American Pale Ale Russian River Row 2 Hill 56 Clone

[Jukas]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

California Ale Yeast

Yeast Starter

Yes

Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter

1.25L

Batch Size (Gallons)

6

Original Gravity

1.055

Final Gravity

1.010

Boiling Time (Minutes)

90

IBU

40

Color

5.1 SRM

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

10 @ 68F

Tasting Notes

Firm Hop Bitterness, Crisp Malt Backbone with biscuity notes, citrus & pine.

After quaffing large quantities of Russian River R2H56 at the brewery I set out to make a homebrew clone. Vinnie Cilurzo was a huge help and is incredibly generous with information!

This is an awesome APA, bright yellow/gold in color with firm hop bitterness, white head and lacing and massive signature Simcoe aroma - Citrus, grapefruit, pine, resin and cat piss.

After 5 revisions, I've finally settled on what I believe is the closest clone I'm going to get. In side by side tastings

Batch Information:
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 5.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 40.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7 lbs 4.3 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (1.5 SRM) Grain 1 60.5 %
3 lbs 14.4 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (2.5 SRM) Grain 2 32.4 %
13.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.1 %
0.55 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 4 23.5 IBUs
0.55 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 5 16.9 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 6 -
1.0 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 7 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast 8 -
2.00 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days Hop 9 0.0 IBUs

Mash:
60 min at 154F

Fermentation:
10 days at 68F. I've hit FG in as little as 4 days, but seem to average 6. I like to do a gravity check at 7 days and again at 10 and assuming I'm at 1.010 on both I keg.

Dry Hop:
I dry hop in the keg and have tried dry hop additions between 1.25oz - 3oz. For my personal tastes 1.75 - 2oz is the sweet spot and seemed closest to the draft R2H56 when it was hitting it's stride. For scaling the batch size up or down, note that the dry hop ratio is 0.3 - 0.5oz per gallon.

If dry hopping in primary/secondary, I'd dry hop for no longer than 7-10 days. I personally would bump the amount of dry hops by 15% and cut it down to 5 days dry hopping to try and avoid the vegetal flavor you can get when doing longer dry hop at warmer temps.

Notes:
The above recipe is designed to exactly hit the numbers Russian River delivers and what I use in my batches.

This should finish at 2.5 Plato (1.010) so I tend to use a 1.25L (if using a fresh vial) starter to overpitch just slightly as I find if I pitch the appropriate # of cells or underpitch I tend to under attenuate and only get to about 1.012. I try and pitch approximately 240-250B cells, with required being 230B (figures taken from Yeastcalc). You can also mash slight lower if you are having problems reaching FG.

When scaling volumes base malts are split 70% Pils 30% MO. Crystal 20 should makeup 8% of less of total grain bill.

I keg to 2.3 - 2.5 vol and let the beer condition for 14 days at 40F before pouring my first pint.

Here's a pint I was enjoying today (1/19/13) from my sixth batch kegged on 12/23/12. It's coming up on four weeks and the keg is at least half gone

 

[DrinkNoH2O]

Very cool, will have to try this out. Surprised they use so much Pils in the grist when none of their other hoppy beers use Pils at all.

 

[Jukas]

I too was a bit surprised by it, as I had assumed it was a 2-row pale malt base. I had actually formulated my original recipe a 60/40 split between 2-row Pale and MO with a little bit of c20 (my lhbs doesn't carry c10) and a dash of vienna malt. It was tasty but definitely wasn't 'right' so when I reached out to Vinnie he provided me the grain bill, base malt percentages and hop addition times above.

The pils malt adds a cleaner bite imho. I think using the less modified pils malt may help reach FG as well, though that's complete speculation and I have no science to back it up

I'm about to brew my sixth batch of this... I may step up to 11gal batches as I think it really hits its stride around 4 weeks in the keg, and it's usually almost gone by then

 

[inda_bebe]

Did you make any changes to your hop schedule or grain bill at all?

 

[inda_bebe]

Sorry, just saw that this was your 5th revision. Love the beer and thinking about brewing this up. Thanks for the recipe

 

[Jukas]

Did you make any changes to your hop schedule or grain bill at all?

I still mess with the recipe here and there, for example in the latest batch I brewed I cut the IBU's down to about 35 in hopes my wife would like it (she didn't).

The recipe posted above is from my master file with the intention of posting my base recipe from what I consider to be the closest clone of the true Russian River Row2 Hill 56 that I'm likely to get. My advice would be to brew it as described above at least once, then modify it as you like if desired the next time.

Next time I brew this beer it'll go in my new conical so I'll brew it exactly to it's design as I figure out the process all over again.

 

[torso]

"I keg to 2.3 - 2.5 vol"

what does this mean?

thanks

 

[droder1]

"I keg to 2.3 - 2.5 vol"

what does this mean?

thanks

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter11-4.html
http://www.brewersfriend.com/keg-carbonation-calculator/
http://www.kegerators.com/articles/carbonation-table-pressure-chart.php

 

[dpkim]

Haven't cold conditioned enough per recipe, but I am loving this beer. Had it at the brewery, it's definitely reminiscent...unfortunately unable to do a side by side. Thanks for this, will use again for sure!

 

[ThinMan]

I brewed this over the weekend. Had to make some substitutions due to what I had on hand, so we will see how it goes. My SRM and OG should be about the same and I had to use S-05. Looking forward to trying it.

 

[kerklein2]

Could you provide a little more specific info on the pils malt? I'm in Austin and use AHS and the Belgian Pils they have is listed as fully modified, but they've got a Briess pils that is listed as undermodified. Which would you go with? There's also a Pils from Rahr and a German pils.

 

[Jukas]

Could you provide a little more specific info on the pils malt? I'm in Austin and use AHS and the Belgian Pils they have is listed as fully modified, but they've got a Briess pils that is listed as undermodified. Which would you go with? There's also a Pils from Rahr and a German pils.

Since I don't do a step mash and don't have head retention issues I use a fully modified pilsner malt. Usually whichever Belgian Pils the lhbs has.

 

[richlong8020]

Has anyone tried to put this in extract form. Had it at a local pub and it was great. Would really like to make this.

 

[Jukas]

I don't normally convert recipes to extract, so hopefully someone else can chime in with something more precise.

Switching base malts to this should get you close, and switch from mashing the C20 to steeping it.

11.7 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 1 7.4 %
6 lbs 7.0 oz Pilsner Liquid Extract (3.5 SRM) Extract 2 64.9 %
2 lbs 12.1 oz Marris Ottor Liquid Extract (5 SRM) Extract 3 27.8

If you wanted to really simplify it, here's the All Grain to Extract conversion recommended by Beersmith, personally I don't think it would be the same beer without the MO.

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs 15.7 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 1 100.0 %
0.60 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 2 24.9 IBUs
0.60 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 3 17.9 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 4 -
1.15 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 5 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast 6 -
2.00 oz Simcoe [12.20 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days Hop 7 0.0 IBUs

 

[DonSmitty]

Jukas, I definitely want to try this recipe. Being on the east coast I don't have access to many RR ales. My son had some R2H56 last year while in CA and loved it. Question, when you dry hop, do you transfer from primary to secondary fermentor? Thanks...

 

[Jukas]

I almost never secondary anymore. I dry hop this, and most of my hoppy beers in the keg with a nylon hop bag. The hop bag stays in there from the time I seal up the keg after racking, until the keg kicks, though I rarely have a keg of this last longer than a month.

 

[torso]

Thank you for taking the time. I am looking forward to finally making this beer. I bought the ingredients yesterday and should be able to brew it by the weekend. I hope you don't mind I took liberty and added some dextrine. I will also be doing my fist kegging with this beer and that chart will come in very handy. I have always used 3/4 cups of sugar give or atake a couple Tablespoons depending on style. I plan on priming this with sugar and then using the CO2 for dispensing. I don't see any reason to force carb other than speed, and I am patient, plus I like the naturally carbed mouthfeel. What are you thoughts on this and do you have any recommendations?

Thanks again!

 

[Jukas]

I personally wouldn't add any maltodextrin as it's mashed high enough to retain enough body to match the commercial version, but YMMV.

I currently carb in the keg with co2 by setting it to serving pressure (12psi for my system) and leaving it alone on the gas for 2 weeks. I've personally never noticed any mouthfeel difference in the same beer carbed to equal volumes 'bottle conditioned' vs 'keg force carbed' but I've only tried it once with a large batch of an IPA. I do notice a significant difference in high pressure force carbing (30psi for 24hrs then vent & reset to serving pressure) if I try and drink it immediately. I've wondered if it was larger bubbles due to the beer not being fully carbonated and not all of the co2 being in solution, but I never bothered to test it further. Now I just keg, put it on gas and purge a few times then leave it alone for two weeks.

The next time I brew my R2H56 clone I'll do so in my conical with a spunding valve so I'll have the beer fully (or almost fully) carbed by the time I rack to the keg. It'll be interesting to see which parts of my process require adjustment and how the beer tastes when it's greener.

 

[geer537]

I brewed up a batch yesterday and everything went great. The only hiccup was that I had too much volume. I scaled it up to 12 gallons and ended at 13. I figured I had lost about 4 points to that extra gallon and added a lb of DME towards the end of the boil with out testing the wort first. Either my math was way wrong (and someone should correct me so I learn from my mistakes) or my efficency was excellent because my OG was 1.064.

So my clone isn't really much of a clone anymore but I am wondering if I should add more Simcoe to the Dry hop to make up for the extra gravity points and how much. Any reccomendations?

 

[Jukas]

Hrnm. If you really hit 1.064OG you're going to be pushing 6.9 - 7.2% depending on how well you attenuate which puts you more in the IPA range but only slightly hoppy. You can increase dry hopping a bit for more aroma and some flavor, but your bittering isn't going to change at this point. That's going to put this as a slightly hoppy beer. I dry hop at the rate of .33 - .5oz per gal (2-3oz for a 6 gal batch) which would push it to a 4.3 - 6.5oz dry hop for a 13gal batch, I'd probably push it to the high side.

 

[geer537]

Thanks for the advice! I was worried it would be too malty for my liking but I'll add slightly more and taste it. I can't imagine it'll be undrinkable but if it is, I guess I can always make a hop tea.

I'll probably go with a 6 oz dry hop. I usually layer 2 oz dry hop 3-5 days apart for my house IPA. I might give your .5oz per gal a try on my next few IPA's. Thanks again

 

[Jukas]

Thanks for the advice! I was worried it would be too malty for my liking but I'll add slightly more and taste it. I can't imagine it'll be undrinkable but if it is, I guess I can always make a hop tea.

I've made it before with as little as .5 IBU / Gravity point (30 IBU to .060) and while there was more malt, it was never too malty. Hopefully yours will still turn out enjoyable.

I'll probably go with a 6 oz dry hop. I usually layer 2 oz dry hop 3-5 days apart for my house IPA. I might give your .5oz per gal a try on my next few IPA's. Thanks again

I typically do .3oz/gal dry hop with this beer to stretch my Simcoe, but I've never complained about .5oz/gal other than it started to feel more like an highly hopped IPA. I single dry hop this beer, but do stagger dry hop my IPA's.

 

[richlong8020]

So I'm trying to figure this out.

I can get
6 lbs of pilsner DME
11 oz of Crystal 20
3 lbs of Marris Ottor

90 min boil
Hop additions
Whirlfloc

And it will be R2H56?

 

[richlong8020]

Actually I just read some research. It says to convert to DME/LME and the mash/steep grains stay the same. I can't wait to try this now that I finally had a starting point.

Thx again

 

[hopstupid]

Thanks for sharing I have to brew this one such a great beer and hard to find regularly down in so cal.

 

[Tahoestarr]

Never put "cat piss" to the flavor of simcoe...but now that you mention it I can smell it in there.

Am I weird for liking cat piss in my beer now?

 

[Jukas]

Never put "cat piss" to the flavor of simcoe...but now that you mention it I can smell it in there.

Am I weird for liking cat piss in my beer now?

Haha, yeah, someone else did that to me too.. once I put that label to the astringent part of the aroma, I smell it every time

 

[neckbeardbeer]

Brewing my third batch today. I need to start doing 10 gallon batches of this. It disappears super quick (growlers come back from friends the next day...).

 

[Jukas]

Brewing my third batch today. I need to start doing 10 gallon batches of this. It disappears super quick (growlers come back from friends the next day...).

Glad you like it. It's probably my most frequently brewed beer and never lasts long.

 

[dpkim]

I've now made 50g of this beer. Ordered 3 lbs of Simcoe to keep it on. I will second (third?)that it's really popular and goes quickly every time. I have three taps, this always blows first. Brewing at least 5g every other brew day. Usually 10.

Thanks for the recipe.

 

[ricardo]

Can I ask if you are using a specific water profile and also if you do a mash out?

 

[Jukas]

I rarely do a mash out a straight ale these days, cause lazy. I will do one if I'm expecting a thicker mash from a big beer, or am brewing a beer with wheat or oatmeal though. Since I live in Santa Rosa I'm lucky enough to share the same water profile that RRBC does. All I do to it is add some Campden tablets for the Chloramine and a little gypsum.

 

[ricardo]

Thanks for the reply,

I was lucky enough to try this beer on a trip to San Diego last year and am going to attempt your recipe this weekend

I live in Sydney and have very soft water so will need to make additions. I have so far managed to track down the water profile for RR Pliny the Elder which is

CA - 76
MG - 13
NA - 9
HC03 - 26
SO4 - 133
CL - 56

Would this be roughly what you use? The reason i ask is that i'm not sure if they would alter the profile per style

 

[Jukas]

Here is the latest published water quality report for the city of Santa Rosa so you can get a baseline of our water profile.

http://srcity.org/doclib/Documents/2012ConsumerConfidenceReport_Online.pdf

I remember Vinnie saying they pretty much just use the local SR water. A quick web search turned up this page http://www.brew-monkey.com/articles/interview.php?id=16 where you can find the following quote. Keep in mind this is dated back in 2007 so it's possible they've changed since then.

Do you adjust the water (use water modifiers) for the different styles or just go with the local water source? What is your water profile like?

We pretty much just use local water with the chlorine removed. I add gypsum to some of the hoppy beers.

 

[dishdoc]

Hi. I just joined and want to make this beer but I have a question about the dry hoping. Do you dry hop for 10 days @ 68F and then condition for 14 and just leave the hops in the whole time?
Thanks.

 

[kagythings]

Hi. I just joined and want to make this beer but I have a question about the dry hoping. Do you dry hop for 10 days @ 68F and then condition for 14 and just leave the hops in the whole time?
Thanks.

The first 10 days allows the yeast to work their magic and there is no addition of hops at this stage. After fermentation is complete you may dry hop according to what your plan is: keg or bottle. The quantity of hops and duration of dry hopping is stated in the original post for reference since it's a bit different between bottling and keging.

 

[Jukas]

Hi. I just joined and want to make this beer but I have a question about the dry hoping. Do you dry hop for 10 days @ 68F and then condition for 14 and just leave the hops in the whole time?
Thanks.

I dry hop in the keg, and leave them in until the keg kicks. If you plan on bottling that of course wouldn't be practical. In that case I personally would up the volume of the dry hop addition, but dry hop for no longer than 4-6 days. My own unscientific testing has shown that I much prefer a higher qty of hops for a much shorter time in a dry hop when doing so in primary, than a smaller quantity with a longer contact time.

 

[dishdoc]

Thanks for the reply, but I guess my question really should have been...When you dry hop in the keg for 10 days after fermenting for 10 days, do you do it at room temp or in the fridge while carbing/conditioning?

Thanks.
I'm making this right now!

 

[Jukas]

Thanks for the reply, but I guess my question really should have been...When you dry hop in the keg for 10 days after fermenting for 10 days, do you do it at room temp or in the fridge while carbing/conditioning?

Thanks.
I'm making this right now!

I toss the hop bag in the keg right before I rack the beer and the dry hop additions stay in the keg, at serving temps until the keg is empty. The ten days referenced in the original post was for the initial fermentation and to allow for the yeast to clean up after themselves.

 

[dishdoc]

So when you say dry hop 2 oz Simcoe 10 days, that means after the 10 day fermentation not dry hop for 10 days. I got it. Thanks