# Becks Clone



## Stagger (26/4/05)

I am very interested is doing a Becks Clone if any body has a clone recipe if would be greatly appreciated.


Stagger
:super:


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## bradmcm (26/4/05)

Well, it's 11.2P, and about 25-30IBU (it's been a while since I had one).
Using Hallertau hops will be close enough.
I'd use 100% Pils malt but Becks probably cheat and use a 
proportion of chit malt.
Use a lager yeast that ferments fairly dry like WY2042 or WY2247.
Easy!


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## sluggerdog (26/4/05)

bradmcm said:


> Well, it's 11.2P, and about 25-30IBU (it's been a while since I had one).
> Using Hallertau hops will be close enough.
> I'd use 100% Pils malt but Becks probably cheat and use a
> proportion of chit malt.
> ...




bradmcm - what do you mean by 11.2P? what is this about?

Cheers!


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## Borret (26/4/05)

11.2 deg plato is about an OG of 1045.
I would have thought a mash schedule to produce a moderately dry beer should also be incorporated.

Borret


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## sluggerdog (26/4/05)

Cheers Borret, got ya now!


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## Borret (26/4/05)

BTW, The same figures are actually quoted as % original extract by some traditional breweries. I have seen it on a few of the bavarian wheat beer websites for example. 
Gives a good idea of how to try and target their stylel when you can calculate their exact OG and then use their % alc to claculate the sort of attenuation they are after. Some even list their grain (you just need to figure out the proportion) and hops.

Borret


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## sluggerdog (26/4/05)

Borret said:


> 11.2 deg plato is about an OG of 1045.
> I would have thought a mash schedule to produce a moderately dry beer should also be incorporated.
> 
> Borret
> [post="56352"][/post]​




Just playing around in beersmith now and I put in a recipe trying to get somethign similar to becks.

Anyway I put in the grains (German Pilsner) and when I have an OG of 1.045 this puts my alcohol at 4.3% where becks is 5.0%.

Can someone explain why this is and how would you get an OG of 1.045 but an alcohol % at 5?


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## Borret (26/4/05)

That Depends if the 11.2 deg plato was a guess or not. I can't say for sure if it was, I just did the conversion in promash. 

Bradmcm where did you get those figures?

Borret


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## sluggerdog (26/4/05)

11.2 is what it says on the becks website along with the 5%



Beck's Ingredients
As stipulated in the German Purity Law, BECK'S carefully selects only the finest ingredients available:

Top grade brewing BARLEY MALT from carefully selected Beck's approved sources.

Hand-selected HOPS from the world-famous Bavarian Hallertau hops producing region. 

An exclusive strain of YEAST that has been nurtured and cultivated for generations by Brauerei Beck & Cos brewmasters


Pure Pilsner taste
Distinctive and fresh
Light in Colour
42 kcal/175 kJ per 100ml
11.2 plato
5.0 % ABV
Standard drinks per 330ml is 1.3
Serve Extremely cold


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## Weizguy (26/4/05)

sluggerdog said:


> 11.2 is what it says on the becks website along with the 5%
> 
> An exclusive strain of YEAST that has been nurtured and cultivated for generations by Brauerei Beck & Cos brewmasters
> 
> ...


Slugga,

As U R aware, alc % is basically related to the amount of malt sugars that is/are turned into alcohol.
At a rough estimate (using an old Goldrush Alc calculator chart), the beer needs to finish about 1.011 to give 5% alcohol, from an initial 1.045.

This means to me that the attenuation is in the order of 75-76 %.
Find the right yeast, and U have ur man 4 the job...The job being to emulate Becks.
May I suggest Wyeast Danish or Munich for the right attenuation. The Danish may be better for the flavour profile. Possibly Danish II, if anyone has it in their farm...? Just rely on your own research from the yeast strains available on the White Labs or Wyeast websites.

Seth


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## Borret (27/4/05)

Seth,.

Thats interesting. Promash gave me something a lot lower (from memory) so I just ran it through a few other online ones (as I am at work and dont have promash here) and got the following.
Brewcraft calculator needed to end at 1012.5 to give 5%
Cascade calculator needed to end at 1010.5 to give 5%
And Brewtools gave a result of 1007 apparent att to give 5% and also calculated 43 calories/100ml which lines up with the becks website pretty close
From memory promash gave a similar result to Brewtools.

So how accurate are these things? I have never put them against the formulas to test it but I imagine Promash should be the closest.

Borret


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## sluggerdog (27/4/05)

Beersmith gives 1007 as well to get the 5%.

When run through beersmith it estimates the final gravity to be 1012 so would using dry enzyme be something you might want to consider to lower the gravity and up the alcohol percaentage?

Is there another way?


=====

My thoughts on the ingredients however I wasn't sure what the flavour and aroma should be.... any ideas?

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU 
4.50 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.0 EBC) Grain 100.0 % 
50.00 gm Pearle [6.80%] (60 min) Hops 21.7 IBU 
20.00 gm Hallertauer [2.50%] (20 min) Hops 1.9 IBU 
10.00 gm Hallertauer [2.50%] (10 min) Hops 0.6 IBU 
15.00 gm Hallertauer [2.50%] (Dry Hop 14 days) Hops -


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## warrenlw63 (27/4/05)

Sluggerdog,

With a light-bodied lager such as this. I'd add your final addition at strikeout. Dryhopping will make it grassy.

Most German/euro lagers are not dryhopped.

Warren -


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## sluggerdog (27/4/05)

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.50 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.0 EBC) Grain 100.0 %
50.00 gm Pearle [6.80%] (60 min) Hops 21.7 IBU
15.00 gm Hallertauer [2.50%] (20 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
15.00 gm Hallertauer [2.50%] (10 min) Hops 0.6 IBU
15.00 gm Hallertauer [2.50%] (0 min) Aroma

Re-EDITED, thanks Warren


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## Weizguy (27/4/05)

The Goldrush chart gives an estimate of alcohol (after the beer is primed with sugar).
Even allowing for 0.5% alc from the sugar, the FG still nees to go down to about 1.008, by the chart.

This all presupposes that U will keg.
If U R bottling, the priming sugar will produce some alcohol in the bottle and your FG does not need to go as low to achieve your alc%.

I agree that Euro lagers hardly ever use dry hopping, and I find that fresh Hallertau is quite powerful. So if U haven't used Hallertau for aroma and taste before, look out!
I have turned myself off Hallertau, after using it as a flavour/aroma hop, and also find that it can overpower the malt in a delicate lager. 

But, enough of my opinion. The final beer will be the ultimate test of taste.  

Seth out


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## warrenlw63 (27/4/05)

Weizguy said:


> I find that fresh Hallertau is quite powerful.[post="56461"][/post]​



It can have an almost soapy character. Not always pleasant and better used in small amounts.

I was actually stupid enough to be adventurous (what was I thinking?) and dry-hop a bitter with some a couple of years ago. Was shocking for a couple of months but settled down nicely after that.

If you're going to use Hallertau IMO Hersbrucker works far nicer. Or even Tettnanger for that matter.

Warren -


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## sluggerdog (27/4/05)

Does the german Hallertau taste different to the NZ one?

I have only ever used the NZ Hallertau and I found it different to what I expected...


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## Sean (27/4/05)

quick rule of thumb for ABV (as taught to me by an English head-brewer) is - points drop in gravity *0.13

So a 5% beer needs a drop of 5 / 0.13 = 38
So you need to drop from 1.045 to 1.007 (or 1.050 to 1.012)
give or take a point.

Mind you, Beck's is pretty dry so it could be believable (just).


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## Jazman (27/4/05)

i have just got the nz hallertua so i have to wait a while so i can tell you the diff


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## Weizguy (27/4/05)

Jazman said:


> i have just got the nz hallertua so i have to wait a while so i can tell you the diff
> [post="56499"][/post]​



U can do a taste test on a (shudder) Hahn Premium. I think I got Hallertau poisoning one night when these were being promoted at the Grand Hotel, Glenelg.

Seth (always glad to help)


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## vlbaby (28/4/05)

> My thoughts on the ingredients however I wasn't sure what the flavour and aroma should be.... any ideas?
> 
> Ingredients:
> ------------
> ...



I plugged these values into pro mash but i got 48.6 IBU for just the Perle. Is this wrong cause that looks awful bitter to me?

vlbaby.


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## Borret (28/4/05)

Doesn't Hahn Premium say late additions of Hersbrucker on the bottle?

Borret


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## sluggerdog (28/4/05)

vlbaby said:


> > My thoughts on the ingredients however I wasn't sure what the flavour and aroma should be.... any ideas?
> >
> > Ingredients:
> > ------------
> ...



Yep, that sounds about right, my problem at the moment is I can only do a 10-13 litre boil so I was planning on that and filling up with water, this would lower the IBU to 25. I haven't tried this before but thought I would give it a go and see how it turned out.




Borret said:


> Doesn't Hahn Premium say late additions of Hersbrucker on the bottle?
> 
> Borret
> [post="56548"][/post]​




Sure does say Hersbrucker on the bottle..


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## Weizguy (28/4/05)

Oh no. Caught out by a label...

In an attempt to save some pride: Isn't Hersbrucker related to Hallertau?
It seems to be a similar taste to me, comparing the commercial product with my Hallertau late-hopped Helles, or Kolsch.

Anyway, I stick to my guns regarding the late hops overpowering the malt flavour. So, shoot me down. I'm learning all the time, on this site.

They say that the man/woman who never made a mistake, never made anything good.

Seth


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## warrenlw63 (28/4/05)

Borret said:


> Doesn't Hahn Premium say late additions of Hersbrucker on the bottle?
> 
> Borret
> [post="56548"][/post]​



Probably Tasmanian Hersbrucker. IIRC There's Tasmanian and Hallertauer varieties.


Warren -


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## Borret (28/4/05)

But didn't the guy in the dodgy homebrew store say that hops were all the same .....just POR with a different label...............
Nah- really, I get your point about the soapy taste Weiz. I'm sure I have tasted it in something. (definately blue tounge ginger beer but something else as well).

Borret


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