Dos Equis Clone

[SteveM]

I always assumed that there was something exotic about Dos Equis because I associate it with eating enchiladas and tacos but based on the recipe, it is a pretty standard central European lager. My LHBS owner suggested this recipe when I asked about brewing up a clone. It uses dry ale yeast and came out pretty much dead on for color and taste. Clarity might be improved by using a secondary.

2 lbs, Munton DME

1 lb, Rice solids

3.3 lbs (one can), Cooper's light LME

1 lb, #60 steeping grains

1 oz, Hallertau @ 10 minutes

1 oz, Saaz @ 55 minutes

Nottingham dry ale yeast

Irish moss @45 minutes

I use spring water and do two gallon boils. The steeping grains were taken out as the temperature crossed 160F. I use the Irish moss and try to get a real good cold break by simply putting my whole brew pot into my kitchen sink full of ice water at the end of the hour, removing when the ice all melts (usually no more than ten minutes or so). I pitch the yeast dry right into the fermenter (never had a problem with this approach). I did three weeks in the primary then straight to bottle, carbonating with the usual 3/4 cup of dextrose boiled into about a pint of water and dumped into the bottling bucket as I started siphoning out the fermenter. I made no attempt to lager it. I have no hydrometer readings - I gave up on hydrometers because I did not believe I could get accurate readings. I had it in the primary for three weeks, then straight to bottle.

Let me know how it comes out.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

It uses dry ale yeast and came out pretty much dead on for color and taste. Clarity might be improved by using a secondary.

This could be an interesting beer that I would love to try, but are you saying it comes out flavor dead? does it actually taste like dos equis?

 

[Arneba28]

What are the steeping grains. Did they tell you or just give you a mixed bag of grain?

 

[Rick_R]

What are the steeping grains.

Based on the #60, I assumed Crystal Malt 60L, but the OP can reply for sure.

Rick

 

[SteveM]

Wow, I apologize for overlooking the questions here. Rick has it right on the steeping grains - crushed crystal, as I recall. The flavor and color were VERY close to Dos Equis even with an ale yeast. I brought some of this, plus some actual Dos Equis to a tasting, and everyone agreed that the similarities were remarkable.

Edit - I meant that the flavor was "dead on," i.e. extremely accurate.

 

[pen25]

another one i will have to brew up in the coming weeks.

 

[caughtablaze]

got this one in the primary now... one of my buddies only drinks dos equis so i decided i'd do a batch for him...


we're both real excited to say the least.

 

[SteveM]

Let me know how it comes out - I think you will be amazed at how close it comes. Do like I did and have a side by side comparison and dollars to donuts you decide that they are extremely close...but yours is slightly better.

 

[sabanknight]

Sounds good making this today, you know I was just looking at it and was wondering your @ times @10 means boil 10 minutes or add at 10 minutes

IE would reverse the order of the hops

I should know the answer but I am having a brain fart....

 

[SteveM]

Add at ten minutes. In other words, the Saaz goes in near the end.

 

[manortc]

Brewing up this one as soon as I can get all the ingredients!

 

[imrook]

Add at ten minutes. In other words, the Saaz goes in near the end.

Hey SteveM, it's conventional in brewing to give boil addition times as time remaining in the boil. The Irish Moss tipped me off that you were doing it backwards from normal. Irish Moss is almost always added with 15 minutes left. In conventional notation, the boil additions would be:

1 oz, Hallertau @ 50 minutes
1 oz, Saaz @ 5 minutes
Irish moss @45 minutes

I love me some Dos Equis and will probably be brewing this up soon. Thanks for the post!

 

[SteveM]

Hey SteveM, it's conventional in brewing to give boil addition times as time remaining in the boil. The Irish Moss tipped me off that you were doing it backwards from normal. Irish Moss is almost always added with 15 minutes left. In conventional notation, the boil additions would be:

1 oz, Hallertau @ 50 minutes
1 oz, Saaz @ 5 minutes
Irish moss @45 minutes

I love me some Dos Equis and will probably be brewing this up soon. Thanks for the post!

I've seen it both ways. I usually record sequentially, from the start of the boil. Sorry for the confusion. Good luck with it - can't wait to hear how it comes out.

 

[imrook]

Brewed this last night with some minor variations:

6 lbs Munton's Light DME
1 lb Rice Syrup Solids
1 lb Crystal 40L
4 oz Special Roast Malt

1 oz Hallertau @60 min
1 oz Saaz @5 min

I made 6 gallons to knock the ABV down a bit and stretch the batch out a bit (5 gallons doesn't last very long.) Got a 1.050 O.G. Airlock was bubbling away this morning. I'll report back after I taste this in a month.

 

[manortc]

Finished with this one a few weeks ago but ended up making a mistake with fermentation. I put this beer in a fermenter that just did a serrano pepper beer. To me, it tastes like dos equis with a bit of pepper flavor. Hides a fair amount of the characteristics of the beer. Going to try it again with a clean fermenter.

 

[imrook]

I took an early taste of the version I brewed last. There's a couple of unfavorable things I picked up on. 1 - There's a not unnoticeable amount of fruitiness there. I believe this is due to too high fermentation temp. I keep my fermenter in the basement, but don't run the A/C full time. As we've been having a hot summer, it's been warmer than usual down there. 2 - There's a sourness or tangyness that I believe is coming from the special roast malt. I added the special roast malt hoping to get the "toasty, biscuity" notes out of it. Looks like I should have went with biscuit malt or left it alone. The beer isn't bad, it's just not very close to Dos Equis Amber. I'm going to let it age some more and see how it goes.

 

[imrook]

This beer really mellowed out nicely. Unfortunately, I drank most of it before it hit peak flavor, but it definitely did settle down into a very nice amber. The fruity notes became very subtle and the tangyness almost completely went away.

 

[SteveM]

That's how it always goes - the best beer beer of every batch is always the last one.

 

[smithj82]

What type of Munton DME? I usually get my stuff from midwest. They list everything from extra light to extra dark.

Have you ever tried liquid wyeast? For this I was thinking American Ale yeast 1056.

 

[SteveM]

Light. But extra light would also probably work. As to the yeast, I only made this once so I have no opinion on a substitute - it would probably be fine.

 

[Yooper]

Dos Equis is a Vienna lager, so if you have lagering ability I'd suggest making a huge yeast starter and making it as a lager. My Dos Equis clone is all grain, with a double decoction. It's fermented at 50 degrees for 12 days or so, the a diacetyl rest is done and then the beer is racked to secondary and the lagering is done at 34 degrees for 8 weeks.

If you can't lager or ferment at 50 degrees, then 1056 is probably not a bad bet. It won't taste like a lager, but it won't be a bad beer by any means.

 

[smithj82]

Thanks for the quick reply. How much Irish Moss is recommended?

 

[smithj82]

Yooper - I don't have the abilities to lager yet. I have been doing 10 gallon ale extract batches. Kegging half and bottling half. I know Dos Equis is a lager, just trying to venture out a little and try something other than a kit.

 

[StMarcos]

cmon now, 2x isn't really a vienna lager. They use adjuncts fcol. Not that there's anything wrong with that, and I do enjoy a 2x from time to time. I'll bet that if you compared homebrew comp vienna lager finalists with 2x there would be little comparison. 2x is more like a thin becks to me.....

 

[StMarcos]

I just got a 12er of Olympia. I know it's not brewed there anymore. Not bad at all. Had a nice maltiness and body to it. Can said it was 95% malt..... what's the rest, ethanol?

 

[imrook]

I would assume that the other 5% is adjunct. Rice most likely.

 

[smithj82]

SteveM - What about Dos Equis Amber? Any ideas?

 

[beereq]

How about and all grain version? Is this the amber or special lager?

 

[lou2row]

I don't often brew beer, but when I do, it's Dos Equis clone.


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