Anchor Steam Beer

[Mall]

This is my Anchor Steam clone. Very close to the original which I enjoyed a bit of on a recent US trip.
The recipe is here: http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/302441/anchor-steam-clone
A very nice Californian Common beer...

 

[Ben1]

They did a clone on 'Can You Brew It'. Can't remember the exact recipe but from memory it looks close (or the same) as yours. I brewed the clone and found with some conditioning this was an awesome beer! Unfortunately by that stage I had drunk most of them.

 

[Matplat]

I am contemplating something like this after enjoying a 6 pack of the real thing. Do you condition it just like an ale at room temp, or is there any cold lagering period involved as it uses a lager yeast?

 

[Ben1]

Room temp like an ale

 

[Matplat]

Thanks ben

 

[Mall]

I did a double batch, 1st into corny 3 weeks after ferment finished and the second, on tap now about six weeks conditioned a room temp. The second was a vastly superior drop, enjoying now. I'm just about to keg a double Arrogant ******* clone but have the ingredients for another Steam Beer...one of my favourites.

 

[Matplat]

When I drank it I was thinking what the grain bill would entail and I didn't think it would be so simple... That grainy full malty flavour, mmmm so good! I guess it must be all about the yeast.... That will be the only hard/expensive part to get hold of. I've got a cascade blonde ale to do first though....

 

[Mall]

I used the Wyeast 2112 at 16c

 

[Samuel Adams]

When I drank it I was thinking what the grain bill would entail and I didn't think it would be so simple... That grainy full malty flavour, mmmm so good! I guess it must be all about the yeast.... That will be the only hard/expensive part to get hold of. I've got a cascade blonde ale to do first though....

I've found the US Northern Brewer hops the hard part to get.
Sure you can use German NB but I've read the German one lacks the minty character of the US variety.

As Mall says 2112 is the Anchor strain and it's a very nice yeast, really malty finish.

 

[Matplat]

Hmmm... hadnt picked up on that, to me though that beer was all about the malt and mouthfeel though like beer and bread combined, awsome! Although perhaps the sixer i had was old and lost the hop aroma it should have had!

 

[Samuel Adams]

Yeah all the ones I've had have been nice and malty, good bitterness but not fresh enough to get the proper hop flavour.

 

[///]

I've been to the brewery and went right thru it. Was an amazing site

The beer has a toastie breadiness from the yeast and the ferment temps. The smell of the ferment rooms is simply stunning. The hop pocket room is the same.

Northern brewer is a derivative of the euros and I have made a few with tettnang and hersbrucker mixes

It's a simple recipe which you can let nature do its thing ...

They have a centrifuge and you can taste the lack of tampering in the beer. Use biofine clear to help the yeast fall out and away you go

Scotty

 

[SBOB]

I've been to the brewery and went right thru it. Was an amazing site

brewery tour and the resulting tastings in their tap room was one of my highlights of my SF visit earlier this year

 

[Matplat]

Well, I brewed this using M54 dry california lager yeast and the recipe from brewing classic styles except I dropped the victory malt and replaced with a bit more munich.

After two weeks in the bottle pretty much the main thing I can taste is the 60g of pale chocolate malt! goddamn that stuff must be potent.

I'm really hoping further conditioning brings more toastie, breadiness... otherwise it will be a mark against the yeast methinks..... Still very drinkable but, contrary to my initial impression, not the best clone. If you told me it were an english brown ale I would believe you.

 

[Ben1]

I was really unhappy with this beer for months and then it just clicked. It was one of my best beers. They really need some conditioning

 

[Matplat]

Hmmmm, time will tell i suppose then!

 

[Ben1]

Seriously matplat at one time I considered dumping it

 

[Mikeyr]

Halfway through a keg and already have it's back up in a cube ready to go! Took the advice of putting at the back of the line for a few weeks and this seems like a very good plan.

I used the White labs San Fran Lager and did a heathen thing of using Marris Otter, wife likes a bit of Malt flavour and it's come out a damn nice beer.

Had a couple of stubbies of the genuine article in the Rocks a few weeks back and reckon mine tastes like it's in the same family, if not an exact clone.

 

[Matplat]

Yeah, mine isn't anywhere near the dump, but I'm dubious of the yeast that I used... Jamil does say in his recipe that there is no substitute for the real thing (WLP810 I think) but it wasn't available to me at the time.

I cold crashed mine as well to reduce the sediment which worked but also has slowed down the carbing/conditioning rate, the fact that it probably only had 1.5vols carbonation added to the english ale comparison. I will wait to pass judgement for a few weeks....

I really am amazed at the flavour potency of the pale chocolate malt though.... the typical roast flavour is something I was hoping to avoid. I will likely brew this again as the original was so good I want to succeed, but definitely no chocolate malt, just more munich...

 

[Matplat]

Hmmm just checked the OP's recipe, no pale chocolate malt.... seems like zainasheff has mislead me on this one?