Yuengling Clone

Okay - my wife and I love Yuengling. Not the world's best beer, by most standards, but tasty, especially on hot days.

Regardless of our current snowed-in condition, I am going to attempt a Yuengling clone. I have scoured the web via Google, and located more than a few attempts. Below, I have done a combo of those recipes, and would love feedback from more experienced brewers.

Total boil - 5 gallons

5 lbs Pilsner Malt
3.5 lbs American 6 row malt
.75 lbs American Caramel malt (60 degree)
1.5 lbs corn grits

Mash 60 mins at 149 degrees

1 oz Cascade Hops - 60 mins
1 oz Cluster hops - 15 mins
1 oz Cluster hops - 5 mins

California Lager 2112 yeast or WLP800 Pilsner Lager

Thoughts? Rec's?

This would be my first mashed brew. If I wanted to go extract, how would that work? I also saw a recommendation for replacing the grits with rice syrup or organic rice cereal.

I can't offer direct advice in terms of recipe formulation. I should also add that if I were trying to make a Yuengling clone, I would do exactly as you are doing. Tremendous amounts of research and then piecing it together myself.

All that being said, Annapolis Home Brew has a pretty excellent clone kit called "Pennsylvania Lager". I only know this because I sampled it during one of my trips through the store. It isn't exactly on, but it is really close, and really tasty.

Good luck in your current efforts.

HSB said:

I can't offer direct advice in terms of recipe formulation. I should also add that if I were trying to make a Yuengling clone, I would do exactly as you are doing. Tremendous amounts of research and then piecing it together myself.

All that being said, Annapolis Home Brew has a pretty excellent clone kit called "Pennsylvania Lager". I only know this because I sampled it during one of my trips through the store. It isn't exactly on, but it is really close, and really tasty.

Good luck in your current efforts.

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Thank you, HSB! I appreciate the advice! I'll take a look at the clone.

My version.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/pre-prohibition-amber-lager-214657/

ETA, I wouldn't know where to start doing it as an extract.

this was my clone recipee and it came pretty close according to the yuengling fans

1 can 3.75 lbs Cooper lager LME
1 lb plain amber DME
Steep
1.5 lbs instant grits
1 lb Munich malt
1 lb 60 L Caramel malt

Hops
Bittering 1 oz cluster at 60 min
flavor/aroma
.5 oz cascade at 15 min
.5 oz cascade at 5 min
yeast
is the coopers yeast with the can of LME
fermented at 65 degress

my budies thought this was vary close to the yuengling as did i with more hops and malt than a traditional BMC beer was a nice step above those

...pretty sure yuengling uses rice. atleast it tastes like it

scinerd3000 said:

...pretty sure yuengling uses rice. atleast it tastes like it

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Don't think so.

http://rreu.11net.com/yuengling/newsarticles/pville_repub/www.pottsville.com_pub_1997_Aug_16_c5509350.htm

Are you trying to clone Yuengling lager? There is Yuengling Lager, Premium Lager, Light Lager, Premium Light, Porter, Black and Tan, etc.

I grew up around Pottsville and they would always discuss the ingredients on the tours. I would even say call them to ask for help, tell them you can't get Yuengling in your area, and I bet they would help.

-Matt

LandofOZ said:

this was my clone recipee and it came pretty close according to the yuengling fans

1 can 3.75 lbs Cooper lager LME
1 lb plain amber DME
Steep
1.5 lbs instant grits
1 lb Munich malt
1 lb 60 L Caramel malt

Hops
Bittering 1 oz cluster at 60 min
flavor/aroma
.5 oz cascade at 15 min
.5 oz cascade at 5 min
yeast
is the coopers yeast with the can of LME
fermented at 65 degress

my budies thought this was vary close to the yuengling as did i with more hops and malt than a traditional BMC beer was a nice step above those

Click to expand...

Not being an extract brewer, I think you're pretty close on a lot of things here. I'm just not sure how the jump from 6 row and corn makes the jump to extracts though. Still, it looks close.

Back when I was on a Porter kick, Yuengling Porter was all I drank. I have two or three old "returnable" Porter bottles; probably 10 years old now.

They are on display in my beer shrine.

LandofOZ said:

this was my clone recipee and it came pretty close according to the yuengling fans

1 can 3.75 lbs Cooper lager LME
1 lb plain amber DME
Steep
1.5 lbs instant grits
1 lb Munich malt
1 lb 60 L Caramel malt

Hops
Bittering 1 oz cluster at 60 min
flavor/aroma
.5 oz cascade at 15 min
.5 oz cascade at 5 min
yeast
is the coopers yeast with the can of LME
fermented at 65 degress

my budies thought this was vary close to the yuengling as did i with more hops and malt than a traditional BMC beer was a nice step above those

Click to expand...

I like that. The only thing I might do is substitute corn grits and do a cereal mash for the instant grits.

BTW - does anyone have a good resource on lagering?

I've heard that yuengling uses molasses in their lager; for coloring and taste purposes.

pennisim said:

Are you trying to clone Yuengling lager? There is Yuengling Lager, Premium Lager, Light Lager, Premium Light, Porter, Black and Tan, etc.

I grew up around Pottsville and they would always discuss the ingredients on the tours. I would even say call them to ask for help, tell them you can't get Yuengling in your area, and I bet they would help.

-Matt

Click to expand...

Years ago I called the brewery and explained that I wanted to homebrew a clone of Yuengling Lager, and asked what kind of hops they use in it. The young lady I was speaking with was very nice and was thrilled with my project. She also politely declined to share that information with me!

jawats said:

I like that. The only thing I might do is substitute corn grits and do a cereal mash for the instant grits.

BTW - does anyone have a good resource on lagering?

Click to expand...

New Brewing Lager Beer by Greg Noonan.

rocketcrab said:

Years ago I called the brewery and explained that I wanted to homebrew a clone of Yuengling Lager, and asked what kind of hops they use in it. The young lady I was speaking with was very nice and was thrilled with my project. She also politely declined to share that information with me!

Click to expand...

If you go to the website it says that they use cluster and cascade in it.

My version is in my dropdown FWIW. Still could use some tweaking, but it was pretty close the first time around.

I did an extensive search about a year ago. Settled on this recipe, which came out great.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout
Recipe: Yuengling
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: Classic American Pilsner
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0) 02C

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.30 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 5.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 28.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) US (1.0 SRM) Grain 76.19 %
1 lbs Carapils (1.5 SRM) Grain 9.52 %
1 lbs Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 9.52 %
8.0 oz Caramel Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 22.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cluster [7.00 %] (10 min) Hops 5.7 IBU
1 Pkgs American Lager (Wyeast Labs #2035) [StarteYeast-Lager


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 2 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 10.50 lb
----------------------------
Temperature Mash, 2 Step, Medium Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
30 min Protein Rest Add 15.75 qt of water at 128.1 F 122.0 F
45 min Saccharification Heat to 154.0 F over 15 min 154.0 F
10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F

ultravista said:

Back when I was on a Porter kick, Yuengling Porter was all I drank. I have two or three old "returnable" Porter bottles; probably 10 years old now.

They are on display in my beer shrine.

Click to expand...

that is their best beer,prolly the only one i could drink anymore(although i put a ton of lagers away back in the day

Porter and Chesterfield are my gotos. Chetty has to come from the tap though. Otherwise it's a tad skunky. Damn green bottles.

I made this clone a couple weeks ago and used a white labs irish yeast that I had washed. Probably one if the best beers I've had yet!

If you look in the recipes section under amber. We did a lot of work on this recipe. The biggest task would be the water profile. That might give you some insight as to what your looking for.

Thans for sharing a clone for this quintessentially American beer
Prost!

My clone is pretty spot on, as far as I can tell. The recipe, ingredients, water, yeast etc. was used and the next time I am in the area, I am going to drop a few off to the owner and brewmasters for their opinion! Meanwhile I used some of their yeast and made an Oktoberfest out of it, I will let you know!