To clone or not to clone

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.

Waynep005

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
528
Reaction score
39
Location
Rancho Cordova
I was wondering what the general view of brewing clones of comercial brews is on this site. I for one do not brew clones if I want a certain beer I go and buy it. I have only been brewing for a little over a year and do brew other peoples recipes. So I am not claiming some moral high ground on this subject just curious.
 
Clones let you test your brewing ability against a recognized brewery. It also helps you understand flavor profiles when you brew it yourself. I was wondering about goose island Matilda until I brewed a belgian and smelled the similar flavors. Granted that wasn't a clone, but it helped me understand.

I have a newcastle clone bottling which should be ready in 2 weeks. I brewed it because it was a new style (British Brown), used ingredients I hadn't used before (Irish Moss), Ingredients were cheap (30 bucks for 50 bottles vs 75 for commercial), and finally I could do a taste test later and see if I got close. My friends who like newcastle also want to do a taste test. It will be a lot of fun I think.

Also keep in mind no clone will be 100% accurate, you're more cloning the style than anything. Clone a beer of the style you want and adapt!
 
I use clone beer recipes as the base model for all "my" recipes. I usually put my own spin on the recipe by adding different hops, yeast, grains,etc. Not really a clone recipe at that point but they are a great starting point because chances are the recipe is pretty solid to begin with.
 
Just to agree with the other answers, clone recipes allow you to start with a recipe you know you'll like, and also give you an understanding of how the grains, hops, yeast, etc. work together in the finished product. The Two Hearted clone you can find on here is the base of my grain bill for all of my IPAs and APAs. I did tweak it a bit for my own liking, but it is still eerily similar. My favorite hopping schedule is a far cry from the original recipe, but initially brewing that clone stepped up the quality of my IPAs immensely.

Also, what do you do about a clone of a recipe you don't have access to? Getting anything from DFH is a special occasion for me, so instead of trying to find someone to ship me a case I'd rather just clone it. Same goes for RR, Surly, etc.

And of course homebrew is usually cheaper than buying commercial beer. And I'm a cheapass that loves brewing.
 
Most of the beers I brew I have a particular commercial beer in mind. That is not to say that I try to do an exact clone but usually something close. I figure it is like playing guitar...you learn certain songs because they teach you certain techniques. Same with brewing beer.
 
I think most brewers recognize that recipe is only a part of it. If you are cloning an existing beer, even if you are using a recipe you read online, you still have to go through the effort of doign everything right, and managing fermentation.

Creativity comes with risk, there's no shame in taking that out of the equation when you are trying to nail down your brewing process, or create a beer for your friends.
 
As a homebrewer, I was making my own recipes from the 1st batch. The only time I ever brewed someone else's recipe at home was Papazian's Guinness clone; Propentious Irish Stout. I cloned Spaten Oktoberfest, but that wasn't my goal, it was serendipity that my recipe turned out that way. That all being said, I was already working at a brewery when I started homebrewing, and had maybe 5 or 6 brews under my belt before I started brewing there, so I got the brewing of others' recipes/learning how stuff fit that way.
 
A big part of homebrewing for me is trying to recreate something that I can't buy off the shelf. I'm not able to buy anything from Dogfish or Stone (just to name a few big names) within hundreds of miles, but often times, there are well-respected clone recipes for those brews. Brew the recipe, learn from it, then make it your own.
 
I love the experimentation aspect... but a four pack of Chimay Grande Reserve runs $20 or so... so this one is definitely on my "to brew" list.
 
I have lots of clone recipes I've developed- but they are for beers that are unavailable (or terribly expensive) where I live. And it's more for the "Can I do it?" challenge than actually trying to make an exact clone to drink.

It's not easy to take apart a beer as you drink it, guess what the basic flavors are, and then recreate it at home. It does take some ability, and it's really fun to challenge yourself that way.

Often what I do after making a clone recipe is take it apart further. For example- I'll taste my "clone" and think, "Yep. It's spot on. But I wish I had more piney hops, with a toasted note" and I'll change that up into a different beer the next time. Commercial beers are a great launching pad for your own tweaks and ideas to make a beer that suits your tastes, to make a great beer even better.
 
Exactly. Start from a pretty good example of a style you like, and then tweak it into your own Flaming Homer. ;)
 
I have actually made two clones that some friends and I critiqued along side the commercial beer and mine won blind taste test. That made me feel pretty good about my process.
 
I like cloning. Have you ever been to an art museum and seen art students sketching 'clones' of masterpieces? They do that to try to learn techniques that are new to them by copying someone's work who has mastered that technique. It's part of the learning process. I look at cloning beers in the same way. There are lots of ingredients and techniques that I am not overly familiar with, and in trying to recreate some of the beer masterpieces I learn about them. In that way when I want to strike out on my own with a recipe I am better able to predict how an ingredient or technique will impact the final product. Clone on!
 
This is a relevent thread. My friends and family like my beer. They say it is very good. I, however, feel that I have not hit the target when I'm brewing. I think I'm going for a certain flavor/style, and I think I never quite hit the mark. I feel if I can get close on some of these clones I will have a better understanding about my beer. So, this year I am naming "The Year of the Clones".
I have a new 8g kettle, so I am relearning my system. I am starting with Sierra Nevada Stout, then porter, pale ale, and then Torpedo.
After that I'm going big: Founders Breakfast Stout, ST Creme Brulee, Avery Maharaja...
There are going to be two other changes to my process: temperature control and water chemistry.
My third clone of Spotted Cow came really close to the real thing. Then I changed the recipe a little and it got farther away. I brewed it six times in six different ways and it was interesting to see how it changed.
 
I have to agree with the previous posters. I recently cloned Smithwick's as a Christmas gift and mine was spot on, except - used pale malt as a base. Next time Maris Otter it will be. Mine was missing just a little touch of biscuity-ness. Ever so slight, but I learned with that brew how the base malt will affect final beer.

I was VERY satisfied, and my step father could hardly tell a difference. That's the beer he drinks most often.

I have a Sapporo clone in the fermenter now, and I made it for about $12. Tiime will tell how I did.

I'm sure I will learn something from that one too. I like how cloning attempts teach me about the different ingredients and techniques.
 
Back
Top