Need a Manny's Pale Ale clone

[JimmyBrewsalot]

BeezBrew, what were your gravities on this recipe? Thanks

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

Hey Jimmy. Only tasted a small amount at bottling lastnight. Tasted good and looked nice. I'll post back in a few days when I'm a little more carbed up. Also, I plan to go buy a growler soon and get a little more accurate comparison.

 

[1brAPTbrewer]

This is a great Pale in Seattle. Anyone from Seattle tried Fremont's Universal Pale? I like it a little more I think.

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

I haven't tried Freemont's, but thanks for the tip. I'll definitely put that on my to do list. BTW, my recipe has some fizz now, but still tastes a little green. I'm going to have to give it some time, then grab some Manny's for comparison.

 

[GermanBlood]

Thanks Mooseknuckle for putting together the receipe and sharing with us, I'm a local as well and my friend just honored me with asking for me to brew a batch for his graduation party. His favorite is Manny's Pale Ale, so I plan on using your receipe to make a good attempt. How does it taste now after being a month since your last post? Take care!

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

I'm happy with the taste. I still need to make it back down to the brewery and pick up a growler for a good side by side comparison though. This beer seemed to stay green for a little while though, so if you're going to brew it, do it soon so it has some time to condition. I'll try to post some pics soon too. Good luck

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

okay, made it to the brewery today and picked up a couple growlers. Here's a side by side pic (mine's on the left):

Surprisingly, mine turned out lighter than Manny's. While it was in the carboy, I thought for sure it'd be darker. The hop schedule and aroma for my extract recipe is spot on. Both are great pale ales, but Manny's seems to have a sweeter finish. Perhaps I needed a bit more Crystal to darken and sweeten? All in all, the extract recipe I put together is close and is a good beer, but I'd probably tweak it a bit next go round to try to get that sweet bite that Manny's has. Cheers!

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

Just had another one of these and they are getting better and better with age. I will definitely brew this up again.

 

[GermanBlood]

I just dry hopped this last weekend. party is around aug 14th, so I figure just under 1 month for dry hopping is good correct?

 

[humann_brewing]

I miss this beer, won't be up there for a while so I will just have to stare at yours instead

 

[GermanBlood]

(my first dry hopping experience, so sorry for the noob question). I looked up other "dry hopping techniques" and it seems like 1 month at cold temperature, while only 7-9 days if you keep the beer at room temp. is what others have shared as the "most ideal" dry hopping timeline.

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

should be fine. I didn't dry hop for long. Only a little less than 2 weeks I think. Took a little time in the bottle to condition though, so make sure you bottle well before your party...like now would be good.

 

[GermanBlood]

I am one of those "cheater" kegger's... I exclusively dispense out of cornelius kegs making me not having to worry about cleaning 100's of bottles

 

[hrslam]

should be fine. I didn't dry hop for long. Only a little less than 2 weeks I think. Took a little time in the bottle to condition though, so make sure you bottle well before your party...like now would be good.

I've got a batch of your recipe fermenting right now. Did you dry hop after 4 days in the primary? This seems a bit early for racking but I admittedly haven't done much dry hopping. Also, I'm considering just adding the dry hops to the primary and resealing it. Any idea how that'd change the character of the beer?

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

no, I had this in the primary for about a week, then racked. You could add your hops to the primary and avoid a secondary all together, it's a cloudy beer anyway. The problem I have with that is it makes it a pain to harvest my yeast from the primary and I want to be able to use this yeast again.

 

[jmo88]

no, I had this in the primary for about a week, then racked. You could add your hops to the primary and avoid a secondary all together, it's a cloudy beer anyway. The problem I have with that is it makes it a pain to harvest my yeast from the primary and I want to be able to use this yeast again.

Top crop. Just skim some yeast off during high krausen and store it in a jar with water. It keeps in the fridge for several weeks, if not longer, assuming you have sound sanitation methods. The point where you can top crop is before the point you would want to dry hop. If you do this you can reuse yeast and dry hop in the primary.

 

[kshuler]

I am going to try a Manny’s clone in about 2 weeks, trying it as an experiment with 3 different methods of hopping (when it is done I will probably make a new thread about the hopping methodology). Each one will be brewed with the exact same malt profile and the same total amount of hops, but done differently. I am going to modify Mooseknuckle2000’s recipe a bit. He noted it was too light and not quite as sweet as the original. So I am going to up the crystal/carapils from 2 lbs per 5 gallons to 3 lbs per 7 gallons (only about 7.5% more crystal per gallon), and add some crystal 40 to up the color a bit.

The other problem is that my last batch that I designed as a hop bomb turned out with very modest hop flavor, so I have drastically increased the hops for my purposes. I never figured out why it had so little hop flavor.

Here is the Recipe


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 7.00 gal
Boil Size: 9.85 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 8.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 37.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 81.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.00 %
1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 8.00 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 8.00 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.00 %
0.50 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (90 min) (First Wort HopHops 22.8 IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 14 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (20 min) Hops 4.6 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 3.8 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 4.1 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 2.3 IBU
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-SteepHops -
1 Pkgs Thames Valley Ale (Wyeast Labs #1275) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 12.50 lb
----------------------------
My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Step Add 33.33 qt of water at 157.5 F 152.0 F




Version Differences:
Batch One: how I usually do my brewing. I will do the recipe as indicated above, but place all of the zero minute addition hops in a hopback, and run via gravity at whatever rate will make the beer after the CFC come out at 68 degrees, then pitch immediately. Typically I have to run it pretty slow to get the temperature down to 68 degrees, and it usually takes about 15-20 minutes.

Batch Two: As batch one, but the the zero minute additions will go into the pot and then I will use the CFC to recirculate until the wort reaches pitching temperature. I did a partial recirculation once and within a few minutes it was down to 140, so this will cool the wort very fast, I think.

Batch 3: The wild card. Other than the magnum, ALL hops will be added after flameout. At flameout, 2 oz will be added, then the wort will be rapidly cooled via recirculation to 180. It will sit covered for 40 minutes, then another 2 ounces will be added and it will sit at another 40 minutes, at which time it will run through the CFC to the fermentor and pitched. I read a paper once about using hops in the hop shortage and it mentioned 80 minute steeping hops as being an excellent way to get massive hop flavor.

I plan to start this in about a week and a half. If anyone has suggestions I would love to hear them prior to my beginning this experiment.

Klaus

 

[jmo88]

I plan to start this in about a week and a half. If anyone has suggestions I would love to hear them prior to my beginning this experiment.

Can't wait to hear how it all turns out. My suggestion, if I may, would be to drastically reduce the crystal malt. You have 24% crystal malt in the beer. Going above 15% starts to make the beer cloying and out of balance. Perhaps mashing higher or messing with the bittering to OG ratio will help with the sweetness instead of raising the crystal. Manny's isn't sugar sweet like you'd get from lots of crystal malt, it's really drinkable. I think I had 5 pitchers myself last weekend

 

[kshuler]

Can't wait to hear how it all turns out. My suggestion, if I may, would be to drastically reduce the crystal malt. You have 24% crystal malt in the beer. Going above 15% starts to make the beer cloying and out of balance. Perhaps mashing higher or messing with the bittering to OG ratio will help with the sweetness instead of raising the crystal. Manny's isn't sugar sweet like you'd get from lots of crystal malt, it's really drinkable. I think I had 5 pitchers myself last weekend

Yeah I was kind of wondering about the crystal, the only reason I went with that much was tasting notes from the recipe posted before. That one had 20.6% Crystal malts and the tasting notes noted that it was not as sweet as Manny's, so I thought that increasing the crystal might help. But I have to admit it is a damn large dose of crystal. Would you cut it down to about 10-15% and then just mash real high?

Klaus

 

[kshuler]

Here are some pics...

Thanks again to Lisa at the Georgetown Brewery

I LOVE these guys! I cannot believe how gracious this brewery is in supporting homebrewers. I got a similar growler of yeast a few days ago. The only question I have is this- is the top part active yeast and the bottom trub? Or is it all usable?

Klaus

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

the yeast I got was quite clean. I believe it was laid on it's side and separated a bit, but it was all useable. I was able to split into several starters....and yes, these guys rock!

 

[ratfarmer]

I miss the character of their old building!

 

[BigJerk]

+1 for Manny's! I love how I can go to even the most BMC bars around here and they still have Manny's on tap. I definitely have o try this one soon.

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

I miss the character of their old building!

me too. It kinda felt like a hidden treasure of a brewery back there.

 

[Highbeam]

I just visited the brewery last week for a tour and filled up my three growlers with the IPA, pilsner, and of course Manny's. Excellent tour with plenty of beer provided and topped off with a free glass from the brewery. Easy access and parking at the brewery too. We grabbed dinner at Stellar Pizza around the corner and it made for a great day.

The Manny's is my favorite beer ever.

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

yeah, their IPA is quite tasty too. Glad to see another non-animal beer fan from Buckley btw

 

[PtotheL]

So, kshuler, how did it turn out ?

 

[kshuler]

So, kshuler, how did it turn out ?

Don't really know yet. I just kegged it 2 days ago and I am waiting for it to carb. First impression of the non carbonated version (made from the dregs and still loaded with a bunch of suspended yeast) wasn't all that great, but not terrible. I'll let you know, though.

I made the three versions, but the only thing I have tasted so far was a mish mash of the three... about 50% batch 1, 35% batch 2 and 15% batch 3, but all were obtained trying to eek out every last drop and as such it is a fairly yeasty sample. I refrigerated it and tried to pull of as much yeast as possible but still had some in. Has a bit of a sour taste, not overly so, but definately noted, and has a very good cascade aroma. I'll keep you informed when I tap the kegs.

Klaus

 

[kshuler]

I hav a slight update. My initial impression of the uncarbonated sample was way off base. I have batch 1 and 2 cooled, mostly carbonated and on tap, and theyare actually quite nice, but with a more subdued hoppiness than I was wishing. It isn't absent, its just not overwhelming. Actually seems fairly balanced. Last night I pulled batch 2 from the kegerator and swapped in batch 3.

Batch 1, which used a hopback was virtually indistinguishable from batch 2, which did a rapid recirculation and cooled the entire batch to less than 140 in less than 2 minutes. I just pulled a sample of batch 3, which is not even slightly carbonated, and it is by far different from the other 2 batches. It is a bit more bitter, but has significantly more hop flavor than the other two even though it had the same amount of hops.

I'll make a better update when it is carbed, and I am thinking of having some friends over in a month or so for a blind taste test of the three to see if I can get some other opinions. So far, though, it appears that saving hops for whirlpool only hopping may be a better way to extract FLAVOR of hops as compared to late additions during the boil.

Klaus

 

[GermanBlood]

any further update? I'm thinking of going another try. Thanks for posting your results!