Deuchars IPA Clone Recipe?

I've been looking for a good Deuchars IPA clone recipe but haven't had much luck finding one.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, this is a really nice lighter IPA session beer around 4% ABV.

Has anyone seen a good one around? Preferably a partial grain recipe?

Thanks,
John

Here's your start.

Ingredients

Malts: Golden Promise and Optic.
Hops: Fuggles, Super Styrian Goldings.
“Deuchars IPA is a fabulous beer. A brilliant blend of malt and hop character and above all a drink with enormous drinkability.” Roger Protz, Editor of the Good Beer Guide.

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I drink it all the time and it's the one I go for if there is not any guest beers on. Lots of the bigger pub chains have it as a house ale

I'm stabbing at around 30 IBU and colour of about 8(ish)
They have only listed the base malts so it's probably going to have some crystal in it.
It's a very good beer and it's refreshing. If I was going to brew It I'd put a small amount of wheat in it to give it that summer beer feel.


So far.

Golden Promise
Optic
Crystal
Wheat
Fuggles
Stryian Goldings

IBU 30
SRM 8
OG 1040

Yeast, I'm not sure but it's got to be worth a shot with a Scottish ale yeast.

If you are looking to go for a PM I'd use the Golden promise as the base malt (LME) the mash the Optic and other grains.

A word of warning for brewers looking for an American style IPA.
This is not it.

It's just a Pale ale. A good one but not a real IPA.

I emailed the brewer shortly after leaving Scotland. He was very up front. Here is his reply.

Hi Ryan,

I'm so pleased to hear of your affinity for IPA, but I assume supply could be problematic in Montana!

For our, malt we used to use entirely Golden Promise, but, due to supply and quality, we now use a blend of around 65% Optic. However, malt from varieties such as Marris Otter is an excellent one, and if it works well micro brewery and home brewed beers I would stick to something like that. We also add around 3-5% wheat malt to the final grist. We also use around 10% sugar to control colour and help fermentation

We use very high hopping rates due to our late hopping in traditional hopback and as a result only achieve around 20-22 % bitterness utilization, aiming for a final bitterness target of of 28 for both the draught ( 3.8ABV) and bottle (4.5ABV)

For home brewing I would tend to go for the higher ABV version!

We use Fuggles as the main copper hop at a level of around 10% of total hops –around 0.2 g per litre



We use Styrian Golding as the main hop, these days blended with Willamette, which we find compliments the aroma and also acts as a buffer against the variable quality of Styrian Golding . If you can’t get Styrian Golding, replace with Willamette initially

The usage rates in g per litre are as below for all hops



Copper Late

Styrian Golding 0.25 1.75

Willamette 0 0.4

Super Styrian 0.2 0

Fuggle 0.2 0



If you can't get any Super Styrian simply add more fuggle (around 0.3 g per litre) or some other variety of your choice such as Challenger or perhaps US varieties like Liberty or Mount Hood.



To get more late hop character why not try "hop tea". This is simply made by bringing hops to the boil in Water for around 5-10 min ( too long and you will add too much bitterness), straining and cooling and adding the resultant "tea" at the end of fermentation. Remember to allow for dilution effect on the original brew! I suggest you start in the range 1-2 g per litre



Simply add any variety ( in this case Styrian Golding /Willamette) but you try other varieties to give different characters



I hope you find this useful – good luck and cheers!









Regards





Robert





Dr Robert Burton

Production Director

Caledonian Brewery

Tel: 0131 6238073 / 07971 503477

Fax: 0131 3132370

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I asked a follow up question about yeast and he went as far as offering to send me some. I am a Caledonian fan for life.

No problem – I hope it turns out OK

Only thing I forgot is the yeast – we expect fermentation to be complete within 48hrs at 20 degrees C

This can be problematic for home brewers, but I would avoid too high a temperature as this will cause flavour changes and use fresh active yeast, even if that requires growing up a starter culture of dried yeast in some sugary nutrient first.

Yes we have our own strain

I would be glad to send you a small sample but I’m afraid we only have it in slurry form and it would autolyse during transit.

I suggest you sue whatever yeast your home brew friends find to be the most reliable – you could take a sample form their fermentations and use that?

Regards



Robert



Dr Robert Burton

Production Director

Caledonian Brewery

Tel: 0131 6238073 / 07971 503477

Fax: 0131 3132370

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Cool, good info.

Here's my update guess then.

So far.

Golden Promise - 65%
Optic - 15%
Crystal - 6% (Although not mentioned I think it may be too dry without it. I think I'd need to do a sample brew to decide.)
Wheat - 4%
Demerara Sugar - 10%
Fuggles - Bittering
Styrian Goldings/Willamette - Flavouring/Aroma
(Styrian - Hop tea)????

IBU 28
SRM 8
OG 1040

I've not run this through any software so it need playing with.

It sounds like they use a massive amount of hops in the hop back.
I think it'd would be more economical for home brewers to just load up the late addition hops. Remember this is comparably not a massively hoppy beer. Just enough to be pleasant.The hop tea may be worth ago.

I'll run it through Beersmith and round the figures up or down to keep it simple.

This recipe is not a tried 'n' tested!!!!!


UK AG

Recipe: Duchess IPA
Brewer: Orfy
Asst Brewer:
Style: India Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.02 L
Boil Size: 30.55 L
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 7.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 kg Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett)Grain 68.2 %
0.50 kg Pale Malt, Optic (3.0 SRM) Grain 11.4 %
0.30 kg Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (60.0 Grain 6.8 %
0.20 kg Wheat, Torrified (Thomas Fawcett) (2.0 SRMGrain 4.5 %
35.00 gm Fuggles [4.50%] (60 min) Hops 18.6 IBU
15.00 gm Fuggles [4.50%] (15 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
28.30 gm Williamette [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
28.30 gm Styrian Goldings [5.00%] (5 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
28.30 gm Styrian Goldings [5.00%] (0 min) Hops -
28.30 gm Williamette [5.50%] (0 min) Hops -
0.40 kg Dememera Sugar (2.0 SRM) Sugar 9.1 %
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Batch Sparge.
Total Grain Weight: 4.00 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Step Add 10.44 L of water at 73.8 C 67.0 C 60 min

US Partial Mash (3 gallon pot)

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 2.43 gal
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 7.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2 lbs 7.3 oz Light Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 46.4 %
1 lbs 9.9 oz Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett)Grain 18.7 %
1 lbs 1.2 oz Pale Malt, Optic (3.0 SRM) Grain 12.5 %
6.3 oz Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (60.0 Grain 7.5 %
7.0 oz Wheat, Torrified (Thomas Fawcett) (2.0 SRMGrain 5.0 %
1.66 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (60 min) Hops 18.5 IBU
0.71 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (15 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
1.34 oz Williamette [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
1.34 oz Styrian Goldings [5.00%] (5 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
0.82 oz Styrian Goldings [5.00%] (0 min) Hops -
0.82 oz Williamette [5.50%] (0 min) Hops -
12.3 oz Dememera Sugar (2.0 SRM) Sugar 10.0 %
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Batch Sparge.
Total Grain Weight: 3.53 lb
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Step Add 4.41 qt of water at 164.9 F 152.6 F 60 min

US EXTRACT (I'd probably steep the wheat instead of using and extract)

Recipe: Duchess IPA - US Extract
Brewer: Orfy
Asst Brewer:
Style: India Pale Ale
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 2.43 gal
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 8.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3 lbs 11.0 oz Light Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 62.8 %
8.1 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 8.7 %
3.0 oz Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 3.2 %
7.1 oz Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (60.0 Grain 7.6 %
1.66 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (60 min) Hops 18.6 IBU
0.71 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (15 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
1.34 oz Williamette [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
1.34 oz Styrian Goldings [5.00%] (5 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
0.82 oz Styrian Goldings [5.00%] (0 min) Hops -
0.82 oz Williamette [5.50%] (0 min) Hops -
1 lbs 0.7 oz Dememera Sugar (2.0 SRM) Sugar 17.8 %
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: None
Total Grain Weight: 6.62 lb

Wow! Thanks Orfy and Fifelee!

I'll be brewing a 5 gallon partial mash.

Are the amounts given for the "US Partial Mash (3 gallon pot)" actually for a 5 gallon or a 3 gallon batch?

Also, since I'm new to this, I'm not sure exactly what the following lines represent:

Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Step Add 4.41 qt of water at 164.9 F 152.6 F 60 min

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It's for a 5 gallon (US) Batch

Here's the full instructions. Don't forget this is just my attempt over a cup of coffee this morning.

Duchess IPA - US PM

Brew Type: Partial Mash Date: 08/09/2008
Style: India Pale Ale Brewer: Orfy
Batch Size: 5.00 gal Assistant Brewer:
Boil Volume: 2.43 gal Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.0 %

Brewing Steps Check Time Step
08/09/2008 Clean and prepare equipment.
-- Measure ingredients, crush grains.
-- Prepare 6.10 gal water for brewing
-- Prepare Ingredients for Mash
Amount Item Type
1 lbs 9.9 oz Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett) (3.0 SRM) Grain
1 lbs 1.2 oz Pale Malt, Optic (3.0 SRM) Grain
6.3 oz Crystal Malt - 60L (Thomas Fawcett) (60.0 SRM) Grain
7.0 oz Wheat, Torrified (Thomas Fawcett) (2.0 SRM) Grain

-- WARNING: Preheat Mash Tun - No equipment adjustments made!
5 min Mash Ingredients
Step: Add 4.41 qt of water at 164.9 F
60 min - Hold mash at 152.6 F for 60 min
-- Drain Mash Tun
-- Batch Sparge Round 1: Sparge with 2.00 gal of 170.6 F water.
-- Add water to achieve boil volume of 2.43 gal
-- Estimated Pre-boil Gravity is: 1.086 SG with all grains/extracts added
Boil for 60 min Start to Boil
Amount Item Type
2 lbs 7.3 oz Light Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract
1.66 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (60 min) Hops
12.3 oz Dememera Sugar (2.0 SRM) Sugar

45 min into boil Add 0.71 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (15 min)
55 min into boil Add 1.34 oz Williamette [5.50%] (5 min)
55 min into boil Add 1.34 oz Styrian Goldings [5.00%] (5 min)
60 min into boil Add 0.82 oz Styrian Goldings [5.00%] (0 min)
60 min into boil Add 0.82 oz Williamette [5.50%] (0 min)
-- Cool wort to fermentation temperature
-- Add 3.00 gal water (as needed) to achieve volume of 5.00 gal
-- Siphon wort to primary fermenter and aerate wort.
-- Add Ingredients to Fermenter

1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale

08/09/2008 Measure Original Gravity: ________ (Estimate: 1.042 SG)
08/09/2008 Measure Batch Volume: ________ (Estimate: 5.00 gal)
4 days Ferment in primary for 4 days at 68.0 F
12/09/2008 Transfer to Secondary Fermenter
7 days Ferment in secondary for 7 days at 68.0 F
19/09/2008 Measure Final Gravity: ________ (Estimate: 1.012 SG)
-- Bottle beer at 60.1 F with 3.8 oz of corn sugar.
4.0 Weeks Age for 4.0 Weeks at 52.0 F
17/10/2008 Sample and enjoy!

Excellent. Thanks again Orfy!

I'll probably give this a go in the next couple of weeks.

John

It looks like my LHBS does not not have '1 lbs 1.2 oz Pale Malt, Optic (3.0 SRM) Grain'. Can anyone recommend a good substitute?

Golden Promise
Golden Promise, an early-maturing spring barley, is the Scottish equivalent of Maris Otter. Though brewers north of the English border claim that its sweet, clean flavor is superior to Maris Otter. Golden Promise malt has a depth of flavor that makes it the ideal base malt for both UK and USA-style IPAs. Golden Promise is also used extensively by premium whisky distilleries such as The Macallan.

Or Maris Otter.

Cool. So on the most recently posted recipe, I could just go with 2 lbs. 11.1 oz. of Golden Promise then?

What is 'Optic', btw?

Thanks,
John

It's just a type of pale malted barley. Same as Maris Otter and Golden promise.

Has any on else got any input on this recipe?

Based on my conversations with my LHBS and their inventory, here is my current shopping list for this recipe.

---

2 lbs 11.1 oz Golden Promise (2L) Grain
6.3 oz Crystal Malt (60L) Grain
7.0 oz Torrified Wheat (1.5L) Grain

2 lbs 7.3 oz Extra Pale Malt Extract

2 oz Fuggles Hops
2 oz Williamette Hops
2 oz Styrian Goldings Hops

12.3 oz Turbinado Sugar

1 Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast

So, I just got through brewing this one and checked the OG on the wort. Its about 1.030 instead of the expected 1.042. Not sure what went wrong.

I'm ready to pitch the yeast. Is there anything that can be done at this point, or should I just go with it and see how the final product comes out?

Thanks,
John

Here's what I did:

- Brought 2.5 gallons of water to 160 degrees and turned off heat.
- Soaked grains in hot water and tried to maintain 155 degrees for 45 min. (had some trouble keeping it at 155, temp seemed to range between 150 and 170).
- After soaking, dunked the grain bag in and out and then ran 1.75 quarts of 170 degree water over grain bag in strainer.
- Brought wort to a boil, then removed from heat.
- Added the malt extract and brought back to a boil.
- Added bittering hops, turbinado sugar, and boiled for 60 min., following the hops addition schedule mentioned in the recipe.
- Cooled wort to 80 degrees and added filtered water to bring to 5 total gallons of wort.
- Took OG reading.

jcole,

What gave you a taste for Deuchars? Can you get it here in the States? I drank it almost everyday when I lived in Edinburgh.

I was recently over in London with my brother in law who was giving me the tour of some of his favorite pubs and ales.

Deuchars IPA was one that stood out for me personally, so when I got back home, I was inspired to try and recreate something close here.

I haven't found it here yet, but apparently there are a couple of importers who carry it in the USA: Welcome to The Caledonian Brewery: Overseas Stockists

fifelee said:

I emailed the brewer shortly after leaving Scotland. He was very up front. Here is his reply.

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This is really cool. Well done. Charlie

Just an update to say that I transferred the brew from the primary to the secondary this weekend and had a taste. Quite bitter and not too sweet. So far so good.

On it's way.
The bitterness will melow.

Keep us posted. I'm curious to see how this one turns out!

I bottled it on Saturday. The FG was about 1.010 or maybe 1.011.

It is promising so far. Nice and bitter... not too sweet... actually not very sweet at all. Medium to light body.

However, I'm going to let it condition for at least a week before drinking any.

I'm guessing that we may need to make some tweaks to either the recipe or the method... but we seem to be in the ballpark.

Are there any Deuchar's drinkers reading this that might be interested in providing some feedback and helping with the recipe? Orfy?

jcole said:

I bottled it on Saturday. The FG was about 1.010 or maybe 1.011.

It is promising so far. Nice and bitter... not too sweet... actually not very sweet at all. Medium to light body.

However, I'm going to let it condition for at least a week before drinking any.

I'm guessing that we may need to make some tweaks to either the recipe or the method... but we seem to be in the ballpark.

Are there any Deuchar's drinkers reading this that might be interested in providing some feedback and helping with the recipe? Orfy?

Click to expand...

I would be glad to help, but would have to go from memory. Wish I could do a side by side test, but I finished the last Deuchars I brought back. It was consumed out on the farm and the empty can tossed into the back of my truck. When I went to clean my truck I didn't have the heart to get rid of that last can of one of my favorite beers. I must be the only country boy in the States that has a can of Deuchars rolling around in truck.:rockin:

Not much more I can do unless you are very good at explaining what the beer is like.

the high bitterness is probably due to your gravity coming out low. you would have gotten a higher utilization of the hops in the boil and you won't have the maltiness to balance it.

Mmm yes I was thinking that Deuchars isn't a very bitter beer normally. Served in my local and other pubs I frequent (although to be honest it's almost always outclassed though so I don't drink it a huge amount).

I am very interested in this beer because while it isn't quite hoppy enough for me, it is the general direction of flavour I want from my beer. Hopping it up is easy enough from that point, I'm just curious how to best get that nice pale ale flavour and especially the aftertaste.

I just popped open a bottle of this and it tastes pretty good. A little light on body and a little hoppier than expected in some ways. Thinking that the low gravity is probably the issue.

Overall a nice beer that I'm looking forward to tweaking and brewing again. I'm thinking that if I get better efficiency from the specialty grains it might move it a little more in the desired direction.

Man, this is one of my favorite beers I drank in Scotland. I hope you guys can get close to it, I will be watching this thread.

I lived in Scotland for three years and this was one of my favorites as well. Count me in to duplicate this recipe if you guys pull it off!

This beer is aging nicely and I'm probably going to have another go at the recipe again soon.

The main thing I think needs tweaking is to get more of a mouth feel and a little higher OG than what I ended up with - as the beer feels a little thin and could be just a little bit stronger in term of ABV.

Any suggestions on this? Should I just try to be more efficient mashing the grains in this recipe and get more sugars from them? Or should I adjust the mashing temp...

...or just use more extract and more or less steep the specialty grains.

I'm thinking that a higher OG will also take a little of the edge off the bitterness as someone mentioned earlier in the thread. That said, its aging nicely.

No suggestions, but my wife and I just booked a trip to Scotland for early next month. What will you trade for a real can of Deuchars?

fifelee said:

No suggestions, but my wife and I just booked a trip to Scotland for early next month. What will you trade for a real can of Deuchars?

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Ummm.. how about a big bottle of my clone?

jcole said:

Ummm.. how about a big bottle of my clone?

Click to expand...

Sounds doable. I'll see how much I can fit in the suitcase.

Cool! I'll see if I can send you a few samples of my bottled brews on deck.

Just a quick trip to the market for dinner drinks.

Very nice. Have a couple for me will ya?

Is the clone posted close to the original?

I just bottled my second go at this recipe today and I must say that I'm getting pretty close. Well, actually I'm not sure how close of a clone it is as I don't have any Deuchar's on hand to compare it to - but I think I've got a damn fine Scottish Pale Ale in the Deuchar's spirit.

I'm interested to see how it ages over the next couple of weeks - but its already tasting very nice.