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| Tröeg's Hopback Amber Ale: The Replicator |
| by Steve Bader |
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| A clone recipe of this hophead fan favorite. |
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 Dear Replicator,
A few months ago (when I was low on homebrew), I went to the closest “real” beer store and found the most wonderful brew — Tröegs HopBack Amber Ale. One taste and any hophead will fall in love. I’d love to try my own hand at a brew this full of hop flavor. I have gathered some data from Tröegs’ Website, but would like any other insight you may have. Lastly, according to their Website, this beer is only available within a three hour drive of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A good replicator recipe would let many more curious homebrewers enjoy this jewel of a brew.
Scott Flieg
Stafford, Virginia
The Replicator responds: I talked to founder & brewer John Trogner about their HopBack Amber, and what makes it so popular. The use of a hopback is how Tröegs gets the full hop flavor in their HopBack Amber Ale. A hopback is a container that you fill with fresh hops, and run hot wort right through the fresh finishing hops, then into your wort chiller or fermenter. John says that by using a hopback, the hop aroma and flavor that you extract from the hops is not as “raw” as the hop aroma from dry hopping. Also, you retain more of the aroma since it is a closed system. There are many different ways to build a hopback for homebrewing (see our Projects column in the May-June 2005 issue).
John describes HopBack Amber as the ultimate amber ale, with Oktoberfest style maltiness and a nice hop flavor of citrus, mango and spice from the hops used in the hopback. HopBack Amber is a big beer, with an alcohol content right at 6% — it holds up nicely to the bigger hop and malt profiles of this beer. Its fresh hoppy aroma, spicy taste
and rich caramel notes define this amber ale.
John also suggested making a yeast starter or using two packages of yeast to ensure that you are using a large amount of yeast. This large amount of yeast will ensure a fast fermentation, which will minimize flavors like diacetyl and encourage the clean flavors desired in this beer.
For more information you can visit the Tröegs Brewing Company Website at www.troegs.com or call the brewery at (717) 232-1297.
 Tröegs HopBack Amber Ale
(5 gallons/19 L, extract
with grains)
OG = 1.063 FG = 1.017
IBUs = 55 SRM = 10 ABV = 6.0%
Ingredients
7.75 lbs. (3.5 kg) Briess Pilsen Light malt extract syrup
2.5 lbs. (1.1 kg) Munich malt (10 °L)
0.25 lbs. (113 g) crystal malt (20 °L)
1.0 oz. (28 g) chocolate malt
15.25 AAU Nugget hops
(bittering hop, boil 60 min.)
(1.2 oz./33 g of 13.0% alpha acid)
5.7 AAU Nugget hops (in hopback)
(0.5 oz./14 g of 13.0% alpha acid)
2.8 AAU Liberty hops (in hopback)
(0.25 oz./7 g of 4.0% alpha acid)
2.8 AAU Simcoe hops (in hopback)
(0.25 Oz. (7 g) of 12.0% alpha acid)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) yeast or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) yeast
O.75 cup (180 mL) of corn sugar (for priming)
Step by step
Steep the three crushed malts in 3 gallons (11.3 L) of water at 152 ºF (67 ºC) for 30 minutes. Remove grains from wort, add the malt syrup and bring to a boil. Add the Nugget bittering hops and boil for 60 minutes.
For the hopback, run the hot wort through an in-line hopback type filter where you have the remaining three hops in a straining bag, with the outlet going into 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water in a sanitary fermenter and top off with cool water to 5.5 gallons (21 L). Cool the wort to 75 ºF (24 ºC), aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. Allow the beer to cool over the next few hours to 68 ºF (20 ºC) and hold at this temperature until the beer has finished fermenting, then bottle and enjoy!
All-grain option:
This is a single step infusion mash. Replace the 7.8 lbs. (3.5 kg) of malt syrup with 10.3 lbs. (4.7 kg) of Briess Pilsner malt. The rest of the grains used are the same as the extract recipe. Mash the four grains together at 152 ºF (67 ºC) for 60 minutes. Collect approximately 7 gallons (26 L) of wort to boil for 90 minutes and have a 5.5-gallon (21-L) yield. Lower the amount of the Nugget hops in the boil to 1` ounce (28 g) to account for the higher extraction ratio of a full boil. The remainder of the recipe is the same as the extract. |
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