Date: January-February 2016
Three Floyds Brewing Company: Dark Lord clone
Digital and Plus Members OnlyDark Lord is a truly unique Russian imperial stout brewed with coffee, Mexican vanilla, and Indian sugar. It features notes of mocha and charred fruit, and has a “motor oil-like consistency.” Note the extended total boil time . . . this is not your typical evening brew session.
Smuttynose Brewing Company: Frankenlager clone
FREEFrankenlager is Smuttynose’s interpretation of an IPA decoction-mashed and fermented like the classic lagers of Europe. It’s crisp and refined, but certainly not meek or mild.
Jack’s Abby Brewing: Hoponius Union clone
Digital and Plus Members OnlyHoponius Union is a lager that features a blend of popular American hops, creating a huge tropical fruit and citrusy hop aroma. A dry finish accentuates the pleasant bitterness and hop profile.
Base Camp Brewing Company: In-Tents IPL clone
Digital and Plus Members OnlyThis is a labor-intensive beer to produce, utilizing a triple batch sparge, kräusening, a three-week bulk lagering period, and oak chip aging. The result is a malty and firmly hopped, oak-aged lager softened by some natural carbonation. The lager yeast allows the piney and floral aromatics to shine while the oak chips heighten the maltiness of the brew.
Adjusting Your Brewing Water
Digital and Plus Members OnlyBeer is more water than anything else, which means that water is one of the most important ingredients in a brew. And, of course, water is a catch-all term for a solution of a variety of salts depending upon its source. So we should pay good attention to our brewing water, and as the professionals
Adjusting Homebrew After Fermentation
Digital and Plus Members OnlyBrewers often commit that five-step sequence to muscle memory. After all, a strict routine is vital in maintaining a high level of control over the countless variables affecting the beermaking process and is essential for maintaining consistency. But small-batch brewing is fundamentally imperfect. No matter how strict the regimen, how fancy the controls, or how
India Pale Lager Clone Recipes
Digital and Plus Members OnlyIndia Pale Lager (IPL) is a modern hybridization of the India Pale Ale (IPA) style and a (insert your own interpretation of the) “lager component” that has taken a craft beer industry foothold in recent years. Some argue that its lack of official definition is what appeals to many brewers, giving them full artistic freedom
Homebrewing Experiments
Digital and Plus Members OnlyThere is a lot of conventional wisdom in the world of homebrewing. Some of it is good and obvious (always keep things clean and sanitized), while some of it is a little murkier (can you leave beer on the trub for a few weeks instead of transferring to a secondary fermenter)? Many a debate has
Quest to Clone Three Floyds Brewing Company’s Dark Lord
Digital and Plus Members OnlyPhoto courtesy of Chicago Beer Geeks, www.chicagobeergeeks.com There are few craft beers as infamous, opulent and coveted as Indiana’s Three Floyds Brewing Company’s massive imperial stout, Dark Lord (DL). To quote Three Floyds’ website: “Dark Lord is a gargantuan Russian Style Imperial Stout . . . Its resonant vinous aroma has been described as cherries,
Festbier/Märzen/Oktoberfest
Digital and Plus Members Onlyby the numbers OG: 1.054-1.057 FG:1.010-1.012 SRM:4-7 IBU:18-25 ABV:5.8-6.3 Many American beer enthusiasts look forward to autumn seasonal beers, often with their malty, stronger flavors. One particular style that is popular is Oktoberfest, an amber, malty, German lager, just like the kind that’s served at the eponymous Munich festival. Right? Well . . . no.
Cleaning Wort Chillers, Mash Hopping: Mr. Wizard
Digital and Plus Members OnlyQ I’m Requesting your advice for cleaning and care of copper wort chillers. Like other brewers, after the cool down I pull my wort chiller out of the pot and it’s usually covered with stuck on grain and hop residue. I put mine in a tub and wash it with dish soap using a brush
Recipe Development: Tips from the Pros
Digital and Plus Members OnlyFinding a homebrew recipe isn’t difficult — we have printed hundreds in BYO over the years, for instance— but there is something about developing your own homebrew recipe that is always appealing. Learn how the pros approach recipe development and use their advice the next time you set out to create a masterpiece. Brewer: Luke