Next project: NB's Dead Ringer extract kit

I brewed Dead Ringer all grain a few months ago. it is a great kit and so very damn close. the DME version is probably a little less so.

for yeast I suggest using two packages of US-05. it is the same as the liquid Chico strains (001 or 1056), and by most everyone's measure is a dry yeast the performs just as well as the liquid. but it is easier to handle and cheaper too. US05 is a well known work horse. there is little reason to use the liquid in this instance imo.

I generally discourage messing with kits. this is supposed to be a clone after all. 2 ounces of orange is a lot. 1 ounce is plenty, but like I said I don't think it needs any. you might consider bitter orange instead of sweet orange as Two Hearted has plenty of sweet malt/honey character to begin with.

this is a well regarded 100% Centennial brew, so again, variation misses the point. Cascade or Columbus are your obvious alternates. but it is a Centennial showcase if anything.
Cheers.

 

sounds like a plan.
remember it's your beer though. I know what I like.
Good luck.

 

Firstly, Northern Brewer Dead Ringer is intended to be a clone of Bell’s Two Hearted Ale. With that in mind some comments.

Yeast Selection. Bell’s has their own proprietary yeast but the California Ale yeast strain will yield a very similar Two Hearted Clone. I personally prefer to use US-05 in this situation. I personally use a single packet for my IPAs and they turn out great; there is no absolute need for two packets while making this beer.

Hops: Bell’s Two Hearted Ale is solely brewed with Centennial hops. I have brewed a beer similar to Dead Ringer using only Centennial hops and also with Warrior for bittering but only Centennial for flavor/aroma additions (including dry hopping). I personally have not noticed any difference. Needless to say that 1 ounce of Warrior will indeed provide more bitterness than 1 ounce of Centennial. IMO, this beer could benefit from use of Warrior for bittering (more AAUs).

Orange Peel addition: Bell’s relies solely on Centennial hops for flavors/aromas of citrus; some folks detail a grapefruit flavor/aroma from Centennial Hops. I personally would not add any orange peel (sweet or bitter orange peel) since I am a BIG of the Centennial hop flavor/aroma and I prefer to not mess with that flavor profile.

Maybe it is time for me to state my old saying of: homebrew the beers you like and homebrew them the way you like.

Cheers!

 

This is one of the kits that I brewed recently, but sadly I don't feel like my batch came out much like the real deal.

Not sure why that would be, though. I don't have fermentation temperature control yet, but the ambient temp in my basement was about 66 F and I think US-05 can cope at higher temps than that. The only change I made to the recipe was adding an extra half ounce of Centennial that I had lying around to the dry hop. Otherwise, I gave it about 3.5 weeks in the bucket, adding the dry hops one week before bottling. I will admit that I really screwed up my transfer to the bottling bucket - way more splashing than is healthy - but I can't claim to taste any obvious oxidation just yet.

The beer has only been carbed for about a week at this point, so maybe I just need to give it some time to mellow out. I'll have another one soon and see if I can describe what's wrong with it. There aren't any particular off flavors that stand out, but the taste isn't as smooth and balanced as you'd get in the real thing and the color is too dark, too. Mind you, it was dark even before I added a bunch of O2 to it.

 

A few comments:

“The beer has only been carbed for about a week at this point, so maybe I just need to give it some time to mellow out.” You really, really should wait a minimum of two weeks before making any sort of assessment of your homebrewed beers. When I brew my Centennial IPA I do not open a bottle until the three week mark and I do not really start drinking the beer until 4-5 weeks in the bottle.

“I will admit that I really screwed up my transfer to the bottling bucket - way more splashing than is healthy - but I can't claim to taste any obvious oxidation just yet.” Needless to say but this could be an issue for your beer. Unless you really added a lot (and I mean a lot!) of air you will not notice anything at the 1 week mark. For a hoppy beer like this you might notice that the hop flavor/aroma will fade quickly in this batch of beer. I normally would strongly encourage some patience here from a beer consumption point of view but given this details you might want to drink this beer quickly starting at the 2 week mark?

For any style of beer you should have a gentle transfer but for hoppy beers there is somewhat more of a consequence in this regard.

Cheers!

 

When I say "carbed for a week", I mean I left it two weeks to carbonate and it has been another week since then. But yeah, it might still be a bit early to judge.

 

Three weeks in the bottle is when I first ‘road test’ my IPAs and while they are ‘drinkable’ then they consistently have an improved aroma/flavor 1-2 weeks later. I recognize that this is counterintuitive to some folks since they are accustomed to the thought that hoppy beers are ‘best’ when they are young.

I still would encourage you to ‘monitor’ the hop aroma/flavor of your batch since you made mention of a rough transfer during bottling.

Cheers!

 

Tried another one last night and I've got to admit that it had improved some more. Don't know if it'll ever makes its way up to "really good", but I think it will be a decent (if unremarkable) brew when it's done aging. For the record, it was brewed on Oct 19, bottled three and a half weeks later, and it has been a month since the bottling. I'm not noticing any ill effects from all that unwanted aeration during bottling yet, will that maybe show up farther down the line?

 

@MCBanjoMike thanks for the update. I am guessing that maybe one more week in the bottle will benefit this batch of beer.

Cheers!

 

The Bell's house yeast does give an orange-ish ester, the brewery has said as much for Oberon. One can grab some from bottles of their average gravity beers.

 

Just like just about everyone else ... you'll find out for yourself home brew in a bottle for just one month isn't as good as five weeks and five weeks isn't as good as six weeks and it's often peak beer either side of eight weeks ... especially for extract-based recipes.

 

I'll be happy if that's the case. But why would extract beers take longer to reach their potential?

(Actually, do you mean eight weeks after brew day? In that case, it would be at its best right about now.)

 

Don't know why ... just know it did in my brew closet back in the day when I brewed with extracts..

Peak ale ==> usually (about) eight weeks in the bottle.

Not saying it isn't drinkable before then or you shouldn't drink it younger or older ... or every style adheres to this rule-of-thumb just that 1) peak ale occurs around eight weeks in the bottle and 2) the taste of four-week old ale t'ain't no where near its peak.