Something akin to Great Lakes "Burning River"

Williams 728
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bmckee56

bmckee56

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I have found this brew several places now in the Pittsburgh area and I love it. Does anyone have a recipe that comes close to duplicating this great beer? (Partial Mash or Extract)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Salute! :mug:
 
I really enjoy Great Lakes Brewing Co. beers and Burning River is one of my favorites. It has much more hop presence than most pale ales and I've had a few IPAs that didn't have the hop character of Burning River.

Their web site has the following.
Burning River Pale Ale
An assertively hopped American Pale Ale with citrusy and piney Cascade hops.

ABV: 6.0% IBU: 45
Click to expand...
American Pale Ale is a base malt, some middling crystal and maybe a touch of biscuit or victory malt for some bready notes. 6% and 45 IBU is right at the top of the APA style guidelines.

Extract
(depending on process this should land around 6% and 40 - 45 IBU)

7lbs Extra Light DME
12 oz Crystal 40L
1.25oz Cascade @60
1 oz Cascade @20
1 oz Cascade @10
1 oz Cascade @ flameout

Ferment @67 with one of
White Labs East Coast Ale
Wyeast American Ale II
SafAle US-05

For a partial Mash, use 2row and a few ounces of biscuit or victory (under 8 oz) for a more toasty/bready flavor. If you want, toss a .5 - .75 oz of cascade into secondary for dry hopping.
 
That sounds pretty good. I love this beer. I just had it on draft this weekend. Here are my general impressions (from memory):

Assertively hoppy for a pale ale.
Dry finish
On the darker end for color in a pale ale. Much darker than a SNPA for example. I'm wondering if it would be better to leave out the Crystal 40 and put in some 80 or 120 just for color.
 
I use a blend of crystals in my APA. 40L, 60L and a touch of 80/90L to get a more interesting crystal flavor. That and some biscuit, victory, or special roast make a nice amber/gold color.

Mostly I think it is because I like to use my scale and play with grain. :)
 
I also enjoy Burning River and Great Lakes Brewing as a whole. I haven't seen it since I moved from Ohio though.

subscribed
 
Hey all..... thanks for the information and recommendations. SWMBO and I really tied one on over the weekend and it all started with the Burning River. I have an IPA on tap right now and it is good, but nowhere close to the hop level that Burning River is. I will be running the recipe recommended above one my next brew day. I just received my new 60qt. pot, so it will be my first full boil and I hope it turns out great.

I also like the recipe noted above because I have 1lb. of Cascade and Crystal Hops in my freezer from a purchase earlier this year.

I will post my results when I have completed the brew and have it tapped.

Thanks!

Salute! :mug:
 
What AA% are your cascades? If you have Beersmith, work the recipe up and see what it comes to. Otherwise, I'll work one up for you.
 
I do have BeerSmith but no time until this evening to run it. I bought the cascades and crystal hops through this site as part of the Hop Lottery.

I have the info recorded on the container and I will check it when I get back home tonight.

Salute! :mug:
 
Here is a response I got from Great Lakes. I gave him the recipe mmb listed above and asked if I was on the right track.

Wow, you are on the right track. The crystal malts that we use are Crystal 45 and Crystal 77. We also use N. Brewer for bittering and the yeast is Wyeast 1028. Pretty close though. Good luck.
Click to expand...
 
Yay me! Yay me!

:D

I'd still stick with the East Coast Ale just because I think the volumes/pressure that GLB ferment at would retard some of the ester production from the London Ale (WY1028) So something between 1056 and 1028 would be, in my mind, the American II/East Coast Ale.


Code: 
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal      
Boil Size: 2.43 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 8.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 44.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:

7 lbs         Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM)         Dry Extract  90.32 %       
6.0 oz        Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)     Grain        4.84 %        
6.0 oz        Caramel/Crystal Malt - 75L (75.0 SRM)     Grain        4.84 %        
0.90 oz       Northern Brewer [8.50 %]  (60 min)        Hops         24.7 IBU      
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.50 %]  (20 min)                Hops         6.0 IBU       
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.50 %]  (10 min)                Hops         3.6 IBU       
1.00 oz       Cascade [5.50 %]  (0 min)                 Hops          -            
1 Pkgs        American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272)       Yeast-Ale                  
1 Pkgs        East Coast Ale (White Labs #WLP008)       Yeast-Ale                  
1 Pkgs        SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05)    Yeast-Ale
 
As I sit here drinking my second six pack in a week, I'd like to brew this next time :) Can anyone convert the above to an all-grain recipe?
 

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