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

[ciscosd2000]

I'd be concerned less about the dryhop and more with the fact that it's only at 1.020 after ten days. Most healthy ferments reach FG after 3-5 days.

What temp are your ferment at for this beer?

 

[brewski09]

Thanks! Makes sense I had my Two Hearted Ale a couple of hours north of Grand Rapids, MI this summer so I guess they were fresh. I think I will go with 1.5 - 2 oz for the dry hop on this first batch.

I live in ohio and can and do get this beer fresh pretty much year round (except beat _ichihan week). I would start at 2oz dry hops personally. Also, I do my bittering with some cascade hops to get a citrus characteristic similar to the bells house yeast. It's not the same, but close if you aren't harvesting the yeast from a bottle.

 

[bfinleyui]

What temp are your ferment at for this beer?

63-64, somewhere in there.

There's also a chance my hydrometer is borked. I pitched a bunch of yeast, so it wasn't an underpitch... I'll check it again this weekend and see what we've got.

 

[juggabrew]

Here's a tip from bells on their water if your interested.

"We use water straight from our municipality and I can tell you that its pretty high in alkalinity, low in sulfate. Besides adding some gypsum to hoppy beers (like Two Hearted), we pretty much use it as is and carbon filter it. I think our water is similar in nature to that of Edinburgh if Im not mistaken. Hope that helps."

 

[davekippen]

Yeah, I usually dry hop this at day 7 and keg at day 14 and drink at day 21!

 

[eval]

I live in ohio and can and do get this beer fresh pretty much year round (except beat _ichihan week). I would start at 2oz dry hops personally. Also, I do my bittering with some cascade hops to get a citrus characteristic similar to the bells house yeast. It's not the same, but close if you aren't harvesting the yeast from a bottle.

Thanks. I already brewed it Dec 1 and made it a single hop Centennial. Used 1272 yeast since I'm not able to get any Bells here. I think I will go with approx 1.5 oz / 5 gal for dry hop on this batch.

 

[eval]

What FG are you other people using 1272 yeast getting?

Brewed on Dec 1 with an OG of 1.068. Mashed at 150F. Pitched a decanted 1.5 litre (about the same in quarts) starter and fermented at 64-65F during the first week. Raised the temperature to 68F after seven days. Took a gravity sample yesterday (at day 11) and it was down to 1.014. My guess is that its finished.

 

[mtnagel]

Mine went from 1.062 to 1.009 using Bells yeast harvested from a Two Hearted bottle.

 

[brewski09]

What FG are you other people using 1272 yeast getting? Brewed on Dec 1 with an OG of 1.068. Mashed at 150F. Pitched a decanted 1.5 litre (about the same in quarts) starter and fermented at 64-65F during the first week. Raised the temperature to 68F after seven days. Took a gravity sample yesterday (at day 11) and it was down to 1.014. My guess is that its finished.

You can try edging the temp to just over 70, or accept it as a good FG. I'd probably just leave it alone personally.

 

[eval]

You can try edging the temp to just over 70, or accept it as a good FG. I'd probably just leave it alone personally.

I might raise the temperature a tiny bit. Still going to wait another week or so before I add the dry hops. The beer still had visible yeast in suspension when I took the gravity sample at day 11.

 

[mtnagel]

So I did a side by side blind taste test on my version of this recipe and the real thing. Both were bottled within 2 weeks of each other (late Oct/early Nov). Both my girlfriend and I said they were pretty much indistinguishable in taste. Mine was actually clearer, but it could have been due my pour. We both don't love the 100% centennial hops, but both said it was the best IPA I've made and I attribute that to the mineral additions I made. I added 8 g gypsum to this batch (ended up with ~200 ppm sulfate). It was the first time I've added minerals to my beer. I didn't make it without the minerals to truly know if it was the gypsum, but we both thought the hops "popped" more and were "brighter" than my other hoppy beers I've made. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[eval]

So I did a side by side blind taste test on my version of this recipe and the real thing. Both were bottled within 2 weeks of each other (late Oct/early Nov). Both my girlfriend and I said they were pretty much indistinguishable in taste. Mine was actually clearer, but it could have been due my pour. We both don't love the 100% centennial hops, but both said it was the best IPA I've made and I attribute that to the mineral additions I made. I added 8 g gypsum to this batch (ended up with ~200 ppm sulfate). It was the first time I've added minerals to my beer. I didn't make it without the minerals to truly know if it was the gypsum, but we both thought the hops "popped" more and were "brighter" than my other hoppy beers I've made. Thanks for the recipe!

I should try adding some gypsum on my next IPA batch

Just out of curiosity: How much did you dry hop with?

Thanks.

 

[mtnagel]

2 oz for 5 days.

 

[Talonracer67]

Making the page 1 recipe, got all the stuff from my LHBS and brewed on a day off. ended up using Nottingham Ale yeast-no time for a starter. Not looking for a Bell's clone(never had it), just a good drinking IPA. Sipping a Victory Hop Devil right now, if you like hoppy beers and live near Pa I'd recommend Hop Devil its like liquid crack!! Only variation I'm making from the original is I'm dry hopping with 1oz pellet. OG was in the 1.070 range, mislabeled my brew kettle and mashed about 6.5 gallons and ended up with less than 5 after my boil. So I topped off with a little water to drop the OG into the high 1.060's

 

[juggabrew]

The Two Hearted recipe was released a few years ago in Zymurgy magazine. You should be able to track it down with a Google search, but I’ll give you the highlights you’re looking for:

80% 2-row
20% Pale Ale Malt
0.5 lbs. Caramel 40L

SRM is somewhere around 10.

 

[Talonracer67]

The Nottingham yeast really went to town, it was down to 1.004 after about 4 days, was shocked to see it ferment that low especially since my OG was so high and my ferment temps were down around 62 degrees. Let it stay in the primary for a week. Dry hopped with 1oz today. Will let it sit for 5 days then cold crash for two and I'll bottle it next Sunday.

 

[orangemen5]

Is the cara pils/dextrine nessesary in this recipe ? I know it adds a little extra body. I brewed this recipe once with it. Was going to brew it a second time without it. See what the change is.

 

[Talonracer67]

Bottled it today, the sample I tasted was amazing. Very hoppy and tasty even flat. Can't wait

 

[juggabrew]

Finally tasted this after 3 weeks of conditioning. I think the the northern brewer dead ringer is better clone IMOO.

 

[BrewCityBaller]

I brewed a batch of this Saturday, definitely my most uneventful brew day to date!

The only issue I ran into was when I went to pitch my starter of yeast collected from a real Two Hearted, it smelled pretty funky, very phenol-y. I have had issues with collected yeast before, so I decided to play it safe and pitched a 1056 American Ale I had instead. Hopefully it still turns out well!

 

[orangemen5]

I brewed a batch of this Saturday, definitely my most uneventful brew day to date!

The only issue I ran into was when I went to pitch my starter of yeast collected from a real Two Hearted, it smelled pretty funky, very phenol-y. I have had issues with collected yeast before, so I decided to play it safe and pitched a 1056 American Ale I had instead. Hopefully it still turns out well!

I harvested some two hearted yeast also that smelled very phenol-y. So I toss the yeast cause it was brown and from an old bottle. I reharvested again from a bottle that was a few weeks old and it still smells phenol-y. This ones nice and white and creamy. So I'm going to pitch it and see what happens.

 

[BrewCityBaller]

I harvested some two hearted yeast also that smelled very phenol-y. So I toss the yeast cause it was brown and from an old bottle. I reharvested again from a bottle that was a few weeks old and it still smells phenol-y. This ones nice and white and creamy. So I'm going to pitch it and see what happens.

Will you let me know how it turns out? I was really on the fence about not using it, but I didn't want to see a whole batch go to waste becasue of some bad yeast. If that's how the stuff smells and it ferments okay, then I will know for next time!

 

[orangemen5]

I'm brewing it up tommorow. I'll definitely post back results.

 

[MMJfan]

I've had this happen too with harvested Bells yeast. I pitched it even though it had a phenol-y smell and my batch never came around. I chalked it up to an infection somewhere while I was harvesting. That was my first and only batch I hat to dump.

I've since given up trying to harvest yeast and just use 1272 which still makes for a great IPA...

 

[orangemen5]

I've had this happen too with harvested Bells yeast. I pitched it even though it had a phenol-y smell and my batch never came around. I chalked it up to an infection somewhere while I was harvesting. That was my first and only batch I hat to dump.



I've since given up trying to harvest yeast and just use 1272 which still makes for a great IPA...

Thanks for the info. Your making me wonder if I should not use my harvested yeast. I tasted the wort from the starter and it didn't taste bad. I've got a nice amount of yeast built up. I stepped it up from one bottle 3x. What happened with your batch when you said it didn't come around.

 

[GRBC]

I would give it a try. Starter wort often smells/tastes off because it becomes oxidized (a consequence of aeration, which is helpful to yeast growth). With a starter, you are not trying to make delicious beer, you are making yeast.

Put the starter in the fridge for at least 24 hours to get the yeast to flocculate, then pour off the starter wort and pitch the slurry.

 

[mtnagel]

Anyone heard anything about not being able to harvest yeast from Bell's Two Hearted bottles?

I've heard it from 2 people now - one at my homebrew club meeting and one in the Commercial harvest thread.

I was able to harvest yeast from a Two Hearted bottle in Oct and I used it to make this clone, but now I'm worried it may be a bottling strain and not the primary fermentation strain.

I did find this on the Bell's website:

since we don’t filter any of our ales either, you can harvest it directly from the bottle.

They don't specifically mention Two Hearted (probably because of the higher alcohol content making it not as good of choice as their lower alcohol beers for harvesting). But at least they gives me hope that what I have is their house primary fermentation yeast and not a bottling yeast.

 

[MMJfan]

Thanks for the info. Your making me wonder if I should not use my harvested yeast. I tasted the wort from the starter and it didn't taste bad. I've got a nice amount of yeast built up. I stepped it up from one bottle 3x. What happened with your batch when you said it didn't come around.

I just think it was infected. I actually had 2 batches in a row I tried brewing using harvested Bells yeast not turn out great. One turned out ok after about a month of conditioning, but it was far from the best batch I made do this clone. The last batch I made using harvested yeast was un drinkable. It conditioned for over two months and then I started having bottle bombs so it became time to just dump it.

I had been successful in harvesting yeast for several previous 2 Hearted clones as well as several Oberon clones. But when I had not one, but two batches not turn out, I just decided it wasn't worth it to take the time and effort to harvest yeast if it isn't going to turn out. I've read several accounts that say 1272 is pretty close to the Bells yeast strain and I would concur with that opinion since brewing my last batch of Two Hearted with success using 1272.

I'm not saying you can't harvest their yeast as I have done it successfully in the past. I've just been burnt two batches in a row and these were my only batches of the almost 2 years of brewing beer that didn't turn out for me so it isn't worth the risk for me to continue harvesting and hoping I have a successful harvest...

 

[ahurley666]

Dose anyone have a 1 gallon recipe for two harted? I ended up having to leave most. Of my 5 gallon stuff behind with my dad and started my 1 gallon batches again and if its not worth trying. 1 gallon I'll have to get a 5 gallon kettle to work with thanks for any help

 

[mtnagel]

You can do a 3 gallon batch in a 5 gallon pot with BIAB.

I use Beer Smith to scale recipes. Works well.