Brewed Oskar Blues Gordon Clone today

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Rick500

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I don't have a webcam, so no webcast, but I figured I'd post a photo log.

The recipe is Can You Brew It's clone recipe, with a few adjustments due to different AA%, etc.:

16.80 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 79.97 %
1.68 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.00 %
1.26 lb Carastan (30.0 SRM) Grain 5.99 %
1.26 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 5.99 %
0.01 lb Chocolate Malt (250.0 SRM) Grain 0.05 %
18.20 gm Northern Brewer [8.90 %] (80 min) Hops 19.9 IBU
67.10 gm Amarillo [7.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
110.60 gm Columbus [14.00 %] (10 min) Hops 38.0 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [Starter 1800 ml] Yeast-Ale

(6 gallons)


Getting ready to brew:
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21 pounds of grain from BMW:
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80 minute hops on the right, and a gigantic 10 minute charge on the left:
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185F strike water in the mash tun, waiting to get down to about 164F:
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Mashing in (152F):
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Vorlauf:
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Nice clear first runnings (1.092):
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First sparge (180F):
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Second runnings:
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(continued...)
 
Second + third runnings (left); first runnings (right):
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In the keggle (8.5 gallons):
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Pre-boil hydro sample (1.071):
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Cooling:
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Racking to fermenter:
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Full fermenter:
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1.8 liters of 1056 starter ready to pitch:
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...I was aiming for an FG of 1.082 at 65% efficiency, but BMW's optimal crush got me 72% for 1.091. So I guess I'll call it 111% Gordon. :)
 
Looks great! I know I brag on them a lot, but gotta love BMW!

Just me being critical and maybe I missed something, but are you pulling your first runnings and just letting it sit while you sparge? I've done the same thing before and obviously everything turned out fine, but I like to start heating the first runnings ASAP to prevent any further conversion and make the time to boil shorter. Maybe this isn't possible for you?
 
I like to start heating the first runnings ASAP to prevent any further conversion and make the time to boil shorter. Maybe this isn't possible for you?

Yeah, I only have one burner and one heating vessel, so I have to let the first runnings sit while I keep the sparge water heated through the first and second batch sparges.

Come to think of it, I guess I could start heating the first runnings on the stove until the keggle is free. Or if I had another cooler for an HLT, I could heat the sparge water earlier and just store it until it was needed, to free up the keggle.
 
Add your sparge water in one shot, instead of two. Heat sparge water during mash, drain first runnings into bucket, sparge, rack first runnings into boil kettle.
 
Wow, crazy fermentation. That 1056 was ready to eat!

7489bf20.jpg
 
Just to finish out the thread -- here's the finished product. Gordon on the left and clone on the right. (They're both clearer than the pic makes them look. Lack of decent head is attributable to my clumsy pouring.)

9d1a3ba7.jpg


It turned out to be a really nice beer.

I was shooting for an OG of 1.082 but hit 1.091. Fermented out to 1.015, so it's 10% abv Gordon. :)

Taste is really *really* smooth for a 10% abv beer. I think it'll mellow out a little more in the next few weeks, but it's very drinkable now.

I wouldn't call it cloned, but I'm putting mine up against a 10 month old can of Gordon.

I get more malt and a little more caramel sweetness from the Gordon than from mine, and more aroma from the real thing, but I think if you handed me one or the other without the side-by-side comparison, I'd believe either of them was Gordon.

I'll definitely brew this one again. I'll make some tweaks, though, to increase the aroma a bit. I think the increased sweetness in the Gordon over the clone may be due to the higher alcohol content of the clone, so I'll try to get closer to the 1.082 OG.
 
fantastic thread! great write up rick500... this is going to be one of my next brews for sure. just finished a can of the Gordon, and it's great!

any suggestsions for a substitution for the carastan? I've got everything else already, (except subbing crystal 40 for a combo of 60 and 15 since i have them in bulk) and i'd like to stick to stuff i can get locally from BMW.
 
You can get everything from BMW. That's where I bought my ingredients for this one.

More specifically:

Briess 2-Row Brewer's Malt
Briess 2 Row Caramel 40
Simpsons CaraMalt
Briess Organic Munich 10
Crisp Pale Chocolate Malt
 
Old thread but thanks for this write-up. I'll be brewing this over the weekend. I'll be taking pictures so hopefully I'll remember to post them.

Wow, just realized that was my first post even though I've been snooping around for a while.
 
Might be about time for me to brew this one again too. I remember it fondly. :)

By the way, the original is called Gordon G'Knight now (for anyone using Search).
 
Yea I was gonna say these "Gordons" definitely are outside of CO. because they had to change the name and recipe earlier this year after being sued by Gordon Biersch (go figure) for using the name "Gordon" (even though it was named after Gordon Knight who died in a heli crash). So now it is G'Knight and not as good in my opinion. If you can find old cans of Gordons before they changed it pick them up!!!
 
I know I'm resurrecting this thread.

I brewed this today... kinda. I mashed the same recipe, collected 6.5 gallons of first (5.5) and second (1) runnings, but then I collected 2.5 gallons more into a smaller kettle and boiled them simultaneously. After 90 mins and basically mirroring the full boil hops with some smaller additions in the smaller pot, I combined them and cooled them together. This is where I feel like I screwed up. Because the smaller boil was all 2nd running it was lower gravity, obviously, and then combining them I think threw my color off, but hopefully not the final taste.

I shouldn't have done it this way, I was pushing the limit of what I could do in a single batch. I should have just let it go at the big boil. I'm hoping it will still come out alright, even if it's off-style. I was frustrated that I got carried away, but I'm over that and just hoping it's a good beer in the end. I ended up with about 6.75 gallons in the fermenter, at 1.091, by the way.

And that's my story. :)
 
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