Clone Brews by Szamatulski

[myerstyson]

Just got my copy in the mail. Holy crap, what everyone said is right. Great book, great recipes. I must have 20 page corners flipped over. Not sure which one I'll want to do first. Perhaps the Celebrator Doppelbock, or the Sapporo Black Stout.

The book is nicely set up. The left page on the left side has a map of where the beer is brewed. Each beer recipe is a two-pager. Each beer also includes serving notes, with pictures of what glass you should serve the beer in.

Every recipe is an extract recipe, but the authors also include mini-mash and all-grain variants.

 

[Psylocide]

Might have to check that out... thanks for the heads up.

 

[fimpster]

Clone Brews is great. I've had the first edition for years. If you like that one, check out Beer Captured, also by Tess and Mark Szamatulski. I'll be brewing a recipe from that one in two weeks.

 

[myerstyson]

Clone Brews is great. I've had the first edition for years. If you like that one, check out Beer Captured, also by Tess and Mark Szamatulski. I'll be brewing a recipe from that one in two weeks.

Oh jeez, had no idea they had another book. Perhaps you can start another thread and tell us a bit about that one?

 

[myerstyson]

@fimpster, I just bought Beer Captured based on your rec and on how much I love this clone brews book.

Think I might make the Sapporo stout. I had that once in Japan and couldn't believe how yummy it was.

 

[Beholder]

I can't say enough good things about Clone Brews. I brewed the AG versions of many in the book and for every single one, got feedback of "that's exactly like _________, but better!" which I attributed to the freshness of the beer. It was especially true of imports that do not have domestic brewing partnerships established (you can figure this out looking at the bottle where it should tell you where it was brewed).

That book was really a great stepping stone away from the kits, which were nice in their own right, but could never be used to ensure the best breeding process was nailed down for given styles. It also gave me an appreciation for my skill (or lack thereof in some cases), and it didn't hurt when friends could imagine exactly what to expect with a given beer being familiar with its commercial counterpart.

My favorite practice with that book is to pick up a 6 pack of whichever I am brewing and do a side-by-side comparison over a few weeks as the flavors mature in the keg. With detailed tasting notes, I have learned not only more about the peak flavor timing of different styles and yeasts, but also researching ways to improve my process to precisely address whatever deficiencies I taste in the flavor profile.

I say stepping stone, since now I am reading Designing Great Beer, which gives a host of great information on brewing classic styles and making adjustments to achieve the goals you set out for in a given beer. I am now working through perfecting my brewing process of the classic styles to understand the sensitivity and benefits of given steps in the process. I expect this will open additional avenues to experiment through diverging from / merging the classic styles to achieve my goal of a thorough understanding of brewing. I guess it's a good thing that will take a while!

I started brewing with a more laissez-faire approach, since I was simply happy if the beer tasted good and my friends enjoyed it, but those two books have really given a fantastic depth to the hobby for me that opened new dimensions to explore.

 

[myerstyson]

Great to hear from more who have brewed the beers in Clone Brews, @Beholder. I haven't done any of them yet. I've still got a bunch of kits sitting on the shelves so I'm going to do them first before I attack one (or more) of the Clones.

Perhaps you can write a review of Designing Great Beers in this forum?

 

[fimpster]

Clone Brews and Beer Captured are both good books. I'm debating getting the second edition of Clone Brews with the 50 new recipes.

 

[Foosier]

I have the 2nd edition of Clone Brews. It is a solid reference. I have used it for a few beers. and they have all come out nicely. Just did their Old Peculiar clone and it is a very tasty brew. I like it for researching different beer styles to understand how they might be composed and see what sounds good for the next batch.

This book is really good for the advanced extract brewer because the recipes are always for Extract. They do include separate instructions for modifying the recipes for partial or all-grain. Kind of a pain to convert, but as others have said they work and the beers come out good.

One caution, nail down your fermentation temp control before going crazy with the beers in the book. Temp control is absolutely critical to producing a great clone (or really, any beer.) If you have that nailed down though, go to town!

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Mark and Tess operate their shop Maltose Express, in my neck of the woods. They are actually opening a brewery and tasting room that is conjoined with their brew shop. They are both really great people and their wealth of knowledge is pretty awesome.

The other nice thing is every time you go in the shop, they have their Golden Retriever hanging out to say hi to you.

Hope the mods are OK with this but their website is www.maltose.com

Im not an employee btw. I just buy my stuff there.

 

[DromJohn]

I own both books though I haven't yet brewed anything from either. Second in my queue is Bush de Noel (AKA Scaldis Noel) from "Clone Beers".

However I did buy the Val-Dieu Triple kit from Maltose Express (misspelled "Tripel" at Maltose). It is very good. Supposedly this clone will be in their third book. Since the kit came without the recipe, I am waiting for the third book to come out to use the Triple recipe as a starting point to cloning a Val-Dieu Grand Cru.

 

[Jeffinn]

]I'm debating getting the second edition of Clone Brews with the 50 new recipes.

Where did you see this book for sale? I looked on Amazon and didnt see anything where theres 50 new recipes.
Thanks.

 

[IslandLizard]

The original was 150 clones, the next edition became 200, that's the extra 50.

I have the 150 clones in book form, and an ePub of the 200 clone one. I've only made a few recipes from them, yet, it's a great inspiration and some basic education on those beers. I don't need the added fluff like the useless little maps in the 2nd ed. I always double check the recipes with what's here or I find elsewhere on the net. There is always some incongruousness, but it's a good start. One of my 2 fermenting Kwaks is partially based on theirs.

 

[fimpster]

Where did you see this book for sale? I looked on Amazon and didnt see anything where theres 50 new recipes.
Thanks.

^^What IslandLizard said.

Here is the original version that I have (150 recipes)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1580170773/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Here is the new version (200 recipes)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/160342539X/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[Jeffinn]

^^What IslandLizard said.

Here is the original version that I have (150 recipes)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1580170773/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Here is the new version (200 recipes)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/160342539X/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Okay, many thanks! I already have the second edition then. I'll have to dig it out and take a look.

 

[Brettomomyces]

Mark and Tess operate their shop Maltose Express, in my neck of the woods. They are actually opening a brewery and tasting room that is conjoined with their brew shop. They are both really great people and their wealth of knowledge is pretty awesome.

The other nice thing is every time you go in the shop, they have their Golden Retriever hanging out to say hi to you.

Hope the mods are OK with this but their website is www.maltose.com

Im not an employee btw. I just buy my stuff there.

They were my first LHBS, I used to go in there when I was 17 (I got started young...), nicest people in the world. Loved seeing the dog and their cats, always offered me delicious beer on tap to try. I'm very excited for their new venture, but saddened I may not get to try any now that I'm out in Colorado.

 

[JohnnyO]

Mark and Tess operate their shop Maltose Express, in my neck of the woods. They are actually opening a brewery and tasting room that is conjoined with their brew shop. They are both really great people and their wealth of knowledge is pretty awesome.

The other nice thing is every time you go in the shop, they have their Golden Retriever hanging out to say hi to you.

Hope the mods are OK with this but their website is www.maltose.com

Im not an employee btw. I just buy my stuff there.

Couldn't agree more. Mark and Tess are fantastic. I was there yesterday. In the midst of running a bustling shop, and building a brewery, Mark went out of his way to indulge me in reviewing lager strains he had available based on what I was brewing and discuss the facets of each. He then realized he had a fresher batch in the back that just came in and ensured I got fresh yeast, rather than get rid of the old stock on me. We then had a ten minute conversation about brewing to taste rather than style guidelines.

Stand up, down to earth people. I'm lucky to have them as my lbhs.

 

[jimbo85]

I just got my copy of clone brews and im confused as to how much water to use in mash and sparging. Surely they arent all the same right?