Clone Beer Recipes

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BlackDog-Brewery

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Regarding the book:

Clone Brew Recipes, from Tess & Mark Szamatulski

I received an awesome book from my kids that was written by Tess & Mark Szamatulski. It’s called . . . .

CLONE BREWS, RECIPES FROM 200 COMMERCIAL BEERS

The only problem is I can’t find one source to purchase all of the all-grain ingredients from.

Many of the recipes include both all-grain and DME.

Has anyone else purchased this book and been able to single-source the grains, DME, and hop additions required by their recipes?

Jimmy
 
Are you shopping at a homebrew store or online homebrew vendor? All of them would have grains, DME and hops so not sure where you are looking.

Also just a word of caution, I have the first edition of that book and IMO some of the instructions are suspect (for example, transferring all beers to secondary at 5-7 days, pitching your yeast when it's under 80* including the lagers, also with no actual mention of a lagering phase). That edition is from 1998 so maybe the new one has changed, I would just be sure to double check the techniques if you are a new brewer.
 
I'm looking for an online site that sells a diverse selection of ingredients.

Just skimming through some of the recipes offered in the book of clones, MoreBeer had some ingredients but not others. Northern Brewer had some ingredients but not others, etc.

I want to make the move away from pre-packaged all grain kits, and start following recipes. But I certainly don't want the hassle of placing multiple web orders with different companies just to put 1 brew together.

For those of you who brew from books rather than kits, what company have you found that stocks nearly every ingredient that you've ever needed?
 
Yeah, I'd be surprised if there is much you couldn't find at either of those places, I suspect you may be getting hung up on the names. As I mentioned the first version of that book has some odditites, for example many of the recipes call for "2.5 L German light crystal malt". I've never seen a product under that name, but it would essentially be like Weyermann's carafoam (German maltster, their version of carapils which is about 2 L). Weyermann does that for a lot of their products. So instead of "German crystal 20" they call it Carared. Similarly, for "55L British crystal malt", you would buy Simpson's medium crystal from Northerbrewer (a British maltster, their medium crystal is 50-60L).

It's up to you whether you really want to stick to the correct maltsters/countires of origin or not. For base malt it might make a difference - say Maris otter vs. Domestic pale malt, but for things like crystal/cara malts I usually use what I have in stock that is the closest lovibond. If you are having trouble figuring out the equivalent grains in your recipes just post here and someone will help you.
 
I also have the 1998 edition "150 clone" book, and an epub of the 2010 edition "200 clones." The 2010 edition has a bit more fluff added, such as food pairing suggestions, location maps, a different recipe layout, etc. Otherwise content-wise they're very similar.

Not sure how close to true clones they are, but most recipes are very brewable and are a good shot in the right direction. Some techniques are indeed suspect, like secondaries are still mentioned everywhere (come on, it's 2010!), while for most recipes they truly aren't needed. Leave them on the primary yeast cake until the beer is done, and that's usually longer than 7 days (!).

There is no emphasis anywhere on pitching ample yeast starters, except in the short introductory chapter, which I must admit I skipped and ran into some fermentation problems... When you use liquid yeast, you must make starters! For most recipes, do not replace with dry yeast, the results will be disappointing. If it's easier to obtain White Labs yeast instead of WYeast, use their equivalents. Again the web...

The ingredients can be a bit puzzling, I give you that, but a web search will give you plenty of equivalents or alternatives. Any of the large online outfits should have the ingredients, yet possibly by a different maltster.

When a recipe spikes your interest, do a web search and see if you can find other recipes and compare notes, ideas, variations, and approaches. See the book as a resource, the start of a journey for each beer whether you brew it along the lines of the book or integrate some of your other finds.

Enjoy the ride!
 
Thanks for the replies !

Besides the obvious substitutions like “British 2-row” base malt that I am going to simply go with a USA 2-row from the local HBS, what about the ingredients that the clone recipes call for in recipe like my favorite “Dogfish Head 60” . . .

But using only the MoreBeer ingredients section as an example:

- British amber malt (there are no amber malts listed at all. Domestic or imported)

- Muntons Extra Light DME (req’d even though this is mainly an all grain kit). No search hits on the word “muntons”.

My example is just for one of my favorite clone beers, and I am certainly not trying to throw MoreBeer under the bus because I think they are amazing for equipment and kits, and I do lot of business with them.

But if I have to place orders through multiple online suppliers just to brew my favorite clones than I find that to be a waste of valuable time and shipping. But I was hoping that someone in the forums has found an online supplier that is able to supply nearly all of the their grains and additions in a “one stop shopping” experience.
 
You are right, amber malt is one of the few things that morebeer doesn't carry. I do almost all my shopping there because they are local, but for the occasional things I want that they don't have I tend to go with either northernbrewer or rebel brewer as I think they have some of the best grain selections. Munton's is just a brand, so you can use any light or extra light DME for those. You're not supposed to use DME in the all grain recipes though, if the second book is like the first they list the extract as the default recipe but then along the side is the all grain version. You replace the extract with the grains they list, keeping the specialty grains the same.
 
This is what it lists for the AG version (love the epub):

All-Grain Method: Mash 12.5 lb. (5.7 kg) British 2-row pale malt with the specialty grains at 152°F (66.7°C) for 90 minutes. Add 4 HBU (50% less than the extract recipe) of the bittering hops for 90 minutes of the boil. Add the remaining hops and Irish moss according to the extract recipe.​

Specialty grains are 4oz British Amber Malt and 4oz British Crystal 55.

So don't stare blind on specific or "exotic" ingredients. Substitute. Any Crystal 60 or Caramel 60 will work fine.
Check this thread for making some British malts yourself from 2-row. <Google, my friend>

To make a real clone many other things need to be taken into consideration and firmed up. IOW, there is way more variability from brewing than the sum of ingredients and a few lines of instructions may indicate. As I said before, it's a good shot in the right direction.

Some observations:
  • To do justice to being called an IPA, we can be pretty sure DFH 60 is dry hopped. There is no way to integrate that aroma otherwise. The recipe doesn't mention a word of it, but it is essential.
  • It spells out a 90 minute boil using pretty standard 2-row. Remember, this is DFH 60 (that reflects a 60' boil).
  • To make your brew day a little easier, instead of using WLP001 or WY1056, in this case you can use a package of Safale S-05 dry yeast. It's the same, and saves you from making a starter the day before. That said, I believe DFH brewery has their own proprietary yeast strain(s).

DFH 60 is great! Good start, give it a try, read up on IPAs and other DFH recipes floating around, including on HBT. At the very least you'll make beer.
 
Regarding the book:

Clone Brew Recipes, from Tess & Mark Szamatulski

I received an awesome book from my kids that was written by Tess & Mark Szamatulski. It’s called . . . .

CLONE BREWS, RECIPES FROM 200 COMMERCIAL BEERS

The only problem is I can’t find one source to purchase all of the all-grain ingredients from.

Many of the recipes include both all-grain and DME.

Has anyone else purchased this book and been able to single-source the grains, DME, and hop additions required by their recipes?

Jimmy

Good luck. I tried to make some of those recipes. The ones I made were not great, for sure. No clones. It might have been me since many of the ingredients are not common, as you point out.
 
Once again thanks. You guys just provided some great tips regarding substitutions.

Based on that substitution chart, now I see why my LHBS carries 3 types of base malts in the large 50# bags. With the basic 3, I guess I can pretty much brew these recipes in the book via substitution or combining.

But you know what I just recalled after reading your tips? I'm relatively new to BrewTalk.com. I basically joined because of the wealth of information for making the transition to all grain.

But despite all of the potential problems that can occur with all grain brewing, there is a similar statement throughout all of the forums here . . .

"What is the worst that can happen . . . it's still beer !"
 
That substitution chart ROCKS! Thanks for posting it!


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