# Xxxx gold clone



## hooper80 (9/8/15)

Hey guys, I have a three vessel herms system and make pretty nice beer. My mates love it but one of em just wants me to make a gold clone. I have trouble sourcing recipes. Can someone please give me advice. Cheers Hooper80


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## dicko (9/8/15)

I have mates who seem to have a need to drink that....this will get you pretty close.





Mash at 65 for an hour

Polyclar and filter or let it become very clear....2112 yeast will drop very bright and its low attenuation leaves enough body in the beer to make it drinkable.

I know that many on here will say that, that is not how it is made, but give it a try, it is very close.

Good luck


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## hooper80 (9/8/15)

Ok thanks heaps. Is this for 20 lts? And the addition of the Hallertuer hops at 0 mins has me puzzled.


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## hooper80 (9/8/15)

And also can u please give me the gravity on this recipe. Thank you very much for your help.


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## dicko (9/8/15)

The grain percentages and the hop IBU's are in smaller print under the respective ingredients.

I brew on a Braumeister and my volume in the kettle is 25 litres prior to draining the wort into the fermenter.
This is the figure you will need to work on to reproduce that recipe.
If for example you lose 2.5 litres to trub in the kettle and 2.5 litres of trub in the fermenter and then keg or bottle 20 litres then yes it will make 20 litres.
My mash efficiency is 77% so if yours is different you will adjust the grain amount accordingly but still maintain the individual grain percentages.

The OG is 1.035 and the FG is 1.011
The IBU's are 14.6 tinseth.

The 0 minute Hallateur Hersbruker addition is at flame out and the wort is chilled immediately although if there is a slight delay Hallateur is usually low enough in AA% not to worry you too much.

If you "No Chill" then the hop additions will be

6 gramms of POR (9%aa) at 60 mins
23 gramms Hersbruker (2.4%aa) at 10 mins
10 gramms Hersbruker (2.4%aa) into the no chill cube.

I apologise that I cant give you the IBU for the respective hop additions in the NO CHILL additions as I am on my IPad at the moment.
I can get them later when I get to my desktop if you need them.
Your hops will probably have different aa% to the ones in that recipe so you will have to adjust the additions accordingly.
The hop bitterness and flavour is VERY important in this beer to achieve the correct balance.
It will not be a gold clone if it is over hopped.

Cheers


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## indica86 (9/8/15)

I thought XXXX was Cluster?


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## dicko (9/8/15)

indica86 said:


> I thought XXXX was Cluster?


I think you may be correct, at least for the full strength anyway.
I have made and experimented with cluster but cant get the beer as balanced and as smooth as hersbruker.

That is the reason for the last sentence in my first post.

There has been much discussion about this beer with using sugar, mash temps and times, varieties of malt and yeast types.
The recipe I have offerd the OP is one that I have made for many home functions where a majority of guests are xxxx gold drinkers and most say my beer is better.....go figure that one.


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## indica86 (9/8/15)

Fair call.
I made beer called Cluster FXXX recently. It's lovely.





Obviously not what the op is after though as it is full strength.



4.00 kg

Pale Malt, Ale (Barrett Burston) (5.9 EBC)

Grain

1

93.0 %

0.05 kg

Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (1000.8 EBC)

Grain

2

1.2 %

0.25 kg

Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (2.0 EBC)

Sugar

3

5.8 %


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## Bribie G (9/8/15)

I believe that Gold is all malt, as is Carlton Mid, that's how they maintain some flavour.


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## dicko (9/8/15)

Nice looking beer indica86,
I am currently playing with full strength recipes and find cluster much better that POR for the balance.
For a long while I also used Horizon for bittering only and I tried EKG as well, all with reasonable results.

I find with mid strength beer you need to lose the sugar otherwise it just turns out watery.
The 2112 yeast still gives you a bit of body in the beer with clean lager characteristics and the 10% of carapils gives it a head and mouthfeel.
A xxxx gold does seem to hold a reasonable head when poured from the tap in a venue that has clean glasses and good serving equipment and personel.


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## TheWiggman (9/8/15)

I just checked the XXXX website and watched a video on Gold. The brewer states they use sugar adjuncts as part of the process. He also says they mash "fairly high" to keep some flavour and body in the beer. This is reminiscent of the New clone thread and MHB's comments that they start at 70°C. Now I know if you/I can make a better beer then all power to us but in the interests of cloning, on the home scale this flies against all advice and technique floating around regarding Aussie lagers. If the sugar % is upped significantly from 15% to say 40% of fermentables, in conjunction with a higher mash temp, the target FG could still be met. For XXXX Gold though I'd imagine the ratio would be less otherwise it would be watery. Over-gravity fermenting would aid flavour too. 
For hops, XXXX Bitter uses a combo of cluster and PoR (written on the neck of the bottle) but I'm not sure if Gold is a lighter version.


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## dicko (9/8/15)

The commercial method is unfortunately based on a scale of economy.

A true clone is probably impossible to achieve at home.

I have tried sugar adjuncts and high mashes, I have tried a variety of yeasts, and other variables from time to time and find that for simplicity and having people actually drink and give good comments on the beer is all I am aiming for.

I do not know what hops they use in Gold but the additions I am currently making taste extremely close to the real thing.

Then there is always the factor that you can give ten home brewers one recipe and you will then possibly have ten different beers. :lol:


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## pcqypcqy (9/8/15)

indica86 said:


> Fair call.
> I made beer called Cluster FXXX recently. It's lovely.
> 
> 
> ...


My vote for best beer name.


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## hooper80 (10/8/15)

Thanks for all your help guys, dicko I'll be making this my next brew. So to take a mile when giving an inch, I'm gunna ask what the bitter recipe is?


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## TheWiggman (10/8/15)

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/index.php?/topic/58922-Xxxx-Bitter
Wha-bam


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## dicko (10/8/15)

hooper80 said:


> Thanks for all your help guys, dicko I'll be making this my next brew. So to take a mile when giving an inch, I'm gunna ask what the bitter recipe is?


Hooper80,

I work away from home but when I get back next weekend I will shoot you a PM with the recipe for the full strength recipe

Do you chill or no chill??

Cheers


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## hooper80 (11/8/15)

Cheers dicko, you're a bloody legend. I someone chill some times not. Depending what I have in fridge and fermenters. Let's go with chill. Thank u again mate


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## Coldspace (11/8/15)

Hi, I am new to all grain as well, after my lovely wife bought me the grain father for my 40th.

I'll try these xxxx gold receipe as well.

Regards
Matt


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## hooper80 (17/9/15)

dicko said:


> Hooper80,
> 
> I work away from home but when I get back next weekend I will shoot you a PM with the recipe for the full strength recipe
> 
> ...


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## dicko (18/9/15)

hooper80 said:


> dicko said:
> 
> 
> > Hooper80,
> ...


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## BrewedCrudeandBitter (18/9/15)

I'm pretty certain XXXX use tetra hops? Well they were early last year at least.


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## mje1980 (18/9/15)

In fairness, xxxx is not about the hops.


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## Ducatiboy stu (18/9/15)

Do they actually use hops ?


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## mje1980 (18/9/15)

I think my clone goes to about 9 Ibu lol


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## Ducatiboy stu (18/9/15)

XXXX measuring out hop additions


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## mje1980 (18/9/15)

Double batch


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## Ducatiboy stu (18/9/15)

Bittered with couch and dry hopped with clover


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## mje1980 (18/9/15)

Definitely need to do another one actually. Current one I tried k97. Not bad, but nowhere near as good as Danish lager to my taste.


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## sponge (18/9/15)

All this lawn-clipping talk making you thirsty Mark?

On a more serious note, 2042 really is a glorious yeast for these types of beers.


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## mje1980 (18/9/15)

Chilling down a mexi style lager as we speak. Brewed it for the missus of course. Will have some wlp Mexican lager slurry in a few weeks if you want some mate


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## TheWiggman (18/9/15)

Pretty sure tetra hops aren't used in Gold. Isomerised hop extract would be used like other mega breweries for their staple lagers. It may not be about the hops but if they were altered I think the devotees would be up in arms.


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## BrewedCrudeandBitter (21/9/15)

There was an article on brewsnews.com about gold last year where they talked about when XXXX started an adertising compaign about XXXX being all natural and they had to start using actual hops but all the pub owners complained because it killed the head retention. So they went back to tetra hops and dropped the advertising.


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## BrewedCrudeandBitter (21/9/15)

Found it: http://www.brewsnews.com.au/2014/04/brewers-association-says-beer-has-an-image-problem-rest-of-the-world-says-duh/



> Unfortunately, adjunct sugars make up such a part of XXXX Gold that without the foam-positive characteristics of the ‘non natural’ tetra hops, the beer wouldn’t keep its head. Publicans and consumers were soon complaining that XXXX Gold was going flat and Lion had to retreat and go back to using tetra hops and the campaign was quickly forgotten about, though without any fanfare. When I asked about the campaign the following year I was advised:
> 
> XXXX is no longer promoting the Natural Beer Promise due to the issues with the removal of the tetra hop from XXXX GOLD to meet the standard resulting in bad head retention. Also, low carb beers actually don’t meet the promise as they have an enzyme added to break down the carbs so low carbs beers cannot claim to be naturally brewed.


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## TheWiggman (21/9/15)

Interesting. Off to confuse myself trying to work out the characteristic differences between tetra and isomerised hop extract...


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