Brian Boru - Three Floyds Clone Recipe Needed.

[jsmith_2645]

Hey all, so I was soaking the labels off of bottles the other night and had a bottle of Three Floyds Brian Boru Red Ale. So now I have to get ahold of a clone recipe. I saw a couple of other dead-end threads of others just like me that are searching for this elusive recipe. So if anyone out there has the means of attaining one, please post it.

The Amarillo hops is the one thing that we've got figured out (okay it's Three Floyds, do they make a beer that doesn't have Amarillo in it?). Anyone got a line on the other ingredients?

I'm wondering if I can't just mess with a red ale recipe and just add the Amarillo? Any advice is appreciated. It's dang good beer.




Primary: Nutty Scotsman Ale
Secondary: Delirium Tremens Clone
On Deck: Harp Clone

 

[Oldsock]

FInding a solid red and adding Amarillos sounds like a good place to start. Dialing in a clone recipe can often take a couple batches, you'll end up with a tasty beer that is in the right direction though. Some medium/dark caramel malts are certainly in there.

Their site doesn't have much, 5.5% ABV 40 IBUs, a bit of help anyway. Looking at some clone recipes for some of Three Floyds other beers can help as well, many breweries have similar malt/hop tendencies for many of their beers.

 

[Roudy]

I'm with ya - I am planning on my next brew to be an Irish Red as I want something quaffable as we get into the warm weather here in Georgia. I however am a hophead, and many Irish Reds are very suppressed from a hop standpoint. I love several of the Three Floyds beers, but haven't had the Brian Boru. Does it have more hop character? If so that's what I'm wanting to make.

 

[ryguy86]

New to the site and looking to make a clone of the boru shortly. Anybody make any progress on a recipe?

 

[SethMasterFlex]

This is really resurrecting an old thread, but I just had a Brian Boru and want to post what I've found if anyone is interested in brewing this. The bottle states "...very rich caramelly ale with toffee, citrus & pineapple aroma. Brian Boru is brewed with malt, Irish oats, honey & Amarillo hops". 5.5% and 40 IBU.

My empty glass has a distinct cereal grain aroma to it. I'm not sure if this is from the use of unmalted oats or something akin to Munich or CaraMunich. The caramel is in the nose, but not as intense in the taste. It smells like a mid level caramel (maybe 60?), but not much over 4% IMO. There is a detectable level of roast in the mid palate. Whether this is from a small addition of Chocolate malt, Roast Barley, or Special B I cannot tell. I don't get too much raisin/fig, so I might be willing to rule out the special B in lieu of one of the aforementioned roasted malts.

The beer is also somewhat dry, probably due to the addition of honey. I'm guessing the oats and honey balance each other out in terms of mouthfeel while not ending with an overly sweet beer. I hear 3Floyds uses 1968 as its flagship yeast, and this would explain trying to dry it out a little bit as 1968 doesn't reach as high of attenuation as a lot of American strains. It'd be tough to determine the amount of honey without a FG sample, but it's probably not over 10%. With an ABV of 5.5%, it's probably enough to just push the 1968 into the 75-80% attenuation range (I've gotten 76% with oxygenation and a big starter).

The hop character isn't as intense as some of 3Floyds flagship brews, but is pleasingly apparent in the finish. It has enough citrus to coat and numb your tongue for a second, but is very well balanced with the malt. I'm no expert on how to hop a beer like this, but I would guess that a couple ounces in the flavor/aroma department (IBU's depending) and no to minimal dry hopping would get you in the ballpark. Using too much Amarillo at flameout and dry hopping gets you a buttload of pineapple in my experience, so I see no reason to overdo it here.

These are just my impressions from a first tasting my first bottle. They are by no means an exact recipe to follow and some of what I said may be wrong. I'm just trying to help anyone along the way that is interested in cloning this brew. Hope it helps.

 

[Getingen]

I will try to make a clone of Brian Boru, this is my recipe, any thoughts?

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 16.04 l
Post Boil Volume: 14.04 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 12.00 l
Bottling Volume: 11.20 l
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 33.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 40.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 62.70 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 70.5 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 63.5 %
0.40 kg Munich (20.0 EBC) Grain 2 12.7 %
0.15 kg Caramel Malt - 120L 6-Row (Briess) (236. Grain 3 4.8 %
0.15 kg Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) (118.2 EBC) Grain 4 4.8 %
0.10 kg Melanoid (80.0 EBC) Grain 5 3.2 %
0.10 kg Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC) Grain 6 3.2 %
0.05 kg Roasted Barley (Briess) (591.0 EBC) Grain 7 1.6 %
10.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 17.4 IBUs
20.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 12.6 IBUs
30.00 g Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 10 10.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124. Yeast 11 -
0.20 kg Honey (2.0 EBC) Sugar 12 6.3 %


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 3.15 kg

 

[brewhawk35]

How did your clone attempt come out?

 

[brewhawk35]

How did your clone attempt come out?

 

[Getingen]

How did your clone attempt come out?

Very weak unfortunately, not much taste from either malt, yeast or hops, don't know why, This was me second brewing also, so I'm a beginner.

I also had lots of trouble getting the beer carbonated, so if I did this again i would change the yeast and add dry hopping.

It also became more brown than red. I think its better to remove the 120L and add more 40L instead

 

[nathan33]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/brian-boru-my-spin-455786/

Here is my attempt at the clone. I have been fermenting 1 week and made a few changes from brewday on. but should be close. smells amazing fermenting. cant wait to smell it with dryhops