Yuengling Clone 3 Different Ways

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

mwfishy

Active Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
31
Reaction score
2
Location
Juneau
So, I had this idea of what I wanted. Light Amber Lager beer, but wasn't sure if I had the correct conditions for a lager beer. So this is what I did:

From AIH

Wort:
7.2lbs Pale LME
1lb. Munich 30
8oz. Crystal 120
4oz. Amber
.5 Gelena Hops 60min (Sub for Cluster)
1oz. Cascade 5min

Lager: White Labs WLP840 American Lager pitched @ 65*f
1.054 beginning, 7 days @ 54*f, sg is 1.014. "D" resting now, might have missed the window, was hoping to "D" rest near 1.020. Plan is to take it to 38*f for 6-8weeks. Carb in bottle for 3weeks

Steam Style: White Labs WPL810 San Fransisco Lager pitched @ 70*f
1.052 beginning, 5 days @ 62*f, sg is 1.018. "D" resting now. Plan is to bring it down to 52-54*f for 4weeks. Carb in bottle for 3weeks.

Ale: White Labs WLP051 California V Ale pitched at 72*f
1.054 beginning, currently bubbling away at 66*f, plan is to secondary at the end of ferment for 2weeks. Carb in bottle for 3weeks.

Taste test of the Lager and Steam, completely different beers! Lager is sweet (upper end of the temp range) and crisp. The Steam has a more pronounced hop, and a bit sharper, almost spicy! love them both so far.

Let me know what you guys think, am I on the right track? Trying to find my everyday beer. Cheers
 
Yueng Lager gravity is 1.012. Should be done at that rate, would be nice to get a few more. Tasted sweet, malty, no pronounced hops.

Yueng Steam gravity was 1.014! It really liked its temp upgrade. Initial taste was sweet citrus, vague hops, but no way was it bitter.

Yueng Ale is bubbling away like a mad man.

Lager freezer with be delivered tues, hope my ITC-1000 gets in this weekend. Plan is to rack the lager tomorrow if the gravity remains and send it back to the crawl space at 53*f until the freezer is up.

Cheers
 
Yueng Lager, finished out at 1.012, it was moved into the secondary and headed to the crawl space at 52*f. The good news is my Inkbird came in and it's all wired and ready to go, the freezer will be in town tomorrow! Lagering will begin tomorrow night!

Yueng Steam needed an extra day, it finished out at 1.010. it was moved to the secondary and now lives in the crawl space as well. I'll leave it there for 2 weeks and then bottle it.

Yueng Ale is close, currently sitting at 1.010. If its there tomorrow I will secondary it and let it sit for some time.

Sound off if you are following.
 
I'm a Yuengling fan who can't get it in Vegas. I'll be really curious as to how it turns out!
 
Great work you are doing here! My money is on the Lager yeast but I also bet on the Pats to win the Superbowl.

Can you get Yuengling up there in Alaska?
 
kpr121 said:
Great work you are doing here! My money is on the Lager yeast but I also bet on the Pats to win the Superbowl.

Can you get Yuengling up there in Alaska?
Click to expand...

Yeah, they did that... so...
 
mwfishy said:
So, I had this idea of what I wanted. Light Amber Lager beer, but wasn't sure if I had the correct conditions for a lager beer. So this is what I did:

From AIH

Wort:
7.2lbs Pale LME
1lb. Munich 30
8oz. Crystal 120
4oz. Amber
.5 Gelena Hops 60min (Sub for Cluster)
1oz. Cascade 5min

Lager: White Labs WLP840 American Lager pitched @ 65*f
1.054 beginning, 7 days @ 54*f, sg is 1.014. "D" resting now, might have missed the window, was hoping to "D" rest near 1.020. Plan is to take it to 38*f for 6-8weeks. Carb in bottle for 3weeks

Steam Style: White Labs WPL810 San Fransisco Lager pitched @ 70*f
1.052 beginning, 5 days @ 62*f, sg is 1.018. "D" resting now. Plan is to bring it down to 52-54*f for 4weeks. Carb in bottle for 3weeks.

Ale: White Labs WLP051 California V Ale pitched at 72*f
1.054 beginning, currently bubbling away at 66*f, plan is to secondary at the end of ferment for 2weeks. Carb in bottle for 3weeks.

Taste test of the Lager and Steam, completely different beers! Lager is sweet (upper end of the temp range) and crisp. The Steam has a more pronounced hop, and a bit sharper, almost spicy! love them both so far.

Let me know what you guys think, am I on the right track? Trying to find my everyday beer. Cheers
Click to expand...

Hey! I remember replying to your intro post! I'm sub'ing to this thread fo sho. Sounds like a great experiment to me.:mug:
 
Good news everyone, I scrounged up an older (working) freezer and an ITC-1000 kit! The lager and the steam versions are now doing their thing at 35*f. Right now the plan is to leave the lager in there for 8weeks, and the steam is only getting a 1week chill.

kpr, I haven't found Yuengling in AK yet. The Yueng website distributer finder doesn't any either. But, I can sure as hell try to brew one. At this point it doesn't have to taste like it, if its good and what I'm looking for thats all that matters.
 
mwfishy said:
Good news everyone, I scrounged up an older (working) freezer and an ITC-1000 kit! The lager and the steam versions are now doing their thing at 35*f. Right now the plan is to leave the lager in there for 8weeks, and the steam is only getting a 1week chill.

kpr, I haven't found Yuengling in AK yet. The Yueng website distributer finder doesn't any either. But, I can sure as hell try to brew one. At this point it doesn't have to taste like it, if its good and what I'm looking for thats all that matters.
Click to expand...

How are these batches coming mwfishy?
 
The ale and steam have only been in the bottle for a week. I'm gonna give them one more and I'll taste test. The lager is still doing its thing in the freezer. As soon as I crack them ill let you know.

Meanwhile I jumped into an English Barely Wine and it took off crazy. Can't wait to try it, sharp and dry at 10% ABV.
 
mwfishy said:
The ale and steam have only been in the bottle for a week. I'm gonna give them one more and I'll taste test. The lager is still doing its thing in the freezer. As soon as I crack them ill let you know.

Meanwhile I jumped into an English Barely Wine and it took off crazy. Can't wait to try it, sharp and dry at 10% ABV.
Click to expand...

I love me some English Barley Wine (or "Barely" wine, if that was actually a clever pun :) jk). What yeast are you using to get a "dry" high gravity beer?
 
I pitched a large yeast group. 2 vials of white labs london ale, and 2 vials of white labs super high gravity. Pitched at 75, og 1.080, fermented at 66, after ten days1.006!!! Is was looking for 1.018 ish, I've had great luck with yeast lately and getting 90%.

Racked to secondary yesterday, it was sharp, mild malts very little hops, but I think it's hidden behind the alcohol right now. Going to call it the #5 Pack Mule, cause it's got a kick.
 
mwfishy said:
I pitched a large yeast group. 2 vials of white labs london ale, and 2 vials of white labs super high gravity. Pitched at 75, og 1.080, fermented at 66, after ten days1.006!!! Is was looking for 1.018 ish, I've had great luck with yeast lately and getting 90%.

Racked to secondary yesterday, it was sharp, mild malts very little hops, but I think it's hidden behind the alcohol right now. Going to call it the #5 Pack Mule, cause it's got a kick.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. Let that bad boy age. :mug:
 
First un-corking of the project. So the Steam beer style and the Ale have been bottled now for two weeks. I've found that I didn't have them at a high enough temp and the carb is still a tad weak. Shouldn't be a problem in another week or so. The Steam is crystal clear, it did have lagering for a week. The Ale has developed a strong chill haze, next time I'll cold crash it to clear it up.

Both are very malt heavy, not sweet, but malty. The Ale is just a bit more bitter. I can't compare it to Yuengling, because I don't have any. But when I make this recipe again I would like to increase the hops bill. Brew Pal puts it at 23 IBU, next time I'll shoot for high 30's lower 40's.

Is the beer good, well its OK. Not quite what I was looking for, but I now have a better idea of what I want. I going to cut the lager short at 4 weeks in the chiller, and bottle it. I'll give it another 4 to bottle carb, more to report when it's ready.

Cheers
 
I'm originally from Pittsburgh, I live in California now and miss yuengling. I have a clone I made not that long ago. The taste was spot on, but the color was off. I will post it later for advice from everyone.
 
Couldn't help myself, bottled the lager at 4 weeks rather than 8 weeks. And damn it tastes great. The Ale and Steam style are very similar in flavor with the ale not carbing right now. :-( Im going to let the lager carb for 4 weeks before trying, but it is very crisp, clean and CLEAR. The other clouded up some at bottling and cleared with time, this one is crystal clear. Cant wait to uncork this one.
 
@mwfishy, @seckert:

Any updates from either of you?
Looking for a good clone recipe (more worried about flavor than color). Thanks
 
freisste said:
@mwfishy, @seckert:

Any updates from either of you?
Looking for a good clone recipe (more worried about flavor than color). Thanks
Click to expand...

6lb 2 row
2lb flaked corn
0.5 munich
0.5 c-80
0.375 flaked barley
0.5oz cluster (60)
0.5oz cluster (30)
Gluten rest 107 (30 minutes)
Mash 150 (60 minutes)
Mashout 170 (10 minutes)
Wlp 830
Ferment at 11.5c
Any questions let me know! Cheers!
 
Thanks for the taste test mwfishy. Interesting to see the diff yeast results.

If you get fresh yuengling, the Cascade hops are unmistakable. The beer is crisp and the pine/grapefruit just pops.

I haven't tried a clone yet, but its an old lager house and old recipe, I'm curious how much, if any crystal they're using. I wonder if they're just getting a darker base malt malted for them to blend with the pale and corn. I'd almost want to try something like 50% u.s. pale, 20% u.s. Pale ale, 10% u.s. Munich, 20% flaked corn, cascade, mash 150-152, use a lower attenuating/sweet lager yeast like s-23.
 
Weezy
I agree with s-23. That is the dry yeast alternative. I have never used it personally though.
I'm originally from Pittsburgh and I don't know about cascade though, might have to do small test version using it to see. If they do use cascade then I think it at very low amounts.
Of course I haven't had fresh yuengling in about a year so I could be way off. Haha!
Cheers!
 
S-23 mimics the less than ideal yeast quality control and fermentation that is common with old US lager houses. :). I use it for all my crossover type beers, just mash low.
 
I ended up using southern German lager yeast this past time since the lhbs was out of the one I normally use. I tasted it yesterday when I put in keg and wow! It's really bready. In a good way. That yeast totally makes it not a clone, but it is tasty! :)
I'm going to try s23 next batch I make and see what I think of it.
 
Yuengling is two and or 6 row with corn grits, around 20%. They use c02 extract for bittering... a neutral hop like magnum at 20 ibu all 90 min boil would be sufficient. I forget, but there may have been some minimal amount of cluster in the boil. The beer is fermented with a clean lager yeast and lagered for a few weeks. Before packaging, caramel colorant is added to get its golden hue.

If you can't find caramel color, a small amount of blackprinz or midnight wheat would be fine... add during the sparge.

Chesterfield ale is brewed and dryhopped with cascade and cluster.
 

Similar threads

HighPressure
Sorachi Ace Brooklyn Clone
Replies
7
Views
3K
TomRep
T
Garrett_McT
Lager Fermentation Gravity Reading Anomaly
Replies
30
Views
2K
Beermeister32
Beermeister32
4_Sons_Brewing
12 Beers of Christmas - 2023 Edition
11 12 13
Replies
512
Views
20K
passedpawn
passedpawn
Nava854
Advice for Kölsch-style fermentation schedule?
Replies
8
Views
1K
Nava854
Nava854
D
Possible stuck fermentation?
Replies
4
Views
855
dj zlim
D
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top