Jamaican Red Stripe clone?

I've tried a couple of different searches for an existing Jamaican Red Stripe recipe, and have had zero luck.

I have been doing wines and ciders for a while now.

I've yet to try a batch of beer, but I've decided that I would be tickled to be able to create anything close to a Jamaican Red Stripe.

My LHBS carries the True Brew line of kits, and I don't see anything Jamaican listed in their menu.

Can anyone point me to a recipe that may fall close?

Of course, an extract kit would be ideal for me to start out with, but I'm willing to ramp-up all the way into AG, eventually, if it is the only method that will come close.

Actually, recipes for brewing an extract, a partial, and a AG version of JRS, would be ideal, allowing me to polish my skills as my experience, and inventory of equipment, grows.

I guess making a request like this is like shooting for the moon, huh, but, what the hey!!!

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!

Pogo

I have not had one for awhile, but I recall it being pretty much a standard light lager.

It is pretty difficult to replicate light lagers in the home brew world.

Good luck in your endeavours though. Hopefully someone else has something more tangible to add.

Pogo,

Red Stripe is, as Kenche wrote, what lots of folks call "Worldwide Lager". According to the BJCP style sheets Red Stripe is a benchmark for 1C. Premium American Lager.

Unfortunately, that's a really hard style to brew, even if you're an experienced and well-equipped all-grain brewer. If you're a beginner working from extracts, it's possible to brew a good example, but only if you can control lager fermentation temperatures.

I don't want to discourage you, though. If you want to take a stab at it, have a go at this. It's all-extract, lightly hopped. You must use extreme care in sanitation with light beers, and for this to work, you must have a way to ferment the beer cold.

WorldWide Lager

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

01-C Light Lager, Premium American Lager

Min OG: 1.046 Max OG: 1.056
Min IBU: 15 Max IBU: 25
Min Clr: 2 Max Clr: 6 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 2.50
Total Extract (Lbs): 6.00
Anticipated OG: 1.050 Plato: 12.48
Anticipated SRM: 2.1
Anticipated IBU: 18.1
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
33.3 2.00 lbs. Rice Syrup Generic 1.040 0
66.7 4.00 lbs. Briess DME- Pilsen Light America 1.043 2

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Note: Add one pound DME only at start of boil; add rest at flameout.

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.75 oz. Willamette Pellet 4.00 11.8 60 min.
0.50 oz. Willamette Pellet 4.00 2.6 20 min.


Yeast
-----

WYeast 2035 American Lager

Ferment at 50degF until 2/3 of OG is reached, then allow temperature to slowly increase to 60. Rack to secondary and begin to lower temperature to lagering temperature. Lager for at least three weeks.

Good luck!

Bob

Don't know if it's any good but here you go
Austin Homebrew Supply

Wow!

An extract kit that even appears to be a genuine Red Stripe produced kit, not even a clone. Wow!

dzlater, you have brought Christmas to my house early!

A TON of thanks to you!

Bob, thanks for the recipe!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm getting the feeling that this "Worldwide Lager" catagory that includes Red Stripe, means that I need to be wearing one of those BMC badges doesn't it?

Oh, well...I just can't help that, if it does, then I'll wear it proudly!

I'm going to try at least a couple of those kits before trying your recipe.

Thanks for ALL the input guys!

Pogo

The Austin Homebrew kit is a clone, but their kits are usually really good.

Sanitize like you have OCD, oxygenate or aerate like a madman, pitch plenty of yeast (2L starter minimum), use bottled water unless you have soft and very good tap water, use yeast nutrient, and ferment cool. If you do all of those things, you will make an exceptionally good light beer, and your friends will think you are a god.

.. and so will you.

Sac...Thanks for the advice!

I'm about 30 pages into the online version of John Palmer's "How to Brew," so I'm still pretty clueless about the differences between wine and beer.

My water here is very hard, but I've got a two-stage water filter system connected to my kitchen sink. It filters the water to one-half of a micron, exactly the same as bottled water. I hope this is adequate!

BTW - I'm a long time aeration fanatic. I've even been aerating the water I brew coffee and tea with for many years, way before I ever started with wines, etc.

What do you mean about "pitch plenty of yeast (2L starter mimimum)"?

By 'plenty' do you mean 1 packet of yeast thats been hydrated in 2L's of sweeten water? If so, how much of a head start should the I give the starter over the primary?

If it is hydrated just an hour or so ahead of pitching then I'm hesitant to recognize that as 'plenty' of yeast. I still see it as 1 packet of yeast. However, if I give it a week, or even a couple of days, to reproduce, then I can see THAT as plenty of yeast!

And, how cool is cool, if this kit needs 50 degree temps like an AG recipe, then I'm gonna have to acquire and adapt an old fridge, and dedicate it to the process.

I guess that I'm going to have to delay this project until I can get all of this arranged.

Thanks, again, for the pointers!

Pogo

I would use liquid yeast for a light lager and yes pitch at least a 2 qt starter...Just get an activator smack pack of Wyeast Pilsen Lager yeast and boil 2-3qt water with 2/3-1c dme, cool, aerate and pitch a few days before brew day. If your water is hard then use spring water, I use Deer Park and it's pretty damn soft.

If you can nail an American Lager then you are a better brewer than I.

Good Luck!

Pogo said:

Sac...Thanks for the advice!

I'm about 30 pages into the online version of John Palmer's "How to Brew," so I'm still pretty clueless about the differences between wine and beer.

My water here is very hard, but I've got a two-stage water filter system connected to my kitchen sink. It filters the water to one-half of a micron, exactly the same as bottled water. I hope this is adequate!

BTW - I'm a long time aeration fanatic. I've even been aerating the water I brew coffee and tea with for many years, way before I ever started with wines, etc.

What do you mean about "pitch plenty of yeast (2L starter mimimum)"?

By 'plenty' do you mean 1 packet of yeast thats been hydrated in 2L's of sweeten water? If so, how much of a head start should the I give the starter over the primary?

If it is hydrated just an hour or so ahead of pitching then I'm hesitant to recognize that as 'plenty' of yeast. I still see it as 1 packet of yeast. However, if I give it a week, or even a couple of days, to reproduce, then I can see THAT as plenty of yeast!

And, how cool is cool, if this kit needs 50 degree temps like an AG recipe, then I'm gonna have to acquire and adapt an old fridge, and dedicate it to the process.

I guess that I'm going to have to delay this project until I can get all of this arranged.

Thanks, again, for the pointers!

Pogo

Click to expand...

Lets not get into starters right now...just buy two liquid packages of yeats and keep them in the fridhe until ready to use. A couple hours befre you are ready to pitch the yeast make sure you pull it out of the fridge for it to be at room temperature. DO NOT PITCH THE YEAST UNTIL the wort is at 75 degrees.

Pogo said:

And, how cool is cool, if this kit needs 50 degree temps like an AG recipe, then I'm gonna have to acquire and adapt an old fridge, and dedicate it to the process.

Click to expand...

First, fermentation temperatures don't rely on whether or not the recipe is all-grain.

Second, the appropriate temperature is dependent on the yeast chosen. As a general rule of thumb, 50degF is an appropriate primary fermentation temperature.

Third, you can make a reasonably tasty approximation of this beer by using a very clean, neutrally-flavored ale yeast. You'll still need to ferment it cool, but cellar temperature (i.e., 55-65degF), but you might not need to adapt a fermentation fridge.

I guess that I'm going to have to delay this project until I can get all of this arranged.

Click to expand...

If you want to make a true lager beer, I'm afraid you must. Fermenting good lager beer requires more specialized equipement than many brewers possess.

Pogo

Click to expand...

You have met the enemy, and he is you? :cross:

Bob

any news on how this turned out. wife and mother in law are from jamaica. they are begging me for a red stripe type beer. red stripe started as a red ale, so i'm thinking about buying this and making a few changes for ale temps.

I want to make red stripe beer. I can't seem to find an AG clone anywhere. Does anyone know what type of hops or anything are in it? What kind of grain and yeast I would use? I can try to make something similar, I will post the results in the recipes section "Attempted Red Stripe Clone" depending on how it tastes. If it doesn't taste like red stripe, I will call it "HBT Community Light Lager"


Digging around I found it has corn in it and is 4.7% ABV

I found these ingredients in an extract clone kit:
5 lbs pale malt extract
1 lb rice syrup solids

Hops:
Bittering - 3 HBU Hallertau
Aroma - 0.25 oz Hallertau

It has these grains:
8 oz 6 row
4 oz Carahell

Suggested yeast:
White Labs 001 California Ale or Wyeast 1056 American Ale, Safale US-05

If I wanted to turn this into an AG batch what grains would I need to get that much extract? I don't know how to convert it... for the yeast I would probably use WYeast 2035 American Lager

Given the questions are asking I would say your not ready for larger. I'm not being patronizing( i'm not ready for larger). My advice is brew a pale ale a few times first, read up on lagering and then give it a go. Best of luck Q

Queequeg said:

Given the questions are asking I would say your not ready for larger. I'm not being patronizing( i'm not ready for larger). My advice is brew a pale ale a few times first, read up on lagering and then give it a go. Best of luck Q

Click to expand...

I've brewed several lagers, and ales of many styles.

So how about trying to answer the questions?

Good for you but when someone is asking if a starter is dried yeast hydrated that leads me to think that perhaps they should try making a starter and other techniques like that on a more forgiving beer style. The worst thing would be put someone off the hobby by starting them on a route that could well lead to disappointment. So I am helping.

You must be mixing my post with someone else's. I did not ask that, sorry for the terse response. We must have a misunderstanding here, I've only written the post right above yours. Not the first post in the thread.

I've resurrected an old thread here.

http://www.homebrewing.org/Red-Stripe-Clone-Recipe-Kit_p_1474.html#

You can try that one, it's pretty close to the real thing.

Maybe contact them for a true all grain kit

This is actually the kit I used to gather information on the hops etc! I am cheap, and independent. I don't want a kit I want to do it all from scratch. I am trying to formulate a recipe, I think I can do it with help from my buddies here

Yep old thread from 2008, fair play to you for searching for an existing thread, confusing on a bumpy train though

Queequeg said:

Yep old thread from 2008, fair play to you for searching for an existing thread, confusing on a bumpy train though

Click to expand...

Sorry about last night, I shouldn't have been rude to you my fellow home brewer. I was up late and stressed out, no excuse for being a jerk!

So I am looking at converting this to grain. I found a little chart here for quick and dirty conversions of grain and extract http://www.jaysbrewing.com/2011/11/17/lazy-chart-for-converting-dme-lme-grain/

The clone kit calls for 5lbs LME, which equates to just under 7lbs grain. I'll call it 7lbs pale 2 row. Then a pound of rice solids. So here is a final recipe for critique:

Fermentables:
7 lbs pale 2 row
1 lb rice solids
8 oz 6 row
4 oz carahell

Hoping schedule:
3 HBU Hallertau = 6% AA * 0.5 oz = 0.5 hops 55 minutes
0.25 oz Hallertau 5 minutes

Yeast:
WYeast 2035 American Lager

Fermentation:
51f until 75% done then 62f diacetyl rest until finished
lager for 3-4 weeks
bottle


Any thoughts on this recipe? Can anyone recommend a mash schedule to produce the red stripe mash?

Thanks very much

I feel like you should replace 2 row with pilsner to get an appropriate flavor profile to the beer.

MrBrown said:

I feel like you should replace 2 row with pilsner to get an appropriate flavor profile to the beer.

Click to expand...

Oh my, I almost forgot about this one. I think I will brew it this weekend.

So you say I should use pilsner? I'll try it out. I will post my exact recipe here later on.

Do you guys think w-34/70 would work for this? I have some, then i wouldn't have to buy any yeast.

Ok here is the final recipe I brewed today:

Fermentables:
7 lbs Pilsner
8 oz 6 row
4 oz Carahell
1 lb rice solids

Hoping schedule:
0.5 oz Hallertau 55 minutes
0.25 oz Hallertau 5 minutes

Yeast:
Saflager w-34/70

Fermentation:
Primary 55f, diacetyl rest at 72f
lager @ 37f for 3-4 weeks

OG 1.046

after it is finished and tasted, i will post an official recipe.

I finished my clone and posted the recipe here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f57/jamaican-red-stripe-clone-516376/

I am very pleased with the result. Thanks for everyone who helped.