I've been brewing for a couple of years now and enjoy the heck out of it. However, all that I have brewed so far are kits. Leaving the hard work to whoever came up with the recipe. I think its time to venture further into the world of brewing by making my "own" recipe. My very own beer. But I thought that possibly attempting to clone a beer first might be a better stepping stone into this venture. But I really have no clue where to start. Maybe I'm going about this all wrong; I don't know. The beer I would like to clone is Lost Coast Brewery's Great White. Its one of my favorite store bought beers and I think it would be awesome to duplicate it. Or get as close as possible. But where do I start? All I know is that it's a Witbier and its 4.8% ABV.
Need Help creating a clone- Great White
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aeviaanah
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First look at the other clones. Here is a start.
http://www.brewtoad.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search=great+white
Brewtoad is a great tool for making recipes.
Since you don't know your ingredients this should be interesting. You may want to brew a simple recipe to start learning the difference between base malts and specialty malts and about various hops. Search each malt/hop/yeast/etc and you will find information regarding how its used and in what percentages. A good start as mentioned is to look at similar recipes not only clones of that particular beer but also of the style and brewery. For instance, If you can figure out which yeast Lost coast uses for this style, you may have nailed it down for that beer. Also, a lot of recipes are similar in the malts they use. The yeast, hops, brewing and fermenting methods are what really change the beer.
LCB doesn't release much information regarding this beer but here is what I could find.
"A Crisp beer with a hint of citrus, made with two-row malted barley, unmalted wheat, a secret blend of Humboldt herbs, crystal clear mountain water and ale yeast."
http://www.lostcoast.com/beer_greatwhite.php
So now you know there is 2 row which is your base malt, you will also be including wheat. Now look up percentages of wheat to 2 row in other recipes... The citrus can very well come from the hops. Maybe cascade, centennial, amarillo or citra. This comes back to knowing your hops which will come from creating recipes. You may already know a few if you knew which hops came with the kits you've been brewing. For the herbs sounds like they are using marijuana! JK. Use your taste buds to figure out what you think they may be using. Maybe coriander or orange peel? These are common in wit biers. You might also look at beer advocate to see what flavors others are tasting...you might see a correlation.
Let me know what you come up with and ill see if I can help. Again try brewtoad.com. Make an account and link me what you came up with. I can take your recipe and alter it and link it back to you. This way you will have the original and what I think.
http://www.brewtoad.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search=great+white
Brewtoad is a great tool for making recipes.
Since you don't know your ingredients this should be interesting. You may want to brew a simple recipe to start learning the difference between base malts and specialty malts and about various hops. Search each malt/hop/yeast/etc and you will find information regarding how its used and in what percentages. A good start as mentioned is to look at similar recipes not only clones of that particular beer but also of the style and brewery. For instance, If you can figure out which yeast Lost coast uses for this style, you may have nailed it down for that beer. Also, a lot of recipes are similar in the malts they use. The yeast, hops, brewing and fermenting methods are what really change the beer.
LCB doesn't release much information regarding this beer but here is what I could find.
"A Crisp beer with a hint of citrus, made with two-row malted barley, unmalted wheat, a secret blend of Humboldt herbs, crystal clear mountain water and ale yeast."
http://www.lostcoast.com/beer_greatwhite.php
So now you know there is 2 row which is your base malt, you will also be including wheat. Now look up percentages of wheat to 2 row in other recipes... The citrus can very well come from the hops. Maybe cascade, centennial, amarillo or citra. This comes back to knowing your hops which will come from creating recipes. You may already know a few if you knew which hops came with the kits you've been brewing. For the herbs sounds like they are using marijuana! JK. Use your taste buds to figure out what you think they may be using. Maybe coriander or orange peel? These are common in wit biers. You might also look at beer advocate to see what flavors others are tasting...you might see a correlation.
Let me know what you come up with and ill see if I can help. Again try brewtoad.com. Make an account and link me what you came up with. I can take your recipe and alter it and link it back to you. This way you will have the original and what I think.
alane1
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Breweries websites usually have a wealth of information about their beers, I'd start with that
aeviaanah
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aeviaanah
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http://www.beermonthclub.com/lost-coast-brewery-great-white.htm
This source mentions hops used are Liberty.
This source mentions hops used are Liberty.
Actually you may not be far off. What if they're using hemp oil? Is that an option? Is that too far-fetched?
Or maybe even hemp seeds?
Here's what I came up with. Mostly guess work and taking bits and pieces from multiple recipes. Maybe its a start???
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/lcb-great-white-clone
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/lcb-great-white-clone
aeviaanah
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Your taking the same path I took first batch was all grain kit and second was my own recipe. I've been doing my own recipes since with a few kits here and there.kyleaubu said:I guess I should also mention that I just built my mash tun so this will also be my very first all grain brew. Talk about diving in head first huh?
Not sure if hemp oil is wise as I think oils are detrimental in beer I think it wrecks your head retention or something like that. I doubt they use hemp tho.
I'll take a look at your recipe tomorrow. I looked at it and noticed a hop other than liberty where'd u come up with this? I'll look into it deeper tomorrow.
I just looked up a simple Witbier recipe on Beersmith and thats where the Goldings hops came from. I dont know, just threw some in there. Lol like I said, most of that was just guess work.
aeviaanah
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Your SRM and IBU seems spot on. A few clones have the IBU at 20 range tho. I think your conservative 14 should be fine. Can you pick up any hop aroma or bitterness in the beer? If aroma is present think about a later hop addition something around 10 or 5 minutes. It will probably be hard with all the spices and stuff.
Did you see this version 2 of a great white clone? He is using chamomile, do you pick up any chamomile flavors in the beer?
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/great-white-clone-2
Also, the writeup mentioned the use of candied lemon peel, never heard of that but you may look into it. You may think about changing the bitter orange peel to sweet orange peel. Not sure if you want that bitter orange to come through too much, the reviews at beer advocate say its not too prominent of a flavor. Really do your research on spices and additives as too much can really throw the beer off. I would er on the side of caution.
Your wheat to 2row percentages look fine. Not sure about the flaked wheat and the malted wheat. Did you research the difference? Also, have you brewed a beer with this much wheat in it? Ive heard of people getting a stuck mash so they add rice hulls. Ive never had a problem but its worth looking into in advance.
Ill be picking up beer today. If i see great white ill pick up a 6pack
Did you see this version 2 of a great white clone? He is using chamomile, do you pick up any chamomile flavors in the beer?
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/great-white-clone-2
Also, the writeup mentioned the use of candied lemon peel, never heard of that but you may look into it. You may think about changing the bitter orange peel to sweet orange peel. Not sure if you want that bitter orange to come through too much, the reviews at beer advocate say its not too prominent of a flavor. Really do your research on spices and additives as too much can really throw the beer off. I would er on the side of caution.
Your wheat to 2row percentages look fine. Not sure about the flaked wheat and the malted wheat. Did you research the difference? Also, have you brewed a beer with this much wheat in it? Ive heard of people getting a stuck mash so they add rice hulls. Ive never had a problem but its worth looking into in advance.
Ill be picking up beer today. If i see great white ill pick up a 6pack
I wish I weren't sick right now! I cant smell ANYTHING and I'm taking meds with which I can't consume any alcohol. This may have to wait until my sniffer is working properly again to really pick this beer apart. If you do pick some up, please let me know what you think. I see you're in CA so it shouldn't be hard to find. It's everywhere around there. I lived in Sacramento up until a year ago. Its a little harder to find out here in NV.
This may have to wait until my sniffer is working properly again to really pick this beer apart. If you do pick some up, please let me know what you think. I see you're in CA so it shouldn't be hard to find. It's everywhere around there. I lived in Sacramento up until a year ago. Its a little harder to find out here in NV.
aeviaanah
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I wish I weren't sick right now! I cant smell ANYTHING and I'm taking meds with which I can't consume any alcohol.
I just got a 6pack ill give it a drink in a few!
aeviaanah
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I cant detect the hops. Id keep it liberty at 60 or 45 for the desired IBU.
Ok so I did a little more reading and made a few changes. This is what I've come up with. http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/lcb-great-white-clone I think this is where im going to start and see how it turns out. Hell, even if it isn't a "Great White" maybe it'll turn out to be something awesome anyway! Lol Unfortunately it'll be a couple months before I'll have the means to start this batch
I'm up in the air on the corn right now. I very well may do one with corn and one without. I'll most definitely keep you up to date on how this goes and I could send a bottle or two your way. I really appreciate the help and advice!
aeviaanah
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I didn't get a chance to check your spice levels. Did u research this thoroughly?kyleaubu said:I'm up in the air on the corn right now. I very well may do one with corn and one without. I'll most definitely keep you up to date on how this goes and I could send a bottle or two your way. I really appreciate the help and advice!
I looked at all the other clones and they are all kind of all over the place when it comes to the spices. I tried to base my spice levels more on the reviews on beer advocate. And also took your advice and switched the bitter orange peels for sweet orange peels. None of the beers I've brewed thus far have really had any spices. So I have no personal experience with any of these. I tried to keep them on the light side compared to what others are using just to avoid them being overpowering. Or are you suggesting that I research the use of each spice in general individually?
aeviaanah
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yes research each spice individually. this way your sure. like i said i didnt taste much of the coriander and orange/lemon. it was there but it was pretty hidden.
when you go to drink your clone. be sure you have a great white on hand and have someone do a blind test. make sure its the very first carbonated drink tho!
Looks like I have more reading to do.
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