I guess I'm way behind on updating this thing.. Back in early November I brewed a clone of Bell's 2 Hearted Ale, which was one of the beers I came home with after GABF. I only made it back with 2 bottles, but that was enough to fall in love with the beautiful balance of that IPA. It didn't take long for me to try my hand at a clone.
I started with a recipe from Homebrewtalk, scaled it to 12 gallons, and then increased the pale malt in anticipation of a lower efficiency. I ended up with...
Recipe:
Batch Size: 12 Gallons
Planned OG:1.062 (Actual = 1.062)
Planned IBU: 50
Planned Efficiency: 68% (stopped sparge >1 gallon early to prevent overshooting)
FG: 1.014 (Actual = 1.015)
Grain:
24# Pale Malt
4# 6oz Vienna
1# 2oz CaraPils
1# 2oz Crystal 20
Hops:
2.0 oz Centennial @ 60min
2.0 oz Centennial @ 15min
2.0 oz Centennial @ 5min
2.0 oz Centennial @ 0min (10 minute stand at 180*F)
2.0 oz Centennial Dry Hops (whole cone - boil hops were pellets)
Extras:
Irish moss @ 15
Yeast Nutrient (Diammonium Phosphate) @ 15
Yeast:
Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II)
Water:
Target Profile (ppm):
I started with a recipe from Homebrewtalk, scaled it to 12 gallons, and then increased the pale malt in anticipation of a lower efficiency. I ended up with...
Recipe:
Batch Size: 12 Gallons
Planned OG:1.062 (Actual = 1.062)
Planned IBU: 50
Planned Efficiency: 68% (stopped sparge >1 gallon early to prevent overshooting)
FG: 1.014 (Actual = 1.015)
Grain:
24# Pale Malt
4# 6oz Vienna
1# 2oz CaraPils
1# 2oz Crystal 20
Hops:
2.0 oz Centennial @ 60min
2.0 oz Centennial @ 15min
2.0 oz Centennial @ 5min
2.0 oz Centennial @ 0min (10 minute stand at 180*F)
2.0 oz Centennial Dry Hops (whole cone - boil hops were pellets)
Extras:
Irish moss @ 15
Yeast Nutrient (Diammonium Phosphate) @ 15
Yeast:
Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II)
Water:
Target Profile (ppm):
Salt Additions (gram/gallon):
A few days ahead of brew day I tried to whip up a starter - this was the beer my first flask cracked on. I was able to move the wort from the flask to a kettle and finished the boil, but without the flask I didn't have anything to ferment the starter out in. I ended up tossing the yeast straight into the 7.5 gallon kettle anyway and letting the starter ferment out with the lid on. But given the trouble I'd been having with infections I decided on brew-day to run out and buy two new fresh packs and pitched those.
Brew day went much more smoothly. Mashed at 152* (pH of 5.2) for 60 minutes. Boiled for 60 minutes with the first 3 hop additions as above before cooling to 180 and adding the flame-out hops for a 10 minute hop stand. I split the batch into two fermenters and fermented at 63. After 9 days I added 1oz whole cone hops to each fermenter and slowly ramped the temp down to 35 over 4 days - I had originally planned to dry hop for 7 days, but I rushed them a bit to be able to deliver one of the kegs to my buddy as a gift/celebration following the birth of his baby girl.
Brew day went much more smoothly. Mashed at 152* (pH of 5.2) for 60 minutes. Boiled for 60 minutes with the first 3 hop additions as above before cooling to 180 and adding the flame-out hops for a 10 minute hop stand. I split the batch into two fermenters and fermented at 63. After 9 days I added 1oz whole cone hops to each fermenter and slowly ramped the temp down to 35 over 4 days - I had originally planned to dry hop for 7 days, but I rushed them a bit to be able to deliver one of the kegs to my buddy as a gift/celebration following the birth of his baby girl.
Taste:
So how did it turn out? Pretty darn good! The keg actually only lasted about 2 weeks after some friends found out about it (I think we drank about 1/2 of it in one night). Was it a clone? No way. The biggest difference for me was the bitterness. Mine was too aggressive and distracting. On top of that, the wonderful centennial aroma from the dry hop addition faded rather quickly - it was noticeably diminished after only 10 days on tap. The beauty of 2 hearted is the balance of hops and malt. The malt portion of my version was tasty, but the hops need work. Next round (which is actually scheduled for 2 weeks from now) will have a reduced bittering hop addition (probably a full wort hop) targeting IBUs in the lower 40s and will leave more time for a full dry hopping. I have no plans to change the malt other than reducing the pale malt to keep the same OG with a slightly higher efficiency. Wish me luck!
So how did it turn out? Pretty darn good! The keg actually only lasted about 2 weeks after some friends found out about it (I think we drank about 1/2 of it in one night). Was it a clone? No way. The biggest difference for me was the bitterness. Mine was too aggressive and distracting. On top of that, the wonderful centennial aroma from the dry hop addition faded rather quickly - it was noticeably diminished after only 10 days on tap. The beauty of 2 hearted is the balance of hops and malt. The malt portion of my version was tasty, but the hops need work. Next round (which is actually scheduled for 2 weeks from now) will have a reduced bittering hop addition (probably a full wort hop) targeting IBUs in the lower 40s and will leave more time for a full dry hopping. I have no plans to change the malt other than reducing the pale malt to keep the same OG with a slightly higher efficiency. Wish me luck!