Bells Smitten Golden Rye Clone

[antc]

Hey everyone, I'm wondering if anyone has tried cloning Bells Smitten Golden Rye? I tried it over the holiday weekend while deeply engrossed in yard games and it was fantastic. I read about it on Bells website and it sounds like it is one of their older beers, but saw no clone recipe attempts anywhere. Let me know what you all think.

 

[davekippen]

Did you end up trying a clone for Smitten?

 

[BrewmeisterSmith]

Here is what I came up with. I loosely based the hop schedule on Yooper's house pale ale. Smitten is delicious and i'm dying to brew with Rye and am craving cascade right now. Brewing it tomorrow.

5.5 gallons all grain

10 lbs 2 row
2.5 lbs rye
12 oz munich 10

1 oz cascade 60 min
.75 oz cascade 30 min
.50 oz cascade 10 min
1 oz cascade 2 min
1 oz cascade dryhop in keg w/ hop sock

IBU around 31
OG 1.062 (higher than bells) Theirs is 1.055 with 6 %, so that tells me they mash low...prob lower than 152 to get the FG lower.


WLP001 California ale yeast with starter

I'll prob mash at 152 and ferment wort temp (not ambient) around 62-64.

Anyway, I'll post back in a few weeks. I've been having good luck with a 10 day ferment, keg and use gelatain for 3 days.

 

[BrewmeisterSmith]

Tasting notes. I let this ferment for 10 days. I hit my desired FG and it stated like the clean up was done. I let it age for a few weeks on gas carbonated. It took a little while to mellow. It is clean, but not smitten. There is a dry, slightly bitter taste. Likely from the Rye or the cascade being used for bittering. Next time, I might use a different hop for bittering. Maybe northern brewer. Then, I might put most of my IBUs at 20 minutes forward. Less hop bite and more of the cascade flavor/aroma. I might also up the munich and lower the rye by a half pound. Or I could see Vienna instead of munich working out. Thoughts?

Also, IBUs were around 43 for this recipe. I Believe the real thing is 45.

 

[davemattb]

My response from bells. Haven't tried yet though and guessing it's more of a guideline for a similar beer and less of a recipe.



Thanks for your interest in our beer. Smitten is a favorite around here as well.

I would start with a pretty simple malt bill of base 2-row or pale malt. I’d use somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 30% rye malt – anything less and you won’t taste it. Maybe a bit of Munich for some backbone.

This is a very old recipe, so I’d use some classic hops like Cascade & Willamette. Give it a nice firm bitterness and a couple late additions for flavor. Dry hop it lightly with Cascade.

If you have access to our bottles and can harvest our yeast, that’s your best bet. If not, use a clean American yeast like US-05 dry yeast or WLP001 from White Labs.

I hope that’s helpful. Cheers.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Malty_Dog]

Resurrecting this from the dead as I'm smitten by Smitten and thinking about a rye pale ale already. Appreciate davemattb reaching out to Bells (back in 2014) and will take it from there!

 

[madscientist451]

Thanks for bringing this up, I was looking for a rye beer to put on my spring brewing agenda.
I found this information over on Reddit:

A Bells employee suggested

pale malt
rye malt 25%-30%
munich malt ~ 10%

Cascade and Willamette in the kettle. Cascade dry hop.

Other information was to use a light munich, and try to culture up some of Bell's yeast.

I have some Bells stout, so I guess I'll try the grow that up.

Here's my first crack at it:

OG: 1.062 FG: 1.015 ABV 6.06 SRM 5.64

5.5 gallons

75% Brewhouse efficiency

7.5 Lbs American Pale 2 row 61.2%
3.5 Lbs American Rye 28.6%
1.25 Lbs American Munich Light 10L 10.2%

The information I can find lists the IBUs at 50:

I'm thinking of 1/2 oz each Willamette and Cascade at 60 min, 30 min and 10 min, 1 oz cascade in whirlpool, and 1 oz cascade in dry hop.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Here's my first crack at it:

Nice! Thanks for the find! Looks like a great plan. Maybe I'll try a very slight deviation from yours on the hop schedule, perhaps just cascade at 60, and maybe some willamette/cascade at 10 and whirlpool. May also do a half batch (2.5 gal) til I'm happy with it. Cool that you're growing some Bell's yeast - I've got Smitten on hand so I guess that would be best. Looking forward to the next brew day!

 

[madscientist451]

I used the Brewer's friend recipe calculator for the grain bill, the percentages and ABV seem to be about right, and the hop schedule I used got close to 50 IBU. I've never tasted the commercial example so I don't really know what to shoot for.

 

[Malty_Dog]

I appreciate you putting that grain bill together. Its got a solid noticeable spicy rye flavor/crispness, and a bright golden color. It just showed up in a local grocery store (Giant) and I couldn't resist, being a fan of rye in general. I'm not great at picking out hops, but it didn't seem like just cascade for late additions. There was a soft floral quality if I'm not mistaken. The rye seemed to take center stage though. You're not too far from me I'd be happy to split a sixer!

 

[Bradyevenson]

It's been a few years. Has anyone come back to this recipe? I'm going to take a crack at it and will probably build the recipe based off what's already been posted here.