Daisy Cutter Pale Ale

[HarborTownBrewing]

Well, I just bottled mine yesterday. Ended up with an FG of 1.008. My OG may have been a bit high at 1.050, which gives me a ABV of 5.5% vs the 5.2% of the real stuff. I'm not going to get upset about that though. My color is lighter than I thought it may be, as NathPowe mentioned, but I think I may still be in good shape - time will tell though.

I can say this much, I freakin' loved the gravity sample I took. Loaded with hops, with a great bitter taste up front and a nice sweet finish. I haven't been so excited to try a beer in a long time. Once it's carbed up, I'll post a final recap hopefully with some pics, and side-by-side comparisons to the real thing. Fortunately I live close to the brewery so I can pick the real stuff up pretty easily.

NathPowe/M750: I said it before, but again, I'm excited to hear how your final products come out.

 

[m750]

Well, I just bottled mine yesterday. Ended up with an FG of 1.008. My OG may have been a bit high at 1.050, which gives me a ABV of 5.5% vs the 5.2% of the real stuff. I'm not going to get upset about that though. My color is lighter than I thought it may be, as NathPowe mentioned, but I think I may still be in good shape - time will tell though.

I can say this much, I freakin' loved the gravity sample I took. Loaded with hops, with a great bitter taste up front and a nice sweet finish. I haven't been so excited to try a beer in a long time. Once it's carbed up, I'll post a final recap hopefully with some pics, and side-by-side comparisons to the real thing. Fortunately I live close to the brewery so I can pick the real stuff up pretty easily.

NathPowe/M750: I said it before, but again, I'm excited to hear how your final products come out.

It's fun to finally have some momentum in this thread. Would love to be able to have something to compare it to once I get closer.
So, I wrote up my first brewing attempt here:
http://thebottlefarm.com/ProjetsThoughts2/brewing-daisy-cutter-clone/

It's not close, it's a decent but missing the hop flavor I was hopping to get that from a load of whirlpool hops. The aroma is really kind of sickly sweet. At 1.012 it finished dry for 1968 (my house yeast) 74% attenuation, but it really needs a more attenuative yeast to get to the right FG. I can't really say for color, nothing to go on.

I rebrewed it last night and made some changes. I limited the changes so I can understand their impact. I didn't want to change too many things at once. I have some ideas for more changes for future batches.
1. Split whirlpool / steeping hops to 10m and whirlpool.
2. Bumped up the colombus and simcoe in whirlpool.
3. Lowered 60m addition.
4. To fix the aroma sweetness (attributed to too much amarillo), I redistrobuted the dry hop from amarillo and centenial heavy to balanced additions of Amarillo, Centenial, Simcoe and Colombus.
5. The only malt bill changes were to adjust acid malt down to account for added mash salts.
6. I mashed a touch lower 150 vs 152.

This batch's OG far exceeded my target gravity, which I owe to a longer more effective mash (process inconsistencies?). I hit 1.056. The hydro sample was fairly tasty, but I won't know anything for another two weeks, when this comes off dry hop. Anyone else notice this beer turns around pretty quick?

I'll follow up in about three weeks with tasting notes. The next attempt I'll dial in the OG, and I'm considering swapping the yeast to us-05 for a higher attenuation, assuming the lower mash temp doesn't get this to dry out more. Alternately, I could swap out the MO for straight up us pale, we'll see. Things like this make me want to keep it in. https://twitter.com/crispmalt/status/354395299608944640
AO

 

[skawars1]

I wonder if they changed the recipe? Just listened to the Sunday Session again. Centennial is not mentioned at all, but 7Cs (Falconers Flight) was. Maybe HA was able to secure a better hop contract than when the podcast was recorded.

From the podcast
Bitter with Warrior
Mid/Late additions-Simcoe, Amarillo, 7Cs
Dry hop-Simcoe, Amarillo, Columbus, 7Cs


I've brewed slight variations of the recipe I posted a few times now. All have been fantastic. Going to step it up a notch and do a double daisy version for the World Cup. Seems like a great beer for rooting on Emerika! I'll post the recipe once I finish it.

So, I did get a response, I am just not active on this forum. Sorry for the delay.

----
hey Aaron, glad you dug the daisy cutter, here goes:

5.2 ABV, OG 11.5 Plato
Malt
2-row
Briess Victory (~3%)
Briess Special Roast (~3%)
Castle Ambre (aromatic) (~3%) (this appears to be chateau abbey (aromatic) unless someone knows better)

hops, ~ 60 IBU
Bitter with warrior
centennial @ 30
Centennial + amarillo @ 15
Amarillo + Columbus + Simcoe @ end of boil
Dry hop with Amarillo, Simcoe, Centennial, and Columbus

hope this helps,

matt

--

So, there's what I got from the brewer back in 11. If anyone has any yeast tips, and knows what base malt they use, that would be a good start.
I'll likely brew this for the first time in a few months.

 

[m750]

First off, thanks for pointing that out to me. I'm sure I listened to it before, but I forgot about it, and never took notes.

It's totally realistic to think they changed the hops based on availability. IIRC Centennial has been in short supply the last few years. I'm going to stick to centennial, simply because I have it, if I can't find it, I'm glad to know there is an alternative.

These are the notes I took in addition to your points.

two row - They mention Rahr for their basemalt in most of their beers when talking about Space. However they don't mention which rahr two row, it's my understanding there are a few varieties.
Victory
Special Roast
Castle Aromatic AKA Castle Abbey Malt


Ferment at 65.

Using BSI - chico yeast.
I think it's this.
A-56 Chico Ale
73-77% apparent attenuation • medium flocculation • 60-72°F fermentation range Very well-balanced, fermenting dry and finishing soft, smooth and clean. Excellent all-around choice; best for American pale and amber ales and British IPA’s.

http://www.brewingscience.com/PDF/prodlist/BSI_Yeast_Descriptions_Guide.pdf

Dry hop for 6 days, at nearly terminal gravity.
Terminal gravity is less than 2* plato

With that in mind, I'll likely switch my attempt #3 to all two row away from two row / maris otter. I'm sure it'll help with bringing that FG down. I'll likely also use us-05. Hopefully I won't need to mess with my hop bill to get the flavor to come out. Drying it out should help with that I'd expect.
AO

 

[NathPowe]

Howdy folks. Sorry for the delay on my follow up - bet you thought I'd abandoned the thread. Been a bit busy lately and was out of town for a long weekend. Anyway, I figure I'll throw in a couple pics and then my notes. Sorry in advance for the crappy pics. I'm a beer dude, not a photographer. First two are the same thing - one with flash, one without. The third is Head-retention/Lacing Cam. Real thing on the left next to the can, clone on the right in all pics. Here goes -





Okay, so here are my thoughts. First off, the color wasn't as far off as I originally thought/posted a while back. It's not exact, but it's actually reasonably close. Obviously the clone is much clearer, but Half Acre likely filters the real deal.

Now when it comes to flavor/aroma, it's been a bit tough because my cans of the real deal have started to oxidize a bit. It's not terribly bad, but enough that it's identifiable and impedes the comparison to a certain degree. Nevertheless, I think the malt bill is very close on the clone. Both beers have a wonderful toast that floats throughout the flavor and even slightly in the aroma. I absolutely love the malt bill and I honestly don't know that I'd change it on a rebrew.

In terms of hops, the first thing I'll say is that I think the general amounts/levels of both hop flavor and aroma on the clone are both quite close to the original. I also think that the overall flavor and aroma is very close to the original. That's not to say I think I nailed it on the first try, but they're very close as far as I can taste with the oxidization present on the real thing. I think to get into the real nitty-gritty hop adjustments we'll need someone who can regularly get their hands on freshies from Half Acre. The clone obviously has a fresher hop flavor and aroma - this is to be expected though. Finally, the real thing does seem to be just the slightest bit more bitter, but I wonder if that's also related to the age of the cans.

Mouthfeel is spot on. As you can see from the third pic, the head retention and lacing are also pretty dern close.

So that's my unintentionally long update. I'll close by saying that, while I'm not saying the beer is totally cloned, this recipe is quite close and (most importantly) it's absolutely fantastic. Definitely one of the best beers I've ever made, and it suits my tastes so well I don't think I'd change anything on a rebrew (which is definitely happening). Again, folks with more experience/better palates than me will probably get it dialed in 100%, but for now I'm diggin it.

You should definitely give this a shot if you like Daisy Cutter, or if you just generally dig hop-forward ales. You won't be disappointed. That's all for now. If folks have any follow-up questions I'll do my best to offer some answers. Recipe is re-posted below. Cheers and enjoy the brew.

p.s. I can't speak to the use of Falconers Flight instead of Centennial. Wasn't aware of this at the time of my brew but again, this one is close and it's tasty. I bet the Falconer's would be to.

Daisy Cutter Clone Attempt
OG: 1.047
FG: 1.007
60min Boil
ABV: 5.2% (as listed on the real thing)
5-gallon Batch

Grain
9.75lbs 2-row ~ 91%
5oz Victory! ~ 3%
5oz Special Roast ~ 3%
5oz Aromatic ~ 3%

Mash @ 149*F

Hops / Boil
.25oz Warrior @ 60min
.25oz Centennial @ 30min
.5oz Centennial, .5oz Amarillo @ 15min
1oz Simcoe, .5oz Amarillo, .5oz Columbus @ Whirlpool (15min whirlpool)

Yeast
US-05, 1pkg re-hydrated

Give it 60sec of pure O2 (I know some say this is unnecessary with dry yeast - I do it anyway), ferment at 66*F for three days, then slowly raise it to 68*F to finish out. After that, rack to a keg with dry hops.

Dry Hop:
.5oz Simcoe, .5oz Amarillo, .5oz Columbus, .5oz Centennial

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

So that's my unintentionally long update. I'll close by saying that, while I'm not saying the beer is totally cloned, this recipe is quite close and (most importantly) it's absolutely fantastic. Definitely one of the best beers I've ever made, and it suits my tastes so well I don't think I'd change anything on a rebrew (which is definitely happening). Again, folks with more experience/better palates than me will probably get it dialed in 100%, but for now I'm diggin it.

Thanks for the update and pics! It's great to hear you were "close" to the real thing, and that you really enjoyed your homebrew - especially considering you and I brewed similar recipes haha.

I'm popping open a bottle of mine on Sunday, and I'm planning to swing by the brewery this weekend to pick up a fresh set of cans from Half Acre of the real stuff to compare mine to. I used quite a bit more bittering hops than you did, so I'm hoping I didn't over-bitter mine.

Thanks again for the update (and keeping up the momentum on this thread). I'll post my results and pics in the next few days too - I'm geeked to try mine (it's been a long month of waiting).

 

[NathPowe]

Right on HarborTown. I think my recipe is very close to the original, but I hesitate to be the one who says "It's cloned." Look forward to your update. It's gonna be worth the wait.

 

[ChairmanWow]

I just finished brewing a clone attempt on Saturday.

OG: 1.050 (A little high, my boiloff rate was way more than expected)
60min Boil
5 gallons

Grain
9 lbs Briess pale ale
5.3 oz Victory
5.3 oz Briess special roast
5.3 oz Dingeman's aromatic

Mash temp 152 F

Boil
.5 oz Warrior 60 mins
.5 oz Centennial 30 mins
.5 oz Amarillo, .5 oz Centennial 15 min
1 oz Columbus, 1 oz Simcoe, .5 oz Amarillo for whirlpool

Yeast
White Labs 0001 California Ale, pitched in 1.5 L starter after ~ 16 hrs

Primary at ~68 F for 7 days, dry hop in secondary for 5-7 days.

I'm still deciding how I want to dry hop this. My original plan was 1 oz each of Columbus, Simcoe, Centennial, and Amarillo. However, it was the piney/herbal qualities of Daisy Cutter that made it stand out to me, so I'm now thinking of cutting the Centennial and Amarillo down to .5 oz each.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

First, I’ll start with my recipe:

Grain:
9lb 12oz Two Row
5oz Aromatic
5oz Special Roast
5oz Victory

Hops:
.44oz Warrior (60min)
.44oz Centennial (30min)
.88oz Amarillo (15min)
.88oz Centennial (15min)
1oz Simcoe (Flameout)
.5oz Amarillo (Flameout)
.5oz Centennial (Flameout)
.5oz Columbus (Flameout)

Yeast:
US-05 (I used a yeast starter)

Dry Hop:
.5oz Amarillo (Dry hop 7 days)
.5oz Centennial (Dry hop 7 days)
.5oz Columbus (Dry hop 7 days)
.5oz Simcoe (Dry hop 7 days)

Target OG: 1.047 (I hit 1.050, so my abv is a little higher than the real Daisy Cutter)
Target FG: 1.008
IBUs (calculated by Beersmith): 60

RESULTS:
A darn good beer.

To elaborate on that last sentence a little more, it isn’t an exact clone to Daisy Cutter – that much I can tell you. But it is veeeeeery close. The differences seem to be that mine is not as bitter as Half Acre’s version (which I picked up a fresh 4-pack of from the brewery the day before I tasted mine). When I put this into BeerSmith, I wanted to get the IBUs to 60, so I kept the 60 minute addition at a modest .44oz of Warrior. I think if you want to get that same level of bitterness, you would need to increase this a bit – maybe to about .7oz. I don’t know though, as that’s sort of a shot in the dark.

If you look at this picture, the real Daisy Cutter is on the left, and my clone is on the right.

The color is just about spot on – this picture sort of makes the clone look a little darker, but I believe it is just a bit cloudier. In person, they colors were near identical.

How is mine different? A few friends of mine and I agreed that the real Daisy Cutter has a lingering bitterness which sort of sticks around after you swallow. This clone recipe has an upfront subtle bitterness which mellows out into floral flavors with a little hint of citrus. The aroma is fantastic and very strong – I wouldn’t change a thing about the dry hop weights.

Mouthfeel on the real one and the clone were right on.

I shared this homebrew with a few people, and they said they truly and honestly liked this clone recipe better because the bitterness was more subtle. My hope in making this beer was that it would be something I could enjoy as the weather starts heating up, and this beer does that. I would have no problem sitting outside drinking 4 or 5 of these, whereas I don’t think I could do that with the real Daisy Cutter (just a bit too bitter for prolonged drinking on most days, for me at least).

So, I’d say if you are looking to get close to Daisy Cutter: try bumping up the bittering hops a bit. If you are interested in something close to Daisy Cutter but a little leaner on the bitterness: this is probably a pretty good hop schedule to go by.

Hopefully this helps. I won’t hesitate to make this recipe again – it’s a great summer beer. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or if I need to clarify anything.

Cheers!

 

[NathPowe]

Nice update Harbortown, thanks for writing it up. Looks like you pretty much nailed it. That dry hop combo really is insanely nice right? As it stands, my version may end up being the fastest (non-party) keg to blow at my place. SWMBO is loving this beer and so am I.

I'm taking a trip to Chicago in August, so I'm planning to brew it again so it's ready upon my return. Hoping to grab some fresh cans and do another comparison at that point. Based on my tasting and your write-up I may bump up the warrior just a tad bit.

Enjoy the beers man. Cheers.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

As it stands, my version may end up being the fastest (non-party) keg to blow at my place.

That's almost the sad part too - I feel like I should be making another batch right now hahaha. Glad to hear it's going over well at your house!

I've been thinking about it, and I may try it again with a bit more Warrior: maybe .6 oz to get it a little closer. Then again, I still like it the way it is. Oh well, guess I'll just make a few batches.

I'm looking forward to hearing other people's recipes and results!

 

[m750]

Great updates guys, and nice to see the side by sides. Harbortown, I wonder if the few extra gravity points impacted the perception of bitterness. I too, kicked my first batch last night as I tried to bottle to make room for batch 2. Batch 3 is going on dry hop later in the week. I even managed to get a four pack of the original so, I'm looking forward to giving it a side by side with batch 2. I knew my first batch was lacking. Unfortunately my DC has taken some abuse traveling by air and at first blush, it's not nearly as aromatic as I remeber the beer from years ago.
AO

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Harbortown, I wonder if the few extra gravity points impacted the perception of bitterness.

I don't know - it may have had an impact on it, but I think that's only a part of the reason mine wasn't as bitter. I have a feeling bumping up the 60 min addition and dropping the 30 min a little would help, but I'm not sure. It seems like there is more to it than that, but I don't know - hop additions and weights are tricky, especially with a beer like Daisy Cutter.

Glad to hear you are on your third batch - I'm interested to hear how your 2nd and 3rd come out. I just read your write-up on The Bottle Farm and thought that was pretty cool.

Let us know!

 

[m750]

Thanks HarborTown. My second batch is kegged, and been delivered to a friend for his daughters 1st birthday party this weekend. I did manage to steal 6 bottles before sending on it's way.
I tried a sample, and it didn't have the unbalanced sweetness from amarillo that the first had. It was still yeasty since it was the first pour, so not indicative of how the beer will pour on Saturday. I'll be transferring batch 3 to keg this weekend, and then I'll do the three way taste test, batch 2, batch 3, and the original. I'm not expecting it to be a clone, as I used 1968 again, I plan on trying us05 in a future batch but the timing of brewing that might be a ways off, I've brewed the past three weekends, so I'm due for a few weekends of work around the house. I wrote up my batch #2 brew day here, if anyone is interested.
http://thebottlefarm.com/ProjetsThoughts2/taking-second-chop-daisy-cutter/

AO

 

[NathPowe]

It seemed prudent to report that, only seconds ago, the keg of my first clone attempt officially crossed over to the other side. We had a good run and she tasted fantabulous until the very end.

The Sadness.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I tried a sample, and it didn't have the unbalanced sweetness from amarillo that the first had. It was still yeasty since it was the first pour, so not indicative of how the beer will pour on Saturday.

Have you had a chance to try batch 2 yet? I just read your write-up on it. I'm curious if bumping up your 10 min Centennial addition will help. I thought my hop schedule was perfect, with the exception of my 60 min not being enough - that said, I was going to compare ours but I didn't see your hop amounts, so I'm not sure where you are at (unless you posted it a while ago and I overlooked it).

Anyways, hope it turned out well. I've been passing mine out to friends, and every single person has told me they like mine better than the real thing (even without me posing the question). This beer also came out incredibly clear - I've never had a beer so clear after 3 weeks in the bottle and just a couple days in the fridge. I'm thinking I may want to start on batch 2!

 

[m750]

I find it really interesting you said your beer was really clear. I passed out a few bottles of batch one, and that was terribly cloudy. I've been trying to figure out what the deal is with it. It's not yeast, 1968 I used drops out dead. It could be the hop steep, not getting a great cold break, or a malt issue.

Here was my batch 2 recipe, but I'm brewing a 3 gallon batch, so, it's hard to compare numbers.
http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/445767/sb-daisy-cutter-clone-all-grain

I have not had a chance to sample batch 2, I made it, kegged it, and gave the keg to a friend for a birthday party. My friend said it kicked w/out problem. I did bottle a few before handing it off, but I haven't tried it. I have batch three in the keg now. I plan on doing a batch 1,2,3 vs DC taste test, maybe this weekend. Batch 1 and the original isn't getting any fresher.

I wrote up batch 3 brew day here:

http://thebottlefarm.com/ProjetsThoughts2/plan-c-batch-number-three-daisy-cutter-clone/

Batch 3 recipe:
http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/455425/sb-daisy-cutter-clone-all-grain

I'm planning on batches 4/5 using us05, I used 1968 esb for 1-3. I plan on testing marris otter and pale vs just pale with us-05, and depending on the taste testing results I'll adjust the hopping bills.

At this point, I'm don't think I'm trying to clone the beer anymore, but rather make the best pale ale I can. So, I might end up taking this off the thread for future updates. I don't have a readily enough supply of Daisy cutter to be able to nail the recipe.
AO

 

[ChairmanWow]

Three weeks of bottle conditioning and I've finally been able to try some of my batch in a head-to-head against the genuine Daisy Cutter. I judged mine somewhat more harshly than some of the other people who tasted it, but even I think it's pretty close.



Mine is on the left, the genuine article on the right.

The aroma is identical. The color is pretty close, theirs is a touch lighter and doesn't show the chill haze that mine does. The flavor is very very close, with theirs having a more upfront burst of bitterness and mine lingering longer. I noted an unsatisfactory soapy flavor in the back of the throat on my version, but nobody else noticed it when I did a blind tasting, and I may have just been finding fault.

I actually took the tour at Half Acre the day after I bottled, and talked it over with their head brewer. He confirmed the malt profile we've all been using is correct, but did note that their hop bill changes from time to time. He didn't confirm exactly what, but stated that they usually use some Zeus. I was given to understand that Zeus and Columbus are pretty much identical, so I can't see it making that much of a difference.

All in all, I liked theirs a bit more, but my version is a reasonable approximation, and a pretty good beer in it's own right, given it was my first all-grain to boot.




Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Three weeks of bottle conditioning and I've finally been able to try some of my batch in a head-to-head against the genuine Daisy Cutter.

Awesome stuff Chairman. From your description, it seems like we had some similarities in the upfront bitterness not being quite the same as Half Acre's. For me, I'm a little bummed it isn't exact, but I actually find it more pleasing to drink than the real thing - not sure if you feel the same about yours.

I don't know if I missed it in a previous post, but could you post your recipe?

 

[ChairmanWow]

OG: 1.050 (A little high, my boiloff rate was way more than expected)
60min Boil
5 gallons

Grain
9 lbs Briess pale malt
5.3 oz Victory
5.3 oz Briess special roast
5.3 oz Dingeman's aromatic

Mash temp 152 F - 60 min rest

Boil
.5 oz Warrior 60 mins
.5 oz Centennial 30 mins
.5 oz Amarillo, .5 oz Centennial 15 min
1 oz Columbus, 1 oz Simcoe, .5 oz Amarillo for whirlpool
1 tsp Irish Moss 15 min

Yeast
White Labs 0001 California Ale, pitched in 1.5 L starter after ~ 16 hrs

Primary at ~68 F for 7 days, dry hop in secondary for 5-7 days.

Dry hop
1 oz Simcoe
1 oz Columbus
.5 oz Amarillo
.5 oz Centennial

 

[ChairmanWow]

Update: back in June I sent in two bottles of my clone to the Ohio Brew Week homebrew competition in Athens. The winners were announced yesterday, and mine (now hastily renamed Hedge Clipper Pale Ale) was unfortunately not among them.

I've actually really started to like this beer, as a few weeks in the bottle has evened it out a bit. I'd like to think the only major problem is that the BJCP would consider it overly bitter for the style, but I'll find out specifically what was wrong with it in a few weeks when they send out the judging sheets.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Funny, I just sent a couple of mine in for a homebrew competition as well! I won't know how it goes for another week, but it should be interesting.

 

[ChairmanWow]

Got the judging sheets back today, scored a 30. It was marked down for showing some signs of oxidation. I can't imagine the trip downstate in the back of a UPS truck did it any favors, and apparently my bottles were filled a touch on the low side.

In any case, 30 is still the tail-end of "very good" so it couldn't have been that bad. I'll just have to be more careful filling the bottles and try to enter competitions where I can personally deliver my entries straight from the fridge.

It's at least a comfort to know even the real Daisy Cutter has this problem too, as I finished the the last can from my trip to Chicago a few weeks back, and it tasted somewhat the worse for wear.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I forgot to provide the update, but I received the score sheets from the Homebrew Competition I entered my Daisy Cutter in:

-Scored 38.
-Won 1st place in the American Pale Ale category.
-Judge #1: "subtle tropical notes, mild fruitiness with a nice balance of bitterness. Bready with a light body. Very drinkable and balance, maybe add just a few more late addition hops but only a little."
-Judge #2: "Heavy bready, pretzel like, crusty, biscuity. Some citrus hops and slight yeastiness. Crusty breadiness aroma returns in full force. Medium bitterness and citrus hop flavor are balancing. Generic yeast fruitiness. Liked the balance of super bready malt and fresh hops. Bitterness may linger a bit too long, but it's not harsh."

So, this was great feedback and a nice result. One note made was that if I used an American Ale yeast strain to try to reduce the temperature. This is accurate: I didn't have great control of the fermentation temps.

Everyone I've given it to loves this beer - I'll absolutely make it again.

Here is the recipe again for anyone who is interested (pictures are available on the original post, post #89):

Grain:
9lb 12oz Two Row
5oz Aromatic
5oz Special Roast
5oz Victory

Hops:
.44oz Warrior (60min)
.44oz Centennial (30min)
.88oz Amarillo (15min)
.88oz Centennial (15min)
1oz Simcoe (Flameout)
.5oz Amarillo (Flameout)
.5oz Centennial (Flameout)
.5oz Columbus (Flameout)

Yeast:
US-05 (I used a yeast starter)

Dry Hop:
.5oz Amarillo (Dry hop 7 days)
.5oz Centennial (Dry hop 7 days)
.5oz Columbus (Dry hop 7 days)
.5oz Simcoe (Dry hop 7 days)

Target OG: 1.047 (I hit 1.050, so my abv is a little higher than the real Daisy Cutter)
Target FG: 1.008
IBUs (calculated by Beersmith): 60

 

[mtnagel]

Awesome, thanks for the update.

 

[truck]

@NathPowe, great efforts! You said the mouthfeel of your clone was spot on, can you share what your water profile is like? And if you made any additions or adjustments of any kind? For me, the mouthfeel of a beer is more than half the enjoyment as it slips down...

 

[jakis]

Anyone have an extract clone?

 

[mtnagel]

I got to try my clone vs the real thing today. I brewed almost the same recipe as HarborTownBrewing posted in #104. In the picture, mine is on the left, original on the right. Obviously theirs is a little redder (and clearer obviously). Theirs also tasted a bit sweeter and maltier. Like some of the earlier recipes posted, I would think some crystal malt would have helped. Mine had much less malt flavor.

I don't know when theirs was canned as the code date was smudged on the bottom of the can, but my hop aroma was more pronounced and fruitier. Mine is about 3 weeks old, 2 weeks in the keg. I also split the dry hop, with half going in primary for 4 days and half going in the keg suspended by floss. I may still be drinking the beer that is in contact with the hops. I also did a 30 min hop stand with the flameout hops at around 180F.

Also, mine seemed a bit more bitter. Instead of the warrior, I used hop extract to target 40 IBUs. All the other hop additions were the same. Theirs is a bit more balanced for sure, but I'm a fan of out of balance hoppy beers, so mine is pretty damn good too.

Here was the water profile I used and I was targeting 5.4 pH, but got 5.5 at 25 mins in the mash.

Ca - 99 ppm
Mg - 10 ppm
Na - 24 ppm
SO4 - 219 ppm
Cl - 30 ppm

 

[copper2hopper]

Subscribed! I had this beer for the first time ever in chi town this past weekend and it immediately drew me to "hhhhmmmm I wonder/bet I can find a clone for this one" and sure enough here you guys are. This one is delicious and I can't wait to try it out. I'm getting the ingredients this Wednesday to brew it up within the next week or so. It's definitely an expensive one though with all these hops ($25 alone in hops at my LHBS). I will post my results in the future. Thanks...you guys rock...cheers

 

[mtnagel]

You need to start buying your hops in bulk. It saves a bunch.

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

@mtnagel - thanks for providing an update! Glad to hear you got a good beer, looks delicious too.

@copper2hopper - best of luck with brewing this one up. One thing I had noted in my reflections on this brew is that it turned out a little less bitter than the real thing, so you may want to up your 60 min a little (I had used .44 oz Warrior). Let us know how it turns out!

 

[copper2hopper]

Thank you Harbor! I did. I carefully scoured through everyones recipe posts here and decided to go with the following:

5 Gallon Batch Daisy Cutter Clone
OG: 1.047
FG: 1.008
Yeast: US-05


Grain Bill Yeast to Buy Hops to Buy

9.75lb Briess Pale Malt US-05 1 Warrior
5.3oz Briess Victory 2 Centennial
5.3oz Briess Special Roast 2 Amarillo
5.3oz Castle Malt Chateau Abbey 2 Simcoe
2 Columbus
60 Minute Mash @ 149

60 Minute Boil
- .7oz Warrior 60 Minutes
- .44oz Centennial 30 Minutes
- .88oz Amarillo, .88oz Centennial 15 Minutes
- 1oz Simcoe, .5oz Amarillo, .5 Columbus Flame Out/Whirlpool

Dry Hop
- 1oz Simcoe
- 1oz Columbus
- .5oz Amarillo
- .5oz Centennial


I CAN'T WAIT!

 

[copper2hopper]

Sorry that got posted funny from my cut,copy,paste of my word document. Pay no attention to hops right next to the grains listed in the grain bill. That's just my grocery list for when I go to my LHBS

 

[mtnagel]

I'm hardly an expert on cloning or malts, but I would think if you want to come closer to the real thing, you would add some crystal malt to get some of the sweetness and the slightly redder color. Unless you don't want that

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

I'm hardly an expert on cloning or malts, but I would think if you want to come closer to the real thing, you would add some crystal malt to get some of the sweetness and the slightly redder color. Unless you don't want that

I'm just thinking out loud, and it's been a while since I thought about this beer (nearly a year actually), but the grain bill I had used (and a few other guys as well) came directly from the brewer at Daisy Cutter, so I think we were using the same grain bill as they were. I had compared my Half Acre's brew numerous times, and each time they were absolutely spot on in color between the clone and the real thing - the only difference was HA's was cloudier. My comparison pic is post #89 of this thread for what it's worth.

I don't know enough about oxidation and aging and whatnot, but the DC cans I compared my clone to were picked up from the brewery and were "fresh", so maybe the can you had from HA wasn't as fresh?

Or, maybe HA changed the grain bill a little bit in the last few months and the color is a little different?

 

[mtnagel]

Fair enough. I didn't know the grain bill came from the brewer. And like I said, I couldn't tell how old my cans were because the date code couldn't be read. So not sure what happened with mine.

 

[oljimmy]

I just brewed HarborTown's exact recipe, except that I used WLP 001 instead of US-05. It's fermenting away at 68F, OG 1.050. I will post pics and tasting notes when it's done. Sadly I don't live in an area with Daisy Cutter, but my wife fell in love with it on a trip to Chicago, and she should be a pretty good judge of how close it is.

I forgot to provide the update, but I received the score sheets from the Homebrew Competition I entered my Daisy Cutter in:

-Scored 38.
-Won 1st place in the American Pale Ale category.
-Judge #1: "subtle tropical notes, mild fruitiness with a nice balance of bitterness. Bready with a light body. Very drinkable and balance, maybe add just a few more late addition hops but only a little."
-Judge #2: "Heavy bready, pretzel like, crusty, biscuity. Some citrus hops and slight yeastiness. Crusty breadiness aroma returns in full force. Medium bitterness and citrus hop flavor are balancing. Generic yeast fruitiness. Liked the balance of super bready malt and fresh hops. Bitterness may linger a bit too long, but it's not harsh."

So, this was great feedback and a nice result. One note made was that if I used an American Ale yeast strain to try to reduce the temperature. This is accurate: I didn't have great control of the fermentation temps.

Everyone I've given it to loves this beer - I'll absolutely make it again.

Here is the recipe again for anyone who is interested (pictures are available on the original post, post #89):

Grain:
9lb 12oz Two Row
5oz Aromatic
5oz Special Roast
5oz Victory

Hops:
.44oz Warrior (60min)
.44oz Centennial (30min)
.88oz Amarillo (15min)
.88oz Centennial (15min)
1oz Simcoe (Flameout)
.5oz Amarillo (Flameout)
.5oz Centennial (Flameout)
.5oz Columbus (Flameout)

Yeast:
US-05 (I used a yeast starter)

Dry Hop:
.5oz Amarillo (Dry hop 7 days)
.5oz Centennial (Dry hop 7 days)
.5oz Columbus (Dry hop 7 days)
.5oz Simcoe (Dry hop 7 days)

Target OG: 1.047 (I hit 1.050, so my abv is a little higher than the real Daisy Cutter)
Target FG: 1.008
IBUs (calculated by Beersmith): 60

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

Can't wait to hear how yours comes out with that yeast, oljimmy!

 

[oljimmy]

Well, by mashing at 148-149 and pitching a nice healthy starter, I almost blew up my carboy, even fermenting at 62F. Luckily I caught the clog in time but even with a blowoff hose this one could run nice and dry. Did you actually test Daisy Cutter's FG with a hydrometer?

 

[copper2hopper]

Goof info to know jimmy. Thanks. I'll be hopefully brewing this Sunday. Is 62 the target fermentation temp for this?? Just got my new ferm chamber up and running and can't wait to utilize it on this one.