Bell's Oberon clone devolved... how to proceed?

[macaronijones]

Long time lurker, first time poster, 3 gallon BIABer here.

Picked up a 6 pack of Oberon last night and remembered how much I love it. Found myself with the day off today so figured I'd go for a clone based on the recipe from Cryptochronolite, seen in the attached screenshot.

Don't have time to culture the yeast from the bottle or anything, LHBS doesn't sell Wyeast 1010, so wanted to go with what I read to be the next best thing, WLP320. LHBS out of that as well so bought WLP300 - Hefeweizen Ale.

The issue I'm worried about is how the flavors from that yeast would interact with the citrusy hop schedule. Wondering if I should go one of two directions- just turn it into more of a hefeweizen using the WLP300, keep the Saaz during boil but ditch the Saaz/Cascade dry hopping.

Alternatively, I have a packet of Nottingham on hand as well. So I could keep everything the same from the recipe including the dry hopping, and just use the Nottingham.

I realize neither will be an Oberon clone, and that's OK, just want something tasty.

Thoughts?

 

[Homercidal]

First off, any hefe yeast is going to give flavors you don't get in Oberon. IIRC Bells uses a house yeast that is similar to some retail yeast, but I can't recall which one.

I personally think you would be much better off with the Notty than the Hefe. Oberon has some fruitiness, but not bubblegum/clove/banana.

 

[BigMack]

I believe most people looking to get close to Bell's use 1272/051 American Ale II.

 

[macaronijones]

Yeah I realize I lost the Oberon clone when I bought the WLP300, and that's OK. I guess what I'm wondering now is which direction to move forward in for the tastiest beer:

-Same recipe but with Nottingham
-Same recipe but with WLP300 (something like a hoppy hefeweizen)
-Something closer to a normal hefeweizen by modifying the hop schedule/ditching the dry hopping and using WLP300

 

[BigMack]

Well I'd say that really depends on your definition of tasty. Personally I would probably do the same recipe with nottingham or just go for a regular hefeweizen depending on which sounds better to you. If you have decent temp control then nottingham could get you a fairly clean ferment and at least get you in the ball park of a clone provided the rest of the recipe is good.

 

[macaronijones]

That's what I'm thinking too- already have a hefe in another fermentor now so might as well switch it up. I think what gave me pause is it may be TOO clean of a ferment with Notty, lack of any flavors that you might get from 1010 or 320 leaving it a bit boring.

 

[macaronijones]

Ended up fermenting with nottingham, dry hopping with saaz, cascade, and zest from two oranges and a grapefruit.

2 weeks in bottle now, turned out great. refreshing with a subtle fruitiness.