Help with SNPA Clone

[StretchBrew]

New guy here looking for some advice. I'm thinking of brewing a clone of sierra nevada pale ale or even just a beer similar to it. I've done two extract kits from NB, but I figure I could get a recipe online and just buy the ingredients from my LHBS. Seeing as how I'm still very new to brewing I just wanted to get someone’s input on this. I've sort of pieced together this recipe from different sources, so it’s not an original of mine ... just creatively assembled. I'm looking at :

Malts
-----
6lbs of Briess Gold LME
1lb of Briess Golden Light DME
1lb of Crystal 60L

Hops
-----
0.5oz of Magnum (60 min)
0.5oz of Perle (30 min)
1 oz of Cascade (10 min)
1 oz of Cascade (0 min)

I've been doing 2.5gal boil and topping up to 5gal. The largest I could do is maybe 3gal boil.

It appears I didn't write down the exact AAUs of the hops from the recipe, but from what I put in Beer Calculus the extracts took the OG to 1.053 on the dot and the hops are clocking in at ~ 37 IBUs which I believe are the specs for SNPA. The one thing I am concerned about is my hop timings/amounts. I know when you do a partial boil they are utilized different than a full boil and I think that schedule was for a full boil. I'm not sure though. I've also seen where some people were just using extra light DME for the malt extract. I don’t know if that'd make much of difference and again referencing beer calculus I'd need 6.5 lbs of extra light dme to hit the 1.053 mark. Any help is appreciated ... I'm sure it'd make a decent beer regardless, but I just feel better getting it out there and seeing what people with more experience than I do think of it. Thanks!!

 

[beerkrump]

It looks pretty good. And, yes to trying to do the biggest boil that you can.

What yeast are you thinking of using? If you are using dry yeast, Safale US-05 is the one.

 

[TTB-J]

The difference in hop utilization is not going to be very big - some might even argue that its negligible. That being said, like beerkrump said, go for the biggest boil you can reasonably do - there are multiple benefits to having a full boil.

Either way, I think you can trust Beer Calculus to give you a decent idea of where the bitterness will be on this recipe - you are telling it that you're not going to be doing a full boil, right? I made a very similar recipe recently and I can tell you that it came out to about the same IBUs and had a similar bitterness to SNPA. Quite drinkable, I think you'll really enjoy it.

 

[jollytim]

Yes, if you followed that schedule, you'll not only be in the ballpark, you'll be on the right team. Keep your fermentation temps to 70 or lower (I prefer 67 - 68), and you'll have a winner.

 

[StretchBrew]

awesome, Thanks guys! I was planning on going with US-05. My basement right now its about 64-68 so that will be perfect! I did set the boil amounts and time properly in beer calculus. Am I better with the Golden LME/Light Golden DME mix or just going straight up extra light dme?

 

[jollytim]

I prefer light or extra light extract as a 'base malt' and adding steeping grains to make the flavor and color. I know what I'm getting that way. I'm never really sure what's in the darker extracts. But you won't be far off using those, so it's not wrong. You do have to watch SRM and adjust the steeping grains accordingly, but it's still pretty darn close.

 

[StretchBrew]

Sounds good ... I'm probably just going to go with the extra light dme. Another thing I was wondering was if I should secondary this to clear up, or just let it go in the primary for an extra week or two. (I'm not trying to start a "to secondary" or "not to secondary" debate! i swear!!) I plan on using Whirlfloc to help it clear.

 

[RugerRedhawk]

Sounds good ... I'm probably just going to go with the extra light dme. Another thing I was wondering was if I should secondary this to clear up, or just let it go in the primary for an extra week or two. (I'm not trying to start a "to secondary" or "not to secondary" debate! i swear!!) I plan on using Whirlfloc to help it clear.

Leave it in the primary for 3-4 weeks. This is the consensus I got from this forum.

 

[beerkrump]

+1

three weeks primary + three weeks in the bottle = good beer

 

[StretchBrew]

Then thats what I'll do. 3-4 weeks in primary, and then minimum of 3-4 weeks in bottles. If I behave myself it will probably be in the bottle 9 weeks til I hit them hard. I'm going to try to save some for my vacation at the end of july! Seems like a great beer to drink while trying to beat the heat on the deck! heh

 

[CBK]

Your recipe looks good . You may want to consider dry hopping with some cascade 1 week before bottling or kegging. This is just my opinion but for me a beer like this is best enjoyed fresh. The hop aroma and flavor fade with time.

 

[ajf]

It's been a long time since I had a SNPA, but I think 1# crystal 60 is a bit much. As I recall, the SNPA is very pale and dry. I think 0.5# crystal 20 would be closer to the mark.

-a.

 

[Redpiper]

Your recipe looks right on. Here's the one I brew. My family did a side by side test and couldn't tell the difference.

SNclone
-------
Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
Batch: 5.50 galExtract

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.052 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 35 IBU
Recipe Color: 11° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.013
Alcohol by Volume: 5.0%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.0%

Ingredients
-----------
Briess DME - Pilsen Light 6.00 lb, Extract, Extract
Crystal 60L 1.00 lb, Grain, Steeped

Cascade 2.00 oz, Pellet, 0 minutes
Cascade 0.80 oz, Pellet, 10 minutes
Perle 0.50 oz, Pellet, 30 minutes
Yakima Magnum 0.50 oz, Pellet, 60 minutes

California Ale yeast 1.00 unit, Yeast,

 

[StretchBrew]

Your recipe looks good . You may want to consider dry hopping with some cascade 1 week before bottling or kegging. This is just my opinion but for me a beer like this is best enjoyed fresh. The hop aroma and flavor fade with time.

Excuse my ignorance, but would 9 weeks in the bottle be long enough for the flavors to start fading? That seems rather fast, but like I said ... I don't know. If that's the case should I push back the brew date a couple of weeks and brew something before this?

ajf: I've read that concern a lot in my research of it, but I think I'm going to try the 1# of 60 just to see and if i find it's too much i'll scale it back .. but a lot of what I read said its actually spot on despite sounding like too much. And even if it's off, I'm not going for a 100% spot on clone ... I'm looking for a damn good beer.

redpiper: Awesome, looks identical to mine so I should be golden! thanks for the feedback!

 

[CBK]

9 weeks is not enough time to notice much of a difference. I was just saying that some beers are better fresh while others improve with age. No disrespect intended.

 

[StretchBrew]

no disrespect taken! I'm still learning I just wanted to make sure I had all my info right. I want to make sure my beer is tops for vacation! haha

 

[ajf]

ajf: I've read that concern a lot in my research of it, but I think I'm going to try the 1# of 60 just to see and if i find it's too much i'll scale it back .. but a lot of what I read said its actually spot on despite sounding like too much. And even if it's off, I'm not going for a 100% spot on clone ... I'm looking for a damn good beer.

No problems. As I said, it's been a long time since I had one (over 15 years).
Perhaps they've changed the recipe in the last 15 years, or perhaps my memory is faulty.
I commend you for doing the research and coming up with such a good recipe after doing just two batches. That's a lot better than I could have done after two batches.
Good luck.

-a.

 

[StretchBrew]

I wish I could take credit for creating the recipe, but the 1st one i posted was a combination of two I found online, but after deciding to go with straight extra light dme, it's pretty much the exact extract recipe from where I got the hop schedule from. I do tend to over research, but I'm just making sure I'm as informed as can be!

 

[StretchBrew]

Finally got this brewed yesterday!! I had to use plain light DME instead of extra light due to my LHBS being out of xtra light, so it's definitely going to be darker than SNPA but as long as the pale ale taste is there I'll be happy! (I probably should have scaled back the crystal, but oh well.) When I checked it this AM looks like my temp is at 75 degrees =/ I know that's the high end for US-05 ... I think I need to try to get that down to at least 70. I just didn't have time before leaving for work. Now it's time to wait... I'll post updates when the glorious day comes when I can consume this delicious beer! heh