So, HBT. Can you help me put together a Bell's Oberon Clone from these brewer tips?

[Elshupacabra]

So, I'm live in Michigan and I love Bell's Oberon. After recently getting into the homebrewing game, my first thought was to emulate one of my favorite beers.

So I sent Bell's an e-mail and asked for some tips...

Here is what they responded with:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying the Oberon Ale. There are certain things about our recipes that we keep close to the vest, but I can offer some guidance. The malt bill is relatively straightforward: stick with 2-row base malt and a decent portion of wheat, something in the 40-50% range. Wheat can stick a lauter, so use as much of that range as you can within the limitations of your lauter tun; adding rice hulls can help improve the flow. If you are going the malt extract route, there are manufacturers that offer various wheat/barley malt extract blends that will work just fine. A touch of caramel malt will be all the color you need usually. Aim for a target original gravity of around 1.056 and moderate fermentability. The ABV should be just below 6%.

Oberon uses several hops, but the signature varietals are Hersbrucker & Saaz. Target roughly 30 IBUs. Don’t be lured into using coriander or orange peel: Oberon is spice-free.

You can culture yeast out of one of our bottles if you're comfortable with that; it's certainly the preferred option for a solid flavor match. Otherwise, the local homebrew supply shops around here have found that most people looking to clone one of our recipes lean towards ale strains with a straightforward ester profile & good attenuation.

I hope this answers your questions. Good luck with the brewing!

Sincerely,

Gary S. Nicholas
Bell's Brewery, Inc.
8938 Krum Avenue
Galesburg, MI 49053

So, I did some searching around here and found that this has been tried before with some overall positive results...

I know this is an older thread, but I believe I've just perfected the Oberon Recipe. I did some side by side tastings and after my fourth batch I believe I have it.

FIRST Problem with all these formulas was the nose, Oberon's citrusy nose is super evident. I found that it takes almost 3 oz of Hops, to fix this.

SECOND Problem was the carmel and complexity. that took me a while to fix - finally, I found it: Decoction. I have been on a decoction kick for a while and decided that this could be a candidate.

Here's my final recipe:

6lbs American 2 row
4lbs American White wheat
.5lbs Carapils

1oz Saaz 30min (leaf)
1oz Saaz 15min (leaf)
.5oz Saaz and 1oz Cascade in secondary (dry hopped for 14 days) (leaf)

Start in at 133F for 15 minutes
Decoc 12 pints of mash (adjust this for your system)
155F for 60minutes
mash out.

My first recipe wasn't as close to the original but I knew I was on to something. I used Wyeast 1010 (VERY CLOSE) but not exact. I then decided to harvest some Bell's yest from a bottle. - that's when it became perfect.

I started my fifth batch of this recipe this weekend, I am on the second generation of this particular strain of yeast, I assume it will turn out okay, but I don't know how many generations that yeast was used at bells, so....

OG 1.059
FG 1.014-016

I have only bottled this beer, I am going to keg this final batch and see how she does.

So, what do you think? Cryptochronolite's recipe looks pretty close to what Gary suggested, any extra input or ideas?

 

[Bokonon]

I don't get to drink Oberon much anymore since I moved away from Michigan but I have made a couple of attempts at beers inspired by it.

My last attempt, which I never did a side by side comparison with:
42.11% 2-row
42.11% Wheat Malt
8.42% Munich malt
5.26% Crystal 15L
2.11% Caravienne
2oz Northern Brewer 8.5% AA @ 60 min
1oz Czech Saaz 4.3% AA @ 15 min
1oz Czech Saaz 4.3% AA @ flameout

That was for a 10 gal batch and I split the yeast between 2 carboys. One I used cultured Bell's yeast and the other was the New Belgium Fat Tire strain that Wyeast was distributing. Both turned out great, but the Bell's yeast was a lot closer to what I remembered it tasted like and a number of regular Oberon drinkers said it was as good or better than Oberon. At the time I made this I believe they had changed up their hops due to the hop shortage so I figured that was what made mine taste "better", but it sounds like they have gone back to their original hop varities

I made a "Ryeberon" variation of this with Rye and it turned out awesome. The spiciness of the rye malt works well with the Saaz hops.

 

[bellsbrat]

They say a touch of Carmel, I really don't see it ,so maybe 4 to 8oz of crystal20.

 

[passedpawn]

Spice free? Man, I've had a few of those and I SWEAR there was at least coriander, if not also some orange. Maybe the sweetness comes from the wheat. Maybe go with a saison yeast, ferment cold.

(interesting note: I ran into Larry Bell down here in florida while I was drinking an Oberon. Talked with him for quite a while. Nice guy, got started as a homebrewer when it wasn't ligit in MI. Wife pushed him into doing it for a living to get the brewing crap out of the basement).

 

[bellsbrat]

I would go with the culture if you can get pretty fresh bells I believe all there beers use the same yeast except , i think the Winter White Ale is different

 

[Palefire]

I've made Cryptochronolite's recipe, though without the decoction. Used WLP051. It came out fantastic. Never got a side-by-side comparison, but it tasted pretty close to what I remembered. Great beer either way.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Crypto's recipe gets you very close if you follow it well. I brew this beer pretty regularly with a few minor twists (I use an enhanced double deco) and it is a favorite.