American Amber Ale Zach & Jack's African Amber

I feel like an idiot for never having tried this and being born and raised in the northwest!

Brewed a batch of M & J's last week using yeast harvested from a keg (I live near the brewery). Gravity went from 1.060 to 1.014 in 4 days. I'd have to say the yeast is definitely healthy. Hopefully it doesn't get too dry. My question is how do M & J's get their beer to stay cloudy? I read someplace they may put a little wheat in theirs. Anybody know for sure?

Cheers,

Dwight

dwightr8 said:

Brewed a batch of M & J's last week using yeast harvested from a keg (I live near the brewery). Gravity went from 1.060 to 1.014 in 4 days. I'd have to say the yeast is definitely healthy. Hopefully it doesn't get too dry. My question is how do M & J's get their beer to stay cloudy? I read someplace they may put a little wheat in theirs. Anybody know for sure?

Cheers,

Dwight

Click to expand...

Dry hopping without filtering usually makes the beer slightly more cloudy. I brewed my clone version of this recently and dry hopped 1oz of cascade for 7 days. It came out with a slight cloudy look.

Ok i think that the yeast might be to fruity of a yeast. I live here in the northwest and drink mac and jack all the time i sat the two side by side very similar beers. the hops are dead on but its definitely sweeter than original mac and jack. i am going to try a couple of different yeast strains to try and narrow it down. Wish me luck.

Ben,
You need to harvest some of the real m&j's yeast from a growler or keg. It's really easy to do and in the long run will save big $$$! I harvested from a keg but it should work fine from a growler. All you need to do is get a growler of m&j's, let it sit for a few days to let the yeast settle out (it would be best to use a clear growler so you can see what going on), and carefully pour most of the beer out (and drink it - important step). Using DME, make about a liter of 1.040-1.050 wort (good pictorial on it here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-make-yeast-starter-pictorial-76101/) At step 6 add the yeast from the growler instead of yeast from a package. I basically followed this procedure for my latest batch. It's dry hopping in the secondary now but from a little I have sampled it tastes really good. The gravity was down to 1.012 after about a week in the primary so the yeast was certainly viable! I'll have to do a side by side when it finishes and let you know. Also lots of good info in the Fermentation & Yeast forum: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/.

Good luck.

Cheers,

Dwight

ok so my question is if i go to the bar and get a few glasses of mac and jack will it work the same as the growler? they have it on tap from the keg. otherwise i will have to go to redmond. and for future reference can you do the same from a 22 of craft beer that has been bottle conditioned?

Most bars will fill a growler for you. As far as a 22 goes, if you let it sit for a while (a couple of days or so) and you see sediment in the bottom you should be good to go. With the amount of yeast you would get from a 22 you would probably want to only use maybe a cup of wort and build up to over a couple of iterations to a liter or 2. I've sampled my beer a couple of times now and it's looking really promising. Next week I'll go down to m&j's and pick up a growler so I can do the side by side.

Cheers,

Dwight

thanks for the info im head on out to grab a growler (for my wifes bday lol)

Cheers

107 today in Fresno brewing this one up again! No need for insolation on the mashtun today held at 154 for 65 min

I brewed this one up and, by the weight of the keg, would say I have about half a pint left. The only bad thing I can say about this one is that I only brewed 5 G of it. I'll be doing a double batch this weekend in hopes of it lasting a little longer. With the friends that now know I will soon have this on tap, however, that might be wishful thinking.

Thanks again for the recipe. I agree with an earlier post that dry hopping is a must. I did it all in primary and she came out lovely.

Cheers...

Round 3 for this one this time 10 gal and added some 6 oz of rye cause it needed a little more of something can't wait

Ok so I drink mac and jacks all the time, they have it on tap at a few places here in my town. I have adapted this recipe a little from the original and now I cant tell the difference between the original and the one that I tweaked from this recipe. I changed the yeast for starters to wyeast 1968 london esb. The second thing I did is I reduced the crystal from crystal 80L to 55L. These are some changes that I made due to the sweetness I encountered from the yeast and caramel flavors that were over powering. but I tell you its freaking spot on! thought I would share it.


happy drinking

Glad to hear it, brewed up my first all grain this last weekend and subbed 60... Hope it turns out close, I miss my mac and jacks out east.

Just pitched a 2 liter starter of 1098 on this. Very smooth brew day today, thankfully. I had a little bit too much efficiency- 1.056 OG, close enough for government work. I want to the LHBS last night when getting ready and they didn't have any Centennial, so I subbed Cascade for that as well. Think this will make a big difference?

For those of you who have been tweaking the recipe on every batch and can actually compare this with the real thing... anyone care to post the recipe that you felt was the closest?

accidentally bought wyeast 1028 instead of 1098, didn't realize that I did it till the starter was sitting on the stirplate. anyone have any thoughts on what this will do?

thanks!!
cheers!!

I have brewed this beer at least 15 times and it has been tweaked alot but still comes out good. I went to the LHBS and all he had was 1028 so I will tweak it one more time on FRI. LHBS guy said it was close to the same just Attenuates a bit Higher and does impart as much Fruit flavor. I will compare with past brews and let you Know. Good luck.

Made this one and its now bubbling away : )
I did change tthe crystal to 55l though.

I just bottled mine yesterday..

og was 1.054
fg is 1.012

the wyeast 1028 got 76.9 attenuation.
the sample I took was very good. perfect balance of sweetness with the cascade hops
gonna be a good one!!!!!

Finally put the keg in the kegerator and the 1st taste is amazing. I've never had the real deal but this beer is awesome. All Grain brewing is the best. I am so glad I switched from extract.Thanks OhioDad for the Recipe.

"I talked to a guy I know who used to work there. They definitely do not use any orange peel or zest or anything in the amber, or any of their beers for that matter. He has seen the recipe, and said that all of the clone recipes he's seen are way off (every homebrew shop in the area has a recipe). He says to use lots of crystal, but he thinks the real key is the house yeast, although he doesn't know what the background of the yeast strain is.

Of course the goal is to clone the flavor, so if you think using orange peel gets you closer, have at it."
Logged
Tom Schmidlin


this was posted on the AHA forums. On another note i also got ahold of the yeast from the bottom of a keg of mac and jack and it used it to make a batch. The yeast is really bready and attenuates to about 1.012. I am going to assume that it is a British strain. thought i would share the info.

Brewed this yesterday as my first AG brew. My OG was 1.050 (72% efficiency according to BeerSmith, which calculated the OG at 1.052) -- hopefully the 4 pts don't make much difference It is now bubbling along like nuts. Had a mac and jack after it was all done (at dinner) and the look and smell was spot on so far. Time will tell! This will be my first kegged beer too.

Another recipe for this I saw called for a 90 minute boil. How necessary is it?

Brewed this up yesterday and everything went well. Mash temp was a little low, but all the numbers came out! Can't wait to try this one.

Exciting news! I spent some time this past weekend with a guy who was formerly a brewer for Mac & Jack's. Since he no longer works there he was more than willing to share information about M & J's. Here are some of the things I learned:

OG = 1.054
Grainbill: Pale malt, Munich, Crystal 120, and Wheat (hence the cloudiness)
Hops: Bittering - Cascade 60 mins, Aroma - Mt Hood (Last 5 Mins), Dry - Cascade

They also add something called Allfloc. Not too sure what this is or exactly what it does.

He couldn't tell me anything specific about their yeast other than it is proprietary and they harvest from their kegs to keep it going. He agreed with what I have always thought - the yeast is probably the most important ingredient. The nice thing is they don't filter so it is fairly easy to harvest yeast from a keg or growler (if you're in the Great Northwest).

Since my last batch was fairly close I can't wait to tweek my recipe and try again.

Cheers,

Dwight

Great, thanks for sharing Dwight! I guess it's time to dust off a growler and fill'er up with some Mac & Jack amber. Then it's off to yeast harvesting / propagation.

http://crosby-baker.com/resources/beer_processing_aids/
"Kettle Coagulents
AllFloc from Alltech
Enhanced Kappa Carrageenan reduces dosage rates and improves flocculation! For addition to the boiling kettle 15-20 minutes before the end of boil. Usage approx .4 - 1.2 oz. per 10 bbl. AllFloc is prized for its consistency and high potency. Results include improved hot and cold breaks, trub compaction, improved filtration, and some chillproofing. Available in 5 Lb., and 25 KG (55 Lb) packs."

One thing I forgot to mention, FG = 1.016. They check the gravity hourly once it gets under 1.020 and when it hits 16 they quickly chill it to 35F to stop the fermentation.

dwightr8 said:

Exciting news! I spent some time this past weekend with a guy who was formerly a brewer for Mac & Jack's. Since he no longer works there he was more than willing to share information about M & J's. Here are some of the things I learned:

OG = 1.054
Grainbill: Pale malt, Munich, Crystal 120, and Wheat (hence the cloudiness)
Hops: Bittering - Cascade 60 mins, Aroma - Mt Hood (Last 5 Mins), Dry - Cascade

They also add something called Allfloc. Not too sure what this is or exactly what it does.

He couldn't tell me anything specific about their yeast other than it is proprietary and they harvest from their kegs to keep it going. He agreed with what I have always thought - the yeast is probably the most important ingredient. The nice thing is they don't filter so it is fairly easy to harvest yeast from a keg or growler (if you're in the Great Northwest).

Since my last batch was fairly close I can't wait to tweek my recipe and try again.

Cheers,

Dwight

Click to expand...

I was in Seattle last week and the hotel where I was staying had African Amber on tap. I'd never heard of it before, so I gave it a try. It was fantastic, what I'd describe as a classic American craft beer taste. So, naturally, I went on HBT to find a reicipe, and here it is! I'll definitely be making this one in a couple weeks. Thanks for posting your recipe!

dwightr8 said:

Exciting news! I spent some time this past weekend with a guy who was formerly a brewer for Mac & Jack's. Since he no longer works there he was more than willing to share information about M & J's. Here are some of the things I learned:

OG = 1.054
Grainbill: Pale malt, Munich, Crystal 120, and Wheat (hence the cloudiness)
Hops: Bittering - Cascade 60 mins, Aroma - Mt Hood (Last 5 Mins), Dry - Cascade

They also add something called Allfloc. Not too sure what this is or exactly what it does.

He couldn't tell me anything specific about their yeast other than it is proprietary and they harvest from their kegs to keep it going. He agreed with what I have always thought - the yeast is probably the most important ingredient. The nice thing is they don't filter so it is fairly easy to harvest yeast from a keg or growler (if you're in the Great Northwest).

Since my last batch was fairly close I can't wait to tweek my recipe and try again.

Cheers,

Dwight

Click to expand...

Combine that with what this guys said on the AHA website and you can kind of piece the puzzle together:
"I talked to a guy I know who used to work there. They definitely do not use any orange peel or zest or anything in the amber, or any of their beers for that matter. He has seen the recipe, and said that all of the clone recipes he's seen are way off (every homebrew shop in the area has a recipe). He says to use lots of crystal, but he thinks the real key is the house yeast, although he doesn't know what the background of the yeast strain is."

Logged
Tom Schmidlin

I harvested the yeast from a keg and it tried it with a dme yeast starter just to see its flavor, it was kind of bready on its own. I used it in a clone of the beer that i have and it got down to 1.011 FG. so it is great to know that they are killing the fermentation at the end at 1.016sh. I would have to say that the yeast produced similar affects as the british ale yeast from wyeast for those that cant get the strain. hope this helps i submitted this earlier in the thread but its gotten buried

This sounds great. Does anyone have a pic to post?

Just about ready to finish off my first 5 gal keg of this recipe. I changed a few things from the original recipe. I used 1098 instead of s-04, and did not dry hop. Overall this is an awesome brew. I had a chance to try the real M&J and my version side by side. The color is identical, but the clone version seems to be a little higher in bitterness and not quite as smooth.
I'll brew this again in a few weeks and try some wheat and back off the IBU's a bit. I will have to decide on the dry hopping...

Just wanted to post my findings from biggben's tweaks (found on page 10 of this thread). I swapped out the 80' with 60'L and also used 1968 ESB (2L starter) and it was GREAT. Had multiple 'African Amber afficionados' drink bottles I shared with them and they swore that I bought a keg of AA and bottled their beers off that purchased keg.

Thanks so much OP for the recipe and biggben for your suggested tweaks. This will now be a staple in my brewery and I will only brew 10G batches of it due to the short time it takes to kill a 5G keg.

Cheers...

Finished primary now and will be transferring to keg tomorrow, along with some cascade for dry hoping. Looking good!
10lb Briess British pale ale
1lb carapils
1lb crystal 80
1lb munich 10

Mashed at 160 for 60min

3/4 oz Centennial for 60min
1/2oz cascade for 15min
1/2oz cascade for 0min
1oz cascade dry hoping

Wyeast 1098 British ale, fermented at 65F

Added 1/2lb lactose to last 10min boil to bump residual sweetness.

OG=1.062
FG=1.020
SRM=14
IBU=28
ABV=5

Just ordered my grains and hops - going to do some brewing this weekend (second time for this recipe). $19 for a 5 gallon batch (I wash my yeast and that includes shipping)!

Cheers

nilo said:

Finished primary now and will be transferring to keg tomorrow, along with some cascade for dry hoping. Looking good!
10lb Briess British pale ale
1lb carapils
1lb crystal 80
1lb munich 10

Mashed at 160 for 60min

3/4 oz Centennial for 60min
1/2oz cascade for 15min
1/2oz cascade for 0min
1oz cascade dry hoping

Wyeast 1098 British ale, fermented at 65F

Added 1/2lb lactose to last 10min boil to bump residual sweetness.

OG=1.062
FG=1.020
SRM=14
IBU=28
ABV=5

Click to expand...

Ive brewed the original a couple of times, this variation sounds delicious. Let us know how it turns out!

This will be my next beer for sure. I sure do miss M&J from Seattle area. I would visit my brother that lived up there a few times a year and loved this beer. Its pretty much everywhere on tap. Great flavor. He has since moved back to California and didnt bring any with him haha

So, its looking like 1968 is the best yeast to use for this??

Anyone try the orange peels? I found a recipe online from another site that uses 0.5 oz. sweet orange peels at 15 minutes. Maybe that makes up for the flavors of their house yeast??

I decided to make this a house brew. I also settled on the IPA I want and am still perfecting a pale ale. Thinking of leaving the 4th tap open for various experiments

Mashing this right now. Probably should have went with Wye 1968, but going to try WLP005. Ill see how that goes. Its just a 3 gallon test batch. Excited to finally have a day to brew and try it.

This turned out well - but my cascade hops in the dry hop portion could've been a little fresher... Out of curiousity, what C02 volumes are the rest of you kegging this at?

6gal batch

8.75lbs 2row
1.75lbs crystal 80
1.25lbs Munich
1lb Carapils
1oz centennial@60
1oz cascade@15
.5oz cascade@flameout
1oz cascade dry hopped 14 days
wyeast 1968
1whirfloc tab@15

Mash Schedule
152F for 60min
Batch Sparge

Yeast
2L Starter Wyeast 1968

Ferment
3 weeks at 65ish
2 weeks in secondary - last week @68

OG 1.046
FG 1.007
ABV 5.1%

Next time I'll probably 1.5x the dry hops. Also I should have cold crashed my starter and decanted it (live and learn).

Haven't brewed M&J for a while so I thought I'd bump this thread to see if they're are any new developments in the recipe or process. I am curious if anyone has tried the WY1968. I'm thinking of trying it in another brew.

Dwight

Yes. I read WAAAY back in this forum about a member that used the WY1968 in this recipe. Ever since I tried it, I've never looked back. WY1968 has now become one of my house ale strains, and it does REALLY well in this recipe. I highly recommend it. It floccs out really well leaving a nice bright beer, and, in my opinion, a very nice English yeast profile on the beer. GO FOR IT!

Cheers...

PS - I now only do 10 gallons batches of this recipe due to how popular it is, and I'd say I've brewed 100 gallons of it over the last few years - all with WY1968.