Turbodog Clone

A friend of mine at work is from the New Orleans area and raved about Abita Brewing Company's Turbodog Brown Ale. I tried some of their brews at the 2008 GABF but to be honest it was at the end of the session when things were a bit hazy and I can't really remember exactly which ones I tried.

Abita describes it as:

Turbodog is a dark brown ale brewed with Willamette hops and a combination of pale, crystal and chocolate malts. This combination gives Turbodog its rich body and color and a sweet chocolate toffee-like flavor. Turbodog began as a specialty ale but has gained a huge loyal following and has become one of our flagship brews.

This ale pairs well with most meats and is great served with hamburgers or sausages. It is a good match with smoked fish and can even stand up to wild game dishes. Turbodog is also great for marinating and braising meats and cooking such things as cabbage and greens. Colby, Gloucester, Cheddar and Blue cheeses go nicely with Turbodog. It’s perfect with spicy Louisiana jambalaya or Spanish paella. Some even like it paired with chocolate!

I cracked open BYO's 150 Classic Clone Recipes and since I haven't brewed a brown ale for a long time I figured it'd be a great time to try this brew. The recipe as I'm brewing it is as follows:

9.75 lbs Munton's Pale 2 row

1.25 lbs Briess Crystal 80 (BYO's calls for Crystal 100 but my LHBS doesn't carry it so I went with 80)

.5 lbs Briess Chocolate Malt

.6 oz Chinook hops (90 minutes)

1.25 oz Williamette hops (5 mins)

1.5 oz Williamette hops (0 mins)

White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast

Mash with 17.25 quarts of water at 152 F for 45 minutes then raise the temp to 172 F for five minutes, then sparge at 172 F.

Follow the above hop schedule letting the wort rest for 15 minutes before chilling after the last hop addition.

Ferment at 65 F for 5-6 days. Cool to 45 F for 7 days then keg/bottle.

Rating: B+

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Berliner Weisse

I got to try a Berliner Weisse inspired brew at the 2008 GABF. The tartness reminded me of a lambic which is another style that I really enjoy and plan on brewing sometime in the next year (I have a couple bags of homegrown hops "aging" in the garage). I brewed the following recipe back in late April. I bottled it about a month ago but I suspect it will need to age at least three months to get the amount of sourness I'm looking for.

3 lbs pilsner malt

2.5 pounds pale wheat malt

.5 oz Kent Goldings for 15 min

White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch yeast

White Labs WLP677 Lactobacillus Bacteria

I mashed at 149 F for 90 minutes then collected approx 3 gallons of wort. I added water for about 5.3 gallons boil volume and performed a 15 minute boil. I pitched the lacto after chilling to about 80 F then pitched the yeast a day later. I'll post a follow-up in July or August after this has had some time to age and hopefully get nice and sour.

Update 8/2/2010: I tried some of this on 7/4/2010 and again on 8/1/2010. It's still not quite as tart as I'd like, but it was noticeably more tart on 8/1/2010 than 7/4/2010. I like this but it's different than the Berliner Weisse inspired brew that I had at the 2008 GABF. It definitely has some funk going on, but in a good way. In one sense, it has some similarities to some of the Belgian styles. I think this will improve with age and I'd make it again but will probably do a little tweaking. As of 8/1/2010, I'd rate this a C+/B-

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Blanche De Chambly Clone

The basement project is finally wrapping up which hopefully means I'll have time to brew more. Yesterday I brewed a clone of Blanche De Chambly from Unibroue. My wife and I had the opportunity to try this beer last summer at Uva Bar located in Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA. The brewer describes this beer as:

"Blanche de Chambly has an alluring pale golden color, effervescent foam and a subtle bouquet of spice and citrus notes. It is a mildly malty, sightly sweet and refreshingly thirst-quenching."

I searched the net for a clone recipe and ended up combining a couple.

• 5 lbs Pilsen (Dingemans) (1.6 SRM)
• 4 lbs 8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)
• 1.00 oz Hersbrucker [4.25 %] (60 min) Hops 14.5 IBU (my LHBS was out of Hersbrucker so I substituted Strisselspalt)
• 0.13 oz Ginger, Grated (Boil 10.0 min)
• 0.25 oz Coriander Seed, crushed (Boil 10.0 min)
• 0.25 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 10.0 min)
• 8.0 oz Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM)
• 1 Pkgs Belgian Wit Ale (White Labs #WLP400)

I mashed in 3 gallons of water at 152 for 70 minutes. I sparged with 5 gallons at 169. In hindsight I think I should have increased my water to grain ratio because I was barely able to collect enough wort.

The brew showed active signs of fermentation this morning and by the time I got home from work today it was going like crazy. The fermentation was so active that I ended up swapping the airlock for a blow-off tube.

Update: I didn't do a side by side tasting, but I'd say this is very very close in appearance and flavor to Blanche De Chambly. This will be one that I will brew again for sure, so I highly recommend it. We've had it on tap for a few weeks now and my wife commented that it's like "summer in a glass". We also had some friends over for a beer tasting party and everyone raved about it. I'd rate this an A

Update 8/9/2010: I brewed this one again today. The LHBS was out of Hersbrucker and Strisselspalt this time, so I went with Mt. Hood.

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Pliny the Elder Clone

Most beer enthusiasts have probably heard of Pliny the Elder from Russian River Brewing Co. It's known as one of the finer examples of a double IPA. I'm a big fan of hoppy beers and one of my favs is Hop Ottin' IPA from Anderson Valley Brewing Co. I've been wanting to try Pliny the Elder but it's not available in Utah and even on a recent trip to SoCal I wasn't able to locate any. So when a recent Zymurgy issue included a clone recipe I figured it was a good time to give it a try. I have started my yeast starter and will be brewing this batch in the next couple days.

13 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 87.17 %
9.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 45L (45.0 SRM) Grain 3.95 %
9.6 oz Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM) Grain 3.95 %
12.0 oz Dextrose (Briess) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 4.93 %
3.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (90 min) Hops 149.6 IBU
0.75 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (45 min) Hops 27.5 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (30 min) Hops 28.5 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
2.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 13 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (Dry Hop 13 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 13 days) Hops -
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
0.25 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale

Notes:
Mash at 151-152 for 60 minutes.
Collect 8 gallons and stir in dextrose.
Boil for 90 minutes and chill to 67.
Pitch two packages of yeast or a yeast starter.
Ferment at 67 and rack to secondary after fermentaton subsides.
Add first set of dry hops in secondary (13 day addition).
On the 8th day, add the second set of dry hops (5 day addition).

Update: This was a fantastic IPA. I still haven't tried the commercial version but I took a growler of this to a beer tasting party and I had a lot of people tell me this was a spot on clone. I'll brew this one again for sure. The only con is the cost of all the hops can be a bit cost prohibitive as this batch cost about double compared to my typical brews. This one is definitely an A+, especially for hop-heads.

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Watermelon Wheat

A little while back on AHA Tech Talk, a few brewers were talking about Watermelon Wheat recipes. To be honest it sounded disgusting to me at first, but several brewers raved about theirs so I figured I'd give it a shot.
I tried making a Raspberry Wheat a couple years ago and wasn't very happy with the results. I'd read that to make a good fruit beer, you need to take the amount of fruit you think you need to use, and at least double it. I figured it'd be a lot cheaper to use 6 pounds of watermelon than the same amount of fresh raspberries, blueberries, etc. So even if it turned out bad at least I wouldn't be out a bunch of money.
I basically stumbled upon the below recipe on Out of Key Brewing's blog (http://outofkey.com) and it's based on 21st Amendment's Watermelon Wheat. I gotta say it turned out awesome, so well done Brian.
I used a seeded watermelon and I purposefully used an over-ripe melon in order to maximize flavor. I've been told the best way to find ripe watermelon is to look where the stem connects to the fruit...the more brown the more ripe at harvest; the more green the more un-ripe at harvest.

6 lbs 8.0 oz Fruit - Watermelon
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
4 lbs Wheat - White Malt
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 16.7 IBU
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (5 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale

Notes:
Target O.G. is 1.050. Mash at 152 for 1 hour. Ferment in primary at low 60's for 1 week. Rack beer onto fruit puree in the secondary. Puree the fruit from a 10 pound watermelon. This should give you 6-7 pounds of fruit. Use a blowoff hose as fermentation will restart and should be active.

One interesting note, the reddish color in the melon meat seems to be comprised of solids that tend to settle out in the secondary. So the final product is a light straw yellow with a bright white head.

Update: This is another keeper. I took a growler of this with me to a December beer tasting. I think almost everyone had the same reaction as me when I first heard mention of a watermelon wheat. However, after tasting it most people seemed to really enjoy it including a few who said they really don't usually like fruit beers. The watermelon flavor is very noticeable here, not subtle whatsoever. Appearance-wise the brew was a straw color and was crystal clear with a bright dense white head. The aroma was very nice...almost perfume-like. I'm not a huge fruit beer guy, but I do enjoy a good one and I love watermelon, so I'd rate this one an A+

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