Bell's Two-Hearted And Founders Centennial IPA

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HenryHill

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I'm leaning more towards doing a Bell's clone of an all-Centennial IPA, but Founders has a little more going on; any ideas on the differences between them?
 
Those are my two favorite Ipas..And I swing back and forth on them. Nearest I can discern, founder's is a tad more floral in the taste and the smell, or more like floral than citrussy...Whereas two hearted is more citrussy than floral.

Which is weired because they are both all centennial IPA's...
 
Two Hearted is a nice centennial bomb. Seems very well balanced to me, not harsh at all, plenty of malt/body to stand up to the IBUs. I haven't had the Founders, I haven't found it yet. No pun intended. :)
 
I love the Founder's variety and the reason I fell in love with Centennial hops. It is implied, or at least as far as I am concerned, from the Founder's website that they do a huge amount of late addition of hops where as bell's seems just the 60,20,5,0 additions based on some of the clone recipes. but who knows.
 
Gee...is it just you and me who have tried them both? Are we the only people who care? I am hoping to find out the dealy on this as well...

This is interesting. Bell's Two Hearted Ale - Tasting & Recipe

Probably. I started this at Tastybruw and got some interest, but no revelations (no pun intended).

I get a cleaner, drier finish from the Bell's; the Founder's seems to have an earthier or 'dirty' taste, more complex, perhaps from a bit of black barley or something similar, not to a threshold of obvious dark roast, but I can't think of what else it's from.

Sometimes I like the cleaner Bell's, sometimes I prefer the more complex Founder's. I'm not looking at just cloning on or the other, but I want a standard home recipe for an all Centennial IPA, based on the simplicity of the Bell's.

My guess is standard 2-row and crystal40L, only, bittered early and not often, and then a 0 and med-heavy DH.

My guess to the Founder's is pale ale base, lighter crystal, and >maybe< a touch of RB (or something), then sequential additions, through to 0, and heavily dry-hopped.
 
These are two great beers that Michigan has to offer. Funny thing. I have a know it all friend that says the Founders is the best beer he ever had and hates the two hearted. He is not a home brewer and has no clue that they almost the same beer. I think next time he is over I am going to serve him a two hearted but show him an empty fonders
 
These are two great beers that Michigan has to offer. Funny thing. I have a know it all friend that says the Founders is the best beer he ever had and hates the two hearted. He is not a home brewer and has no clue that they almost the same beer. I think next time he is over I am going to serve him a two hearted but show him an empty fonders

I have to agree. I like the Founders, but would only drink a two hearted if there wasnt another IPA around. There is a big difference to my palate.
Cheers:mug:
 
Two Hearted is currently my favorite beer, the hops are nice! It drinks very easy. My buddy and I downed a mini-keg of it last night in fact.
 
These are two great beers... I did a recipe based on Two Hearted in October (based on the recipe in the database):

Grain:
11 lb. American 2-row
2 lb. American Vienna
8 oz. American crystal 20L
8 oz. Dextrine malt (Cara-Pils)
(155* mash)
Hops:
.85 oz. Magnum (14.4% AA, 60 min) 32 IBU
1 oz. Centennial (9.7% AA, 18 min.) 12 IBU
1 oz. Centennial (9.7% AA, 5 min.) 5 IBU
1 oz. Centennial (9.7% AA, 1 min.) 1 IBU
(plus two rounds of Centennial dry hops for a week each)

Yeast was US-05. SG = 1.066. FG = 1.014.

It turned out pretty good. Bittering with Magnum seems pointless in hindsight. Hops are a little on the harsh side still. The smell is definitely less citrussy than I expected - I don't know why.

I like the grain bill though. Full bodied but dry, and great lacing.

Post the recipe that you decide on. I'd love to have a great all-Centennial 'house' IPA.
 
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