I like being able to brew something and have something to compare it to. I'm still in the stage of getting my process/temps and time down to where I'm comfortable with developing my own recipes and taking things from there.
When I first started brewing I as many others tried to "clone" a beer which we like. Brew the beer, put it into the fermenter and "hooray! We made an exact replica of <insert beer name>!" But, after a few batches and some more insight to how beer is made and how there are totally different setups and "clone" recipes in magasines are mostly a guess, You quickly realize that if you want to clone a beer, you have to brew it on the same setup as the original, by the guidance of one of the local brewers.
I've stopped trying to "clone" beers. It just doesn't work. But I can look at a recipe and get information about why the beer tastes that way, and how to make my own brew, and adjust it to my setup, to get something which tastes good.
Is it really an "obsession" if you like something and want to try to duplicate it or brew something similar? Most recipes are the result of taking another recipe as a starting point and then tweaking it, anyway. It's not like we are brewing something totally unheard of each time we go to brew.
I don't believe thats strictly true. If you know the style, you have a decent palate, and are a semi-decent brewer, you could clone a beer fairly reasonably. I think a lot of us at the homebrew level make things more complicated than they need to be and cloning a commercial beer generally follows the rule of, keep it simple and stupid. Commercial brewing just wants to make good beer consistently without an overly complicated process.
I recently attempted a clone of the Strawberry Rhubarb ale offered by New Glarus. I was reasonably positive they didn't sour the beer with any bugs, and I knew their fruit beer offerings finished fairly high documented on several threads here on HBT (in the range of 1.030 and higher). I don't have the option to keg currently, so stabilizing the beer and force carbonating wasn't going to be an option and I didn't want bottle bombs. And I was reasonably positive the recipe was going to be simple, pale 2 row/pale ale malt with some wheat malt and flaked wheat/oats, if I could stabilize and force carbonate I'd skip the crystal malts, but crystal malts to add malt backbone and sweetness because it would *definitely* finish low.
End result, it's *really* close. Flavor and aroma are spot on, color is very close, but New Glarus' offering is more cloudy, I had attempted to let it be really cloudy but, this isn't as big of a deal. So yeah, I didn't *clone*, but its *very* close to the original, when I have kegging available I know I'll be able to use this recipe with some very minor tweaks to copy it 100%.
Edit: The biggest end result of this clone attempt was, I know how to nail a fruit beer now. I learned a lot from this beer and I've improved my recipe formulation skills in the process. A professional would say that theyre not clones of each other, but 90% of regular people I'd bet wouldn't be able to tell easily the difference.
If you know the style, you have a decent palate, and are a semi-decent brewer, you could clone a beer fairly reasonably.
Not to be rude, but what you're basically saying is that you weren't able to clone it...
To me a clone is a clone. If the original is force carbed and you prime and carb it in bottles, there's a taste difference. Clone failed. As an example.
For my part, when I say clone, I really mean clone. Haze, small nuances in color, which maltster did the malt come from, etc.
I just wish homebrewers used another word than "clone...." You can't clone beer...you can imitate, attempt to replicate, but beer can't be "cloned" .... just a pet peeve of mine, as is people calling a vibrato on guitar a "trem" ....it is not tremolo, it is vibrato.....damn, I'm in a pissy mood this afternoon...LOL
I just wish homebrewers used another word than "clone...." You can't clone beer...you can imitate, attempt to replicate, but beer can't be "cloned" .... just a pet peeve of mine, as is people calling a vibrato on guitar a "trem" ....it is not tremolo, it is vibrato.....damn, I'm in a pissy mood this afternoon...LOL
Is it really an "obsession" if you like something and want to try to duplicate it or brew something similar? Most recipes are the result of taking another recipe as a starting point and then tweaking it, anyway. It's not like we are brewing something totally unheard of each time we go to brew.
Edit: The biggest end result of this clone attempt was, I know how to nail a fruit beer now. I learned a lot from this beer and I've improved my recipe formulation skills in the process. A professional would say that theyre not clones of each other, but 90% of regular people I'd bet wouldn't be able to tell easily the difference.
Hey There, I'm looking at cloning Sticky Hands and was wondering where how you got ahold of the hop oil or do you mean bittering extract? Also how did the clone go? Recipe? Any help is appreciated!!I brewed my first "clone" this weekend - a Sticky Hands IIPA. Sticky Hands is a monthly release and changes quite a bit from recipe to recipe.
Block 15 released what types of grains they use but not %. They also released a big list of hops that they liked to use but no hop schedule. I was able to get access to the hop oil they use in Sticky Hands as well as a their in house yeast.
It's been fermenting for ~4 days now and it looks amazing and smells even better.
I usually don't brew "big" beers or clones but I'm glad I did because it pushed me to try new things like a hop stand and dry hopping.
Hey There, I'm looking at cloning Sticky Hands and was wondering where how you got ahold of the hop oil or do you mean bittering extract? Also how did the clone go? Recipe? Any help is appreciated!!
Not sure where you get that from.I can't help you with isomerized hop oil, but if you're looking for hop extract, Yakima sells it by the syringe and can ( a can is a lot). I think it degrades pretty quickly once opened, so if you buy a can, you need a plan to keep it from oxidizing after opening.
From https://ychhops.com/connect/news/blog/resinate-co2-hop-extractA Story of Shelf Stability
The first lot of hop extract from the Sunnyside facility was produced in March 1999. Since then, Ken Mortensen, the first extract plant employee and current Sunnyside Operations Manager, has had a sample sitting on his desk in a clear glass jar at room temperature which has been opened and sniffed many times. Some have even dared to taste it. We occasionally test this teenage sample in our lab, and amazingly, there has been very little degradation. CO2 hop extract is by far one of the most stable hop products available.
Hey There, I'm looking at cloning Sticky Hands and was wondering where how you got ahold of the hop oil or do you mean bittering extract? Also how did the clone go? Recipe? Any help is appreciated!!
Not sure where you get that from.
I'm making a guess that I was like most people when I first started brewing... I wanted to make a replica of a commercial beer that I liked. As I've continued with my brewing hobby, I've noticed that I've gotten away from trying to clone beers and steered more towards creating my own recipes (as much as I can). I find much more joy in that. For one, I don't have the disappointment that my "clone" doesn't taste like the real deal. They mostly never do, just too many variables to consider. And second, it's something I've created, which is just, well... pretty cool.
So I was curious about other homebrewers... what are ya'lls thoughts on the obsession to replicate a beer. Is it good practice? A waste of time? etc, etc.
disclaimer: I have no problems with cloning beers, as I mentioned, I started out that way, and sometimes still try to.
I probably read it here
I was thinking about buying cans of extract and stuffing it into dissolvable gel capsules. They make some pretty large ones that would would work well (the "000" size, below, are an inch long and hold 1.4ml). Fill them, freeze, to use just toss in the boil. No mess! All this stuff is available on Amazon.
A filling tray, like below, makes filling them 50 at-a-time a breeze. Maybe.
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