Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone

[Balloonknot]

So I decided to take a crack at making a recipe to clone Sierra Nevada Pale ale, perhaps improve upon it. I used Brewersfriend.com to do the calculations for water, water chemistry, grain bill, hop additions, etc.

I wanted a lighter color beer so I seeked a grain bill that will give me <8.0 SRM, Targeted 7.5 SRM. This ended up working out as a ~91% pale 2-row, 9% Crystal 40-L grain bill.

Hops I took from the Sierra Nevada website as well as the target IBU.
http://www.sierranevada.com/beer/year-round/pale-ale

Sierra Nevada Boils Magnum and Perle hops for 60 minutes. I tweaked this because I wanted to add more Cascade hops at the finishing stage but didnt want to increase my IBUs past 38. I moved Perle to 30 minute boil. The IBU additions are balanced across the boil as best I could (I dont think it matters, but limits my margin of error for accidentally increasing IBUs too much).

Target ABV is 5.60%, I shot for a post boil gravity of 1.053 @70% efficiency. Actually got a 1.051.

For yeast, I got lazy. I just bought dry packs of Safale US-05. Ive never had problems with dry yeast with kits so I was okay with it. Last few batches ive done have been liquid yeast and starters.

I bought a 12 pack of Sierra nevada Pale ale for the parents and parents-in-laws to get an idea of what our goal is and maybe improve upon it. It was educational for them . Fermentation is going strong now, and I will be dry hopping with 3 oz of Cascade hops at the secondary stage.

I used Fly-sparging technique and cooled using an immersion wort chiller.

My recipe.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/254642/joe-s-sierra-nevada-pale-ale-clone

Here was my setup

 

[dmashl]

Sounds like my recipe I use 10 lbs 2 row and 1.25 40L, .5oz magnum at 60, 1 oz perle at 30, 1 oz cascade at 15, 1 oz cascade at flameout, no dry hop. US-05 yeast. Ferment for 3 weeks. Tastes great every time. 5 gallon recipe.

 

[Balloonknot]

awesome, that sounds promising for me then! Cant wait till its ready

 

[dkevinb]

This is very close to my recipe. I add a little Carapils to the grain bill, and I often use just Magnum for bittering if I don't have any Perle. US-05 is the perfect yeast for this, IMHO. This makes an outstanding APA. I'll make this same beer over and over again, just changing the flavor, aroma and dry hops. Cascade is wonderful, of course, and so are Citra, Amarillo, Mosaic, Falconer's Flight, Nelson Sauvin... I think that's all I've tried, so far. You're going to like this one.

 

[Balloonknot]

I ended up purchasing another 2 oz of the cascade for dryhopping. 3 oz for 10 gal is alittle low after doing some research.

 

[d_boosh]

I have done 3 attempts at a Sierra Nevada clone between April and now. First one was spot on OG with around 10lbs of 2 row and 1lb of 40L, the second was low and the third I bumped up the 2row a little to compensate for my efficiency and the OG was much better. I targeted around 1.053 I think hit it spot on the first time and the second was only a 1.046 I think.

The first was really good and its already gone the second just went into bottles a few days ago and the third is 4 days into primary.

I have dubbed my creation "Sierra Not Badda". I think you will enjoy yours. Its fast become my go to brew. Very drinkable.

 

[Balloonknot]

Ive added my hops to the secondary and started the dryhop clock. The primary was surprisingly not done after 7 days and seeing the airlock motionless for a whole day... The yeast was very well in suspension and the krousen was still there maybe an inch thick. Being that the gravity reading I took came out as 1.005-1.006 I assumed it was practically done just strange it was stuck in a suspended state. I moved the beer into my carboys. Dry hopped by adding the pellets to the carboys first and pouring the beer directly on top. did a taste test. Very good so far although a bit yeasty lol.

In the secondary, the airlock started moving again which is good to me, it can push the air out of the carboys. Now Im just waiting for all the yeast to settle out.

The beers will sit in secondary until Friday. I am on vacation Saturday so I plan to have them in kegs and carbing by then. I may have to go buy a new keg :0 I was relying on the one I gave my dad to come back...

Friday will mark day 14 since yeast was pitched.

 

[GuitsBoy]

Sounds like my recipe I use 10 lbs 2 row and 1.25 40L, .5oz magnum at 60, 1 oz perle at 30, 1 oz cascade at 15, 1 oz cascade at flameout, no dry hop. US-05 yeast. Ferment for 3 weeks. Tastes great every time. 5 gallon recipe.

I think I'm gonna give this recipe a shot, since I'm in need of an easy to drink, and easy to produce APA. What are your feelings about substituting cluster for perle, since I still have nearly 2lb of cluster on hand?

 

[dmashl]

According to Hopunion, Cluster has a Strong Floral and Spicy Characteristics, and Perle has Slightly spicy with floral characteristics. I'd give it a shot.

 

[brew703]

Ive added my hops to the secondary and started the dryhop clock. The primary was surprisingly not done after 7 days and seeing the airlock motionless for a whole day... The yeast was very well in suspension and the krousen was still there maybe an inch thick. Being that the gravity reading I took came out as 1.005-1.006 I assumed it was practically done just strange it was stuck in a suspended state. I moved the beer into my carboys. Dry hopped by adding the pellets to the carboys first and pouring the beer directly on top. did a taste test. Very good so far although a bit yeasty lol.

In the secondary, the airlock started moving again which is good to me, it can push the air out of the carboys. Now Im just waiting for all the yeast to settle out.

The beers will sit in secondary until Friday. I am on vacation Saturday so I plan to have them in kegs and carbing by then. I may have to go buy a new keg :0 I was relying on the one I gave my dad to come back...

Friday will mark day 14 since yeast was pitched.

C'mon man, no update? SNPA is one of my favorite APA's. I brewed a clone that the LHBS suggested. It was ok but not close. Way short on the IBU's and the taste was not right.
I have a couple clone SNPA's recipes I am thinking about and this is one. So give updates.

 

[Balloonknot]

Well I gave a 5 gal batch to my dad. He already drank it all lol. It's pretty good. If I had to do it again, I would add the hops at flame out instead of dryhopping. Dryhopping took over all the hop flavor. It's delicious but wasn't actually the goal I was trying to achieve

 

[Johow]

Well I gave a 5 gal batch to my dad. He already drank it all lol. It's pretty good. If I had to do it again, I would add the hops at flame out instead of dryhopping. Dryhopping took over all the hop flavor. It's delicious but wasn't actually the goal I was trying to achieve

I think I would agree with that, I don't think dry hopping will get you where you were looking to go.

 

[GuitsBoy]

According to Hopunion, Cluster has a Strong Floral and Spicy Characteristics, and Perle has Slightly spicy with floral characteristics. I'd give it a shot.

Gave this a shot last month with the cluster, and while its hard to put my finger on the exact discrepency, its miles apart from SNPA. Ill have to try this again with the proper perle hops.

 

[pdog44450]

Just bottled a SNPA on friday. Can't wait to try it

 

[Rodrigoslr]

Any more thoughts on this recipe? As far as I understood, no dryhopping right?

 

[jmitchell3]

Did 3 batches last year cause I love this beer. Took batch 1 to our local homebrew club meeting and our local SN rep was there, so I asked him to taste it and give some feedback and gave him my recipe. He told me 2 row, c60 (not c40), bitter with literally whatever, finish with 100% cascade, no dry hop. Batch 3 I used this as guidelines, shoot for mid 7-8 SRM (about 6% C60), bittered with magnum and finished with 1 oz cascade at 15 and 1 oz at flameout (target 38 IBU). OG 1.054-1.056 or so, and Cal Ale (us05 or 1056 or 001). Ferment cold if you can, 60-64F. I've heard sierra ferments with cal ale around 60-62F. As for water, just use a typical pale ale profile (low mg, na, 300ppm so4 and 50-80ppm chloride). You should come out with something pretty darn close to the commercial version, but fresher!

 

[Rodrigoslr]

Did 3 batches last year cause I love this beer. Took batch 1 to our local homebrew club meeting and our local SN rep was there, so I asked him to taste it and give some feedback and gave him my recipe. He told me 2 row, c60 (not c40), bitter with literally whatever, finish with 100% cascade, no dry hop. Batch 3 I used this as guidelines, shoot for mid 7-8 SRM (about 6% C60), bittered with magnum and finished with 1 oz cascade at 15 and 1 oz at flameout (target 38 IBU). OG 1.054-1.056 or so, and Cal Ale (us05 or 1056 or 001). Ferment cold if you can, 60-64F. I've heard sierra ferments with cal ale around 60-62F. As for water, just use a typical pale ale profile (low mg, na, 300ppm so4 and 50-80ppm chloride). You should come out with something pretty darn close to the commercial version, but fresher!

Jeremy,

That's a great! How did your batch 3 turn out? No Perle? What are your thoughts on swapping c40 for c60, I was going for c40 Since most of the threads Ive read, people say to use c40.

 

[jmitchell3]

The rep said they use whatever spare hops are on hand to bitter and finish with all cascade. They use c60, not c40. I thought c40 as well (batch 1) but when I have a sierra rep giving me recipe tips ill tend to go with that over any forum thread . My buddy is in the industry and in a blind test picked my batch 3 over the real one. Id start with this recipe and tweak from there as you see fit. You wont be disappointed!

 

[jmitchell3]

Jeremy,



That's a great! How did your batch 3 turn out? No Perle? What are your thoughts on swapping c40 for c60, I was going for c40 Since most of the threads Ive read, people say to use c40.

In addition, here's why it is c60:

This is my batch 1 with c40. Color is pretty well dead on...can you tell which is mine? The one on the left is mine...if you notice the head color is an off white, almost soapy while the head color on the right (the real SNPA) is slightly light tan in color.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1462939401.898674.jpg

Here is batch 3 with c60. Same beer color, but the head color is that nice light tan instead of the off white. Eureka!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1462939468.838260.jpg

 

[jmitchell3]

I found another pic of batch 1 (c40) that has a better perspective on the head color, the lighting is better: View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1462955721.870541.jpg mine is left, real snpa is on the right.

 

[jimboj79]

F

 

[Rodrigoslr]

In addition, here's why it is c60:

This is my batch 1 with c40. Color is pretty well dead on...can you tell which is mine? The one on the left is mine...if you notice the head color is an off white, almost soapy while the head color on the right (the real SNPA) is slightly light tan in color.

View attachment 353916

Here is batch 3 with c60. Same beer color, but the head color is that nice light tan instead of the off white. Eureka!

View attachment 353917

Regarding the collor, you indeed nailed it on batch 3! Ill definetely follow your recipe! No doubt, your comments will help a lot of others homebrewers! Tks for that!

For a 5 gal recipe, how many 2 row malt? C60, only 6%, right?

 

[jmitchell3]

Regarding the collor, you indeed nailed it on batch 3! Ill definetely follow your recipe! No doubt, your comments will help a lot of others homebrewers! Tks for that!

For a 5 gal recipe, how many 2 row malt? C60, only 6%, right?

Its always gonna be 6% regardless of the batch size

 

[Rodrigoslr]

Its always gonna be 6% regardless of the batch size

Im thinking on going 11.5 lbs of 2 row for 5 gal, what do you think about?

 

[jmitchell3]

Sounds about right.

 

[Gravity]

Sounds like my recipe I use 10 lbs 2 row and 1.25 40L, .5oz magnum at 60, 1 oz perle at 30, 1 oz cascade at 15, 1 oz cascade at flameout, no dry hop. US-05 yeast. Ferment for 3 weeks. Tastes great every time. 5 gallon recipe.

If you look at SN's website, they moved to all Cascade:

Whole Cone Hops
Cascade 0.5 oz. 90 minutes
Cascade 0.75 oz. 60 minutes
Cascade 2 oz. 30 minutes
Cascade 2 oz. 0 minutes

Anybody brew both versions? The one with Magnum and Perle vs cascade?
If so any thoughts?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Anybody brew both versions? The one with Magnum and Perle vs cascade? If so any thoughts?

Not side-by-side, but over time. I liked both (just be aware that I'm OK with crystal malts in my APAs/IPAs). I like single hop Cascade beers. I also find that Perle adds some enjoyable 'complexity' to the beer.

Some additional notes on SNPA clone recipes:

• The book Microbrewed Adventures has a clone recipe for SNPA (from the 1980s) that uses Cluster, Cascade, and Tettnanger (option to substitute Santiam for Tettnanger). 4.5% ABV, ~ 40 IBUs. Haven't brewed it (yet).
  
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/ab8jmc/sierra_nevada_pale_ale_clone_advise/
  
• https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=31455.0 (started in 2018)
  
• https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=2839.0 (started in 2010)

 

[Gravity]

I was thinking of

Not side-by-side, but over time. I liked both (just be aware that I'm OK with crystal malts in my APAs/IPAs). I like single hop Cascade beers. I also find that Perle adds some enjoyable 'complexity' to the beer.

Some additional notes on SNPA clone recipes:

• The book Microbrewed Adventures has a clone recipe for SNPA (from the 1980s) that uses Cluster, Cascade, and Tettnanger (option to substitute Santiam for Tettnanger). 4.5% ABV, ~ 40 IBUs. Haven't brewed it (yet).
  
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/ab8jmc/sierra_nevada_pale_ale_clone_advise/
  
• https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=31455.0 (started in 2018)
  
• https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=2839.0 (started in 2010)

I was thinking of trying this, its from the last link

11.5 lb Pale Malt (2-Row)
1 lb Crystal 60
0.5 oz Magnum (13.6% alpha, 60 min)
0.5 oz Perle (7.7% alpha, 30 min)
1 oz Cascade (5.8% alpha, 10 min)
2 oz Cascade (5.8% alpha, flameout)
US-05

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I was thinking of trying this, its from the last link

11.5 lb Pale Malt (2-Row)
1 lb Crystal 60
0.5 oz Magnum (13.6% alpha, 60 min)
0.5 oz Perle (7.7% alpha, 30 min)
1 oz Cascade (5.8% alpha, 10 min)
2 oz Cascade (5.8% alpha, flameout)
US-05

I'm tasting a good beer while reading this recipe. Definitely a good starting point for "dialing it in" for your taste or to try to match SNPA.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I have the following beer on tap and recently did a side by side with SNPA and it is very close. The color is identical. I felt mine had a little fresher hop aroma, but likely just because the SNPA was bottled 2 months ago. It is the beer currently in my profile pic.

• 9 lb 2 Row Pale Malt
• 1 lb Crystal 40
• 1 oz Centennial, Pellets 8.4% FWH 60 min
• 1 oz Cascade, Pellets 6.9% Boil 20 min
• 1 oz Cascade, Pellets 6.9% Flame Out 0 min
• 1 oz Cascade, Pellets 6.9% Dry Hop 3 days
• WPL001 – California Ale
• Mash at 152 F
• OG: 1.053, FG: 1.012, ABV: 5.4%
• Efficiency: 76%

I have brewed a very similar beer maybe a dozen times. This is the first using Crystal 40 over 60. I used to use 3 oz of Cascade (60, 20, 0) but at some point I threw in another oz for dry hops, and sometimes throw in a different bitter hop.

Here is a pic I took a while back. Mine is on the left. My beer has cleared up some since the picture, so I expect they would be hard to tell apart now.