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

[Cape Brewing]

Hey all,
Are folks brewing this per the recipe that is basically listed on page 1 of this thread? I would rather not read 27 pages if I can help it.

 

[xjncoguyx]

So i brewed up this bad boy last week and its almost time to transfer to the secondary. Came in perfect on the OG @ 1.064. The color looks good, i did something close to the original recipe, but adjusted the hop additions a little.

10#2-row
2#vienna
.5#crystal20
.5#cara-pils

all .5oz centennial @
60min
45min
30min
15min
5min
1min

and i also used US-05, so we'll see how the taste is but color looks perfect thus far, i compared it to a two hearted i had in the fridge

 

[timOD]

I brewed the recipe as posted two weeks ago. Sampled from primary today and it's great. Is there any good reason the primary is written as "at least 4 weeks"??

 

[cmorgan]

I can't wait to try this recipe! Unfortunately I just tried another one that was close but it called for 1.5 oz of hops at 60 min. That made it way to bitter and kind of soapy tasting for the TH. So next time I am for sure using this recipe. I don't have much CaraPils(if any) on hand right now... so what would you all bump up to compensate, the Pale Malt or the Vienna?

Also has anyone had luck dropping the 60 min addition? If so to what? I LOVE the TH and really want to get this one close, and personally I think making sure it doesn't have a strong bitter quality to it is key.

 

[tamoore]

Mine came out a little pale.....

Still, a fine tasting beer.

Edit: Has really cleared up over the past week.....

 

[eharper]

I just brewed this one today after getting in 1lb of hops a couple weeks ago. Vigorous fermentation after only about 5 hours using a triple-stepped starter from the dregs of 2 bottles of the real thing. Wish I drew a bigger hydro sample... this one tastes GREAT! I hit 60 IBUs (11.5% Centennial and was too lazy to convert) so maybe I'll dub this one Two-60...


First time I did a bulk buy on whole leaf. I didn't want to leave my kitchen! I have always used my vacuum sealer to store using regular vacuum bags, not the mylar stuff. They get REALLY compact then sent to the freezer. How do you store your leftover hops?

 

[Lando]

So here is what I can not figure out.
I made the extract version a while back and could not distinguish it from the real thing.

I go out of town for a few weeks, come back to my keg that is still half full and now it has the taste of amber malt that you get with DF 60min. I expected the hop aroma to be knocked down a bit, and it was, but where the hell did this amber malt taste come from?
It is not such a bad thing having a keg of IPA that goes from tasting like Bells to DF 60min, but I can not figure out why...

Any ideas?
It was in the fridge and being drank upon for 2 weeks prior to me leaving town for 2 weeks. Prior to that I did a month long primary at 65F with Safale-05, no secondary,
and dry hop in primary.
It still taste great, but this is damn confusing. I haven't even made the DF clone in several months and this is the only keg of IPA I have right now so it's not like I got them mixed up or anything.

 

[worth]

My LHBS has Centinnial that is 6% instead of 9.5%. I tried to convert and came up with using roughly 1.6oz of 6% for each 1oz of 9.5%. Can someone who knows what they are doing check my math on this? Given the big difference in alpha acid, would y'all recommend sticking with the centenial or changing to a high AA hops? Thanks in advance for any help. Worth

 

[machinelf]

I've seen more than one extract recipe... can you point to the one you used? Thanks!

I made the extract version a while back and could not distinguish it from the real thing.

 

[Lando]

I've seen more than one extract recipe... can you point to the one you used? Thanks!

Damn, now I can't be sure, but I am almost positive this was it. (I am not near my computer with beertools)

Light LME-7.5 lbs
Cara-pils .5 lbs
C-20 .5 lbs
Centennial .5oz 60 mins
Centennial .5oz 45 mins
Centennial .5oz 30 mins
Centennial .5oz 15 mins
Centennial .5oz flameout
Centennial 1 oz DH

 

[machinelf]

Thank you, sir. I hope that someone can answer your question regarding the shifting taste.

Damn, now I can't be sure, but I am almost positive this was it. (I am not near my computer with beertools)

Light LME-7.5 lbs
Cara-pils .5 lbs
C-20 .5 lbs
Centennial .5oz 60 mins
Centennial .5oz 45 mins
Centennial .5oz 30 mins
Centennial .5oz 15 mins
Centennial .5oz flameout
Centennial 1 oz DH

 

[WAdamC]

aaaaaaand sig'd!

Brewing this recipe as we drink... I mean speak.

 

[Grasslands]

I brewed a full-boil extract version of this on Saturday. I modified just a tad according to the hop schedule as well as the ingredients used (based on availability at my LHBS). Here's what I used:


.5 lb Caravienne (Belgian, Castle)
.5 lb light munich (Weyermann)
.5 lb Light Caramel Pils (Briess)

8 lbs Light LME
1 oz Centennial (6% AA) @ 60 minutes
.5 oz Centennial (6% AA) @ 15 minutes
.5 oz Centennial (6% AA) @ 5 minutes
WLP051 Yeast (No starter)
I plan on dry hopping 2 oz Centennial after primary ferm is complete

I'm worried that I won't get the full bitterness that I'm looking for in this clone as the AA is a bit lower than expected for the Centennial hops, but I don't doubt it'll be good. I actually think this is going to turn out awesome.

 

[spriolo]

I'm planning on brewing this recipe this weekend. (my first all-grain effort).

I've got a noob question about all-grain on this recipes with so much grain (13lbs!):

With 13 lbs of grain, you'll need like 4 gallons of water for the mash (1.25 quarts/per lbs of grain), then an additional 5 or 6 gallons of water for the sparge (1.5 times more than mash water). How do you get a yield of 5.5 gallons.

I must be missing something on technique.

Thanks for even considering answering a noob question on this recipe.

 

[smakudwn]

My grain absorption for 13 lbs would have been 2.275 gal. that leaves you with 7.725 gal. I tpically boil off 1.5 gal for an your. That leaves you with 6.225. Figure .5 gal loss for hops and such, that gets you down to about 5.725.

 

[spriolo]

My grain absorption for 13 lbs would have been 2.275 gal. that leaves you with 7.725 gal. I tpically boil off 1.5 gal for an your. That leaves you with 6.225. Figure .5 gal loss for hops and such, that gets you down to about 5.725.

I spent some time on the "read this first" thread for all-grain brewing and the first point of confusion was noted about sparge water. Palmer from How to Brew (Chapter 17) has some calculations that show a larger quantity of water for the rinse.

smakudwn are you using 1/2 the volume of mash water for the sparge? Also do you normally boil for an hour before you start the hop additions? Or just in these heavy grain beers?

Thanks again!

 

[WAdamC]

Smakudwn beat me to it. +1 to his answer. Make sure you're relaxed while you do this. If I didn't have a friend over I would have gone nuts during my first all grain batch. Good luck. All grain rocks.

 

[samc]

I brewed this 6/1/2010 and it was actually great at 19-20 days so we've been drinking it. Had to sub for the 60 minute hops because I was short Centennial. After brewing I received a few bottles from another HBT'er in trade and yesterday we did a side by side. I'll use my neighbors comments because I think he nailed it pretty well. Two Hearted was hoppier and finished hoppier, more bitter and less sweet compared to mine. Ultimately he liked mine better and felt that Two H, tasted like many commercial IPA's. My wife really likes the clone.

I pretty much like them both, but I can clearly see the difference in the hop bite and I really don't think mine is sweet, it just lacks the sharp hop presence. The color was spot on, the aroma was exact, the head was the same. Mine was a bit cloudy being that it is still only 26 days young.

So my thoughts are next time, use something closer to the correct yeast and/or some Gypsum in the boil. Also go all Centennial.

Any other suggestions????

Kettle Volume: 13.33 gal (S.G.: 1.053)
Boil Duration: 1.25 hr
Evaporation: 1.88 gal
Water Volume Added: 0.0 gal
Final Volume: 11.0 gal (S.G.: 1.064)
Efficiency: 74.75%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Evap/Hour: 1.5 gal
Ingredients:
22 lb GW NW Pale
4.00 lb Vienna Malt
1.0 lb Crystal 15
0.75 oz Zeus sub for Centennial (16.4%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
1.5 oz Centennial (7.8%) - added during boil, boiled 45.0 min
1.5 oz Centennial (7.8%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
1.5 oz Centennial (7.8%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
0.75 oz Centennial (7.8%) - steeped after boil
0.75 oz Centennial (7.8%) - added dry to secondary fermenter 5 gallons only
1 tsp Wyeast Nutrient - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 ea Whirlfloc - added during boil, boiled 7.0 min
2.0 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05
Water:
1.8 g Baking Soda ()
0.0 g Calcium Chloride (+CL, Ca) (Calcium Chloride (anhydrous))
6.4 g Epsom Salts (Magnesium Sulfate)
16.7 g Gypsum (Ca & SO4) (Calcium Sulfate)
1.8 g Table Salt (Sodium Chloride)
9.25 gal Distilled Water

 

[mb2696]

does anyone actually finish at 1.010? I made my second batch of this a little while ago and it looks like it may finish around 1.013, right where my first batch finished. I mashed at 151 for 90 minutes and I'm definitely not underpitching.

 

[Hammy71]

I tried an experiment on my current batch (3rd of this recipe). OG was 1.063, after two weeks using 051 yeast she was sitting solid at 1.014. This is where the other two batches stopped and I was very happy with the beer. However.....nothing is sacred... After the two weeks I added a packet of Notty right outta the package and moved the primary to my beer room @ 70 degrees. Not much noticable fermentation but a week later came in at 1.011. Dry hopping now with 2oz of centennial, but tastes great and is now pushing closer to Bell's 7%.

 

[WAdamC]

I used WLP007 dry English ale (which has become my go to strain for any kind of pale) and went from 1.064 to 1.010 in 4 days. I have yet to taste it, but it smells great. I recommend 007 for any pale ale or ipa. Love it.

 

[mb2696]

does anyone actually finish at 1.010? I made my second batch of this a little while ago and it looks like it may finish around 1.013, right where my first batch finished. I mashed at 151 for 90 minutes and I'm definitely not underpitching.

well i spoke too soon again. it's sitting at 1.008 right now, but my OG was pretty low @ 1.058.

 

[Sarrsipius]

I started at 1.066 and finished at 1.008 using 2 pkgs of notingham.

 

[adamtopher]

i brewed this over the weekend. i used the exact same grain bill but with 75% efficiency only got 1.05 starting gravity. i would recommend boosting the grain bill if you have efficiency in the 70-80% range.

the OG after the boil was 1.056

 

[xjncoguyx]

i brewed this over the weekend. i used the exact same grain bill but with 75% efficiency only got 1.05 starting gravity. i would recommend boosting the grain bill if you have efficiency in the 70-80% range.

the OG after the boil was 1.056

You measure the OG after the boil. And according to Bell's website, the OG is 1.064

 

[adamtopher]

yep. i mentioned my pre-boil starting gravity that i got with my efficiency of 75% which lead to a post-boil OG of 1.056.

just mentioning that i would need to boost my grain bill with my lower efficiency compared to the recipe author.

 

[xjncoguyx]

yep. i mentioned my pre-boil starting gravity that i got with my efficiency of 75% which lead to a post-boil OG of 1.056.

just mentioning that i would need to boost my grain bill with my lower efficiency compared to the recipe author.

You could've boiled longer as well, although you wouldn't end up with as much beer.

 

[Hammy71]

My eff is around 72% and I hit my numbers with beersmith conversion from 75% to my 72. No biggie......

 

[EricT]

Gonna brew this this weekend. I'm adjusting it a bit due to different hops. I'm going to use Nelson Sauvin Hops and some Yeast from a local Brewing company which I think is California Ale yeast. Will let ya know how it turns out. I don't expect it to be that similar to Bell's but with such a Citric hops I think it will be good. I plan to name it "The Full Nelson" IPA.

 

[Grasslands]

My "Grass Hearted Ale" extract batch been on tap for about a week and a half now and while I think it's the best beer I've made to date, it's just a bit off from the real thing. I'll post my side-by-side comparison pics as soon as I can.

I didn't get the bitterness just right - most likely due to a lower AA% on my centennial hops. Other than that, the color is just a shade lighter but the aroma is just about the same.