Can you Brew It recipe for Stone Levitation

All recipes are (unless otherwise specified): 6 gallons post-boil, 70% efficiency, Morey for color, 15% evaporation, 7.27 gallons preboil, Rager IBU, and most hops are in grams not ounces. Most, if not all recipes are primary only (no secondary).

If you brew this, please reply with your results for discussion.

4.25kg British pale
0.5kg crystal 75
0.25kg crystal 150
20g black patent

Mash at 157

14g Columbus %AA 90min (unknown AA%)
29g amarillo %AA 30min
33g crystal %AA 20min
11g simcoe %AA 20min
42g amarillo dry hop

WLP007 fermented at 67 degrees

Finish at 3.2 plato

Discussion notes:
The brewer's mash was 156, but he said that 156 or 157 would be fine. It was noted that this recipe would translate to extract very well. Replace the british pale with 2.5kg british pale DME or 3.25kg british pale LME. The brewer also used crystal 120 instead of crystal 150. He also fermented at 68F.

I brewed 10 gallons of this a few weeks ago and currently have it on tap. I have tasted it side by side with the commercial version. It very cloned but the homebrew is much fresher and the hops are brighter and the bitterness is firmer. Also the homebrew is not a clear.

I used American 2-row and not the British pale malt. I used chocolate and not the black patent. I used crystal 120 not the 150. I replaced the crystal with hallertau.

This was the first beer I did after making some major changes to my system. Everything worked well but I got much higher efficiency and way overshot the starting gravity (I got 1.060). My finish gravity was also very high at 1.020. Next time I'd adjust for the increase in efficiency and perhaps mash at a lower temp to increase the fermentability.

I brewed this beer a little over a week ago. I actually had all of the ingredients and hops, so brewed it pretty much as is. Hit the mash temp almost perfectly (was under by about 0.5 degree), and pitched yeast at 65 F.

Problem was, however, is I had my Better Bottle in a laundry sink with cold water, and after pitching the yeast, I went away for a couple of days. When I got back, the temp was too high (75 F); brought it down some, but by then I imagine it was too late. I plan on throwing in the Amarillo dry-hop addition this Saturday, and bottling it a week later. I'll report back with the results hopefully in 3 weeks or so when I first test it.

berley31 said:

I brewed this beer a little over a week ago. I actually had all of the ingredients and hops, so brewed it pretty much as is. Hit the mash temp almost perfectly (was under by about 0.5 degree), and pitched yeast at 65 F.

Problem was, however, is I had my Better Bottle in a laundry sink with cold water, and after pitching the yeast, I went away for a couple of days. When I got back, the temp was too high (75 F); brought it down some, but by then I imagine it was too late. I plan on throwing in the Amarillo dry-hop addition this Saturday, and bottling it a week later. I'll report back with the results hopefully in 3 weeks or so when I first test it.

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This beer turned out really nice... just had a sample last night, and after 11-12 days bottled the carbonation seems good. Haven't had Levitation for awhile, so I can't really comment on how close it is, but this is a very flavorful, hoppy and bitter beer. Great recipe.

berley31 said:

This beer turned out really nice... just had a sample last night, and after 11-12 days bottled the carbonation seems good. Haven't had Levitation for awhile, so I can't really comment on how close it is, but this is a very flavorful, hoppy and bitter beer. Great recipe.

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Do yourself a favor and buy a 6 pack of the commercial version. Then try them side by side in a blind tasting. I did this with some friends and the homebrew was much fresher and was preferred by all.

Saving this for later.

maida7 said:

Do yourself a favor and buy a 6 pack of the commercial version. Then try them side by side in a blind tasting. I did this with some friends and the homebrew was much fresher and was preferred by all.

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Trust me, I would if I could. I live in Eastern Canada, and there's no Stone products here, of course.

I will make a point to pick some up the next time I'm in Maine, however.

berley31 said:

Trust me, I would if I could. I live in Eastern Canada, and there's no Stone products here, of course.

I will make a point to pick some up the next time I'm in Maine, however.

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I have the same problem with the Moose Drool recipe. I've never had the beer cause we can't get it here in NC

Yeah... I had the Moose Drool once last year while in Montana... I brewed that clone as well about 6 weeks ago. Tastes good, but I can't remember, of course, exactly what the MD tasted like, so I can't really do a fair comparison.

I find the only way to do a real comparison is to drink them side by side in a blind tasting.

Made this recipe over the weekend, but added some summit hops at the 5 minute mark to boost my flavor a bit. I also set my software to brew a 7 gallon batch instead of 6. I realized my mistake right after I started boiling, and just turned my burner up to increase boiloff. I hit my gravity within 2 points, and the wort smells like delicious hops!

I brewed this recipe, extract brewing using the conversion notes shown on page 1 of this thread. Mine came out way darker than the real thing, I assume the black patent is the culprit?

The taste is pretty close, but the nose is not quite as good on the aroma hops as the original.

Next time I plan to use less black patent or replace some of it with more crystal and then add to the finishing hops and the dry hops to try and build up the aroma. Otherwise good beer, Levitation is one of my favorites!

Here's the recipe I used after converting it (for a 5 gallon batch):
Soaked these grains in bag at 160-165 degrees for 20 mins
1.1 lb crystal 80 (all my store had)
0.6 lb crystal 120 (all my store had)
0.4 lb black patent

Remove grains, add DME and bring to boil and boil 60mins
5.5 lbs Muntons light DME

Bittering Hops(60 mins)
0.5 oz Columbus
1 oz Amarillo
Finishing Hops(15 mins)
1.16 oz Crystal
0.4 oz Simcoe

Fermented 7 days at 68 degrees
Added 1.5 oz Amarillo dry hop to fermentor for another week

.4# of black patent! That's 6 times the amount in the original recipe!

kanzimonson said:

.4# of black patent! That's 6 times the amount in the original recipe!

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Yep, that's the winner!

I just keg this recipe, and the only thing Id change is add a little more bittering hop (or it could be different AA's in the CTZ). Everything else seems good on my end.

Saving!!

Thanks guys, that will teach me to double check my late night recipe calculations next time .04 lb black patent! Doh!

berley31 said:

This beer turned out really nice... just had a sample last night, and after 11-12 days bottled the carbonation seems good. Haven't had Levitation for awhile, so I can't really comment on how close it is, but this is a very flavorful, hoppy and bitter beer. Great recipe.

Click to expand...

Well, after almost 5 months since bottling, I just finished the last one a couple days ago... really had to slow down for awhile there. The beer was so great it was going very fast.

Anyway, finally managed to land a bottle of Levitation... about the same age as my later bottles. And, I have to say, the two beers were almost exactly the same... the homebrewed version was a bit hoppier, but otherwise this recipe is pretty much spot-on. A real winner.

Brewed this up today with a few tweaks...

Stone Levitation
American Amber Ale

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (G): 5.5
Total Grain (lb): 8.438
Total Hops (oz): 3.85
Original Gravity (OG): 1.048 (°P): 11.9
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (°P): 3.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.59 %
Colour (SRM): 17.3 (EBC): 34.1
Bitterness (IBU): 43.8 (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 84
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
7.000 lb British 2 Row (82.96%)
0.875 lb Crystal 80 (10.37%)
0.500 lb Crystal 135-165L (British) (5.93%)
0.063 lb Black Patent (0.75%)

Hop Bill
----------------
0.35 oz Chinook Pellet (11% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (First Wort) (0.1 oz/Gal)
1.00 oz Amarillo Pellet (8.2% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 oz/Gal)
1.00 oz Crystal Pellet (2.8% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 oz/Gal)
0.50 oz Simcoe Pellet (12.2% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.1 oz/Gal)
1.00 oz Amarillo Pellet (8.2% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop) (0.2 oz/Gal)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 157.5°F for 75 Minutes.
Fermented at 68°F with Safale S-04

Notes
----------------
11/25/2011 9:47:12 AM : subed chinook for columbus

mashed with 6 gal @ 157.5
sparged with 1.75 gal @ 170
collected 6.25 total

11/25/2011 12:03:25 PM : OG 1.048 (84% efficiency) 5.5 gal

Recipe Generated with BrewMate

will report back with how it comes out.

For those who have brewed this, do you think it would be ready by New Years if I brewed Sunday and put it on the gas two weeks before the big night?

Absolutely. The sooner the better.

I ended up doing an extract + steeping grains version of this by replacing the pale malt with 6 lbs. of pale LME and 1 lb. of extra light DME and then steeping the specialty grains. OG was 1.046 and my SG sample just now came out at 1.016. Tastes magnificent. What a great recipe. Talk about an awesome session beer.

Just wanted to let those out there know this can be done as extract. Wonderful beer.

FYI, stone has come out with a book that includes the recipe for levitation. Haven't had the chance to make it yet, but I will do my best to post it tonight or tomorrow. For the stone beer lovers that want the whole book, the isbn # is 9781607740551. The book has about 15-20 recipes in the book so if you love there beer, the money is well worth it. Also, they have a limited release beer that works in conjunction with the book, details are on stones website.

From the stone book:


Stone Levitation Ale
85.0% crushed North American two-row pale malt
9.0% crushed 75L crystal malt
5.2% crushed 150L crystal malt
0.8% crushed black malt
Conversion Temperature 157F [10 minutes] - This is what the book says...10 minutes
Mash Out 165F

0.108 lb/bbl Columbus hops (12.9% AA) [90 minutes]
0.35 lb/bbl Amarillo hops (8.5% AA) [10 minutes]
0.35 lb/bbl Crystal hops (3.5% AA) [0 minutes]
0.10 lb/bbl Simcoe hops (13.0% AA) [0 minutes]

White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale or WLP002 English Ale Yeast
Pitch Rate 12

0.30 lb/bbl Amarillo hops (8.5% AA) [Dry Hop, 7 days]

Starting gravity 1.048 (12 Plato)
Final Gravity 1.013 (3.2 Plato)
Ferment at 72F

Thank you foltster. I would recommend to those that have not listen to the CYBI podcast for the clone attempt for this beer to listen to it. It makes some adjustments to fermentation based on jamil's knowledge of how to account/adjust for whirlpool and reducing ferm temp because of fermenter sizes, etc. Probably going to brew this tonight or tomorrow morning and make some adjustments based on the CYBI podcasts.

Doing this with the extract what was your og. And what was the final abv. Entering a session beer contest and thinking about Doing a beer similar

Charliehart1 said:

Doing this with the extract what was your og. And what was the final abv. Entering a session beer contest and thinking about Doing a beer similar

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My OG was 1.046 and the ABV is about 3.5-3.75%. Definitely a session beer.

Update on my batch... OG was 1.048 mashed at 157.5 and FG was 1.019, so 3.82% ABV. If I rebrew I will mash at 152 since FG was so high. Ended up dry hopping with 50-50 amarillo simcoe, smells great, tastes ok, not digging the black patent, maybe some caraf 3 next time too.

heywolfie1015 said:

My OG was 1.046 and the ABV is about 3.5-3.75%. Definitely a session beer.

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What specialty grains did you steep with?

Charliehart1 said:

What specialty grains did you steep with?

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The same ones as the OP:

0.5kg crystal 75
0.25kg crystal 150
20g black patent

It's really pretty straightforward. Great recipe.

pm5k00 said:

Update on my batch... OG was 1.048 mashed at 157.5 and FG was 1.019, so 3.82% ABV. If I rebrew I will mash at 152 since FG was so high. Ended up dry hopping with 50-50 amarillo simcoe, smells great, tastes ok, not digging the black patent, maybe some caraf 3 next time too.

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I spoke a little premature, taste has mellowed quite a bit, I think the initial harshness was from being carbed up so quick in the keg. Much better now.

I also noticed that the harshness quickly fades away. What I previously noticed as a strong back end bitterness has mellowed in two weeks to a nice, bracing bitterness perfect for a pale ale.

Couldn't get amarillo or simcoe near me so I did an extract brew of this with galena replacing amarillo and nugget replacing simcoe. Just kegged it. Surprisingly still tastes a lot like levitation. Really digging this one, actually. The galena is interesting. Definitely doing this one again. Not going to last too long.

FYI, white labs has just come out with a special California super strain. I have not seen any reviews on it yet, but is sounding like it may come close to the big SoCal brews some come to like. I will try it on my next stone beer and see what it does, but being a SoCal native I wanted to let people know.

socalhomebrewer said:

FYI, white labs has just come out with a special California super strain. I have not seen any reviews on it yet, but is sounding like it may come close to the big SoCal brews some come to like. I will try it on my next stone beer and see what it does, but being a SoCal native I wanted to let people know.

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Are you talking about wlp 090 San Diego Super Yeast? I saw it listed as new for 2012 with 4 other strains on their web site. Odd though, it's been out for at least 5 or six months now.

Brewed this one subbing Nugget for Simcoe due to availability. A definite winner. Taste very close to Levitation. A real crowd pleaser. The bittering hops and flavoring hops are very well balanced with neither dominating.

If I plug all the numbers into BeerSmith2 from the CYBI show for 6 gals, it does NOT come out to the right values for SRM and OG ?? (it comes out to SRM 16.9, OG 1.046 and Jamil says it should be SRM 18.3 and OG 1.048)
BUT, here is the WEIRD thing, if I use the numbers from "The Craft Of Stone Brewing" book recipe for 5 gals, I get perfect numbers that Jamil mentioned on the CYBI show... SRM 18.3 and OG 1.048

What the HECK !?

Does anyone else think Jami's numbers are not right either ??

-Randy

Doesn't the Stone Brewing book use normal american 2-row for this recipe, that should make it markedly lighter in color.

rockfish42 said:

Doesn't the Stone Brewing book use normal american 2-row for this recipe, that should make it markedly lighter in color.

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Oh yea, you are right man...
When I switch that recipe to the AMERICAN Pale malt, it only takes it down a little though, to 17.7 SRM (down from 18.3).

Still weird that using the %'s for the BOOK recipe, with Jamil's ingredients, it hit Jamil's numbers, but using Jamil's recipe STRAIGHT, did NOT hit his numbers... so something is not right with Jamil's.

Whatever !

I guess I'm going to use Jamil's recipe from CYBI, since they all said it came out SO "cloned".
If I can find all those hops, maybe I'll brew it next week !

foltster said:

From the stone book:


Stone Levitation Ale
85.0% crushed North American two-row pale malt
9.0% crushed 75L crystal malt
5.2% crushed 150L crystal malt
0.8% crushed black malt
Conversion Temperature 157F [10 minutes] - This is what the book says...10 minutes
Mash Out 165F

0.108 lb/bbl Columbus hops (12.9% AA) [90 minutes]
0.35 lb/bbl Amarillo hops (8.5% AA) [10 minutes]
0.35 lb/bbl Crystal hops (3.5% AA) [0 minutes]
0.10 lb/bbl Simcoe hops (13.0% AA) [0 minutes]

White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale or WLP002 English Ale Yeast
Pitch Rate 12

0.30 lb/bbl Amarillo hops (8.5% AA) [Dry Hop, 7 days]

Starting gravity 1.048 (12 Plato)
Final Gravity 1.013 (3.2 Plato)
Ferment at 72F

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10 Minute Mash?! That's crazy talk. Or is it? The Stone brewer on the show also confirms that they use a very short mash - would this have the effect of increasing fermentability of a wort mashed at high (~157) temp?

Has anyone here tried a 10-20 minute mash on a lighter gravity beer like this? I read somewhere that at higher temps the enzymes don't last as long...

I'll likely try this and go with a few iodine tests...