Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

[Spiesy]

All commercial beer is brewed to a price. Their main objective is to sell you alcohol so you can get drunk, but it has to be flavoured with malt and hops to be acceptable to both the customer and the politicians who would ban swilling of pure alcohol.

You're kidding, right?

SNPA was/is not brewed with the main objective to get you drunk. It was brewed to be an awesome beer, which it is.

No doubt they could have made it cheaper, no doubt they could have made it more expensive - not really the point.

 

[calobes]

recipe="clauddr" post="1213593" timestamp="1408691042"]Guys, I'm keen to give this a bash but I've never done an .xtract with just DME, I've Always had a can of LME or kit to go with 1-2kg of DME. Which is the better to use and why? Does the DME give you a better yield (more fermentable)?

If a recipe calls for 3kg DME you need more LME for the same recipe. I used DME on this brew as the recipe called for it. Its dead easy using DME over LME. Put this brew into the secondary a few days ago and it tastes awesome for flat warm beer. I'll let you know how it turns out in 2 weeks or so.

 

[panzerd18]

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is one rung above a lot of mainstream beers.

When I first sampled one I was blown away with its complex taste. At the moment its my favorite beer.

 

[Spiesy]

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is one rung above a lot of mainstream beers.

When I first sampled one I was blown away with its complex taste. At the moment its my favorite beer.

Personally, I'd put it a whole ladder ahead of a lot of mainstream beers, particularly when drinking it fresh, in tap, in the States.

 

[panzerd18]

I find the aroma to be beautiful.

Is that from Cascade hops?

 

[Blind Dog]

Yes. All cascade

 

[calobes]

Magnum and perle for bitterness (perle would impart flavor too) and hesps of cascade for flavor and aroma

 

[stakka82]

I drink one of these once a week at work and not once have I thought to brew it, it seems to be a close proximity to their steam beer and has no nasal characteristics. To me there are better beers out there. It seems to have that same American hop schedule that is bitter and loosing the aroma hops. It's a staple in the resturant so I keep trying it to see if I can grow to like it. It just seems plain jane to me. No issues if you like it but there are a lot of better beers out there than that. NB we pay $90 a carton for it. Punters love it with our food. I'm just not converted. To me ita a blah beer, but then I'll drink their steam ale and get excited.

You're drinking it after shipping. I imagine fresh it's a different beast... the fresher ones I have had are definitely aromatic. I would bet my house it's dry hopped.

 

[calobes]

You're drinking it after shipping. I imagine fresh it's a different beast... the fresher ones I have had are definitely aromatic. I would bet my house it's dry hopped.

According to SN they don't dry hop their pale ale. But they would have to have really late hop additions to get the aroma???

 

[Spiesy]

According to SN they don't dry hop their pale ale. But they would have to have really late hop additions to get the aroma???

And they'd chill to lock in that aroma.

 

[calobes]

And they'd chill to lock in that aroma.

Yeah, right. The couple of clone recipes I've looked at all chill as well.

 

[calobes]

This is my first write up on a brew, so hopefully my untrained taste buds serve me well

I'm quite happy to say this was a pretty successful clone.




Sorry for the crappy photography

Mine is on the right. As you can see mine is a little darker. The SN Pale Ale on the left is also clearer. Head on the SN is a shade whiter, but the head was creamier on mine and also had better retention and lacing.

My clone had a slightly bigger mouthfeel, I would probably say that the 250g of crystal had something to do with that. Also I think it made mine a bit darker in colour.

Mine had more of a malty taste but also had more hop flavour which balanced it out. The SN was less malty but also less hoppy.

The clone definitely had a more bitter after taste in the back of my mouth, I would say the magnum is the culprit for this.

They are both well balanced, I just think mine was slightly "bigger".

In all honesty I like mine better, and am quite proud of myself. This is my best brew yet by far.

If you wanted to closer replicate SN Pale, I would suggest less Crystal and also less Magnum hops. Like I said flavour wise its spot on, just needs to be toned down a level.

First review, and a happy one. I'm pretty stoked :beerbang:

I'll post my recipe if anyone is interested

 

[chromakey]

Hi Calobes

What recipe did you go with in the end?

Congrats on the successful clone

 

[calobes]

I looked at a few recipes and took the advice on this thread and came up with this:

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 20.0
Total Grain (kg): 3.250
Total Hops (g): 110.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.059 (°P): 14.5
Final Gravity (FG): 1.015 (°P): 3.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.80 %
Colour (SRM): 9.9 (EBC): 19.4
Bitterness (IBU): 37.1 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
3.000 kg Dry Malt Extract - Light (92.31%)
0.250 kg Crystal 60 (7.69%)

Hop Bill
----------------
8.0 g Magnum Pellet (14.4% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
18.0 g Perle Pellet (6.9% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
28.0 g Cascade Pellet (5.6% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1.4 g/L)
56.0 g Cascade Pellet (5.6% Alpha) @ Flameout (Boil) (2.8 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
1.4 g Whirlfloc Tablet @ 10 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 30 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with Safale US-05


Like I said earlier, if you want a closer replication of SNPA I would tone town the crystal and the magnum.

I'll be brewing this again and not changing the recipe at all.

 

[chromakey]

Thanks calobes

 

[abe max]

I have Cascade at home but no Magnum, would Centennial go alright in it's place?

 

[browndog]

You're drinking it after shipping. I imagine fresh it's a different beast... the fresher ones I have had are definitely aromatic. I would bet my house it's dry hopped.

It's absolutely delicious out of the bright tank!

 

[calobes]

I have Cascade at home but no Magnum, would Centennial go alright in it's place?

Magnum is a neutral bittering hop. If you cant get it maybe try horizen or target? Its a pretty small amout so it shouldn't matter too much, maybe use more perle in its place to replace the IBUs. Do you use beer mate or anything?

 

[manticle]

Centennial marries well with cascade and will be fine in this kind of beer. Otherwise just use all cascade.

 

[Porkchop]

http://www.blackbucketbrew.com/sierra-nevada-pale-ale-clone/ is pretty good, but a little heavy on the crystal

That was, in fact, my first ever extract brew.

I brewed it with 500g of crystal and it is the most Caramel tasting beer I have ever tasted. Not bad but it's a bit of a desert beer.

 

[calobes]

I brewed it with 500g of crystal and it is the most Caramel tasting beer I have ever tasted. Not bad but it's a bit of a desert beer.

Yep, I saw alot of recipes calling for that much crystal.
I used half that and it was still too much for a clone. Was a delicious beer, but more malty than SNPA

 

[calobes]

Just noticed that in my write up I stated mine is on the right... It's actually the one on the left.. ********

 

[abe max]

Do you use beer mate or anything?

Just the spreadsheet

 

[abe max]

Centennial marries well with cascade and will be fine in this kind of beer. Otherwise just use all cascade.

Sweet, cheers.

 

[poggor]

You're kidding, right?

SNPA was/is not brewed with the main objective to get you drunk. It was brewed to be an awesome beer, which it is.

No doubt they could have made it cheaper, no doubt they could have made it more expensive - not really the point.

I agree with Spiesy- SNPA is a terrific beer- it's just "mainstream" because it was so good. It was a niche craft beer before a lot of people here were old enough to be drinking beer that's all! It's one of the great success stories of a carefully crafted uncompromising ale becoming very successful.
I also agree that it's way better in the states- I have great memories of consuming large quantities of it in a hot tub in the snow in wyoming a few years back. Yes, there were american girls in bikinis...