Long Trail Brewing Company: Replicator
Dear Replicator,
When I moved from Vermont to California back in 2005, the one beer that I missed right away was Long Trail Ale. It’s a beer that has never been available out here and I still feel nostalgic, for this was my first craft beer “love-affair.” I’ve had it a few times since the move, when coming back to visit friends and family, and still enjoy it every time. Now that I’ve finally got all my gear lined up and ready to brew my first batch of homebrew, I figured this would be the perfect beer to try to mimic. Can you help a nostalgic fan out?
Chase Allstadt
Truckee, California
Thanks for the request Chase! I’m sorry that since your move from the East Coast to California you’ve only had a few chances to taste the deliciousness that Long Trail Brewing Company provides, but you’re in luck while everyone else is in for a treat.
Long Trail Brewing Company had its humble start nearly 30 years ago in the Old Woolen Mill basement, but were called the Mountain Brewers. They were the second craft brewery to open in Vermont after Catamount Brewing Co. Their goal in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont was to brew an affordable, American-made alternative to the expensive European exports that dominated the shelves at that time. Their first response happens to also be their flagship beer: Long Trail Ale, an altbier. To keep the cost of production low and the value of sustainability high in the early days, they choose to recycle and reuse old Beck’s and St. Pauli Girl bottles. Although the times have changed, Long Trail still believes in sustainable brewing practices including the use of recyclable aluminum cans and minimizing water consumption to be leaders in environmental stewardship.
Due to the Mountain Brewers success with Long Trail Ale and their connection with hikers of said trail (the original long-distance hiking trail in the United States), they decided to change the brewery’s name and Long Trail Brewing Company was born! With continued success and a thirsty customer base (hiking burns a lot of calories after all), Long Trail had to say good-bye to their 8,000-barrel per year operation in the basement. So, they did what many of their customers did; they took a hike up the road in 1995 to establish a new base of operations where they currently reside.
Long Trail Brewing has been intimately involved with their community from the beginning. As they’ve grown, so too have their ambitions to give back. Every year they partner with local non-profit organizations to sponsor events like the Century Ride, which is a 100-mile bike ride fundraiser that benefits Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports — an organization that promotes participation in various recreational activities, such as skiing, for those youth and adults with disabilities. They also created their Summer Fruit Series of beers, which sources the fruit from local, Vermont farmers in a sustainable manner. One example being their 2018 Maple Rhubarb Golden Ale. Finally, they also brew smaller batches of beer as fundraisers for different organizations. One is Trail Karma, a session IPA, which features a special blend of hops. Its proceeds go towards research efforts to find a cure for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).
Their brewhouse is also quite unique and has a bit of homebrewing roots in it. First off, it’s partly engineered in-house and features a 60-BBL direct-fire propane kettle, unlike many modern brewhouses that feature steam-jacketed kettles. In fact, they do see extra caramelization during the boil akin to what many propane fueled homebrewers will get (my apologies to the induction and electric brewers out there). The second super interesting aspect of the brewery itself centers on the yeast. While they use a fairly common yeast as noted in the recipe, they’ve been continually cropping it for close to 30 years!!! According to Ian Harbage, who’s one of the head brewers, they’ve never re-propagated it.
Long Trail Ale, which has won multiple awards at GABF, is considered an altbier with several unique twists to it. First off, you’ll notice there is wheat malt in the grist, which helps provide additional body to the beer while maintaining its drinkability. Next up is the use of a relatively neutral English ale yeast in a German style of beer while performing the fermentation at the lower end of its temperature range. Finally, for authenticity, Long Trail ferments the beer under a back pressure of 8 psi (55 kPa). This will further reduce the characterful fermentation compounds such as esters that you get with many English ale yeast strains, but also can create additional diacetyl. Feel free to let the fermentation free rise for the last one-third of the fermentation (if you have a spunding valve that is the time to use it). For the rest of us, including myself, give-it-a-go without it and see what results you get. Alternatively, you could use a relatively clean German strain such as Wyeast German ale (1007) to attempt to mimic the fermentation character. With any luck, you should be able to brew an amazing facsimile of Long Trail Ale that may become a house staple, even in California.
Long Trail Brewing Co.’s Long Trail Ale clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.052 FG = 1.016
IBU = 30 SRM = 14 ABV = 4.8%
Ingredients
9 lbs. (4.1 kg) 2-row pale malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) crystal malt (80 °L)
12 oz. (0.34 kg) wheat malt
1.6 oz. (45 g) chocolate malt
5.4 AAU Northern Brewer hops (60 min.) (0.6 oz./17 g at 9% alpha acids)
2.7 AAU Northern Brewer hops (30 min.) (0.3 oz./8.5 g at 9% alpha acids)
2.75 AAU Willamette hops (5 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 5.5% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood Ale) or White Labs WLP005 (British Ale) or Safale S-04 yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mill the grains, then mix with 3.4 gallons (12.8 L) of 166 °F (74 °C) strike water to achieve a single infusion rest temperature of 151 °F (66 °C). Hold at this temperature for 60 min. Mashout to 170 °F (77 °C).
Vorlauf until your runnings are clear before directing runnings to your boil kettle. Batch or fly sparge the mash to obtain 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the indicated times left in the boil. At 15 minutes left in boil, add either Irish moss, Whirlfloc, other kettle fining agent of your choice to the wort.
After the boil, whirlpool for a couple of minutes and allow the wort to settle before rapidly chilling the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, which is 66 °F (19 °C) for this beer. Pitch yeast.
Maintain fermentation temperature to avoid too many esters, which can easily occur with this strain. You may need a diacetyl rest for this strain so don’t hesitate to raise the temperature of the fermentation at least 4 °F (2 °C) during the last third of fermentation. Bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.6 volumes.
Long Trail Brewing Co.’s Long Trail Ale clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.053 FG = 1.013
IBU = 30 SRM = 14 ABV = 5.2%
Ingredients
5 lbs (2.27 kg) light dried malt extract
12 oz. (0.34 kg) crystal malt (80 °L)
8 oz. (0.23 kg) maltodextrin powder
1.6 oz. (45 g) chocolate malt
5.4 AAU Northern Brewer hops (60 min.) (0.6 oz./17 g at 9% alpha acids)
2.7 AAU Northern Brewer hops (30 min.) (0.3 oz./8.5 g at 9% alpha acids)
2.75 AAU Willamette hops (5 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 5.5% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood) yeast or White Labs WLP005 (British Ale) or Safale S-04 yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Bring 6.5 gallons (25 L) of water to roughly 150 °F (66 °C). Steep the chocolate and crystal malts for 15 minutes before removing. Add the DME and maltodextrin, with stirring, before heating to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the indicated times left in the boil. At 15 minutes left in boil, add either Irish moss, Whirlfloc, other kettle fining agent of your choice to the wort.
After the boil, whirlpool for a couple of minutes before rapidly chilling the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, which is 66 °F (19 °C) for this beer. Pitch yeast.
Maintain fermentation temperature to avoid producing excess esters. You may need a diacetyl rest for this strain so don’t hesitate to raise the temperature of the fermentation at least 4 °F (2 °C) during the last third of fermentation. Bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.6 volumes.
Tips for Success:
This amber beer is all about balance without sacrificing either the depth of flavor or drinkability. For the ingredients to really shine, ensure that you’re using the freshest versions of them possible. In addition, aim for gypsum and calcium chloride water additions to hit 247 ppm and 100 ppm, respectively. As is the case with most British ale yeasts, you’ll probably pick up a bit of diacetyl, so don’t be afraid to perform a diacetyl rest. When in doubt, microwave a beer sample for 30 seconds, which will volatilize any aromatics including 2,3-butanedione.
