Two Hearted Clone Recipe Critique

Looks pretty good to me. Maybe cut back a tad on the crystal but nothing wrong with 1lb. When I brewed extract I used extra light dry extract for all my beers. Get the lightest stuff possible is the advice I would give.

 

One thing you may want to consider is a full volume boil. You're diluting the hop flavor substantially by topping off the batch with plain water. As is, this would make more of an APA. So using more hops to compensate for the top-off wouldn't be a bad idea if you cannot achieve a full volume boil. I think the dryhop should be more like 2 to 3 oz.

 

You can do this within an hour if your kettle can fit at least halfway in a deep, stainless steel sink and you whirlpool two or three times. Make yourself A LOT of ice and use salt. Frozen, half-cut soda bottles work well.

 

To the OP: do not be concerned about hop utilization when doing a partial boil. John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff stated: that recent scientific studies “…measured the amount of alpha (acids) going into solution and it does not depend on wort gravity.”

So, you will obtain ‘good’ hop utilization with a partial boil.

You can listen to the Palmer/Zainasheff podcast here: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/719

I brew an all Centennial hopped IPA which is essentially a clone of Two Hearted Ale. Below is my recipe for your consideration:

Extract 5 Gal Recipe; 3 Gal Boil

7.5 lbs. Extra Light Dry Extract (lately I have been using Briess Pilsen DME)

1 lb. Caramel/Crystal 40L

2 oz. Centennial @60 Min

1 oz. Centennial @15 Min

1 oz. Centennial @FO

1-2 oz. Centennial Dry Hop for 14 Days

1 Packet US-05 yeast

Using 1 lb. of crystal is just fine. It will add a little bit of body to the beer; it will not add any noticeable caramel flavors since this beer is extremely hop forward. For my last batch I had an OG = 1.062 and a FG = 1.010.

Good luck with your IPA.

Cheers!

 

You're incredible, Jack.

Don't listen to him, OP... this is about dilution of flavorful wort with plain water. The issue is not about gravity per se. Boiling wort extracts, isomerizes, and dissolves the hop a-acids. A good rolling boil for one hour is necessary to bind hop compounds to polypeptides, forming colloids that remain in the beer and help form a good stable head. So topping off with plain water after the fact would certainly reduce hop utilization in this partial boil recipe.

And this entire statement is just ridiculous.

 

“You're incredible, Jack.”

Thanks!

 

If you want a clone of 2 Hearted, don't drop the crystal. The Northern Brewer clone is almost identical to your recipe and Jack's. I put their recipe in the quote above. Their recipe may be slightly maltier and darker due to the Gold syrup instead of the light dry extract, but I can't say for sure. If you like 2 Hearted, any of the above recipes will do a great job.

 

I would encourage the OP to listen to a podcast on Basic Brewing Radio: March 4, 2010 BYO-BBR Experiment III.

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-radio-2010

They detailed an experiment in which they brewed three batches of extract Double IPA via three methods:

· Full Wort Boil

· Partial Boil

· Partial Boil with late addition

The experimenters did a subjective taste test of the three batches and also tested the three batches for IBUs. The executive summary of the test results are:

· The taste difference among the three batches are very slight

· All three batches have identical IBU/GU ratios. In other words, the hop utilization was identical

There may be reasons why full wort boils are desirable but if you are conducting full wort boils solely for hop utilization reasons then you don’t need to.

Cheers!

P.S. A rhetorical question to aficionado: why are you so obnoxious?

 

Jack, you're obnoxious in an indirect way... not to mention that you're wrong. It is a well known and proven fact that hop utilization will be different in a full volume boil vs. a partial boil that is later topped off with plain water. I can't listen to it now, but you're probably missing something really big in that podcast; or misinterpreting the findings altogether.

 

“..probably missing something really big in that podcast.” I didn’t miss a thing.

And you are obnoxious in a VERY DIRECT WAY!

 

Peter,

“Jack's advice does seem to fly in the face of conventional wisdom.” That is indeed a fact!

During the podcast discussion one of the participants asked something like: So, what do you think of these testing results. The other person responded: I think we have turned brewing science on its head.

You really need to listen to the podcast; it is extremely interesting and very telling.

Cheers!

Jack

 

a) this is a shitty example of an IPA
b) use way less crystal
c) at least you're using chico yeast
d) you need way more late hop additions
e) you need to at least double the dry hops

joking: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/stone-ipa.6684/

agree with the extra light extract with the crystal 40 and also agree with the full boil if possible. Leave overnight to cool if need be to cool but for an ipa you really need to do a full boil. There is also something called the texas two-step, but that is a little more time consuming with a split boil. Both ways though will achieve ~6 gallons being hopped.

 

I am in a similar situation and I would encourage you to make your own Wort Chiller. Mine cost less than $40 and took about an hour to make (my first time bending copper pipe). I roughly followed this guys instructions:

http://www.notsoprofessionalbeer.com/2010/11/make-your-own-wort-chiller.html

I have used my wort chiller for my two most recent batches and it worked like a charm.

 

9 times out of 10 the beginner brewer will post a rather sweet IPA recipe, low in hops because they don't know how to brew this style of beer. So the people who recommend keeping the IPA recipe in question the same, even though it has 1.75 lbs. of crystal 60, 4 oz. boil hops, 1 oz. dryhops at 3 days, partial boiling, and mashing at 156 F are EVEN WORSE in my opinion than the occassional poster who essentially says more hops, less crystal without providing reasoning.

The OP wants honest, straight advice. They don't want to learn the hard way and discover they have a sweet mess on their hands because they listened to someone who was super-agreeable... telling them, "this will make a tasty beer" or "I've done this before and I liked it, so everyone will like it, and you should too". You're messing with their money, their time, their 5 gallons of beer that THEY have to drink. They want to get this right the first time, so don't be that guy who just says, "Yeah, looks good. I like it."

That isn't really helping or critiquing now is it? You don't get that type of answer in school from the professor after writing a 20 page paper. No, you get "more thought, less para-phrasing".

 

Perhaps consider no-chill brewing. No wort chiller required, and it could provide some flexibility in your schedule.

 

"...low in hops because they don't know how to brew this style of beer."

Correction, they're not brewing this style of beer the same way that aficionado brews this style of beer.

Here's the problem, you think that the only correct way to brew an IPA is aficionado's way. Your way is not the right way, your way is one way, and it's not the way that all homebrewers or commercial brewers brew their beer or want to brew their beer. The style of IPA covers a broad spectrum of flavor profiles because different people like different things, so giving the same blind advice of "more hops and less crystal" every time someone posts an IPA recipe is just as misleading as blindly posting "looks good, go for it" without reason.

 

I don't think any of the recipes stated are right. It was in Zymurgy, written up by guys at the General Store and a discussion by John Mallet on the history and production. Find the Zymurgy if you want to read the full write up.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/two-hearted-ale-first-time-258674/

 

Jeff,

I am uncertain what “right’ means here. What I can state is that the all Centennial hopped IPA that I brew tastes a lot like Two Hearted to me.

Permit me to tell you about an ‘experiment’ I ran. My wife has very, very perceptive taste buds. She proclaims that she is a super taster (I don’t know about that but she does have very perceptive taste buds).

I blindly gave her two beers: one was Bells Two Hearted and the other was my all Centennial hopped IPA. I asked her to ‘compare and contrast’ the two beers. After tasting the two beers she wryly responded: “You are trying to trick me. You gave me two of the same beers.”

I suppose what I would say about “right’ is that perhaps on the homebrew level you can brew a bit differently than the commercial brewers and still obtain comparable results.

Cheers!

Jack