I cloned a monster!...

Well, I brewed it, and kegged it, and wanted to let everyone know how it turned out. It's OK. Yup, just OK. I am trying to figure out what flavors are not that great in it. It has a slight white-grape taste, with very little bitterness. It was also lacking in the (expected) flavor and aroma. I decided to keg-hop it with 1 oz of Simcoe for a week. That helped a bit, but it's still just an OK beer. Either something went wrong in the brewing/fermenting process...or this is a case of a recipe looking good on paper, but not in reality. I think the modifications i made to the recipe were minor...

Any thoughts are appreciated on this.

Well, the mottenstein... Or whatever has been brewed, bottled, and drank. I think it came out great, the obvious differences were mouth feel and bitterness. Everything else was extremely close. Two of my friends liked it so much they are actually paying me two brew it for them. I'm going to brew it exactly the same for one batch but modify it for the other's who is a big fan of lake Erie monster. I think I'll start with lowering the mash temp, it had a much maltier mouth feel than the original. And it was also not quite as bitter. So I'm going to up the bittering addition from 1.5 to 2oz. I think that will definitely get the recipe even closer.

Can anyone give me a pointer on how much to lower the mash temp? How much would be noticeable? I mashed at 153* the first time. Should I go to 150, or lower? Maybe to 148?

bthomas9 said:

Well, I brewed it, and kegged it, and wanted to let everyone know how it turned out. It's OK. Yup, just OK. I am trying to figure out what flavors are not that great in it. It has a slight white-grape taste, with very little bitterness. It was also lacking in the (expected) flavor and aroma. I decided to keg-hop it with 1 oz of Simcoe for a week. That helped a bit, but it's still just an OK beer. Either something went wrong in the brewing/fermenting process...or this is a case of a recipe looking good on paper, but not in reality. I think the modifications i made to the recipe were minor...

Any thoughts are appreciated on this.

Click to expand...

Well that malt/extract bill has a lot going on it seems. I know it's all light stuff but if it were me I'd definitely ditch the corn sugar, do a partial mash with a pound of Carmel 30, and as much 2 row as you have room for, then make up the difference with light DME.

I didn't use any Fuggles at 60 min and mine seem close. So maybe a 2oz addition of simcoe at 60 minutes and see what happens.

Going to be trying this soon, myself. Couple of things I've learned: as has been mentioned GLB tends to use 1028 London. Also, they use Harrington 2-row, which I've only seen at Northern Brewer, (http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/rahr-2-row.html) unless someone knows another source.

There is a good pdf at the following: http://www.thebeerists.com/shownotes/TheBeerists-0034-Notes.pdf which discusses the base characteristics of many GLB brews.

Also, on my blog I've posted my most recent water analysis from Ward Labs, for those of you in the Cleveland area.

http://withereddewlap.com/13/water-assessment-report/

Here's what I'm going with:

15 lbs Harrington 2-Row (1.9 SRM) Grain 1 83.3 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.6 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.6 %
1 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 4 5.6 %
1.60 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 75.0 min Hop 5 54.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 10.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 16.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 1.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg (1000ML starter) London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028)
1.40 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs

Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.088
Est Final Gravity: 1.016
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.6 %
Bitterness: 82.6 IBUs
Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 9.5 SRM

We'll see. I just ordered another full recipe from Northern Brewer so right after this one is in the keg I'll try it again and see if I can tweak it. Probably should be doing half batches with this, but what the hell.

Been working on a clone of this as well. Per an email to Great Lakes their mash temp for the Lake Erie Monster is 148F.

Trying to resurrect this thread... Has anyone attempted a clone as of late? Those who have (ever) attempted one - how did you fare, and what was your recipe/process?

I'm going to try to brew something of a clone tomorrow, cobbled together based on what's available on the GLB website, as well as the info in this thread.

That said, I'd love anecdotal info/stories from those who have attempted this in the past.

Right now, here's what I'm thinking (apologies in advance for formatting errors; while not a total n00b to brewing, I'm beyond a novice when it comes to posting here):

MALT BILL

• 14# 2-row
• 1# Crystal 40L
• 1# Sugar

HOP SCHEDULE

• 1.5oz Simcoe 12.7% AA @ 60min
• 1.25oz Willamette 5.4% AA @30min
• 0.5oz Simcoe 12.7% AA @ 15min
• 1.0oz Willamette 5.4% AA @ 15min
• 2.0oz Willamette 5.4% AA @ 5min
• 1.5oz Simcoe 12.7% AA @ Dry Hop 3 days
• 1.0oz Willamette 5.4% AA @ Dry Hop 3 days

YEAST
US-05 (I know they use London Ale, but I don't have any, nor the means to get any tomorrow)

Planning to mash pretty low, around ~148, per the last comment in this thread.

Anyone have any thoughts, advice, or recommendations? Thanks in advance!

I just had this on tap yesterday.

I don't think i'd use sugar, if you want to clone it. This is not a thin or dry beer. (although it could be argued that it'd be a better beer if it was a bit drier). Definitely mash low though.

Sans better info, i'd go with hops at 60, 30, and flameout (hopstand/whirlpool for 20-30 minutes), and dry hops. Their website says 80 IBUs. I agree with simcoe at 60 and both at all other times. I can't really judge your hop schedule by eye, without seeing IBU contributions from each.

The brew I made came out tasting more like Alchemy Hour (Chillwave) from GLBC. It was not the monster, but it was very drinkable! Don't know what you're using for Sugar, but don't use table sugar, i.e. cane sugar/sucrose. Use something like corn sugar/dextrose. Sucrose will make it drier and it will impart a cidery tang to the beer. Per my post other posts above, GLBC uses Harrington 2-row, which I've only found in a descendent (Rahr) at Northern Brewer, but could be elsewhere.