Austin Homebrew Two-Hearted Ale Extract clone

I really love this beer, and just brewed Austin Homebrews clone of it. One thing i know about Two Hearted Ale is that it uses all Centennial hops, whereas this kit came with all Amarillo. I suspect its due to the hop shortage but i was just wondering if anyones ever brewed this kit with with all Amarillo, and how did it turn out??

I brewed an All-Amarillo Pale Ale that was nearly an IPA about a year ago, and it turned out delicious. Many sources indicate that Amarillo is a suitable substitute for Centennial. While there may be closer substitutes, they should be reasonably similar to each other to produce a good product within the ballpark of the Two Hearted Ale - the end result will probably be a bit smoother and less heavy on the grapefruit character. So I'd brew it with what you've got.

If you want to go for maximum authenticity, I checked some other online stores, and many of them have Centennial available for reasonable prices - Nikobrew and Hops Direct, for instance. Amarillo is a great hop, and you'll always find another use for it in an American Pale Ale or West Coast IPA if you were to go ahead and use Centennial in your clone batch.

I use Armarillo quite a bit in my IPAs and most recently in my Dawn of The Dead ale and i really do love this hop. In my opinion it should have some kind of a "C" came so it would fit in more nicely with the other american IPA hops.

Amarillo is an awesome hop, but it's not Centennial. It will be good for sure, but not a two hearted clone. There site says that Centennial won't be available for a long time, which is funny because there available to the public.

I have been told by someone that they suspected some Amarillo in the actual 2 Hearted, and not solely Centennial. I have never seen someone from Bells actually say it is 100% Centennial. But Centennial is easily acquired so the clones use it.

also, the kit called for 3oz in the boil and .5 oz dry hop, but it only came with 3oz, all of which i used in the boil. Ive never brewed an IPA before, but i know most recipes dry hop, and with atleast half an ounce. How crucial do yall think this will be to the result? I went ahead and bought a few more ounces of amarillo to play with, how much would yall recommend using?

It it was me, I'd put an ounce of Centennial in DH.

yeah but i figured i went amarillo all the way anyways, why switch to the "centennial blend" of cascade and columbus

ba70665 said:

yeah but i figured i went amarillo all the way anyways, why switch to the "centennial blend" of cascade and columbus

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If I were brewing a TH clone the Cent. addition in secondary would be the MOST crucial part of the brew. That is where the majority of the aroma and a good part of the flavor will be added. One oz. should do it for one week.

cuinrearview said:

If I were brewing a TH clone the Cent. addition in secondary would be the MOST crucial part of the brew. That is where the majority of the aroma and a good part of the flavor will be added. One oz. should do it for one week.

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I thought dry hopping adds aroma, but not flavor.

i'm actually brewing a version of the two hearted now (as in it's currently boiling!)

I'm gonna use 5 oz of Centennial (every 15 min addition in 60 min boil with 1 oz DH).

It's not from a kit, but just my approximation. 8# LDME with 1 lb of Crystal 40 for color and flavor. This should get me close to their ABV and I couldn't find what their IBUs were, but by my calcs my approach should yield about 44 IBUs.

I think my color might turn out a little light...but i can't get the TH where i live so my comparison will just have to be by memory. Either way this should be a tasty brew regardless of how close it is...I'm calling it an Open Hearted IPA.

wildwest450 said:

I thought dry hopping adds aroma, but not flavor.

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The dry-hopped beers that I've made always taste hoppier after secondary. Could just be aging? I attribute it to the dry-hopping