AHS Clone Recipe Kits

[g-star]

What is the general consensus as to how close these kits actually get to the commercial beer they are trying to approximate?

I bring this up b/c I am desperately trying to clone Anderson Valley's Winter Solstice. I just got the AG kit from AHS, and I won't divulge the recipe here out of respect to them, but it doesn't seem very close from looking at the sheet. No spices or vanilla, and I'm calculating about 40 IBU's. Anderson Valley states on their website that this beer comes in at about 6 IBU's.

There is one recipe here at HBT that actually makes more sense intuitively, but I guess I want to put my faith in the professionals

I know, I know, just brew it and see how it turns out. I just wanted to get some opinions from those who have had experiences with these AHS clone kits.

Thanks for taking the time.

Cheers!

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I have only ever brewed the Pliny the Elder clone. It tasted awesome and changed my world in regards to IIPAs but I have never tasted the actual commercial example. From what I have seen around here most people are very happy with the clone recipes they offer but I doubt many are doing side by side blind tastings. Also, remember each brewer is going to get different results with different equipment, techniques and skill levels.
This dosen't really answer you question but my suggestion is to brew it and compare to the actual example and let us know.

 

[Frank99]

I've made a couple of their kits, including their Oatmeal Stout and I'm very happy with them, but you bring up a good point regarding their clones. Their Black Butte Porter recipe isn't very close to the recipe Jamile came up with on You Can Brew It when they talked to the Brewmaster @ Deschuttes.

 

[godofcheese]

Same with their clone of BrewDogs Riptide. Its about 50% there compared to the clone in Brew-It Magazine which got the info from brewdog.

With that said, their clone of Fat Tire was close. The differences are definatly on my end, not the ingrediants. I think it is hit or miss.

 

[Walker]

I've made a couple of AHS's kits and liked them veyr much, but I think any homebrewed beer is 90% brewer/process and only 10% recipe.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I've done a couple and I feel that they get in the neighborhood but not quite there. The directions seem to be generic with different ingredients added in. Sometimes, as you point out, there are ingredients that seem to be missing or specific processes used in the commercial version (such as decoction mashing) that aren't discussed in the directions.

Like all kits, they are designed to sell products and produce beer in a relatively simple process.

To really hit a perfect or near-perfect clone, you need to do some digging and figure out the ingredients in the context of your equipment and processes...

 

[g-star]

Thanks for all the input guys. After studying the recipe for a while, I think the grainbill and the target OG are close, but the hops and total IBU's are way, way off, as is the lack of spice/vanilla additions.

Think I'm going to modify their recipe to bring the total IBU's to < 10, and add some pure vanilla extract at bottling, as suggested by the helpful HBT'er referenced in my first post.

I like AHS, and they seem to have a ton of great kits. I just think that some of their clone recipes are not dead ringers, more like inspired interpretations.