Anchor Brewing Clone Recipes & Tips
The genesis of the modern craft beer movement can be traced back to a single moment in time. Legend has it that in San Francisco, California in 1965 Fritz Maytag was enjoying a pint of his favorite beer when the bartender told him that the brewery was about to go out of business. Unwilling to lose access to his beloved Anchor Steam Beer, he quickly pulled together a few thousand dollars and became the majority owner of Anchor Brewing Company.
It was not an obvious choice to go into the brewing business at the time. There were just over a hundred breweries in the United States in 1966 and Anchor was the sole “specialty brewery” according to the industry trade group The Beer Institute. It wasn’t until 11 years later in 1977 that Sonoma, California’s New Albion would join Anchor in the craft beer market. Those same years saw over half of those hundred breweries merge or go out of business. Needless to say, the climate was not hospitable for starting something different.
I sat down with Anchor’s long-time (and recently semi-retired) Brewmaster Mark Carpenter to talk about the history of Anchor and their approach to brewing beers. He and the rest of the crew were extremely generous in sharing what they have learned over the years. Their resourcefulness and innovation fit right in with the homebrewing culture.
History
Anchor Brewing Company’s history is unlike that of any other brewery in the country. From its founding in 1896 by German brewers, Anchor followed the peaks and troughs of the overall brewing industry in America up through the significant shifts in customer tastes towards bland macro lagers into the 1960s when Maytag took over.
At that time Anchor was brewing just two beers, the Anchor Steam Beer we know today and a darker version formulated to meet the demand from some local bars with a heavy addition of caramel coloring to each keg. Distribution was almost exclusively within San Francisco and volume was so low that they brewed just once a month. The equipment was in rough shape and the quality needed work so those first few years were dedicated to learning everything they could about the brewing process and getting the fundamentals in order. Anchor emerged from this rebuilding period in 1971 with the first modern bottling of Anchor Steam Beer.
It is difficult for many of us to imagine the brewing landscape at the time but it is worth discussing since it had a huge impact on Anchor’s beers. Unlike today when brewers can choose from dozens of hops, a wealth of base and specialty malts, and pitchable quantities of any yeast you could desire, the brewers had to work with very limited choices. Ingredient distributors simply didn’t exist to serve the craft market. The available hops were grown for their alpha acids without much consideration to aroma and flavor since they’d be used at such low rates in American lagers. Malts could be imported but doing so was slow and expensive. In a climate of brewery contraction and decreasing selection there weren’t yeast labs to provide access to large libraries of choices.
Instead Anchor had to make do with a few key ingredients and then work their process to get the end result they were looking for. In the recipe formulation section later in this story I’ll get into more details but these included malts such as domestic 2-row, caramel 40 °L, chocolate, and black patent; hop varieties Northern Brewer and Cascade; and their proprietary yeasts. Armed with creativity and passion, the brewers managed to invent an impressive set of beers that pioneered many of the core American styles in the market today.
Style Innovation
From the early days at Anchor, Maytag and team poured through all the information they could find on historical styles and processes. What they lacked in ingredients and market research, they made up in imagination and tenacity. Let’s walk through the ground they broke with each style.
Anchor Steam Beer (1896) – California Common
Anchor Steam Beer is the flagship beer that Anchor carried through history into the modern craft brewing age. The style originated from San Francisco’s prevalence of German brewers coupled with a lack of cold fermentation and lagering facilities. The city has a naturally temperate climate thanks to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean and so while unable to hit the ideal temperatures for traditional lager fermentations they averaged close to 60 °F (15 °C) ambient temperature for much of the year.
There are conflicting stories as to the source of the term “steam” but it appears this either had to do with the vigorous kräusen that floats off the top of the fermenting beer or the spray from the highly carbonated kegs that were tapped at near room temperature in bars around the city. In any case the beer Anchor brews essentially defines the California common style.
A combination of 2-row and caramel 40 °L provides a malty beer with enough backbone to carry the firm bitterness from the signature minty and rustic Northern Brewer hops. Since Anchor ferments well above typical lager temperatures, the yeast adds a moderately low fruity ester character that complements the malt and hops. The end product is moderately dry and highly quaffable.
Anchor Porter (1972) – Robust Porter
As mentioned earlier, San Francisco bars wanted to have a dark beer on tap and the previous owners met that need by dosing Anchor Steam Beer kegs with caramel coloring. Once they’d gotten their core quality in order Fritz Maytag looked to retire this questionable beer and replace it with something they’d be proud to produce. In response they formulated Anchor Porter, a beer that derives its color from significant amounts of black and chocolate malts. As a testament to the historical importance of Anchor beyond just the American craft beer movement, at the time of its release it was the only porter brewed anywhere in the world.
Anchor Porter balances roasty and chocolate notes against a solid caramel malt addition. Much like adding sugar to your coffee the end result has a balanced and wonderfully rich toffee character. Anchor stuck with the same Northern Brewer hops as their flagship Anchor Steam Beer, which in this case provides a firm bitterness preventing the beer from being cloying.
This beer was the first ale introduced to the brewery and so they brought in a new yeast strain. Due to their use of open fermenters and the generally English approach to the style, they went with a true top-cropping yeast strain, which to this day is still their choice for most of their ales.
Liberty Ale (1975) – American IPA
1975 was a big year for Anchor as they rolled out three new beers. Perhaps the most influential of those is still having an impact today: Liberty Ale. Imagine the guts it took to release a 45+ IBU citrus and floral hop-forward beer into a market of gently flavored American lagers.
Cascade hops had only been recently developed and released as a relatively high alpha variety. No other beer had showcased their aroma and flavor. Not only did Anchor put them in for bittering, flavor, and aroma additions during the boil, they pioneered the practice of dry hopping with citrusy American varieties that is so prevalent today.
The grain bill is simply 2-row domestic pale malt. This establishes a clean base and ferments to a dry finish, staying out of the way of the hops. Interestingly, Liberty Ale was the early precursor to today’s Single Malt Single Hop (SMaSH) beers that have been a recent fad with homebrewers and craft brewers alike. The characterful ale yeast provides enough complexity to keep the beer from being one-dimensional.
Old Foghorn (1975) – American Barleywine
As if Liberty Ale weren’t provocative enough, Anchor further pushed the limits by adapting the English barleywine style into their Old Foghorn. What an amazing sight it must have been to watch patrons in 1975 sip their first pint of a 9% ABV malt monster with a bright Cascade hop finish.
Executing such a big beer on a brew system that had been designed for more modest batches was definitely a challenge. Utilizing the English approach to brewing large beers, Anchor collected just the first running wort from the mash without sparging. Many years later they expanded this process to do a full parti-gyle brew and use the second runnings for Anchor Small Beer. The end result was a complex malt forward beer that stood up to aging and was as far as imaginable from the light macro lagers that saturated the market. Read more about parti-gyle brewing below.
Our Special Ale/Christmas Ale (1975) – Seasonal
To round out 1975 Anchor released their first seasonal beer, Our Special Ale. The idea was based on the tradition of breweries making a special release for their customers for Christmas. The inaugural batch was a dry hopped English-style ale. Each year the recipe changed slightly. In 1987, though, it made a big change to become a winter warmer accentuated with the spices that we associate with holiday baking. In total, it is likely the longest running seasonal beer available in America.
While Brewmaster Mark Carpenter was quite willing to share information about other beers in their lineup, he clammed up when it came to Our Special Ale. He explained that Anchor Brewing is like an extended family and everyone in that family is let in on the secrets of this recipe. Over the years many homebrewers have guessed at the recipe and without giving more information, Mark confirmed that a few have come close.
He was willing to share that the spicing changes each year. At the start of fall the brewers get together and talk about what they’ve liked about previous years and new ideas they want to try. It surprised me to hear that they don’t do any pilot batches and instead commit to a full size brew based on their estimates of the outcome. The reason that’s possible is that they’ve been brewing this for almost three decades and have become experts at knowing what to expect. If anything is wrong with the balance they compensate for it on subsequent brewings and blend the batches to achieve their final result.
The final tidbit that Mark was willing to share is that the recipe doesn’t include allspice. Also, they tried Frankincense once and, um, yeah, they don’t do that anymore.
Summer Beer (1984) – American Wheat Ale
Anchor’s first concession to the tastes of the American light lager drinker came in 1984 with the introduction of the very first American wheat ale, Anchor Summer Beer. While taking inspiration for the grain bill from the various European wheat beer styles, they paired it with their clean but slightly fruity ale yeast to make a refreshing but satisfying craft beer. As the name implies, this beer is the perfect accompaniment to warm summer weather activities.
It wasn’t long after the release of this beer that other craft breweries picked up on the trend and we saw the first commercial batches of Widmer and Pyramid hefeweizens.
Beyond
In the past several years since Maytag sold Anchor, the brewery has taken a turn back towards its most adventurous ways. While it’s too early to tell which of their new beers will become classics, it’s clear that Anchor still possesses the magic that helped spawn the craft beer movement.
Several beers have jumped right into their seasonal rotations but the most experimental have been part of the Zymaster Series. The first in that series was Anchor California Lager, an homage to the first true lager brewed in California back in 1875. Anchor reached into its toolkit to come up with a recipe that would likely reflect what that beer would have tasted like.
A foundation of domestic 2-row malt is paired with traditional American Cluster hops and a clean fermenting German lager yeast strain. Once again you see surprising simplicity in the beer rather than a kitchen sink of ingredients.
How Anchor Brews
We can learn a lot about how to brew beers like Anchor by looking at their process, ingredients, and philosophy. Anchor’s unique place in craft brewing history has had a significant impact on all of those factors.
When Fritz Maytag took over Anchor it wasn’t as simple as posting on ProBrewer in order to hire a crew to run the brewery. The fresh faces he brought on board enjoyed drinking beer but had no brewing experience on either a homebrew or commercial scale. After a crash course on the equipment and process from the previous owner they were largely left to figure things out for themselves.
Wort Production
Wort production starts with malt stored in one of their six silos. Four are dedicated to domestic 2-row malt and the other two are typically dedicated to caramel 40 °L or Munich malt. All other grains come in sack form.
The malt is milled and mixed with strike water to a target temperature of about 118 °F (48 °C). The mash is then stepped through three rests at 122 °F, 145 °F, and 156 °F (50 °C, 63 °C, and 69 °C) before mashing out and being pumped over to the lauter tun. There the mash is continuously sparged and the runnings are collected into a holding tank until the brew kettle is free. Anchor maintains a grand setup with its distinctive copper faucets. The wort passes through it between the holding tank and kettle. The wort is then boiled vigorously for 60–120 minutes before being sent through a heat exchanger to bring it down to pitching temperature.
Fermentation and Cellaring
Currently Anchor has three different fermentation systems: The shallow open coolships used for Anchor Steam Beer that depend on ambient air cooling for temperature control, two deep open-topped ale fermenters with glycol cooling, and a few new cylindroconical fermenters that have been more recently added for capacity in fermenting lagers and ales.
Fermentation of Anchor Steam Beer is controlled simply with 61 °F (16 °C) air in the coolship room. Fermentation activity raises the temperature to nearly 72 °F (22 °C) at the peak in the middle of the second day before it drops back down. Ales are pitched at 60 °F (16 °C) and are allowed to rise up to the mid 70s (~23 °C) before glycol cooling is used to bring them under control. The ales are in much deeper fermenters so it wouldn’t be practical to just rely on air-cooling.
The beers spend three days in primary before the yeast drops and the beer is sent to cellar in a myriad of tanks on the lower floor of the brewery. Anchor has been conservative in introducing the cylindroconicals and as of now still uses them just for primary fermentation and matures the beer in the cellar like with their open fermented beers. This is when dry hopped beers get their additions in the form of whole cone hops in large mesh sacks.
Anchor utilizes kräusening (adding 15–20% of actively fermenting beer to a batch) in order to generate carbonation in Anchor Steam Beer. For other beers, the brewery simply bungs the beer when it is a few points from its terminal gravity and lets the final fermentation do the job.
Filtering and Packaging
Anchor follows a three-step regimen on all its beers (bottled and kegged). First the beers go through a centrifuge to get rid of the majority of the sediment. Then they pass through a plate filter to remove the finer particulates. Finally the beer is flash pasteurized to ensure that it is sterile and stable for distribution. I was surprised to hear that even the draft beer was pasteurized as that’s not a common industry practice, but Mark said that it had been done this way for a long time. As with many things at Anchor, tradition trumps following trends.
Anchor packages their beer in kegs, 12-ounce bottles, 22-oz. bottles, specialty bottles (e.g. magnums for Christmas Ale), and cans. Cans are a relatively recent change and up until recently they were relying on a mobile canning service. During my visit they were dialing in their new on-site canning line so you can expect to see more of their products in this packaging in the future.
Ingredients
In the early days the selection of brewing ingredients was a small fraction of what we have today. When you look at the recipes you’ll see this had a large influence on their formulation approach.
The bulk of the grain bill for almost all of Anchor’s beers is domestic 2-row malt. They vary the exact supplier over time and they don’t sweat the small differences among the malting houses. To this they are typically adding caramel 40, malted wheat, black malt, and/or chocolate malt. Few other character malts make an appearance, which makes sense because they simply weren’t readily available in the 1970s. When they do appear, they are typically in the beers formulated much more recently.
Anchor utilizes two main yeast strains for almost all of their beers. The distinctive Anchor Steam Beer yeast represents the types of lager yeasts that handled the higher temperatures of uncontrolled fermentations in San Francisco historically. The ale yeast was a top fermenting strain sourced in the 1970s from another brewery. Both have been repitched many generations and have adapted to the brewery environment. It’s only been recently with the Zymaster Series that additional strains have been brought in.
For process and flavor reasons, Anchor uses whole cone hops for all additions in the boil and during dry hopping. All of the varieties are American grown except the Nelson Sauvin that is sourced from New Zealand. Prominently featured hops include Northern Brewer, Cascade, and Cluster, but more recently Citra® and Nelson Sauvin have been incorporated in new recipes.
Finally, the water is simply carbon-filtered tap water from the San Francisco municipal supply. SF water is very low in minerals thanks to its sourcing at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, capturing snowmelt in a granite valley. Most beers get a modest addition of gypsum to raise the calcium and sulfate levels a little bit.
Brewing Like Anchor at Home
Translating Anchor’s brewing approach to homebewing is quite straightforward. Time and again Anchor has stuck with simple recipe formulation even when more ingredients became available. As you approach each beer think through the simplest set of ingredients and process to yield the result and you’ll be pretty close. Anchor lists each beer’s ingredients on their website but they don’t provide quantities so that’s where you have to do a bit of observation and experimentation.
From an ingredient sourcing standpoint you shouldn’t have any trouble. Every homebrew shop should be able to get you these classic malts. Both White Labs and Wyeast provide strains for their Anchor Steam Beer and ale yeasts. The hop varieties are readily available and you can decide whether you want to go with whole cone or pellets based on your experience and equipment. Water can be built up from reverse osmosis with a gypsum addition of about 1 gram per gallon of brewing water.
The process, on the other hand, does provide some challenges in some areas: Color, fermentation, and filtering/pasteurizing. Mark provided me with Anchor’s lab measured color levels for several of their beers. What I found when I put together the recipes, though, is that they were picking up a modest color contribution on many of their beers from somewhere other than just the specialty grains. This was especially true with Anchor Steam Beer, which would have required caramel 40 °L to be more than 25% of the grain bill in order to hit the measured 14 SRM. Mark assured me that they used roughly half that amount, which by the numbers only gets the beer to 9 SRM. It’s possible that the hot wort aeration through the grant or the pasteurization is adding some of the additional color.
For fermentation you can experiment with the wide fermentation temperature ramps that Anchor uses starting in the low 60s (~16 °C) and letting the beer rise to the 70s (~21 °C) but remember that they are using open fermenters and extremely viable yeast. I found decent results from picking a compromise fermentation temperature and then just ramping after a few days to ensure the yeast cleaned things up and finished strong.
Finally, it’s unlikely you will have the equipment or desire to do filtering at home. You can use fining agents as well as cold aging to clarify the beer but in the end you can still expect the beers will be slightly different, as you haven’t stripped out all the things Anchor does. Flash pasteurization is even less common on the homebrew scale. Mark believes it has a minimal impact on the flavor of the beer but it’s yet another difference we won’t be able to fully emulate.
So in summary, cut yourself a little bit of leeway with these beers. Remember that Anchor wasn’t out to clone existing beers when they came up with their process or recipe. They were simply trying to make the best beers they could for their customers.
Notes About Recipes
I made a few key decisions in the clone recipes for this story. I assumed that since the malts are well modified that a multi-step mash wasn’t necessary to achieve similar results. Instead I substituted a single step at 149 °F (65 °C) for 60 minutes on all the beers.
As mentioned earlier, I decided against letting the fermentation temperature climb and drop so dramatically so I picked 61 °F (16 °C) for Anchor Steam Beer and 67 °F (19 °C) for the ales. In both cases, after a few days I ramped the temperatures by 5 °F (3 °C) to encourage the yeast to finish out strong.
For the yeast, neither the Anchor Steam Beer nor the ale strains are readily available as dried products from the two major dry yeast companies.
If you need a dry yeast source you’ll need to experiment to determine acceptable substitutes.
I have omitted the kräusening or bunging procedures as they are much more feasible in a production brewery setting where actively fermenting wort is readily available and terminal gravities are consistent.
Open Fermentation
Anchor still uses an open fermentation for most of their beers. In fact up until the recent introduction of a few cylindroconicals, all Anchor beers were fermented in one of two types of fermenters. The flagship Anchor Steam Beer is chilled with heat exchangers and then pumped into large shallow fermenters. These coolship-like vessels are housed in a scrupulously clean room in the brewery. The beer is less than two feet at its deepest and this configuration allows the famously foggy cool San Francisco air to keep the temperature under control. When extra chilling is needed the brewery pumps filtered 61 °F (16 °C) air into the room.
Ales are fermented in deeper fermenters that are equipped with glycol lines to maintain ideal temperatures. They are a highly custom fabrication shaped roughly like open topped cubes with perhaps a 2:1 width to depth ratio. I didn’t get a precise measurement but would estimate they were around six feet deep.
Steam Beer and ales spend three days in open fermentation and the temperatures are allowed to ramp over that time. The beer is then dropped out from below the kräusen and sent to closed vessels for cellaring.
Anchor has a full laboratory and plates all of their beers so they’d know if there were any problems from contamination. It’s possible that the sterile filtering and pasteurizing step before packaging is playing a key role in long term stability, though.
Anchor’s experience should translate well to open fermentation on the homebrew scale. The keys are to focus on producing extremely sanitary wort, cleaning and sanitizing everything the wort comes in contact with, and pitching a known pure and viable yeast strain. A bucket can be used as a fermentation vessel, and if you’re paranoid about contamination from fruit flies you can stretch some cheesecloth over the top. To replicate Anchor’s process you would rack to a closed vessel with an airlock such as a carboy after three to four days and do any dry hopping there.
Parti-Gyle Style
Anchor’s brewhouse wasn’t designed for brewing large batches of high gravity beers. In order to hit their target for Old Foghorn Barleywine they reach for a traditional English technique of using just the first runnings from a very large mash without sparging. This yields a much smaller volume of wort so they collect the first runnings from three mashes to reach their full volume.
Of course skipping the sparge leaves a lot of sugar in the spent grains that would be a shame to waste. So once again they looked to English brewers for a solution. That’s where parti-gyle brewing comes in. By sparging the mash and collecting these second runnings the remaining sugar can be used to make a lower gravity beer. Anchor started doing this very process to produce Anchor Small Beer in 1987.
The result of parti-gyle is two very different worts. The first runnings are high gravity, deep in color, and rich in flavor. The second runnings are much lower gravity, lighter in color, and often a bit thin or astringent. You can use this to your advantage as you make a much more quaffable session beer to go along with your barleywine.
Historically, beers would be made from first runnings, second runnings, and sometimes a combination of the two in order to make multiple strength beers out of the same mash. In some cases brewers would add more specialty grain and perform an abbreviated mash before the second runnings to increase the body and complexity.
When attempting this at home the big challenge is estimating the gravity of the first and second runnings. To do this you need to consider the two aspects of total extract efficiency: How much starch is converted into soluble sugar and how well you’re able to rinse the sugar from the grains. Parti-gyle brewing doesn’t affect the starch conversion rate so that’s what you normally get based on your grain crush, water chemistry, enzymes, and so on. In the ideal case your rinsing efficiency for the first runnings is equal to the portion of the total wort you’re able to drain out of the mash tun. In other words, if you assume the converted sugar is evenly distributed in the mash wort then you only drain out the portion of sugar in the portion of total wort you run off. But don’t you run off all the wort from your mash? Well no, there’s always wort left in the grains and many mash tuns have dead space that you can’t drain. In general about 1 pint (0.125 gallons/0.5 L) of wort is retained in each pound of grain.
Let’s go through an example to see how this works in practice. Imagine a mash of 10 lbs. (4.5 kg) of two-row malt with 15 quarts (3.75 gallons/14 L) of water in a tun that has 0.25 gallons (1 L) of dead space. If you managed to convert 90% of the starches into soluble sugar, the wort in the mash tun would be 1.089 SG. Calculating the gravity of the first runnings is easy because you’re just going to drain out the wort without diluting it with any water additions. Of the 3.75 gallons (14 L) that go into the mash tun, 1.25 gallons (5 L) is absorbed in the grain and 0.25 gallons (1 L) is trapped in the dead space for a total of 1.5 gallons (6 L). That means that you will collect 2.25 gallons (8.5 L) of 1.089 SG first runnings.
That 1.5 gallons (6 L) of wort that’s still in the mash tun is also at 1.089 SG and you’re going to get that sugar out by diluting, stirring, and draining. For those second runnings, note that you’ve already saturated the grains and filled the dead space. So the volume of wort you run off will equal the volume of water you add (this should be familiar to batch spargers.) Imagining you wanted to reach start of boil volume of 6 gallons (23 L) you would add 6 gallons (23 L) of water and stir the mash well before vorlaufing to clarify the runnings. That 1.5 gallon (6 L) of 1.089 SG wort combines with the 6 gallons (23 L) you added for a total of 7.5 gallons (28 L). Using a basic dilution calculation gets you (1.5 gallons * 1.089 SG) / 7.5 gallons = 1.018 SG. So you can expect to get 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.018 SG second runnings. The rest of the brewing process is the same as any other batch.
Anchor Legacy
It’s hard to overstate the importance of Anchor Brewing Company on today’s craft beer renaissance. Fritz Maytag and the rest of the original Anchor crew revived a dying industry and seeded it with many of the core styles that we all enjoy. Homebrewers can take both inspiration and practical lessons from their work. If you ever get the chance meet any of them or tour the brewery, make sure to share your appreciation for the impact of their life’s work.
Anchor Steam Beer clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.013
IBU = 30 SRM = 9 ABV = 4.9%
Ingredients
9 lbs. 2 oz. (4.1 kg) 2-row pale malt
1 lb. 5 oz. (0.6 kg) caramel malt (40 °L)
4.8 AAU US Northern Brewer pellet hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 9.6% alpha acids)
2.4 AAU US Northern Brewer pellet hops (20 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g at 9.6% alpha acids)
0.5 oz. (14 g) US Northern Brewer pellet hops (0 min.)
White Labs WLP810 (San Francisco Lager) or Wyeast 2112 (California Lager) yeast
0.25 oz. (7 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mill the grains and mix with 3.92 gallons (14.8 L) of 158 °F (70 °C) strike water and optional gypsum (see ingredients) to reach a mash temperature of 149 °F (65 °C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Sparge the grains with 3.33 gallons (12.6 L) of 168 °F (76 °C) water and top up if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.041 SG wort. Boil the wort for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list.
After the boil, turn off the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 59 °F (15 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 61 °F (16 °C) for 7 days before raising the temperature to 66 °F (19 °C) for three days for a diacetyl rest. Once the beer reaches terminal gravity (approximately 14 days total), bottle or keg the beer and carbonate. Store cold for approximately two weeks before serving.
Anchor Steam Beer clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.050 FG = 1.013
IBU = 30 SRM = 9 ABV = 4.9%
Ingredients
6.25 lbs. (2.8 kg) golden liquid malt extract
1 lb. 5 oz. (0.6 kg) caramel malt (40 °L)
4.8 AAU US Northern Brewer pellet hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 9.6% alpha acids)
2.4 AAU US Northern Brewer pellet hops (20 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g at 9.6% alpha acids)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Northern Brewer pellet hops (0 min.)
White Labs WLP810 (San Francisco Lager) or Wyeast 2112 (California Lager) yeast
0.25 oz. (7 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Place the milled grains in a muslin brewing bag and steep in 3 quarts (2.8 L) of 149 °F (65 °C) water for 15 minutes. Remove the grain and rinse with 1 gallon (3.8 L) of hot water. Add water and optional gypsum (see ingredients list) to reach a volume of 5.6 gallons (21.2 L) and heat to boiling. Turn off the heat, add the liquid malt extract, and stir until completely dissolved. Top up with water if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.041 SG wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list.
After the boil, turn off the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 59 °F (15 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 61 °F (16 °C) for 7 days before raising to 66 °F (19 °C) for three days for a diacetyl rest. Once the beer reaches terminal gravity (approximately 14 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate. Store cold for approximately two weeks before serving.
Anchor California Lager clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.047 FG = 1.012
IBU = 32 SRM = 4 ABV = 4.8%
Ingredients
10 lbs. (4.54 kg) 2-row pale malt
4.9 AAU Cluster pellet hops (60 min.) (0.65 oz./18 g at 7.5% alpha acids)
2.6 AAU Cluster pellet hops (30 min.) (0.35 oz./10 g at 7.5% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP830 (German Lager) or Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager) or Fermentis Saflager S-23 yeast
0.25 oz. (7 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mill the grains and mix with 3.75 gallons (14 L) of 157 °F (69 °C) strike water and optional gypsum (see ingredients) to reach a mash temperature of 149 °F (65 °C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Sparge the grains with 3.45 gallons (13 L) of 168 °F (76 °C) water and top up if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.039 SG wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list.
After the boil, turn off the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 48 °F (9 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 50 °F (10 °C) for 7 days before raising to 60 °F (16 °C) for three days for a diacetyl rest. Slowly lower the beer to 34 °F (1 °C).
Once at terminal gravity (approximately 14 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate. Lager at 34 °F
(1 °C) for approximately one month before serving.
Anchor California Lager clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract only)
OG = 1.047 FG = 1.012
IBU = 32 SRM = 5 ABV = 4.8%
Ingredients
6.6 lbs. (3 kg) golden liquid malt extract
4.9 AAU Cluster pellet hops (60 min.) (0.65 oz./18 g at 7.5% alpha acids)
2.6 AAU Cluster pellet hops (30 min.) (0.35 oz./10 g at 7.5% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP830 (German Lager) or Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager) or Fermentis Saflager S-23 yeast
0.2 oz. (6 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Bring 5.5 gallons (21 L) of water and optional gypsum (see ingredients list) to a boil, turn off the flame, and stir in the liquid malt extract until completely dissolved. Top up with water if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.039 SG wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list.
After the boil, turn off the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 48 °F (9 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 50 °F (10 °C) for 7 days before raising to 60 °F (16 °C) for three days for a diacetyl rest. Slowly lower the beer to 34 °F (1 °C).
Once the beer reaches terminal gravity (approximately 14 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate. Lager at 34 °F (1 °C) for approximately one month before serving.
Tips for Success:
Be sure to pitch enough clean, healthy yeast for this cooler fermentation, and it is a good idea to use a yeast starter. If your fermentation seems slow in the first 24 hours, raise the temperature up a degree or two. BYO author Jamil Zainasheff explains: “The idea is to reduce the diacetyl precursor alpha-acetolactate, which the yeast create during the early phase of fermentation. Once the growth phase of fermentation is complete, it is important that fermentation be as vigorous as possible. It may never be as robust as fermentation at ale temperatures, but it is important to have enough activity to blow off aromatic sulfurs and other unpleasant compounds.”
Anchor Liberty Ale clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.059 FG = 1.011
IBU = 48 SRM = 4 ABV = 5.9%
Ingredients
12.5 lbs. (5.7 kg) 2-row pale malt
4.1 AAU Cascade pellet hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 8.2% alpha acids)
6.2 AAU Cascade pellet hops (45 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 8.2% alpha acids)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Cascade pellet hops (0 min.)
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade pellet hops (dry hop)
White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) or Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) yeast
0.3 oz. (8 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mill the grains and mix with 4.7 gallons (17.8 L) of 158 °F (70 °C) strike water and optional gypsum (see ingredients list) to reach a mash temperature of 149 °F (65 °C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Sparge the grains with 2.8 gallons (10.6 L) of 168 °F (75 °C) water and top up with water if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.049 SG wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list.
After the boil, turn off the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch yeast.
Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 4 days. Add the dry hops and raise to 72 °F (22 °C) for three days. Once the beer reaches terminal gravity (approximately 7 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate.
Anchor Liberty Ale clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract only)
OG = 1.059 FG = 1.011
IBU = 48 SRM = 5 ABV = 5.9%
Ingredients
8 lbs. 3 oz. (3.7 kg) golden liquid malt extract
4.1 AAU Cascade pellet hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 8.2% alpha acids)
6.2 AAU Cascade pellet hops (45 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 8.2% alpha acids)
0.5 oz. (14 g) Cascade pellet hops (0 min.)
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade pellet hops (dry hop)
White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) or Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) yeast
0.2 oz. (6 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Bring 5.4 gallons (20.4 L) of water and optional gypsum (see ingredients list) to boil, turn off the flame, and stir in the liquid malt extract until completely dissolved. Top up with water if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.049 SG wort.
Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list. After the boil, turn off the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast.
Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 4 days. Add the dry hops and raise to 72 °F (22 °C) for three days. Once the beer reaches terminal gravity (approximately 7 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate.
Tips for Success:
Anchor’s ales spend three days in open fermentation and the temperatures are allowed to ramp over that time. If you want to do an open fermentation at home, focus on producing extremely sanitary wort, cleaning and sanitizing everything the wort comes in contact with, and pitching a known pure and viable yeast strain. A fermentation vessel such as a bucket can be used, and if you’re paranoid about contamination from fruit flies you can stretch some cheesecloth over the top. To replicate Anchor’s process you would rack to a closed vessel with an airlock such as a carboy after three to four days and do any dry hopping there.
Anchor Porter clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.070 FG = 1.022
IBU = 42 SRM = 45 ABV = 6.7%
Ingredients
11 lbs. 14 oz. (5.4 kg) 2-row pale malt
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) caramel malt (40 °L)
12 oz. (0.35 kg) black malt
12 oz. (0.35 kg) chocolate malt
6.7 AAU US Northern Brewer pellet hops (60 min.) (0.7 oz./20 g at 9.6% alpha acids)
3.4 AAU US Northern Brewer pellet hops (30 min.) (0.35 oz./10 g at 9.6% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) or Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) yeast
0.3 oz. (8 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mill the grains and mix with 5.6 gallons (21.2 L) of 157 °F (69 °C) strike water and optional gypsum (see ingredients list) to reach a mash temperature of 149 °F (65 °C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Sparge the grains with 2.2 gallons (8.3 L) of 168 °F (75 °C) water and top up if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.058 SG wort.
Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list. After the boil, turn off the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast.
Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 4 days. Raise the temperature to 72 °F (22 °C) and hold for three days. Once the beer reaches terminal gravity (approximately 7 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate.
Anchor Porter clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.070 FG = 1.022
IBU = 42 SRM = 45 ABV = 6.7%
Ingredients
7.75 lbs. (3.5 kg) golden liquid malt extract
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) caramel malt (40 °L)
12 oz. (0.35 kg) black malt
12 oz. (0.35 kg) chocolate malt
6.7 AAU US Northern Brewer pellet hops (60 min.) (0.7 oz./20 g at 9.6% alpha acids)
3.4 AAU US Northern Brewer pellet hops (30 min.) (0.35 oz./10 g at 9.6% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) or Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) yeast
0.2 oz. (6 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Place the milled grains in a muslin bag and steep in 6 quarts (5.6 L) of 149 °F (65 °C) water for 15 minutes. Remove the grain and rinse with 1 gallon (3.8 L) of hot water. Add water and optional gypsum (see ingredients list) to reach a volume of 5.4 gallons (20.4 L) and heat to boiling. Turn off the heat, add the liquid malt extract, and stir until completely dissolved. Top up with water if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.058 SG wort.
Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list. After the boil, turn off the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast.
Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 4 days. Raise the temperature to 72 °F (22 °C) and hold for three days. Once the beer reaches terminal gravity (approximately 7 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate.
Tips for Success:
Like Liberty ale (see recipe above), Anchor Porter is brewed using an open fermentation. If you want to to this at home, maintain extremely clean and sanitary conditions in your homebrewery to prevent contamination. A fermentation vessel such as a bucket can be used, and if you’re paranoid about contamination from fruit flies you can stretch some cheesecloth over the top. To replicate Anchor’s process you would rack to a closed vessel with an airlock such as a carboy after three to four days.
Anchor Old Foghorn clone (1st Runnings)
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.099 FG = 1.030
IBU = 43 SRM = 22 ABV = 10%
Old Foghorn is brewed using the parti-gyle method, which is brewing two batches of beer by separating the first and second runnings to create two distinct beers — one high gravity, one lower gravity. Old Foghorn is the beer made from the first runnings. Small Beer (recipe below) is the beer made from the second runnings.
Ingredients
22.5 lbs. (10.2 kg) 2-row pale malt
5 lbs. 3 oz. (2.4 kg) caramel malt (40 °L)
6.8 AAU Cascade pellet hops (60 min.) (1.5 oz./42 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
4.5 AAU Cascade pellet hops (30 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade pellet hops (dry hop)
White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) or Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) yeast
0.25 oz. (7 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mill grains and mix with 10.1 gallons (38.2 L) of 157 °F (69 °C) strike water and optional gypsum (see ingredients list) to reach a mash temperature of 149 °F (65 °C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Collect the first runnings without sparging and top up if necessary to obtain 7 gallons (26.5 L) of 1.071 SG wort. Boil for 120 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list. After the boil, turn of the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch yeast. Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 4 days. Add dry hops and raise to 72 °F (22 °C) for three days. Once at terminal gravity (approximately 7 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate. Age for 6–12 months before serving.
Anchor Old Foghorn clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.099 FG = 1.030
IBU = 43 SRM = 20 ABV = 10%
Ingredients
12 lbs. (5.4 kg) golden liquid malt extract
3 lbs. (2.4 kg) caramel malt (40 °L)
6.8 AAU Cascade pellet hops (60 min.) (1.5 oz./42 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
4.5 AAU Cascade pellet hops (30 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade pellet hops (dry hop)
White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) or Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) yeast
0.25 oz. (7 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Place the milled grains in a muslin bag and steep in 10 quarts (9.4 L) of 149 °F (65 °C) water for 15 minutes. Remove the grain and rinse with 1 gallon (3.8 L) of hot water. Add water and optional gypsum (see ingredients list) to reach a volume of 5.25 gallons (19.9 L) and heat to boiling. Turn off the heat, add the liquid malt extract, and stir until completely dissolved. Top up with water if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.082 wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list. After the boil, turn of the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch yeast. Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 4 days. Add dry hops and raise to 72 °F (22 °C) for three days. Once at terminal gravity (approximately 7 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate. Age for 6–12 months before serving.
Tips for Success:
See the earlier section above about parti-gyle brewing. You will definitely need a large mash tun in order to pull this off or you can scale this recipe down to make a smaller quantity. The combination of the high gravity and lack of sparging means that you can expect a much lower than usual efficiency from this batch.
Anchor Small Beer clone (2nd Runnings)
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.032 FG = 1.005
IBU = 30 SRM = 7 ABV = 3.3%
This beer is brewed using the second runnings from a batch of Old Foghorn (above). Estimating the efficiency in such a scenario is quite challenging so be prepared to make some gravity adjustments upwards with dried malt extract or downwards by dumping some wort and topping off with water.
Ingredients
22.5 lbs. (10.2 kg) 2-row pale malt
5 lbs. 3 oz. (2.4 kg) caramel malt (40 °L)
5.9 AAU US Golding pellet hops (60 min.) (0.9 oz./26 g at 6.5% alpha acids)
2.6 AAU US Golding pellet hops (30 min.) (0.4 oz./11 g at 6.5% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) or Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) yeast
0.2 oz. (6 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Start with the spent grain bed in the mash tun from a batch of Old Foghorn (recipe on page 67). Sparge with 6 gallons (22.7 L) of 168 °F (75 °C) water and top up with water if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.027 SG wort. Add the optional gypsum (see ingredients list) and boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list. After the boil, turn off the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 4 days. Add dry hops and raise to 72 °F (22 °C) for three days. Once at terminal gravity (approximately
7 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate.
Anchor Small Beer clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.032 FG = 1.005
IBU = 30 SRM = 7 ABV = 3.3%
Small Beer is brewed using the parti-gyle method of brewing. Because this requires that the wort be made with grains, a true parti-gyle brewed with extract is not possible. This recipe is provided simply for extract brewers who are interested in brewing Anchor Small Beer independently.
Ingredients
3 lbs. (1.36 kg) light dried malt extract
1 lb. 3 oz. (0.54 kg) caramel malt (40 °L)
5.9 AAU US Golding pellet hops (60 min.) (0.9 oz./26 g at 6.5% alpha acids)
2.6 AAU US Golding pellet hops (30 min.) (0.4 oz./11 g at 6.5% alpha acids)
White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) or Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) yeast
0.2 oz. (6 g) gypsum (optional if using very low mineral water)
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Place the milled grains in a muslin bag and steep in 4 quarts (3.8 L) of 149 °F (65 °C) water for 15 minutes. Remove the grain and rinse with 1 gallon (3.8 L) of hot water. Add water and optional gypsum (see ingredients list) to reach a volume of 5.25 gallons (19.9 L) and heat to boiling. Turn off the heat, add the liquid malt extract, and stir until completely dissolved. Top up with water if necessary to obtain 6 gallons (23 L) of 1.027 SG wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredients list. After the boil, turn off the heat and chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 4 days. Add the dry hops and raise to 72 °F (22 °C) for three days. Once at terminal gravity (approximately 7 days total) bottle or keg the beer and carbonate.
