gets close enough for me. Because I opened the last bottle from production, I had a lot of hops residue (particulate) in the beer. I am now worried that the rest of the batch may not be very clear. If that is the case, then I won't be able to give any away and I will have to suck it up and drink the whole 10 gallons myself. :mug:
 
I just bottled my 2 below clone last night, and I was surprised how much darker mine was from the actually beer. Was everyone elses clone a lot darker? Just curious. BTW, it tasted fantastic!
 
Mine looks pretty dark sitting in the fermenter. I don't have anything to compare it to. Maybe i'll go buy some to see how close I got. My best guess is it turned out a little darker than the real thing. I'll let you know if I go pick up a bottle or 12 of it.
 
Glamor shot of my 2-Below clone. Damn fine beer...

beer70.jpg
 
Ahhhh, beer porn. NICE!

Here's some more for you. Can never get enough right?

DSCN5329.jpg


That's my 2-below clone in the fermenters. It took them about 36 hours to get fired up, but whne they did there was no looking back. They are going like crazy. I'm afraid the top of the bigger one is going to blow off. I put some towels under it!:cross:
 
I went:
9.5 us 2-row
1.8 us crystal 40
1.5 german caramunich II
1 victory
1 oz of each :nugget, liberty, and cascade. Single infusion @ 156
OG - 1.066 FG - 1.014

Had the first bottle tonight, and am in love. Having moved back to new york, i dont have access to the real thing to compare.

Oh well.
 
mine was a little darker than the real thing as well, but it's still so good i'll be brewing my 3rd batch of it later this week because it disappears so fast. probably my favorite recipe i've brewed so far.
 
Had the first bottle tonight, and am in love. Having moved back to new york, i dont have access to the real thing to compare.
Oh well.

I acutally had a real 2-below the other night and I found I liked mine better! I might be jaded of course, but mine has a higher ABV and a stronger hop note. The body was similair if only a little but darker in color, however mouth feel was consistant. I think a lot of the stronger hop presence had to do with dry hopping. If I had left out the dry hopping I think I would have ened on the same level. It has been tappering off over the last few days and I think it has gotten a little better for it.

This is the first beer I have gotten a considerable amount of good feed back on. Normally I get comments like, "that's good man, good job." This one I have gotten things like "wow, that is really really good! Mind if I have some more?" It's wierd they ask on this one, all my other beers they just go get more haha. I guess they think I want to take it easy on this one.
 
THe first bottle of 2 Below I tried a couple months ago was awesome!! The stuff I bought the other day is not nearly as impressive. I think the dry hopping has worn off. (??) I think it's a beer that needs to be consumed shortly after bottling to get the full, wonderful effect of the dry hops. It's still very drinkable, but I don't find myself shoving my nose repeatedly in the glass with this latest purchase. Bummer.
 
Exact same experience hope2perc. I had a glass at Outback a few weeks ago and it was a completely different (and boring) beer. 2-Below has a very short shelf-life.
 
After sitting in the bottle for a few weeks, i am starting to get some medicinal after taste notes. makes me kinda sad. caused by not rinsing out enough of the sanitizer?

i use plastic fermenters (buckets) and am looking forward to the day when i can upgrade to glass carboys. its just not in my wallet yet.
 
Back
Top