Vermont Cult Clones
It’s 2:30 on a Monday afternoon and I find myself sitting at a pub called the Blackback Pub in downtown Waterbury, Vermont (pop. ~5,000). It is standing room only and the pub across the street looks just as crowded.
Conversation is lively among the patrons and they are all drinking from stemware more familiar to an upscale wine bar than your typical pub. There is no wedding or festival on this particular day; it is just a typical afternoon in this little New England town. The patrons, myself included, are there for only one reason: the beer.
There is a group of three gentlemen sitting catty-cornered from me at the bar. Striking up a conversation with them I discover that two of them work at a highly-acclaimed beer bar in New York City and the third is a sales representative for one of America’s major craft breweries. I ask them what brought them up to these parts. The question is really rhetorical in nature since I already know the answer and their answer suggests they’re on to me as well. They are here on their beer pilgrimage.
Northern Vermont has recently gotten a lot of attention on the national craft beer scene. Online beer forums have become loaded with questions from prospective beer-drinking pilgrims asking travel advice from locals and those who have made the pilgrimage exactly how to devise their game plan. What hours do I show up to avoid lines? When do deliveries occur at X, Y & Z stores? What is the current case limit being imposed? When should I expect the supply to run out? This is all done so that they too can become one of the few who have tried beers from what has become known as the Vermont Big Three; Hill Farmstead Brewery, Lawson’s Finest Liquids and The Alchemist.
John Kimmich, owner of The Alchemist, coined the phrase “IPA highway” to describe the route between the three breweries. Those that have ridden that highway boast of their hauls for the day or sing dirges in their failure to obtain the beers of their desires. From the war stories I heard at the Blackback Pub that afternoon, I felt the passion, felt the excitement and experienced the disappointment of the quest for the big three as most everyone in the pub that Monday afternoon had just recently ridden that IPA highway. (Don’t be mislead by the term “IPA highway,” by the way. The actual route between the three breweries is anything but a highway. In fact, a GPS unit would be recommended for anybody without a detailed map since back roads are the best way to describe the route.)
So what is so special about the Vermont “Big Three”? Strictly from a beer ratings standpoint, each can boast something only a few breweries in the world can: A beer found in the top 25 on BeerAdvocate.com’s list of top 250 beers of the world, which is based upon user’s reviews. Six of the top 50 beers on that list are produced between these three breweries. The only two states in the US that can boast more beer labels in the top 50 are California and Michigan. And Florida is the only other state on the US East Coast that can claim to even have one beer ranked in the top 50. And the number one ranked beer in the world on that list, Heady Topper, is made by The Alchemist. If you move over to RateBeer.com, you will find that Hill Farmstead Brewery won the “Best Brewery in the World” in 2013 with eight of the ten best new beers for 2012.
If you step away from beer ratings and the hype surrounding these three breweries, however, you will find three brewers with a true passion and an obvious mastery of their craft. As a homebrewer and a constant disciple of the craft, I am always intrigued by what makes a successful brewer. What separates their beers from mine? To find out, I took my own pilgrimage.
Hill Farmstead
Before ending up at Blackback Pub that Monday afternoon, I headed out that morning to Greensboro Bend, Vermont (pop. 232), home of Hill Farmstead Brewery. Lucky for me the brewery’s retail store is closed on Mondays, so I was able to park right up front, which would be like winning big in scratch lotto on a day when the retail store was open.
Shaun Hill’s path to open the brewery started when he was 15 years old, attempting his first batch of homebrew. When he went off to college he founded a homebrew club while getting his degree in philosophy. By the time he was 24 he was the brewmaster for The Shed, a brewpub in Stowe, Vermont (which has since relocated). While brewing at The Shed, Shaun’s beers gained notoriety from acclaimed brewers such as Stone Brewing Co.’s Mitch Steele, who modeled Stone’s Sublimely Self Righteous on Shaun’s dark IPA, Dark Side.
After his time at The Shed, Shaun traveled, spent a year brewing at the Trout River Brewing Co. in Lyndonville, Vermont and made a first attempt at starting up his own brewery before landing an overseas brewing position at Nørrebro Bryghus in Denmark in 2008. The craft beer scene in Denmark at the time was beginning to explode thanks in part to Scandinavians who got a taste of the beer being brewed in United States. After almost two years brewing in Denmark and helping Nørrebro Bryghus win three World Beer Cup medals, including two golds, Shaun found what he was looking for; not only enlightenment regarding brewing techniques, but also the pieces were falling together for him to begin his own brewery back in his own hometown of Greensboro Bend. He lined up the necessary investors to get his venture off the ground and soon opened a brewery on the farm that his family had cultivated for eight generations.
As I walked up to the brewery, I heard the pneumatic press and found Shaun Hill with one arm on the lever of his hand bottling line, bottling his latest saison fermented with Brettanomyces. The smell of Brett permeated the air; the sounds of Jerry Garcia, too. His team of four, Shaun and his Dad included, were working hard to get ready for the next wave of beer drinkers. Shaun is quick to point out to me when we start talking, this isn’t his success; it is the team’s success.
Lawson’s Finest Liquids
By noon that Monday, I made my way to Warren, Vermont (pop. ~1,700). More dirt roads led me to my second brewery of the day, Lawson’s Finest Liquids. When I walked into Sean Lawson’s brewery I was nearly floored. It was like I had stuck my whole body inside a bottle of his Double Sunshine IPA.
Sean started homebrewing in college back in 1990. After college he was living out in the western part of the US, skiing and working at several breweries including Breckenridge Pub & Brewery. He ended up moving back east to Vermont after a few years where he helped design an environmental stewardship program, which he runs, at Mad River Glen Ski Resort in Fayston, Vermont.
I first met Sean Lawson, proprietor and namesake of the label, back in 2006 at a mutual friend’s birthday party. I remember my friend commenting when I RSVP’d, “Wait until you try his beers!!” So when Sean handed me a glass of a beer he called Maple Nipple at the party, I felt disbelief. I had never had a maple beer like this before. It bared no resemblance to the cloyingly sweet flavors that most commercial maple beers I had tried at that point, nor was it akin to the flat maple beers myself and homebrewing friends had attempted to brew.
Lawson’s Finest Liquids has won two World Beer Cup awards, a bronze and silver, for his Maple Tripple. But Sean’s story doesn’t end with his award-winning maple beers. Currently another beer, Double Sunshine, an Imperial IPA, is ranked #12 in the world according to BeerAdvocate.com’s user rankings. With its explosion of citrus, mango and cantaloupe flavors, it’s really no wonder there is such acclaim for this beer. His Triple Play IPA also won the title of National IPA champion by The Brewing News in 2011.
Sean guided me around his brewery and his oak aging program during my visit. As we entered his cold room with bright tanks, he said he was currently carbing up the 2012 Maple Tripple and wanted to check to see if it was ready. By his meter it still needed a little more carbonation and poured off the first sampling of the vintage for me to taste; even better than I remembered it.
The Alchemist
Situated not much more than a stone’s throw from Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory in Waterbury, Vermont you will find the cannery of one of the great stories of Vermont beer legacy, The Alchemist. John Kimmich and his wife Jen were the founders of the Alchemist Pub & Brewery back in 2003, located in the middle of downtown Waterbury at that time. It is hard to pinpoint their influence on the regional beer scene, but when you have a beer bar like the Alchemist, it is hard to deny their influence. When I went to the Vermont Brewer’s Festival back in 2007, the line to The Alchemist even back then was probably at least a 20-minute wait to get a tasting-sized pour while most other lines were no more than about a five minute wait.
John Kimmich got his start brewing under the auspices of Greg Noonan of Burlington’s Vermont Pub & Brewery. For those of us who are well versed in the US craft beer world, Greg Noonan was a giant whose untimely passing in 2009 shook the beer world. Lucky for us, John was able to take Greg’s wealth of knowledge and use it to make some inspired and innovative beers of his own. For those of us that were lucky enough to visit The Alchemist Pub & Brewery before Hurricane Irene struck in 2011, we were the lucky ones. That brewery was a place for beer nerds to truly get geeky about beer. I don’t want to imply that The Alchemist Pub & Brewery spawned the explosion of world-class breweries in the area, but to say that it wasn’t a big influence in my opinion would be naïve. Both Shaun Hill and Sean Lawson recount the days of drinking beer at John and Jen’s pub, and in my opinion, The Alchemist is a key player in the development of Northern Vermont’s craft beer destination status.
When Hurricane Irene came through Vermont in 2011, the town of Waterbury was hit especially hard, including The Alchemist. Lucky for us in the beer world, John and Jen didn’t completely throw in the towel when their pub was severely damaged by flood waters. After much deliberation, they decided it best to close down the brewpub and focus on their cannery, which had just opened up earlier in 2011 on the north side of town. The Alchemist currently brews one beer, Heady Topper, and they do it well considering there is a line out the door on a Monday at 2 p.m. when I stopped by the brewery. The Alchemist has recently doubled their production capacity, but demand has grown faster. The “sold out” sign still frequently hangs on the brewery door most every weekend.
John said that they also have plans to release a specialty beer each month. Everyone I talked to about this idea is excited.
Brew Like a Vermonter
As a homebrewer, how can you benefit from the skills these three brewers possess? Think of these brewers as craftsman, and remember that you can’t learn everything from a craftsman in a day — you have to apprentice. Also, a true craftsman must have nearly complete understanding and control of what they are working with. As brewers we mainly are working with malt, hops, yeast and water. While we can’t all apprentice in Northern Vermont, here is some advice about brewing ingredients that these three brewers offered to share with homebrewers.
Malt
It all starts with a good malt base. As with all great beers, a basic pale malt is a good place to start and can be improved upon with some Munich or Vienna malt or some caramel malt to add body and undertones. An alternative is to start with a floor-malted British pale ale malt, which can achieve similar results with some very subtle differences. Also, there is a stigma among homebrewers that IPAs can’t be dry enough. Don’t be afraid to mash on the higher end of the spectrum to see what you come up with. A mash in the upper 150s to 160 °F (69 to 71 °C) may produce a beer that can be surprisingly dry on your palate if attenuated with a yeast that is a strong finisher. Another stigma is that caramel malts have no place in very hop-forward beers. If used judiciously, however, caramel malts do indeed have a place in hop-forward beers such as American IPAs and imperial IPAs. If using larger proportions of caramel malts or darker caramel malts, you may want to up your piney, resiny hops, like Chinook or Columbus, to balance the flavors.
Hops
If you want to brew beers similar to the IPAs the Vermont guys are brewing, you need to focus strongly on the hops. Making sure you have fresh, resiny, aromatic hops is a prerequisite. New breeds of hops come out all the time and it is hard to keep up with them all, but just look at Shaun Hill’s website (www.hillfarmstead.com) and at the hop varieties he is using in many of his renowned DIPAs and you will probably recognize all the names. Some hop varieties that will play nicely in these types of beers are Centennial, Simcoe®, Citra®, Columbus, Amarillo®, Apollo, Chinook, Galaxy® and Cascade. Don’t focus too much on the specific hops you are using for the beer, but more so on how you use them. Focus a small portion on an early addition to the boil, then focus the majority on the late boil additions. Hop extracts are also something you may want to explore to achieve iso-alpha conversion. This will cut down on polyphenol extraction, but lack the glycosides that may leave the beer lacking some level of depth. Also, I don’t recommend adding any hops between 30 minutes left in the boil to 5 minutes left in the boil. Add a big addition between 5 minutes and 0 minutes (knockout hops) and then let those hops steep for at least 30 minutes. You really want those hops to soak into the wort, and the post-boil phase is the time to do just that. Dry hops can then be added later on to supplement your late boil hops.
Yeast
Conan is the strain that most homebrewers will hone in on when trying to clone many of these beers when mimicking Alchemist while Wyeast 1318 (London Ale III) is predominately used for Hill Farmstead clones. From tastings, the yeast they are using throws some peach and other stone fruit flavors. In my experience, taking Chico yeast (Wyeast 1056 American Ale™, White Labs WLP001 California Ale, Bry-97 or Safale US-05) down to about 62 °F (17 °C) or below can throw some of those characteristics, but be careful of diacetyl at those temperatures. Lallemand’s Nottingham yeast as well as the Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II) and White Labs WLP051 (California Ale V) are also good strains for these styles of beer.
If you are looking to brew saisons or sours like those from the early days of The Alchemist Pub & Brewery or like those that are currently found at Hill Farmstead, you will need to do a lot of experimenting with yeast strains. East Coast Yeast, Wyeast and White Labs all offer a diverse and growing number of strains for homebrewers to work with. Split batches and small-scale brewing experiments are going to be the best way for you to go about learning what each strain offers. Direct cultures are maybe another idea for homebrewers with access to these particular beers.
Water
Water may be one of the great advantages these breweries have. Each of them start with very soft water and they are able to build on that soft profile. Take the advice of Shaun Hill when he says, “Make sure that you’re using a brewing calculator with residual alkalinity . . .” when building your water profile. I can’t provide you with an exact water profile for you to produce The Alchemist’s Heady Topper, Lawson’s Double Sunshine or Hill Farmstead’s Abner, but homebrewers need to start with a profile of the water they will be working with, whether it is reverse osmosis (RO), tap or distilled or a mixture. And homebrewers can’t be afraid to experiment. Just because it’s a hop-forward beer doesn’t mean that chlorides need to be kept low and sulfate levels high. Keeping both sulfates and chlorides elevated may in fact be ideal; water is still a bit of deep-seas exploration for most homebrewers and I recommend trying that if you experiment. The levels of Na+, Ca+2, Mg+2, Cl-, So4-2, Co3-2 are a few ions of interest to brewers, which indeed have an effect on the overall mouthfeel of the final beer. Only brewers with a deft hand and discerning palate will be able to play with these factors.
To achieve a level of proficiency in brewing, experience and knowledge is key. Learning not only about homebrewing, but also about nuances of beer and tasting beer is a fundamental part of this craft. Once recipe development becomes familiar to you, you can follow Shaun Hill’s advice: “First I imagine how I want the beer to taste. Second, I reflect upon which beers we have created that were similar in taste . . . and conceptualize a point of departure: which ingredients would need to be different? Finally I reflect upon all process variables that I have encountered over my brewing career and contemplate whether or not a variable can be adjusted in order to achieve a more desirable result.”
More Information:
The Alchemist:
www.alchemistbeer.com
Lawson’s Finest Liquids:
www.lawsonsfinest.com
Hill Farmstead Brewery:
www.hillfarmstead.com
Vermont Cult Clones Recipes
The Alchemist Heady Topper clone
(5.5 gallons/21 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.076 FG = 1.014
IBU = 100+ SRM = 6 ABV = 8%
Ingredients
15 lbs. (6.8 kg) British Pale Ale Malt
6 oz. (170 g) Caravienne® malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) turbinado sugar (10 min.)
7 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 14% alpha acids)
13 AAU Simcoe® hops (30 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
5.75 AAU Cascade hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 5.75% alpha acids)
8.6 AAU Apollo hops (knockout) (0.5 oz./14 g at 17.2% alpha acids)
13 AAU Simcoe® hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
10.5 AAU Centennial hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 10.5% alpha acids)
7 AAU Columbus hops (knockout) (0.5 oz./14 g at 14% alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) Chinook hops (primary dry hop)
1 oz. (28 g) Apollo hops (primary dry hop)
1 oz. (28 g) Simcoe® hops (primary dry hop)
1.25 oz. (35 g) Centennial hops (secondary dry hop)
1.25 oz. (35 g) Simcoe® hops (secondary dry hop)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
Achieve a target mash temperature of 153 °F (67 °C). Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops as instructed. After boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling. Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for one week. After final gravity has been achieved, add a clarifying agent such as Polyclar. Allow three days for clarifying agent to work, then add first set of dry hops to primary fermenter. After seven days, rack the beer off the dry hops and yeast cake either into a keg or secondary fermenter. Purge with carbon dioxide if available. Add the second set of dry hops to the keg or secondary fermenter. After five days prime and bottle, or keg.
The Alchemist Heady Topper clone
(5.5 gallons/21 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.076 FG = 1.014
IBU = 100+ SRM = 6 ABV = 8%
Ingredients
9.9 lbs. (4.5 kg) light liquid malt extract
1 lb. (0.45 kg) extra light dried malt extract
6 oz. (170 g) Caravienne® malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) turbinado sugar (10 min.)
7 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 14% alpha acids)
13 AAU Simcoe® hops (30 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
5.75 AAU Cascade hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 5.75% alpha acids)
8.6 AAU Apollo hops (knockout) (0.5 oz./14 g at 17.2% alpha acids)
13 AAU Simcoe® hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
10.5 AAU Centennial hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 10.5% alpha acids)
7 AAU Columbus hops (knockout) (0.5 oz./14 g at 14% alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) Chinook hops (primary dry hop)
1 oz. (28 g) Apollo hops (primary dry hop)
1 oz. (28 g) Simcoe® hops (primary dry hop)
1.25 oz. (35 g) Centennial hops (secondary dry hop)
1.25 oz. (35 g) Simcoe® hops(secondary dry hop)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
Steep the crushed grains in 2 qts. (1.9 L) for 20 minutes at 155 °F (68 °C). Rinse the grain with hot water and add water to achieve 6.5 gallons (25 L) in your kettle. Turn off the heat, add the malt extract to your kettle and stir until fully dissolved. Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops as instructed. After the boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling. Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for one week. After final gravity has been achieved, add a clarifying agent such as Polyclar. Allow three days for clarifying agent to work, then add the first set of dry hops to the primary fermenter. After seven days, rack beer off the dry hops and yeast cake either into a keg or secondary fermenter. Try to purge with carbon dioxide if it is available. Add the second set of dry hops to the keg or secondary fermenter. After five days prime and bottle, or keg. If bottling.
Tips for Success:
The goal is to get at least 5.5 gallons (21 L) into your fermenter to compensate for the loss of wort which will occur during dry hopping. Make sure your primary fermenter has enough headspace to accommodate that much wort plus a large kräusen. John Kimmich’s biggest piece of advice for trying to clone this beer: “Technique and water treatment.”
For extract brewers who use concentrated boils (usually around 3 gallons/11 L), try adding most of the extract near the end of the boil. This will keep the gravity low, which may help alpha acids convert into iso-alpha acids.
The Alchemist Holey Moley clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.078 FG = 1.016
IBU = 75 SRM = 9 ABV = 8%
Ingredients
14 lbs. (6.4 kg) 2-row pale malt
1.7 lbs. (0.77 kg) Munich malt
13 oz. (0.36 kg) caramalt (37 °L)
7 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 14% alpha acids)
5.5 AAU Cascade hops (30 mins.) (1 oz./28 g at 5.5% alpha acids)
7.8 AAU Cascade hops (5 mins.) (1.5 oz./42 g at 5.5% alpha acids)
18 AAU Amarillo® hops (knockout) (2 oz./56 g at 9% alpha acids)
2 oz. (56 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
3 oz. (85 g) Amarillo® hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
Achieve a target mash temperature of 155 °F (68 °C). Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops as instructed. After the boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling.
Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for one week. After the final gravity has been achieved, add a clarifying agent such as Polyclar. Allow three days for clarifying agent to work, then add the dry hops to primary fermenter. After seven days, rack beer off dry hops and yeast cake either into a keg or bottles. Purge with carbon dioxide if it is available to you.
The Alchemist Holey Moley clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grain)
OG = 1.078 FG = 1.016
IBU = 75 SRM = 9 ABV = 8%
Ingredients
9.9 lbs. (4.5 kg) light liquid malt extract
1.1 lbs. (0.5 kg) Munich liquid malt extract
13 oz. (0.36 kg) caramalt (37 °L)
7 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 14% alpha acids)
5.5 AAU Cascade hops (30 mins.) (1 oz./28 g at 5.5% alpha acids)
7.8 AAU Cascade hops (5 mins.) (1.5 oz./42 g at 5.5% alpha acids)
18 AAU Amarillo® hops (knockout) (2 oz./56 g at 9% alpha acids)
2 oz. (56 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
3 oz. (85 g) Amarillo® hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
Steep the crushed grains in 2 qts. (1.9 L) water for 20 minutes at 155 °F (68 °C). Rinse the grain with hot water and add water to achieve 6.5 gallons (25 L) in your kettle. Turn off the heat, add the malt extract to your kettle and stir until fully dissolved. Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops as instructed. After the boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling.
Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for one week. After the final gravity has been achieved, add a clarifying agent such as Polyclar. Allow three days for the clarifying agent to work, then add dry hops to the primary fermenter. After seven days, rack the beer off of the dry hops and yeast cake either into a keg or bottles. Purge with carbon dioxide if it is available.
Tips for Success:
John Kimmich says that this beer was, “dry hopped extensively with Cascade and Amarillo” hops, which makes me believe he either used a lot of dry hops in one stage or dry hopped this beer in two stages. I decided to go with the former in my clone attempt. Kimmich is a very technique-oriented brewer, so don’t be afraid to experiment with your dry hopping to try and find the best flavor profile. Bagging your hops in a muslin brewing bag commonly used for steeping grains can make them easier to retrieve when you are ready to remove them from the beer. If you bag your dry hops, however, keep in mind that it can reduce the hops exposure to the beer. Remedy this by making sure you don’t pack the bag of hops too tightly.
Be careful not to disturb the CO2 blanket on top of the beer during dry hopping. After you add the dry hops to the fermenter, re-establish the CO2 blanket by gently injecting CO2 across the top of the beer (if you have CO2 available to you in your homebrewery). If you have to open the fermenter for some reason during this period, repeat the process.
This beer’s relatively high terminal gravity led me to believe all-grain brewers should not go too low with their mash temperature. Remember when brewing any beer with a high gravity to pitch a healthy amount of active yeast cells. Beers made from underpitched worts start slower, and increase the stress on the yeast, producing more esters and fusel alcohols. Consider making a yeast starter a day ahead of your brew day to generate a healthy population of yeast before pitching. A general rule of thumb for pitching ale yeast is that you need 0.75 million cells per milliliter of wort per degree Plato. This translates to about a 1-L starter if using a stir plate and about a 2-L starter if you only swirl the starter every few hours.
Hill Farmstead Brewery Everett clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.088 FG = 1.030
IBU = 38 SRM = 55 ABV = 7.5%
Ingredients
13.5 lbs. (6.1 kg) 2-row pale malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) dextrine malt
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) caramalt (37 °L)
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) crystal malt (90 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) chocolate malt (300 °L)
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) roasted barley (500 °L)
11 AAU Columbus hops (60 mins.) (0.8 oz./23 g at 14% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
When crushing the grains keep the dark roasted grains (crystal-90, the chocolate malt and the roasted barley) separate from the other grains. Mix the pale malt, dextrine malt and caramalt with 20 qts. (19 L) to achieve a target mash temperature of 159 °F (71 °C). Hold for 20 minutes, then mix in the darker grains. Hold for 5 minutes and begin the mash out procedure or lauter phase. Boil for 60 minutes. Add the Columbus hops at the beginning of the boil.
Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Target pitching rate at 1.0 million cells/milliliter/degrees Plato (~2.5-L starter). Add the yeast to the chilled wort and ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) until the final gravity is reached — about one week. Allow the beer to condition for an additional week at 52 °F (11 °C). Your beer is now ready to rack into a keg, or into bottles with priming sugar.
Hill Farmstead Brewery Everett clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.088 FG = 1.030
IBU = 38 SRM = 55 ABV = 7.5%
Ingredients
9.9 lbs. (4.5 kg) light liquid malt extract
1 lb. (0.45 kg) dextrine malt
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) caramalt (37 °L)
0.5lb. (0.23 kg) crystal malt (90 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) chocolate malt (300 °L)
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) roasted barley (500 °L)
11 AAU Columbus hops (60 mins.) (0.8 oz./23 g at 14% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
Crush the caramalt, crystal malt, chocolate malt and roasted barley and place them in a muslin brewing bag. Steep the crushed specialty grains in 2 gallons (7.8 L) at 155 °F (68 °C) for 20 minutes. Rinse the grains with 3 qts. (2.8 L) hot water and allow it to drip into the kettle for about 15 minutes, but be sure not to squeeze the bag to prevent extracting harsh tannins from the grain husks. Add the malt extract to the brewpot with the heat turned off and stir well to avoid scorching or boilovers. Top off the kettle to 6 gallons (23 L). Boil for 60 minutes. Add the Columbus hops at the beginning of the boil.
Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Target pitching rate at 1.0 million cells/milliliter/degrees Plato (~2.5-L starter). Add the yeast to the chilled wort and ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) until the final gravity is reached — about one week. Allow the beer to condition for an additional week at 52 °F (11 °C). Your beer is now ready to rack into a keg, or into bottles with priming sugar.
Tips for Success:
Shaun Hill is able to start all of his Hill Farmstead beers with a fairly clean slate with his water, and builds the water profile for a beer like Everett. He recommends if you are attempting to brew this beer to make sure your water calculator can calculate for residual alkalinity (RA) since this is an important part of brewing with a large portion of dark grains in order to keep the wort’s pH in range. Using a water calculator such as BeerSmith or Bru’n Water will help. You will want to experiment but I would recommend keeping the residual bicarbonate level low after the dark grains have been added. This should allow the dark grains to pop on the tongue. Shaun mentioned that he does not add any calcium chloride to Everett. If you haven’t done so already, request a water report from your town or city (if you are using a municipal water source) or have your home water supply tested to find out what is in your water. If you use well water, Ward Laboratories offers a base water chemistry analysis for around $30. If you have hard water, cutting it with reverse osmosis (RO) water or distilled water to a level that your RA is low is a good option.
Chocolate malt is mostly used for color and flavor in darker beers like Everett. As the color (°L) of the malt increases, so does its intensity, low to high respectively.
Roasted barley, also included in this clone recipe, has many of the same characteristics of black malt. The darkest of the dark malts, roasted barley has some starch that can be converted during the mash, which will impact the specific gravity. Roasted barley will also lend to the sweetness of a beer. Jay Wince, Head Brewer at Weasel Boy Brewing Company in Zanesville, Ohio advises, “When experimenting with roasted malt, ‘test the waters’ applies. Using softer water allows a higher percentage of use and smoothes out the bitter, astringent edges of dark roasted grains while allowing the complexities of their flavors to shine.” Everett has a silky smooth body with a very high terminal gravity. Shaun said, “The hops will help balance the beer from turning into a sweet mess,” so you may want to try increasing your hopping rate.
Hill Farmstead Brewery Abner clone
(5.5 gallons/21 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.077 FG = 1.014
IBU = 100+ SRM = 7 ABV = 8%
Ingredients
15 lbs. (6.8 kg) 2-row pale malt
0.75 lbs. (0.34 kg) caramalt (37 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) corn sugar (10 min.)
15.5 AAU Warrior® hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 15.5% alpha acids)
10.5 AAU Columbus hops (30 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 14% alpha acids)
13 AAU Simcoe® hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
10 AAU Centennial hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 10% alpha acids)
6.5 AAU Chinook hops (knockout) (0.5 oz./14 g at 13% alpha acids)
3 oz. (84 g) Simcoe® hops (dry hop)
2 oz. (56 g) Chinook hops (dry hop)
1 Tb. Polyclar
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
This is a single infusion mash. Achieve a target mash temperature of 149 °F (65 °C). Hold for 45 minutes, then proceed to mash out or begin lauter phase. Collect about 7 gallons (27 L) in your kettle. Boil for 75 minutes, adding the hops as instructed. After boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling. Target pitching rate at 1.0 million cells/ milliliter/degrees Plato (~2 L starter). Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for one week. Add a fining agent to clear yeast from beer. Add the dry hops and let the beer sit on the dry hops for an additional seven to ten days. You are now ready to bottle or keg. If priming, use the priming chart at https://byo.com/resources/carbonation to determine how much priming sugar you will need.
Hill Farmstead Brewery Abner clone
(5.5 gallons/21 L, extract w/grains)
OG = 1.077 FG = 1.014
IBU = 100+ SRM = 7 ABV = 8%
Ingredients
9.9 lbs. (4.5 kg) light liquid extract
0.5 lbs. (0.23 kg) extra light dried malt extract
0.75 lbs. (0.34 kg) caramalt (37 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) corn sugar (10 min.)
15.5 AAU Warrior® hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 15.5% alpha acids)
10.5 AAU Columbus hops (30 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 14% alpha acids)
13 AAU Simcoe® hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
10 AAU Centennial hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 10% alpha acids)
6.5 AAU Chinook hops (knockout) (0.5 oz./14 g at 13% alpha acids)
3 oz. (84 g) Simcoe® hops (dry hop)
2 oz. (56 g) Chinook hops (dry hop)
1 Tb. Polyclar
Wyeast 1028 (London Ale) or White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) or Lallemand Nottingham yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
Steep the crushed caramalt in 2 qts. (1.9 L) water at 155 °F (68 °C) for 20 minutes. Top off kettle to 7 gallons (27 L). Off heat, add the liquid and dried malt extract and bring to a boil. Boil for 75 minutes, adding the hops and corn sugar as instructed in the ingredients list. After boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling. Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Target pitching rate at 1.0 million cells/milliliter/degrees Plato (~2 L starter). Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for one week. Add a fining agent to clear any yeast from beer. Add the dry hops and let the beer sit on the dry hops for an additional seven to ten days. You are now ready to bottle or keg.
Tips for Success:
Although the standard batch size for Brew Your Own recipes is 5 gallons (19 L), the goal with this recipe is to get at least 5.5 gallons (21 L) into your fermenter to compensate for the loss of wort which will occur during dry hopping. Make sure your primary fermenter has enough headspace to accommodate that much wort plus a large kräusen. Brewing with whole-flower or fresh hops (if you choose to use them for this recipe) can leave a lot of hop material behind, which in addition to reducing your final volume as mentioned earlier, can also clog up your equipment. Add your boil hops using a muslin brewing bag or a “hop spider” to make things easier.
The mouthfeel of this beer is incredible, which may mean that chlorides are one key to Shaun Hill’s success at Hill Farmstead Brewery (one key of many). To try and duplicate this in your homebrewery, start off with soft water and make sure the chloride level in your brewing water is at least 50 ppm to help boost the mouthfeel. Try experimenting with different chloride levels in test batches until you get the one you like. Also, don’t forget sulfate levels. A good starting point is 50 ppm with the addition of gypsum salt. No matter what type of brewer you are, carbon filtering your water or treating it overnight with Campden tablets is recommended, especially if your water comes from a town or city source that is chlorinated (as opposed to well or spring water). Adding one Campden tablet in 20 gallons (76 L) of water (left overnight) will rid your water of chlorine compounds that can lead to off flavors in your beer.
Another huge factor in Abner, as with all pale, hoppy beers, is minimizing oxygen uptake after fermentation. When transferring your finished beer, make sure you are either flushing the receiving vessel with CO2 or using a closed transfer system. This is because hop compounds are especially sensitive to oxidation and their flavors diminish quickly when exposed to oxygen.
Lawson’s Finest Liquids Double Sunshine clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.074 FG = 1.013
IBU = 100+ SRM = 6 ABV = 8%
Ingredients
9.5 lbs. (4.3 kg) 2-row pale ale malt
2.5 lbs. (1.1 kg) Vienna-style malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked oats
12 oz. (0.34 kg) carapilsen malt (7–9 °L)
6 oz. (0.17 kg) caramunich-type malt (20–30 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) corn sugar (10 mins.)
10.5 AAU Columbus hops (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 14% alpha acids)
12.5 AAU Citra® hops (20 mins.) (1.0 oz./21 g at 12.5% alpha acids)
37.5 AAU Citra® hops (5 mins.) (3.0 oz./84 g at 12.5% alpha acids)
37.5 AAU Citra® hops (knockout) (3.0 oz./84 g at 12.5% alpha acids)
3.0 oz. (84 g) Citra® hops (dry hop)
Fermentis Safale US-05 yeast or Lallemand BRY-097 or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale).
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
This is a single infusion mash. Achieve a target mash temperature of 152 °F (67 °C). Hold for 45 minutes, then raise mash to mash out temperature and begin lauter phase. Collect enough wort to boil 6.5 gallons (25 L). Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops as instructed in the ingredients list and the corn sugar with 10 minutes left in the boil. After boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling.
Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Ferment at 68 °F (18 °C) for one week. Cool to 55 °F (13 °C) to settle yeast. Dump the yeast from the bottom of fermenter, or rack to a clean, sanitized vessel. Add the dry hops and let the beer sit on for an additional four to seven days at 55–57 °F (13–14 °C). Rack into a keg, or into bottles with priming sugar.
Lawson’s Finest Liquids Double Sunshine clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.074 FG = 1.013
IBU = 100+ SRM = 6 ABV = 8.0%
Ingredients
6.6 lbs. (3 kg) light liquid malt extract
2.5 lbs. (1.1 kg) Vienna-style malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked oats
6 oz. (0.17 kg) caramunich type malt (20-30 °L)
1.5 lb. (0.68 kg) corn sugar (10 mins)
10.5 AAU Columbus hops (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 14% alpha acids)
12.5 AAU Citra® hops (20 mins.) (1.0 oz./21 g at 12.5% alpha acids)
37.5 AAU Citra® hops (5 mins.) (3.0 oz./84 g at 12.5% alpha acids)
37.5 AAU Citra® hops (knockout) (3.0 oz./84 g at 12.5% alpha acids)
3.0 oz. (84 g) Citra® hops (dry hop)
Fermentis Safale US-05 yeast or Lallemand BRY-097 or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale)
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
Mix the crushed Vienna, flaked oats and caramunich type malts into 2 gallons (7.6 L) water to achieve a mash temperature of 152 °F (67 °C) then hold at this temperature for 45 minutes. Rinse the grains with 2.5 qts (2.4 L) hot water, add liquid extract and bring to a boil. Top off kettle to 6.5 gallons (25 L). Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops as instructed and the corn sugar with 10 minutes left in the boil. After boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling.
Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for one week. Cool to 55 °F (13 °C) to settle yeast. Dump the yeast from the bottom of fermenter, or rack to a clean, sanitized vessel. Add the dry hops and let the beer sit on for an additional four to seven days at 55–57 °F (13–14 °C). Rack into a keg, or into bottles with priming sugar.
Tips for Success:
Having a strong and healthy fermentation as well as following good practices during downstream beer handling are key to trying to replicate a beer like Double Sunshine IPA. Be sure to run a clean fermentation and you also need to make sure oxygen has no chance for uptake post fermentation.
Make a yeast starter a day ahead of your brew day to generate a healthy population of yeast before pitching. Visit https://byo.com/yeaststarter for more information about making a yeast starter, as well as a table for recommended starter sizes for a variety of worts. Visit www.mrmalty.com for a useful pitching rate calculator.
Hop compounds are also especially sensitive to oxidation and their flavors diminish quickly when exposed to oxygen, so make sure you are either flushing the receiving vessel with CO2 or using a closed transfer system when you transfer your beer from vessel to vessel.
Sean Lawson advises homebrewers to “determine if you have hard or soft water. I recommend John Palmer’s How to Brew for reference. If you have hard water, then cut by at least half with distilled or reverse osmosis (RO). With soft water, a basic guideline for IPAs would be to add equal parts gypsum and calcium chloride to bring total calcium content over 50 ppm.” If you homebrew with a water source that is chlorinated, one Campden tablet in 20 gallons (76 L) of water (left overnight) will rid your water of chlorine compounds that can lead to off flavors in your beer.
For all-grain brewers, a handful of rice hulls in the mash may help you if your brew setup is prone to a stuck mash. Rice hulls are a great tool when using moderate to high percentages of gummy grains such as flaked oats.
Lawson’s Finest Liquids Toast clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.059 FG = 1.013
IBU = 70 SRM = 33 ABV = 5.9%
Ingredients
11 lbs. (4.9 kg) 2-row pale malt
8 oz. (0.23 kg) toasted barley flakes
8 oz. (0.23 kg) toasted rye flakes
6 oz. (0.17 kg) Weyermann Carafa® Special III
6 oz. (0.17 kg) Briess Midnight Wheat
7 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./21 g at 14% alpha acids)
11.6 AAU Columbus hops (20 mins.) (0.75 oz./14 g at 15.5% alpha acids)
15.5 AAU Columbus hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 15.5% alpha acids)
13 AAU Chinook hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
13 AAU Simcoe® hops (knockout) (1 oz./28g at 13% alpha acids)
1.5 oz. (42 g) Columbus hops (dry hop)
1.5 oz. (42 g) Chinook hops (dry hop)
1.5 oz. (42 g) Simcoe® hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Fermentis Safale US-05 yeast or Lallemand BRY-97
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
If your brew shop does not stock toasted barley and rye flakes then you can toast them yourself. Before brew day begins, pre-heat your oven up to 350 °F (177 °C). Place the flaked barley and rye spread out on baking sheets. Toast the flakes for about 20 minutes shaking the sheet every couple of minutes. Use your nose as a guide to know when they are finished.
Achieve a target mash temperature of 150 °F (66 °C). Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops as instructed. After boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling.
Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for one week. Cool to 55 °F (13 °C) to settle yeast from beer. Dump the yeast or rack the beer to a clean, sanitized vessel. Add the dry hops and let the beer sit on the dry hops for an additional four to seven days at 55–57 °F (13–14 °C). Your beer is now ready to rack into a keg, or into bottles with priming sugar.
Lawson’s Finest Liquids Toast clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.059 FG = 1.013
IBU = 70 SRM = 33 ABV = 5.9%
Ingredients
6.6 lbs. (3 kg) light liquid malt extract
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) 2-row pale malt
8 oz. (0.23 kg) toasted barley flakes
8 oz. (0.23 kg) toasted rye flakes
6 oz. (0.17 kg) Weyermann Carafa® Special III
6 oz. (0.17 kg) Briess Midnight Wheat
7 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./21 g at 14% alpha acids)
11.6 AAU Columbus hops (20 mins.) (0.75 oz./14 g at 15.5% alpha acids)
15.5 AAU Columbus hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 15.5% alpha acids)
13 AAU Chinook hops (knockout) (1 oz./28 g at 13% alpha acids)
13 AAU Simcoe® hops (knockout) (1 oz./28g at 13% alpha acids)
1.5 oz. (42 g) Columbus hops (dry hop)
1.5 oz. (42 g) Chinook hops (dry hop)
1.5 oz. (42 g) Simcoe® hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Fermentis Safale US-05 yeast or Lallemand BRY-97
3/4 cup corn sugar (if bottling)
Step by Step
If your brew shop does not stock toasted barley and rye flakes then you can toast them yourself. Before brew day begins, pre-heat your oven up to 350 °F (177 °C). Place the flaked barley and rye spread out on baking sheets. Toast the flakes for about 20 minutes shaking the sheet every couple of minutes. Use your nose as a guide to know when they are finished.
Place crushed and flaked grains in a grain bag and add to 1 gal (3.8 L) water to achieve a mash temperature of 150 °F (66 °C) for 45 minutes. Rinse the grains with 2 qts (1.9L) hot water, and top off kettle to 6 gal. (23 L). Add extract off heat then bring to a boil. After boil is complete, begin a whirlpool in the kettle and let the knockout hops rest in the hot wort for at least 30 minutes before chilling.
Chill the wort rapidly to 68 °F (20 °C). Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for one week. Cool to 55 °F (13 °C) to settle yeast from beer. Dump the yeast or rack the beer to a clean, sanitized vessel. Add the dry hops and let the beer sit on the dry hops for an additional four to seven days at 55–57 °F (13–14 °C). Your beer is now ready to rack into a keg, or into bottles with priming sugar.
Tips for Success:
When toasting flaked grains at home (if you can’t get them from your homebrew shop) the key is getting the flaked grains to a point where your entire kitchen is smelling of wonderfully toasted bread. It will add a layer of complexity to the final beer, which is a fundamental part of this impeccably-brewed black IPA. Experimenting with toasting the flaked grains is probably a good idea to get this process down pat before brew day. Do this by trying out different toasting levels and tasting them in small test batches to find the color and corresponding flavor that tastes best. If you find that your flaked grains make your mash a little gummy, try adding a handful of rice hulls to break things up a bit.
Also make sure that you purchase Carafa® Special, or similarly de-husked malted barley, as this is the de-husked version of Weyermann’s Carafa® malt. The de-husked version of these types of malts reduces astringency in the beer, which is common when brewing with highly-roasted grains. This is a key to producing the dark color of the beer without also getting the bite found in other darker beers.
Don’t skimp on the hops when brewing a black IPA. A common mantra is hop a black IPA like it were a DIPA. This will allow the hop characteristics to shine above the roasted aspects of this style of beer.
