Clone Brews and Beer Captured finding ingredients

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apisgallus

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Did search the forums, honest.
Looking through the recipes and seeing 55L crystal malt and muntons light dry malt extract for the British ales, what happens if I can't find 55L crystal malt? Also will any light DME work (I know they will but how close will they get me).
 
As I understand it, "Clone Brews" (2000) and "Beer Captured" (2001) are clone recipe books.

For the 55L crystal, an American Crystal 60L may be "close enough". From what I see on "this side of the pond", British crystal malt is often specified in a range (for example, "British Crystal 50/60L Malt - Bairds Malt" at MoreBeer.com) rather than a specific number (55L). IIRC, @Miraculix & @Northern_Brewer are on the "other side of the pond" so their insights would be valuable here.

If you are going to brew with extract for a while, find an store that sells Muntons DME. I find that Briess DME and Muntons DME have slightly different flavor profiles. Either will work in a recipe, but one or the other is likely to be "better" in a specific recip.
 
All the crystal malt taste different. Even with the same colour. You never know what you get, until you have tried it. The maltsters use different processes to get to the ame colour and this results in different flavours. Some are more dramatically differnt, like for example british heritage crystal and some are more "generic". At the end, every maltster's crystal is unique and one has to find the one one likes best.

As you can see, it does not really matter which specific coulour you take, it is all about personal preferences. The colour is just meant to give you a general direction. Otherwise they would specify the maltster and the colour. Same applies to the dme.
 
As I understand it, "Clone Brews" (2000) and "Beer Captured" (2001) are clone recipe books.

For the 55L crystal, an American Crystal 60L may be "close enough". From what I see on "this side of the pond", British crystal malt is often specified in a range (for example, "British Crystal 50/60L Malt - Bairds Malt" at MoreBeer.com) rather than a specific number (55L). IIRC, @Miraculix & @Northern_Brewer are on the "other side of the pond" so their insights would be valuable here.

If you are going to brew with extract for a while, find an store that sells Muntons DME. I find that Briess DME and Muntons DME have slightly different flavor profiles. Either will work in a recipe, but one or the other is likely to be "better" in a specific recip.
Northern Brewer are one of my go to suppliers when Brewer dude can't get an order. Sorry they stole a name. Their Brewing TV channel has been very useful. Apparently Muntons doesn't know KY exists, though they kindly sent me a recipe for cwtch ale. Thanks to everyone for their help
 
Even if you get the exact ingredients you'll be hard pressed to "clone" a commercial beer. Just the fact that you're brewing a 5 gallon version of a 50 barrel, or larger, craft brew makes it extremely difficult. If you're lucky you'll get in the ballpark.
 
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