American IPA Bell's Two Hearted Ale Clone (close as they come)

Homebrew Talk

Help Support Homebrew Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Yup. Harvested some from bottles that were bottled in February.

Cool. The beer has been in the flask for about 12 hours now with the wort, and I can definitely see something forming on the bottom of the flask. This is my first attempt at yeast harvesting.
 
I made this recipe and added some citra hops and altered the additions a little bit. It came out pretty solid (according to me). Going to try to make it again.
 
I made this recipe and added some citra hops and altered the additions a little bit. It came out pretty solid (according to me). Going to try to make it again.

This grainbill, and hopping regimen and base IBU/sg numbers are my base for just about all IPAs I brew, I just change up the hops. I've done all citra before. In fact I'm probably going to brew an all citra version as my next brew.

Last year I started playing around with two-hop pairings using this grainbill, got a lot of great suggestions from people in this thread.. Done a few so far.
 
I transferred my weak attempt to a keg for dry hopping last night. The sample was delicious. It went from 1.049 to 1.009, so I've got a 5.25% pale something or the other. Can't wait to get this on tap. I'm definitely going to try this recipe again once I get my new BIAB system figured out.:mug:
 
This grainbill, and hopping regimen and base IBU/sg numbers are my base for just about all IPAs I brew,

oh, yes.

if you hit on a good malt base for an IPA, it should work for almost any IPA

happened to me while trying to clone Devil's Backbone 8-point IPA. hops were way off, not a clone at all, but dang the malt base was good.

best version of it was when I combined it with hops side of this thread's OP
 
Anyone use WLP005 British Ale? I ended up getting this from the brew store instead of the original Safale 04. Now I've read more of the thread, I'm wishing I had went with 1272.
 
I'd go with a clean neutral American ale yeast like 001, S-05, or 1056 for this recipe. You don't want too much fruitiness, the malt backbone and earthy bitterness from the hops are the shining flavors of this beer. As a matter of fact you've just convinced me to go get a 4 pack, I love this beer!
 
I'd go with a clean neutral American ale yeast like 001, S-05, or 1056 for this recipe. You don't want too much fruitiness, the malt backbone and earthy bitterness from the hops are the shining flavors of this beer. As a matter of fact you've just convinced me to go get a 4 pack, I love this beer!

You're welcome! :mug:
 
Hey guys! At what point do you dry hop this beer? I would assume the last 5 days of secondary so that the aroma is as fresh as possible?
 
Hey guys! At what point do you dry hop this beer? I would assume the last 5 days of secondary so that the aroma is as fresh as possible?

Final 5-7 days before bottling/kegging, regardless of whether you opt for a secondary or extended primary. I do a month long primary,so I dry hop on week 3 for the 5-7 days... usually a week.. usually Saturday to Friday night or Saturday.
 
Think I might give this a go with Mangrove Jack's M42, not a big fan of S-04.
If the grain bill works so good like everyone says I might use it for a Magnum/Citra/Nelson IPA I'm planning.
:)
 
Brewing this up tomorrow morning, using the recipe from the Zymurgy article. I think it's going to get me much closer to the real deal than the recipe from the first page. I noticed that it's getting most of it's flavor and aroma from the dry hopping, which seems to be the latest trend in IPA's these days. Even though this is an old article it seems to be legit to get that great malt and hop balance that 2 hearted is known for. I will update with a sxs review once it's ready in a few weeks!
 
Think I might give this a go with Mangrove Jack's M42, not a big fan of S-04.
If the grain bill works so good like everyone says I might use it for a Magnum/Citra/Nelson IPA I'm planning.
:)


I use the malt bill as my basic IPA. Us-05 works great and creates a sparkling beer. I used galena as bitter and cascade as dry hop. So good.
 
Brewing this up tomorrow morning, using the recipe from the Zymurgy article. I think it's going to get me much closer to the real deal than the recipe from the first page. I noticed that it's getting most of it's flavor and aroma from the dry hopping, which seems to be the latest trend in IPA's these days. Even though this is an old article it seems to be legit to get that great malt and hop balance that 2 hearted is known for. I will update with a sxs review once it's ready in a few weeks!

I switched to using strictly that recipe from that article and I have been very happy with the results! Not to say that the OP's recipe isn't good as well. I brewed up many batches using the original recipe in this thread as well but I prefer the one from Bells...
 
I switched to using strictly that recipe from that article and I have been very happy with the results! Not to say that the OP's recipe isn't good as well. I brewed up many batches using the original recipe in this thread as well but I prefer the one from Bells...

Did I overlook something or does the OP version have no dry hopping and the other one has 3.5 oz dry hopping?
 
Boiling this as I write using s-05 for yeast and Michigan centennial hops first all grain for me
I just hope it's good if not close to Bell's!
 
Boiling this as I write using s-05 for yeast and Michigan centennial hops first all grain for me
I just hope it's good if not close to Bell's!


Should be good. Did you check your pre boil gravity? Not a necessity but it does help you decide if you need to add a little extract or not. Either way it's beer and it will be hoppy. That's the point right?
 
Op has .5 oz dry hop

Thanks, I overlooked that because of the order the hop additions were written. Also because I read it too fast :p

I'm going to try the OP grain bill because I can't (easily) source any 2-row here in Europe.

However I'll change around the hop schedule to include a hop stand and a few oz dry hop. Probably use Magnum or Target for the 60 min addition because they are much cheaper here. Will also use Mangrove Jacks M42.

So not a clone but hopefully close and a good beer :)
Will go close to the top of my to-brew list but I'll probably report back in the late Summer with the results.

:tank:
 
Anyone tried this using Galaxy hops instead? I have 3 ounces of Galaxy hops and 2 ounces of Mosaic hops. I might mix match these 2 in place of the centennial hops to see what happens.
 
Just finished up a great brew day with no drama. I do BIAB and average 78% eff. This is the first time brewing this recipe, although this is the exact recipe I use for many IPA's. Works really well for Mosaic and M+osaic/Simcoe.
Qs: how long do you guys usually age this one?
 
Took a hydro tonight and little taste. Down to 1.014 and can't say I care for the taste at this point, hopefully it will improve over the next few weeks In the time I'll brew up some more mosaic :)
 
I didn't care for it either until 10 -14 day mark in the keg. It had an astringency to it. It think it is due to the large amount of Centennial hops.
 
This is my first Centennial brew so not sure what to expect. It almost seems to have a diacetyl taste/feel. I'l just let it hang out in fermenter a little longer.
 
This is my first Centennial brew so not sure what to expect. It almost seems to have a diacetyl taste/feel. I'l just let it hang out in fermenter a little longer.


This is my house beer I make quite often of my version of it. The one I just brewed has the diacetyl. I went back through my process and everything seemed fine. It is mostly known for fermenting to high. I may have rushed this beer to get it in a keg for an event. I'm wondering if the hops could have caused this, a new bag I just got. It's mellowed out some, but still taste it.
 
Just popped the top on the first bottle and I can't tell the difference between the Bell's and mine!
I'll be making this again!
 
I brewed up the AHA version of this last Friday, with 1272. I'm still get bubbles every 23-24 seconds, but I checked the gravity and I'm at 1.008. The beer I made before this was an NEIPA that finished at 1.009. I am used to getting above average attenuation on a lot of beers since I started using the Grainfather to brew. I started the fermentation at 65 and held it there until Tuesday and have been ramping it up to try to get it to finish. I'm at 71 now and shes still slowly chugging along.

Any thoughts on whether or not I should keg this and stop the yeast from going any lower? I don't want to dry this out too much.
 
Agreed, let beer beer ride. It won't get too dry if you mashed at 150. Plus, the Vienna in the recipe gives some body as well as the crystal. Make the hops pop.
 
Agreed, let beer beer ride. It won't get too dry if you mashed at 150. Plus, the Vienna in the recipe gives some body as well as the crystal. Make the hops pop.

Yeah I mashed at 150. I let it go. I'm getting a bubble every two minutes now. Should be able to keg it tomorrow or the day after. Bumped the temp to 72.
 
I brewed this 9 days ago with Bells yeast. Added .75 oz of Amarillo to 1 minute addition and plan to add another .75 oz Amarillo to the 1 oz Centennial Dry Hop tomorrow. Should be tasty!
 
First attempt for me faired out quite well.

SG 1.064

My efficiency game to 71% and that is most likely because I had issues during my fly sparge. I am still learning the technique and hope to nail it down better the next time. I am used to batch sparging and wanted to try something new for this time.

I intend to keep in primary for 9 days then dry hop and crash cool for kegging by day 14.
 
Back
Top