Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

The real one is on the left. The real one is clearer, has more aroma, more flavor and was more carbonated. I raised my pressure up 2 psi and I'll sample it again in a few days. Not sure if the carbonation level could throw everything off or not? I only have one bottle left so I'll sample it again in a few days. I definitely didn't clone it so I have to try and figure out what I did wrong.

Nice. Great shot. Seems like we've got the color dialed. Need to work on the hops. But lots are at play. SN uses hops that are 7 days old at max, hard to compete as a home brewer.

jahlinux said:

The real one is on the left. The real one is clearer, has more aroma, more flavor and was more carbonated. I raised my pressure up 2 psi and I'll sample it again in a few days. Not sure if the carbonation level could throw everything off or not? I only have one bottle left so I'll sample it again in a few days. I definitely didn't clone it so I have to try and figure out what I did wrong.

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Looks great. Looks more red than ours was but it must be the light?

What's your grain bill and liquid volumes (mash and pre-boil etc. )

arnobg said:

What's your grain bill and liquid volumes (mash and pre-boil etc. )

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I have attached a copy of my recipe.

View attachment Sierra Nevada Celebration - Recipe.pdf

It’s hop harvest season, has anyone seen this years Celebration in stores yet?

jahlinux said:

It’s hop harvest season, has anyone seen this years Celebration in stores yet?

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Saw on SN facebook page that they are making it and it'll be distributed soon!

1st Celebration of 2017!

Just picked up my first 12 this week. Amazing as always.

Yalc said:

Just picked up my first 12 this week. Amazing as always.

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Mine doesn't seem to have much aroma this year. Still a great beer. Now back to trying to clone it!

What size starter would I use for this recipe? Also how much DME would it require? Thanks in advance!

Yalc said:

Just picked up my first 12 this week. Amazing as always.

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I’m having second thoughts this year. Maybe my taste buds are changing. I’m not really crazy about Celebration this year now that I’ve had a few. What is the consensus?

jahlinux said:

I’m having second thoughts this year. Maybe my taste buds are changing. I’m not really crazy about Celebration this year now that I’ve had a few. What is the consensus?

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I agree! I'm leaning more towards that my taste buds for IPA's have changed quite a bit. I'm not really enjoying it this year.

I brewed up the 2003 Zymurgy recipe last week and just kegged it. Well, not the EXACT recipe since I substituted for some stuff because I didn't have carafoam on hand and a 10 gallon batch wouldn't work with the exact recipe but close. I'm looking forward to tasting it in a few days and seeing how close it is.

jahlinux said:

I’m having second thoughts this year. Maybe my taste buds are changing. I’m not really crazy about Celebration this year now that I’ve had a few. What is the consensus?

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I bought a case of 2017 Celebration at Costco a couple of weeks ago. I'm not digging it this year. I wonder if my taste for IPA has changed? I've been brewing less hoppy beers this year, like cream ales and blonds -- IBUs mostly in the 20's to mid 30's.

I would assume it is just changes in hops from year to year. in a beer like this, I would think our enjoyment of it is highly dependent on the hops. I had one this year (and a tasting of it at the Chico brewery when we took a tour the day after Thanksgiving) and I didn't think it was very hoppy at all. still good, but not amazing. to be fair, we did have a tasting flight of 8 beers.

I did not notice much difference this year. I don't have any of last year's to compare (it would have lost all the hops anyway) but my palate memory did not notice anything really off.

I love it. I wait for it every year. I did notice it's not quite as hoppy this year, but it's still delicious.

Axeldog11 said:

What size starter would I use for this recipe? Also how much DME would it require? Thanks in advance!

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2L and 200g if DME

Has anyone brewed any more Celebration Clones? I'm going to brew another batch and I'm thinking of making Centennial hops more prominent. What about using only Centennial in the boil and Cascade and Centennial for dry hop?

Based on my tour in NC: malt comes from Canada and all hops are whole cone.

jahlinux said:

Has anyone brewed any more Celebration Clones? I'm going to brew another batch and I'm thinking of making Centennial hops more prominent. What about using only Centennial in the boil and Cascade and Centennial for dry hop?

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This is how I like it

jschein said:

This is how I like it

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Have you brewed one? mind posting your recipe?

It says Fresh Hops in big letters on the label. I’d guess that might be important for an exact clone and would explain seasonal variations.

This has been a cult classic and one of our favorites for a long long time. I've brewed it several times and I use it as my Thanksgiving turkey day ipa every year. I change it up based on what I have on hand but it's basically 2 row, crystal 60 and a dash of carapils if you have it. The hops are Chinook, cascade and centennial with us05 or wlp001. I mash around 154 but sometimes go for 152 if I want it dry. Look at the specs of the commercial version then play around with a recipe calculator to dial in the numbers. As long as you ferment clean it'll be a great a beer and pretty close to the original.

Just tried this year's batch. Decent but I really don't like the taste of C hops, so am not a good judge...