Orange Peel in a Mac and Jacks Clone

Haha, i did go to UW and i do bleed purple and gold. But anyway, tried my clone today, keep in mind, i didn't add orange peel to this.

Pours a slightly cloudy and pale orange, great head and lacing along the glass. Smells mostly of citrus and grapefruits, some subtle stone fruits, apricot mostly. Tastes pretty much the same, hops are definitely up front with some soft fruity maltiness on the backbone. Still a little undercarbed, but extremely drinkable.

So i feel it has just a little too much hop oil taste to it, probably due to the fact that i dryhopped for over week instead of 4 days like the recipe suggests. That subtle malt fruitiness that i think Mac and Jacks showcases was there in my beer, but not as up front as i would have liked. I may up the amount of Munich malt or perhaps increase the fermentation temp. to really bring out that character. Another thing i remembered, i think mine was much lighter in color than the original Mac and Jacks, not sure why, i used Marris Otter as the base, perhaps a darker color Crystal malt or more/darker Munich?? Other than that, an amazingly quenchable hoppy British amber ale that everyone should try.

WenValley said:

Groosbrews: I'm subscribed to this thread, forge ahead! Mac & Jack's is righteous beer, I'm going to brew this when you give me the go ahead.

I was born in Yakima too, now live in Wenatchee, love this place.

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Good ol' Crakima, WA... Palm Springs of Washington my ass! I gotta say, I really dont miss the place much now that I got away from it..All the crime and drugs, etc.... Coincidentally, I used to live in East Wenatchee for a year or so many years ago.. Lived out on Sunset HWY, near some kind of fiberglass boat place if I remember correctly...
Wenatchee is a great town.. We were in the neighborhood earlier this year when we went to the Ale Festival in Leavenworth... Love that part of the state.. Have some good friends that live out somehwere on Squilchuck road or something like that...

Back on topic, brew this up! You wont be dissapointed.. I never did use orange peel in this brew, despite the name of the thread... Still curious to try it... I am going to brew my 5th or 6th attempt at this in a couple weeks and I will definiftely be trying orange peel.. Just made this beer this weekend

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/cascades-orange-pale-ale-84558/

and I put a ton of orange in here.. If I like the results, i will be trying it in the MAc and Jacks clone..... Hope it turns out well for ya!

BeezBrew said:

Haha, i did go to UW and i do bleed purple and gold. But anyway, tried my clone today, keep in mind, i didn't add orange peel to this.

Pours a slightly cloudy and pale orange, great head and lacing along the glass. Smells mostly of citrus and grapefruits, some subtle stone fruits, apricot mostly. Tastes pretty much the same, hops are definitely up front with some soft fruity maltiness on the backbone. Still a little undercarbed, but extremely drinkable.

So i feel it has just a little too much hop oil taste to it, probably due to the fact that i dryhopped for over week instead of 4 days like the recipe suggests. That subtle malt fruitiness that i think Mac and Jacks showcases was there in my beer, but not as up front as i would have liked. I may up the amount of Munich malt or perhaps increase the fermentation temp. to really bring out that character. Another thing i remembered, i think mine was much lighter in color than the original Mac and Jacks, not sure why, i used Marris Otter as the base, perhaps a darker color Crystal malt or more/darker Munich?? Other than that, an amazingly quenchable hoppy British amber ale that everyone should try.

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Hey, sounds like it turned out fairly well for you.. The flavors you describe hit the nail right on the head for what I have found as well in this brew.. I found that a higher fermentation temp on this brew (around 70-72) really seems to bring out the citrus quality that is so evident in MAc and JAcks.. And of, course, the correct yeast.. I am curious about the color of yours though, as my color was pretty much spot on every time I have made this. Did you follow the BYO recipe? Or Ohiodads version of it? If I had to up one or the other, I would probably up the caramel as opposed to the munich since munich only comes in around 9.0 SRM so you can less caramel to achieve the color profile..

I am no expert dryhopping, but I wonder if a difference of 4 days vs a week really makes all that much difference? What were your IBU's for the recipe?

Thanks for the update and enjoy your "close but not quite" Mac and Jacks!
PS- The Cougs got robbed in the Apple Cup! Just wait till next year!

I have a Hefe Honey Orange on tap right now. I grated about a cup or so of orange zest and added them to the primary after the initial fermenation was completed. It's a nice addition, a pretty smooth secondary orange flavor. I don't like Hefe's (I brewed this for a friend that was going through chemotherapy) but it's pretty tasty.

I'm going to brew this once you get all the wrinkles worked out. Thanks.

YakaVegas Baby.

GroosBrewz said:

Hey, sounds like it turned out fairly well for you.. The flavors you describe hit the nail right on the head for what I have found as well in this brew.. I found that a higher fermentation temp on this brew (around 70-72) really seems to bring out the citrus quality that is so evident in MAc and JAcks.. And of, course, the correct yeast.. I am curious about the color of yours though, as my color was pretty much spot on every time I have made this. Did you follow the BYO recipe? Or Ohiodads version of it? If I had to up one or the other, I would probably up the caramel as opposed to the munich since munich only comes in around 9.0 SRM so you can less caramel to achieve the color profile..

I am no expert dryhopping, but I wonder if a difference of 4 days vs a week really makes all that much difference? What were your IBU's for the recipe?

Thanks for the update and enjoy your "close but not quite" Mac and Jacks!
PS- The Cougs got robbed in the Apple Cup! Just wait till next year!

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I did the BYO recipe. I think my color is more of a burnt orange while i think Mac and Jacks as more a light brown, but i can't completely remember. Also, i actually dryhopped for over week, close too two weeks because for whatever reason, fermentation started again when i added the hops. Don't know if that had something to do with it. I'll definitely try this again at some point with some tweak and will report in. Good luck with school.

BeezBrew said:

I did the BYO recipe. I think my color is more of a burnt orange while i think Mac and Jacks as more a light brown, but i can't completely remember. Also, i actually dryhopped for over week, close too two weeks because for whatever reason, fermentation started again when i added the hops. Don't know if that had something to do with it. I'll definitely try this again at some point with some tweak and will report in. Good luck with school.

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I think you are closer to Mac and Jacks with the burnt orange rather than the light brown.. It is definitely a burnt orange color, so it sounds like you may have matched the color closer than you think! Two weeks dryhopping I can see being perhaps a bit extreme.. But as long as it's drinkable and you enjoy it, thats what matters.. I am going to keep experimenting with this brew until I get it down pat.. I dont care how long it takes me!!

I have been working on this clone for 2 years. I just got a growler from my brother in Seattle, and did a side by side comparison. The only difference is the Mac and Jacks is slightly sweeter. I am in the process of propagating the house yeast from the growler now.
The color is exact, the flavor exact, mouthfeel exact. I'll give you some pointers as I hate to see you go through the same struggles that I did.

Use wlp005 british ale yeast. This is the closest, and I've used every english ale yeast out there.
dry hop with cascade cones, not pellets, it makes alot of difference.
and use the orange peels at 30 minutes. I make 10 gallon batches of this, and I use fresh orange peels from any orange, it doesn't matter, you can used dried sweet orange peels too. The fresh take longer to condition about a month. you won't get an orange taste, trust me, you get a slight citrus taste that you mistake for hops.
I made the BYO version, but somthing was missing. there is no flavor add in the byo version. I thought that was strange for such a flavorful beer, and had a half ounce of dried sweet orange peel left over from a belgian wit I made. This was a huge difference. It's not that the byo version is bad, it's very good, but it's just missing somthing. It's the orange peel trust me. By peels I mean leave out the pith, I use a potato peeler for this and it works very well. for 5 gallon batch use the peels from 1 orange, for 10 gallons, use 2 oranges. Hell for the last batch I made, I used the peels or 2 tangerines, and it came out great.
You can read the whole 2 year journey at brewingkb.com in the recipe section.

@GroosBrewz: I can never get enough Mac & Jacks (And I live in Bellingham!), so this could be a delicious batch to try out. Any way I can get a hold of that recipe?

Funny thing, I've lived in WA for years and haven't had Mac and Jack's once.

McKBrew said:

Funny thing, I've lived in WA for years and haven't had Mac and Jack's once.

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that is blasphemy

humann_brewing said:

that is blasphemy

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No, this is SPARTAAAAAAAAA!!!

(I'm sorry)

for 10 gallon batch 90 minute boil
1.060 og, 1.018- 1.013 fg

18lbs Marris otter
2lbs munich
1lbs crystal 80
2oz centennial 60 minute
2oz dried sweet orange peel 30 min
2oz cascade 2 minutes
2oz cascade cones dry hop
White Labs WLP005 (British Ale) or Wyeast 1098 (British Ale) yeast or safeale 04

Mash at 155F for 60min (I mash in overnight saves time). Collect enough wort for 13 gallons, boil for 90 minutes add additions, cool to pitching temp, then add yeast. ferment until fg is reached (4-5 days, then add the dry hops). ferment in primary another 10 days then secondary for 3-7days. Bottle, or keg.
you can use the peels of 2 oranges (any oranges), instead of the dried version, but the taste will be stronger for the first 3 weeks or so, and then it will be fine.
feel free to tweek this one as you see fit. I don't add irish moss to this anymore, as this beer is supposed to be cloudy, and that seems to do the trick.
You are doing yourself a disservice if you do not dryhop this beer, it is a completely different beer dryhopped. Give this one a full month in the bottle before you start to get technical on it. I try one every day after I bottle, and I swear to god that on the 29th day it tastes pretty good not a bad beer, but on the 30th day it makes me want to cry the beer is that good. To me anyway judge for yourself, i'm sure you will be pleasantly suprised.
I'm sure i have some tweeks to this that I forgot from my last brew of this. I will post anything important.


On the last batch, I used 1.5oz magnum for the bittering, tasted great, a cleaner bitter if you will.
Also I dry hopped in the primary for 2 weeks, so a total of 3-4 weeks in primary. I generally do not secondary anymore.
If anyone else on here says orange peels add bitterness, or it will make the beer to astrigent, I'm going to beat them to death with my Mac and Jacks tap handle, while making them drink from the keg until they burst. Ha ha

sorry, just noticed an error on here. it's 1 ounce dried orange peel for a 10 gallon batch, 1/2 ounce for a 5 gallon.
If your using real orange peels, it's 1 orange worth of peel for 5 gallon
2 oranges worth for a 10 gallon

Rage said:

@GroosBrewz: I can never get enough Mac & Jacks (And I live in Bellingham!), so this could be a delicious batch to try out. Any way I can get a hold of that recipe?

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I compared my recipe to bruguru's version posted above and they are identical. I also add orange peel. I haven't brewed a batch of this in awhile and I am thinking about brewing it up this weekend... Gotta work on clearing out a keg first though.. better get drinking

McKBrew said:

Funny thing, I've lived in WA for years and haven't had Mac and Jack's once.

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Absolutely unforgiveable.. You must repent!!! Seriously, if you like amber ales with a good hoppy citrus flavor but a great smooth mellow malt backbone, then you gotta try it..

This will be my next brew. I'm even thinking of doing the ten gallon batch from the get go. I usually run one or two five gallon batches to "test" recipes before committing to the ten gallon run.

Thanks for all of you testing and note taking on this project.

brower said:

the recipe out of BYO 150 was the best one yet. it's closer to the old mac&jacks. since they split, the new recipe is different. nuttier and less fruity. i like the old one.

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I never heard something happened...too bad, I used to go down to the brewery and fill growlers all the time. Was it about 18 monts ago? I know something changed in their beer around then, but I assumed it was the hop shortage and they were substituting.

WenValley said:

This will be my next brew. I'm even thinking of doing the ten gallon batch from the get go. I usually run one or two five gallon batches to "test" recipes before committing to the ten gallon run.

Thanks for all of you testing and note taking on this project.

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Absolutely- and be sure to post your results! I miss the Wenatchee Valley.. I used to live there for awhile in the 80's out on Sunset Highway..Are you going to the Ale Festival in Leavenworth in April? Tickets are on sale march 1st. Went last year and had a blast! Cant wait to go back this year..

If you want fruity try myer lemon peel or fresh orange peel

I will be at the ale fest in April. Should be fun.

As far as M&J, I used fresh orange zest in my first brew "dry hopped", then .5oz sweet orange peel in the second one I did at 10min. Both great beers. My wife and I love M&J.

KiltedCorpse said:

I will be at the ale fest in April. Should be fun.

As far as M&J, I used fresh orange zest in my first brew "dry hopped", then .5oz sweet orange peel in the second one I did at 10min. Both great beers. My wife and I love M&J.

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Awesome! Both to the successful M&J beers AND the Leavenworth Ale Festival!

Anyone made this clone lately? Reports?

I brewed a ten gallon batch of this today. I used some Simcoe and Amarillo, plus Cascade and Centennial. I only had ten pounds of Maris Otter, so I added eight pound of pale two row.

Used 1056 in one carboy and Safale 05 in the other. I added about a pound of orange marmalade at the end of the boil and an ounce of sweet orange peels at the thirty minute mark. SG was 1.060.

So, it's not "spot" on, but I'll report back with the results.

WenValley said:

I brewed a ten gallon batch of this today. I used some Simcoe and Amarillo, plus Cascade and Centennial. I only had ten pounds of Maris Otter, so I added eight pound of pale two row.

Used 1056 in one carboy and Safale 05 in the other. I added about a pound of orange marmalade at the end of the boil and an ounce of sweet orange peels at the thirty minute mark. SG was 1.060.

So, it's not "spot" on, but I'll report back with the results.

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How did the brew turn out? Anyone else brewed this?

Try sweet orange peel. It adds 'oranginess'.

Here is a link for instructions for using fresh orange peel:https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/how-use-orange-peel-59351/ In a nutshell, use only zest (2 oz./5 gal. batch) for sweet, fruity flavor, or zest with some pith attached for bitter orange flavor.