"Baby Zoe" - a Session version of Maine Beer Co. Zoe

It was almost two years ago that I brewed my first Maine Beer Co. clone; it was Zoe, a hoppy Amber ale that was the second beer that the brewery released. I had contacted co-owner/brewer Dan Kleban for help formulating a Zoe recipe; he sent along some useful suggestions, and the resulting beer was excellent. When tasted side-by-side with the commercial beer, I found that the homebrew version actually came out hoppier. I think it's possible that Zoe has become a less-hoppy beer over the years compared to when it was first released, but I could easily be wrong; it could simply be that my tastes have changed.

Either way, I really enjoyed the homebrew version and had always planned on brewing it again. Recently, I decided to revisit it, mainly because I've brewed several really hoppy Amber ales since then that I've loved (such as a Modern Times Blazing World clone, and Meek Celebration, a hoppy Amber I brewed for Christmas a few months ago), and I wanted to see if the Zoe clone could hold its own. But then I had another idea: I've been brewing more and more lower-ABV, hoppy beers lately, and had been planning on doing a "Session Red IPA" of sorts. I love Red IPAs, but they're usually 6-8% ABV (or higher), and the idea of a sessionable one really appealed to me. So... why not brew Zoe to a lower ABV?

This is exactly the same recipe - grist-wise and hopping-wise - as before, except it's all been scaled down to a 4-gallon batch, and to an OG of 1.048. The grist is made up of equal parts 2-row and Maris Otter, with several specialty malts added to give the beer its dark amber color and supporting malt backbone (lots of caramel in this one, and even a bit of chocolate, too). I did raise the mash temp this time; it was 150 F before (at Dan's recommendation), but with the lower OG, I wanted to make sure that the beer had enough body. My experience with low-ABV hoppy beers has led me to always use a mash temp of at least 153 F, which is the target I aimed for with this beer. I also kept the water adjustment the same as last time, with a bit of Gypsum, table salt, and Epsom salt added to adjust to the "San Diego - Hoppy" water profile from The Mad Fermentationist. Not a profile I usually aim to replicate anymore, but it obviously worked well for this beer before, so I decided to use it again.

The hopping schedule I used for Zoe is made up of equal amounts of Centennial, Columbus (CTZ), and Simcoe. Apparently, Simcoe is used as the bittering hop, but this time around I subbed in CTZ, simply because I can't see it making a difference. There's lots of other hop additions for flavor and aroma: two near the end of the boil, one at flameout for a hop steep, and another when I started chilling the wort. A single dry-hop (in primary) for a week or so, and then rack to a keg or bottle. Pretty straight-forward.

The brew day went well; my only real complaint was a slightly low OG due to a little extra volume. Brewing this time of year can be a pain, even with a garage to keep the wind out and the temps from getting TOO low (but come on, it's winter, and the door still has to be open a bit, so it's still damned cold). The one plus is that the ground water temps are so low, it takes barely any time to chill the wort to pitching temp. But yeah, I know, for those of you in California, this sounds like a bit of a stretch... and it is! Jerks.

As before, I fermented the wort with US-05. These low-OG beers usually ferment out pretty quickly, and after 2-3 days of activity in the airlock, things settled down. I dry-hopped the beer directly in primary about a week and a half later (I would normally have racked the beer to my dry-hop keg, but didn't have the time, oddly), then racked to a keg and carbed it up.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this beer, but I guess I was hoping to have a beer that smelled and tasted as good as the original clone, in spite of the lower ABV. And you know what? That's about how it turned out. For the first few pours, I felt like the beer was good, but not as hoppy as the last time (despite using the same hop varieties, and the same amounts); it actually tasted more like the real Zoe than the last one did! But after a couple of days (probably as the carbonation improved), the beer really opened up. It's the perfect balance of malty (slightly sweet, some caramel and toffee, and just a touch of chocolate) and hoppy (citrusy, fruity, slightly dank). All that and 4.3% ABV? I'll take it.

With these results, there's nothing I would change with the recipe. I suppose I could bump the mash temp up a bit, to 155-156 F, next time, just to see if a bit more body would make the beer even better. If you're a big fan of Zoe, brew the first recipe. If you're a big fan of Zoe but want less alcohol, brew this one. I'm definitely going to continue this experiment, and re-brew the other Red IPAs I mentioned above, but in the sub-5% ABV zone. Cheers!

Recipe Targets: (4 gallons, 80% efficiency) OG 1.048, FG ~1.012, IBU ~50, SRM 11.5, ABV ~4.7%

Grains:
1.25 kg (41.7%) Canadian 2-row
1.25 kg (41.7%) Maris Otter
150 g (5%) Munich
150 g (5%) Victory
75 g (2.5%) Crystal 40 L
75 g (2.5%) Crystal 80 L
45 g (1.5%) Chocolate malt

Hops:
CTZ - 5 g (11.3% AA) @ 60 min
Centennial - 10 g (8% AA) @ 10 min
CTZ -10 g @ 10 min
Simcoe - 10 (11.8% AA) g @ 10 min
Simcoe, Centennial, CTZ - 10 g each @ 5 min
Simcoe, Centennial, CTZ - 14 g each @ flameout, 10-minute hop steep
Simcoe, Centennial, CTZ - 14 g each when started chiller
Simcoe, Centennial, CTZ - 19 g each dry-hop for 5-7 days

Misc: 1/2 tab Irish Moss at 5 min

Yeast: US-05 Safale, ~3/4 package, rehydrated

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered; 4 g Gypsum, 3 g table salt, 2 g epsom salt added to the mash

- Brewed on March 6th, 2015, by myself. 50-minute mash with 9 L of strike water, mashed in at 153 F. Mashed-out for 10 minutes with 4 L of boiling water. Sparged with ~3.75 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of ~5.4 gallons.

- SG low at 1.036 (target 1.037). 60-minute boil. Flameout hops had a 10-minute steep before turning on the chiller. Final volume a bit high at ~4.25 gallons; OG a little low at 1.046. Chilled to low-60s F, then poured into Better Bottle. Aerated with 60 seconds of pure O2, pitched rehydrated yeast at 64 F.

- Good fermentation after about 24 hours from pitching; took 2-3 days before it started slowing down significantly in the airlock. Temp reached as high as 68 F.

- 15/3/15 - FG 1.013. Added dry-hops directly into primary. Kegged about 7 days later and started carbing.

Appearance: Pours with a moderate-sized, off-white head that eventually fades to a thin film on the beer. Body is a dark amber/light red color, with excellent clarity.

Aroma: Equal balance between fruity hops and caramel malt... sweet, but not too much. A tiny bit of chocolate making its way through, as well as a little hop dankness.

Taste: Sweet caramel and toffee flavors at first, melded with just a hint of chocolate. The fruitiness of the hops comes through very quickly, and finishes with a moderate bitterness. More on the side of dry than sweet.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied, moderate carbonation. 

Overall: Very enjoyable; nice having a "sessionable-Zoe". Nothing wrong with the previous clone at ~7%, but I'll take something that tastes about as good with less alcohol, any time!

Brewing a Red IPA, à la Sierra Nevada Celebration

DISCLAIMER: This is not a clone recipe of, or an attempt at cloning, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale.

Not that I have anything against Celebration... on the contrary, I've always really enjoyed it. Hard to believe that a beer like this - they call it an American-style IPA, but look at it... it's a Red IPA, or hoppy American Amber, right? - has been around for over 30 years. There would have been a lot of years at the beginning there where you'd be hard-pressed to find another beer like this from anyone. For the two of you reading this post who haven't tried this beer, it's a seasonal release that comes out in the late fall, in time for Christmas. No, it's not spiced or mulled or anything like that, so I guess you can't call it a "Christmas beer", but what does that really even mean? It's just a tasty amber-colored, hoppy beer that is brewed with Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook hops.

All this being said, I decided this year to brew a "Christmas beer"; not a beer that is dark, strong, and heavily spiced, but simply a beer that I could give away for the holidays. I considered a lot of styles, most of them hoppy (of course), and, inspired by the type of beer Sierra Nevada Celebration is, I decided to go with a hoppy Amber Ale, aka West Coast Amber, aka India Red Ale, aka - and according to the new BJCP guidelines, the "definitive name" - Red IPA.

But I wanted this beer to be more than Celebration... that is, I wanted it to be hoppier. Every year there are some people who inevitably complain that Celebration isn't as hoppy as it was last year. I have no idea if this is true; I suspect that it's more likely that people have changed. I know for a fact that beers I found hoppy a few years ago would no longer taste as hoppy to me now; when you've had some great hoppy beers, you can get spoiled quickly (otherwise known as the lupulin threshold shift). Now that I HAVE had a lot of hoppy beers, I can confirm that Celebration isn't a supremely-hoppy beer... it's got a great malt character, and the hops ARE there, but I want more in my Red IPAs. I want beers along the lines of the last couple of hoppy Ambers I've brewed, namely the Modern Times Blazing World clone and Maine Beer Co. Zoe clone.

So that's exactly what I aimed for with this beer. I enjoyed the Blazing World clone so much that I went with the exact same malt bill; it makes a deep-red colored beer, with a really great malty sweetness that works fantastically at supporting a very hoppy beer. Lots of Maris Otter, almost 15% Munich malt, and then a little bit of Roasted Barley and Carafa II... in my opinion, it all works perfectly for this style of beer.

I had a LOT of ideas about which hops to use in this beer. I've brewed a lot of hoppy beers in 2014, and I still had quite a few varieties from the 2013 harvest. Three varieties, max, were what I wanted to use in this beer. But... which ones? After a lot of thought, I decided that I absolutely wanted to use Amarillo and Simcoe, mainly because I'm a big fan of Alpine Duet, an IPA that uses equal amounts of both; I've tried to clone that beer twice (here and here), and these hops really do work well together. But I had never used them together in an Amber, so I thought this was a great chance to try them in a darker beer.

Picking out the third hop was harder. I wanted to go with something great, one of the popular, new/newish varieties that I've brewed with, and therefore had a bit of experience with. I strongly considered both Nelson and Mosaic, but as much as I loved both, I had used them in the Blazing World clone. Galaxy crossed my mind as well, but in the end I settled on Azacca. I loved what it brought to my Oxbow Grizacca clone, and after the debacle with that beer (a leak of some sort drained most of the keg in the keezer, shortly after I had started drinking it), I wanted to try it again, and soon. The aromas of ripe stone fruit, the touch of pine... I figured it would work really well with Amarillo and Simcoe.

So, the hopping schedule below is what I came up with. I didn't base it on anything other than feel; if I had written the recipe down, and then erased my memory and wrote it again an hour later, the proportions would probably be different. An addition of Amarillo at 15 minutes, then heavy flameout additions (one for a hop steep, the other after turning on the wort chiller), and one dry-hop addition in primary... it all came to roughly 45% Amarillo, and 27.5% each Simcoe and Azacca. I really liked how the hopping in this recipe looked; it somehow worked in a way on paper that just HAD to translate to the final product. Or, so I hoped. Fermented with US-05, typical for my hoppy beers, the goal was a really hoppy (emphasis on tropical fruit and pine) ale, balanced with the malty sweetness of an Amber ale, finishing on the dry/bitter side.

I would normally keg a beer like this, but since my plans were to give the majority of the batch away, it just made sense to bottle it and distribute it ASAP, so that everyone would be able to drink the beer as fresh as possible. I timed the brew day to be in mid-November; that would give it a couple of weeks in primary, followed by the dry-hop (also in primary), and then a good two week period to carbonate, more than enough if the bottles were kept at room temperature.

And in a complete twist in my blogging routine, I'm posting the tasting notes at the same time as the recipe. I don't think I've ever managed to do that for a beer that I brewed recently! I'm quite behind in my posts lately, and I really wanted to have this one out before Christmas... looks like I'm just making it. BARELY. I can say that the beer came out really great, just what I was aiming for in terms of hop presence (huge), flavors/aromas (tropical, piney, citrusy), and malt presence (balanced almost perfectly). If I could change anything, I'd back off on the bitterness, but only slightly. Maybe knock it down to 60-65 IBUs? I've had several friends check-in to this beer on Untappd - Meek Celebration (2014) - and they've all loved it, for the most part.

If you're looking for a new hoppy Amber, Red IPA, whatever, to brew, I suggest you give this recipe a try... if you can get your hands on the hops, of course. Here's hoping everyone has a great Christmas, filled with good cheer, friends and family, and - of course - fantastic beer!

Recipe Targets: (5.5 gallons, 72% efficiency) OG 1.068, FG ~1.012, IBU ~75, SRM 14, ABV ~7.2%

Grains:
5.2 kg (83.3%) Maris Otter
930 g (14.9%) Munich malt
70 g (1.1%) Roasted Barley
45 g (0.7%) Carafa II

Hops:
Hop extract - 5 mL @ 60 min (or 28 g of 10% AA hop variety)

Amarillo - 40 g (8.1% AA) @ 15 min

Amarillo - 20 g @ 0 min (with a 15 minute hop steep)
Azacca - 40 g @ 0 min (with a 15 minute hop steep)
Simcoe - 20 g @ 0 min (with a 15 minute hop steep)

Amarillo - 20 g @ 0 min (when wort temp below 180 F)
Simcoe - 40 g @ 0 min (when wort temp below 180 F)

Amarillo - 54 g dry-hop for 5-7 days
Azacca - 40 g dry-hop for 5-7 days
Simcoe - 20 g dry-hop for 5-7 days

Misc: 1/2 tab Irish Moss at 5 min

Yeast: US-05 Safale, 1 package, rehydrated

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered

- Brewed on November 18th, 2014, by myself. 50-minute mash with 16 L of strike water, mashed in at target of 150 F. Mashed-out for 10 minutes with 8.75 L of boiling water. Sparged with ~3 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of ~6.75 gallons.

- SG a high at 1.057 (target 1.055). 60-minute boil. First flameout hops had a 15-minute steep before turning on the chiller, then added the second flameout hops. Final volume a little over 5.5 gallons; OG on target at 1.068. Chilled to 65 F, then poured/filtered into Better Bottle. Aerated with 90 seconds of pure O2, pitched rehydrated yeast.

- Good fermentation activity over the next four days, started slowing down quickly after that. Temp got as high as 70 F.

- 28/11/14 - FG a bit high at 1.016. Added dry-hops directly into primary.

- 3/12/14 - Bottled with 104 g table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2. 

Appearance: Pours with a moderate-sized, slightly off-white head that is thick and pretty creamy, with really good retention... fades to 1/2-finger or so. Body is a deep, dark ruby-red color, with excellent clarity.

Aroma: Absolutely huge hop aroma. Lots of tropical fruit, citrus, pine... there's a lot going on. The malty sweetness is there behind the hops, and it provides a nice backing to the aroma. No alcohol, no flaws that I can detect.

Flavor: Some of that bready, maltiness that is a little sweet, but the hops win out again. Great, sticky tropical and citrusy flavors in here. The beer is nicely balanced, with the finish leaning towards the dry side. Moderate-high bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied, medium (almost medium-high) carbonation.

Overall: I really like this beer; it's up there with the Blazing World clone for my favorite hoppy Ambers that I've brewed. I'd dial back the IBUs a little, but otherwise I'd keep the recipe as-is.

Tasting : Fiery Planet (Modern Times Blazing World clone)

I've brewed 17 beers so far this year, and I'm happy to say that I've been lucky enough to have been pretty pleased with how most of them have come out. They haven't been perfect, of course, but a lot of them have been quite tasty, and there hasn't been any major screw-ups yet (knock wood). But this beer - my clone attempt of Modern Times Blazing World, a hoppy Amber - is the first beer where my first smell and pour from the tap made me think: YES.

This was one of those brews where I knew before packaging that it was going to be good; heck, I could tell before dry-hopping it. When I took a gravity sample, I had a small taste as I always do... and it was pretty darn fantastic. I figured adding the hefty dry-hop of Mosaic, Nelson and Simcoe certainly wasn't going to hurt it. And as suspected, of course it only made it better!

As you'd expect from these hop varieties, the beer has a huge tropical nose to it, with a nice amount of dank hop character as well. And the flavor is pretty fantastic... once the beer warms up a bit, you get this great combination of caramel malt sweetness, tropical and citrus fruit, dankness... it's pretty awesome. Moderate bitterness in the finish, the beer doesn't have a harshness to it at all, which I was worried about considering the high calculated IBUs from the recipe.

I mentioned in the brew post that I've actually had the commercial version of this beer. I really liked it, but not as much as this homebrew clone. I'm certainly not saying I'm a better brewer than anyone at Modern Times; I just think this recipe works really well on a homebrew level. When you compare it to the one linked to from the Modern Times website, this one has noticeably more hops in the flameout and dry-hop addition, so that makes sense. If you're at home thinking of brewing this beer, I encourage you to use the one developed by the Mad Fermentationist.

That's two for two with Modern Times recipes for me (the Fortunate Islands clone, a hoppy Wheat, was another favorite homebrew of mine). I'm not sure if I'll attempt their other two flagships, but it's possible... their Black House, an Oatmeal Coffee Stout, is pretty fantastic. Either way, I'm really happy with this Amber recipe, and encourage anyone who can get their hands on these hops to give it a try. Now.

Appearance: Poured with a moderate-sized, creamy, off-white head that lasts for a while before fading to 1/2-finger. Body is a dark-red color, almost brown, and very hazy - I’m pretty sure that’s my fault, as I'm starting to think I forgot to add the Irish Moss tablet during the boil.

Aroma: Beautiful aroma: huge on tropical fruit, with a complimenting malt character. Not roasty, but caramel sweetness without being overpowering. Some nice dankness in the hops as well.

Taste: The malt sweetness (caramel character) is there at first, but the strong tropical fruit from the hops comes through immediately after, with a bit of pine and dank hop character as well. Finishes nicely balanced between sweet and dry, with a moderate hop bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full bodied mouthfeel, moderate carbonation. Very creamy.

Overall: Fantastic beer. Up there with my Maine Beer Co. Zoe clone for hoppy Ambers that I’ve brewed. Delicious.

Brewing a Modern Times Blazing World clone

A hoppy American Amber (or Red IPA, or India Red Ale, if you prefer), one of my favorite beer styles out there. A bready malt backbone that is supportive to the hops, but still allows the beer to finish dry. And three hop varieties: Nelson Sauvin, Mosaic, and Simcoe, three of my all-time favorite varieties right now, used in hefty quantities. Does this sound like an excellent beer, or what? Not to mention that the three words used to describe this beer (right on the packaging) by the brewery are: "Hoppy. Dank. Amber."

You had me at "Hoppy", but everything else about this beer sounds great. The beer we're talking about is Blazing World, one of the four flagship beers from Modern Times, a brewery in San Diego that opened up a little over a year ago. I was a lucky, lucky man, as I visited San Diego last September and got to try many Modern Times beers during that trip, including Blazing World... right in the tasting room at the newly-opened brewery. And yes, it's pretty much as tasty as you would expect. It's been a while since I've brewed this style of beer (I believe the last one was my Maine Beer Co. Zoe clone, another winner), and I've wanted to tackle this one for awhile, so what better time than the present?

I won't talk much more about Modern Times (I got into more detail last summer when I brewed a clone of their Fortunate Islands, a hoppy American Wheat beer with lots of Citra - which by the way is still one of the best beers I've brewed), but for those of you who didn't follow their start-up progress, all of their flagship beer recipes were developed by Mike Tonsmeire, beer-blogger-extraordinaire, with tastings, recipe tweaks, and the like reported regularly on his blog, The Mad Fermentationist. The final rendition of Blazing World on this blog is the recipe that I went with.

It's a good-looking recipe, you can't deny that. The grist is made up of mostly "Pale Malt" (I used Maris Otter), a healthy amount of Munich, and just a touch each of Roasted Barley and Carafa II. These grains are mashed at a pretty low temp, 149 F; obviously the key here is to still try to get the beer to finish fairly dry. The hopping schedule is pretty fantastic, if a bit pricey - it employs hop extract for bittering, a dose of Simcoe at 25 minutes, and then two large flameout additions, and a large dry-hop as well. Fermented with a clean American yeast, it all makes a very tasty-looking hoppy Amber.

Now, Modern Times also has links to the recipes for their regular-release beers on their website (their Blazing World one is here). These recipes differ from those created by Tonsmeire; no big surprise, really, as they brew on obviously a much bigger system and have undoubtedly made a few changes to suit their brewery. Their grist for Blazing World is listed as 2-Row and Munich, with Pale Chocolate malt replacing the Roasted Barley and Carafa II that Tonsmeire used (oddly, elsewhere on the Modern Times website, Midnight Wheat is listed as an ingredient for this beer). As for the hop schedule, it matches up closely, but with a much smaller flameout addition: 2.2 oz total for a 5 gallon batch, vs. 7 oz in Tonsmeire's recipe. That's a big difference. However, with higher IBU extraction in a larger system, and much longer steeping times due to increased wort-chilling time, it's not a surprise.

I was able to follow Tonsmeire's recipe very closely. The only real difference is I had to cut back slightly (10 g) on the Nelson Sauvin flameout addition; I had more than enough in another vacuum-sealed package, but didn't want to bother opening and re-sealing for 10 grams. I made up the difference with Simcoe; I can't see the beer being hurt by such a small change as this.

In a change from more-recent recipes, I decided not to make any additions in terms of salts to the mash or boil. Fredericton city water is very well-suited to Amber-colored beers; I've made them to this style in the past, but decided this time I would just leave it as-is, see how it turns out.

It goes without saying (because it holds true for pretty much ever brew), but I really have high hopes for this one. Like I said, I'm a big fan of this style and these hops; I'm hoping it'll come out even better than the Zoe clone. I CAN say that when I racked the beer to a keg last week and took a gravity sample, that it smelled amazing... and this is BEFORE the dry-hop addition. Always a good sign!

Recipe targets: (4 gallons, 72% efficiency) OG 1.068, FG ~1.012, IBU ~100, SRM 13.5, ABV ~7.3%

Grains:

3.8 kg (83.4%) Maris Otter
675 g (14.8%) Munich
50 g (1.1%) Roasted Barley
31 g (0.7%) Carafa II

Hops:

Hop extract - 5 mL (equivalent to 28 g of 10% AA hop) @ 90 min

Simcoe - 17 g (12.9% AA) @ 25 min

Mosaic - 17 g (12.7% AA) @ 0 min (with a 15-minute steep)

Nelson Sauvin - 52 g (12% AA) @ 0 min (with a 15-minute steep)

Mosaic - 34 g after started chilling, when wort temp below 180 F

Simcoe - 17 g after started chilling, when wort temp below 180 F

Mosaic - 17 g dry-hop for 7 days
Nelson Sauvin - 42 g dry-hop for 7 days
Simcoe - 36 g dry-hop for 7 days

Misc.: 1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: US-05 Safale, rehydrated

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered

- Brewed on August 13th, 2014, with Jill (and a little help from Zoe). 50-minute mash with 13 L of strike water, mashed in at target of 149 F. Mashed-out for 10 minutes with 7.5 L of boiling water. Sparged with ~2.5 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of ~5.75 gallons.

- SG a bit high at 1.049 (target 1.048). 90-minute boil. Flameout hops had a 15-minute steep before turning on the chiller; wort temp was almost immediately below 180 F, where I added the second amount of flameout hops. Final volume ~4 gallons. Chilled down to 66 F, then poured/filtered into Better Bottle. OG high at 1.072. Aerated with 90 seconds of pure O2, pitched rehydrated yeast. Placed BB in laundry sink with some cold water to try to keep temp down.

- By the next morning, airlock activity was present, and quite active by the evening. Continued for 4-5 days before stopping; the beer temp got up to 72 F. 

- 25/8/14 - FG finished a bit high at 1.015. Racked beer to CO2-purged keg and added dry-hops in a weighed-down mesh bag; left keg at room temp.

- 31/8/14 - Removed dry-hops, set keg in keezer to chill down to ~45 F before starting carbing.

- 9/10/14 - Posted the tasting notes, and damn, this is one delicious beer!

Brewing a Maine Beer Company Zoe clone (No. 3 in the Maine Beer Clone series)

 

When deciding on the third clone for this, my "Maine Beer Clone series" (previous entries were Oxbow's Freestyle #5 and Rising Tide's Daymark), I continued to have a lot of options. Sorry to beat a dead horse by saying that Maine has a lot of awesome breweries, but it's the truth. Despite all this, however, picking what was next was actually very easy... in fact, I would have done this beer even earlier, but I wanted to wait until I thought I had enough info to take a real shot at it. The brewery is Maine Beer Company, and the beer is Zoe, an American Amber Ale in the U.S. West Coast sense - bigger and hoppier than your "typical" Amber.

When I took my first beer-trip to Portland, ME in June of 2009, Maine Beer Company had basically just started as a professional brewery. Started by brothers Daniel and David Kleban, they only had one beer at the time, an American Pale Ale called Spring Peeper. This was actually the first Maine beer I had on this trip, and I was blown away by it. It was, and still is, one of the best APAs I've ever had... super-hoppy in a very citrusy way, bitter but not overly-so, with a supporting malt background. This beer is still available; the name has just been shortened to "Peeper". Since then, every beer that they have released has been awesome, in my opinion... and a lot of other beer drinkers would agree with me. MBC has grown quite a bit since 2009, and they just moved to larger headquarters in Freeport.

The second beer that MBC released was their self-described, "Happy, Hoppy Amber", named Zoe after the daughter of one of the Klebans. At 7.2%, the beer pours a dark red color, has a really nice caramel malt background (with a touch of chocolate), and a pretty large hop presence, citrusy and piney. A delicious beer. I've had a lot of the "bigger" Ambers over the past few years, and Zoe is still probably my favorite of them all. Like I said, I love all of the MBC beers I've tried, and would be happy trying to clone any of them... but I haven't brewed an Amber in a while, and Zoe is the perfect one to try.

I had actually emailed MBC a couple of years ago about help with a Zoe clone, but the only reply I received directed me to the info on their website. The site DOES actually say what the starting gravity is, and what malts and hops they use... enough to start with, but I wanted a bit more, if possible. About 6 months ago, however, I stumbled upon a clone recipe for Peeper on one of the homebrew forums online. Obtained from Dan Kleban, it was very detailed. It was noted that the recipe was given to the homebrewer back when MBC was just getting started, and that it was more difficult to get this much info out of the brewers now. So, I sent a direct message to the person who had posted it, and he sent along the email address that Dan had replied from.

Knowing that emailing a brewer and just saying, "Give me the recipe for your beer, please" is not the way to go about it, I emailed Dan and told him what I was thinking for the recipe. Here's what I originally came up with:

"~42% each 2-row and Marris Otter, 5% each Victory and Munich, 2.5% each Crystal 40 and 80, and maybe 1-2% Chocolate malt. Mash 152 F. Columbus for bittering, Centennial and Simcoe @10 min, lots in the whirlpool, and a good dry-hop of each as well. Maybe 65 IBUs? Ferment with a neutral American Ale yeast at about 68 F."

Now, as I mentioned, I had the list of ingredients from the MBC website. I based the amounts on the Peeper description and the corresponding clone recipe online... basically, they seem to list their grains in decreasing amounts. I knew that Zoe has a touch of chocolate flavor, but nothing severe, so I figured the Chocolate malt was more just to darken the color of the beer a bit. I guessed on the hop combinations and "amounts", but knew (again, from the Peeper recipe) that Dan does large flameout additions; Zoe may not be as hoppy as Peeper, but it can be pretty darn close. Also, Zoe is bitter but not super-bitter, so I thought ~65 IBUs was a fair guess.

I waited for awhile and never heard back. I sent the email a second time, about a month later, just in case, but still never got a reply. Then, about a month ago, I sent a message to MBC through their Facebook site, and they gave me Dan's email... which was different from the one I had been using! Whoopsie. I emailed the new address, and Dan replied almost right away:

"You are remarkably close. Mash a little cooler, 150. Simcoe bittering. Keep Columbus in the late hop additions and DH."

Ok, maybe not as much info as the Peeper recipe, but hey, I had something to work with now!

So, I basically had the grist decided, since Dan didn't suggest any changes there. When developing the hopping schedule, I kept it fairly simple. I went with a bittering charge at 60 minutes of Simcoe (despite my reservations, using a valuable hop like Simcoe for bittering!) to ~36 IBUs... the rest of the bitterness would be from late additions. Originally I had planned on one flavor addition, and a whirlpool addition for a hop steep, but I decided to go with 1/2 oz each of Simcoe, Centennial and Columbus at both 10 and 5 minutes. I really have no idea if MBC uses equal amounts of these hops for flavor and aroma, but I know that they DO use equal amounts of late-addition hops for Peeper, so I chose to follow this lead. Two large flameout additions of all three (one AT flameout for a 10-minute hop steep, the other when I turned on the chiller), and a decent-sized dry-hop to finish off.

Not much left to deal with, here. I DID make a couple of water adjustments. I have no idea what the Portland, ME water analysis looks like, and I didn't bother trying to figure it out, since I would have to find out exactly what MBC does to their water (if anything) when brewing. However, Mike Tonsmeire of The Mad Fermentationist provided a water profile he calls "San Diego - Hoppy" on his blog, from when he was helping Modern Times develop recipes for their year-round beers. A hoppy Amber was one of the beers that Mike helped develop, and I really liked the look of the water profile, so I adjusted my water to meet those targets (basically, increasing calcium, chloride, sodium, and sulfate to moderate levels).

In terms of yeast, "neutral American Ale yeast" means, for us homebrewers, anyway, either Wyeast 1056 American Ale, White Labs WLP001, or US-05 for dry yeast. I suspect that MBC uses a strain with better attenuation than any of these yeast strains, mainly because of the numbers listed on their website. For example:

Peeper: OG 1.047, ABV 5.5%... so, the FG would have to be ~1.005, which is 90% apparent attenuation
Zoe: OG 1.064, ABV 7.2%... FG must be ~1.009; 86% average attenuation

Their other hoppy beers follow along these lines. However, Wyeast 1056 lists an attenuation as between 73 and 77%, which is a lot lower than upper 80s. I personally would have preferred to use 1056 here, but the pack my LHBS had was over two months old and would have required a two-step starter to get the yeast numbers I needed, so I ended up using about 1.5 packs of US-05, rehydrated. I've never had attenuation with US-05 approach 86%, so I really doubt I'll get this beer down to 1.009. We'll see.

This brew marked the first time in a while that I have purchased new equipment. I finally broke down and made a move into wort aeration that doesn't simply involve shaking the carboy. Williams Brewing, an online home oxygen aeration system for sale that's pretty cool - it's simply a stainless steel aeration stone, some tubing, and an oxygen regulator that you hook up to one of those small oxygen tanks that you can buy at hardware stores. However, it's a sure-fire way to get the required amount of oxygen into your wort... shaking can only add so much, and this becomes more of an issue with higher-gravity beers. I plan on posting about wort aeration in the near future, so more on that later.

With a trip to Portland planned (hopefully) for next month, it should be pretty easy for me to find another bottle of Zoe to take back to compare to my beer; this is great, considering the beers I've been trying to clone lately that aren't available nearby at all. I really like this style of beer, so I'm hoping to make tweaks to the recipe over time until it's close to the real thing.

Thanks to Dan Kleban for his help with formulating the recipe!

Recipe targets: (6 gallons, 72% efficiency) OG 1.064, FG ~1.009, IBU 66, SRM 15, ABV ~7.2%

Grains:
2.77 kg (41.75%) Canadian 2-row
2.77 kg (41.75%) Maris Otter
372 g (5%) Munich
372 g (5%) Victory
168 g (2.5%) Crystal 40 L
168 g (2.5%) Crystal 80 L
100 g (1.5%) Chocolate malt

Hops:
Simcoe - 28 g (12.9% AA) @ 60 min
Simcoe - 14 g @ 10 min
Centennial - 14 g (9.9% AA) @ 10 min
Columbus -14 g (14.5% AA) @ 10 min
Simcoe, Centennial, Columbus - 14 g each @ 5 min
Simcoe, Centennial, Columbus - 21 g each @ flameout, 10-minute whirlpool
Simcoe, Centennial, Columbus - 21 g each when started chiller
Simcoe, Centennial, Columbus - 28 g each dry-hop for 7 days

Misc.: 1/2 tab Irish moss @ 5 min

Yeast: US-05, 1&1/2 packages, re-hydrated

Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered; 3 g Epsom Salt, 4 g table salt, 6 g Gypsum divided between the mash and sparge water

- Brewed on May 5th, 2013, by myself. 60-minute mash with 20.5 L of strike water, mashed in a bit high at  151 F. Sparged with ~4.75 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of ~7.25 gallons in the kettle.

- SG a touch low at 1.051 (target 1.052). 60-minute boil. Chilled to 65 F in about 20 minutes with immersion chiller. Poured ~5 gallons into Better Bottle. OG 1.063. Aerated wort with 60 seconds of pure O2. Pitched yeast and set BB in laundry room sink, ambient temp about 68 F.

6/5/13 - In AM, airlock bubbling q 2 seconds or so, temp 64 F. By PM, temp had increased to 68 F, and airlock was bubbling every second.

7/5/13 - In AM, activity has increased, airlock bubbling probably twice per second; temp had increased to 72 F. By PM, starting to slow down at every second, temp still at 72 F.

8/5/13 - Steadily slowing throughout the day, bubbling every 5 seconds by the evening, temp dropped a bit to 70 F.

23/5/13 - Added dry hops into primary.

30/5/13 - FG 1.013. Bottled with 120 g table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 with a max temp of 72 F reached.

25/6/13 - Tasting notes from a week ago, compared to the real Zoe... came out really great, very similar to Zoe.

Tasting/Recipe : Donovan Red 2.0

American Amber Ale is simply a great beer style - it gives lots of flavor if brewed properly, and can normally be enjoyed even by the non-beer geek. Normally more balanced towards a malt profile, with an edge of caramel sweetness, the hop presence can be quite low or fairly moderate.

Until, of course, you get to the unofficial West-Coast U.S. version of the style. These beers are usually "bigger" - higher ABV, richer in flavor and aroma, and most importantly, have a very large hop presence in aroma, flavor, and bitterness. There are a lot of excellent hoppy Ambers out there... some that stand out for me are Maine Beer Company's Zoe, Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale, Stone Levitation, and Oskar Blues G'Knight. Perhaps the most-coveted of this style is Troegs Nugget Nectar, but I've never been able to get my hands on it. Either way, I really enjoy this "style", as it has the best of both worlds between your standard Amber Ale and American IPA.

Over two years ago, my third beer that I brewed was the hoppy Amber recipe from Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles. I was still doing extract beers then, and partial-boil at that. The resulting beer was what really opened my eyes to what homebrewing could accomplish... it was really quite good. Caramel-sweet, with a hint of chocolate, and lots of citrus hop flavor. A darker Amber, the head was rocky and long-lasting, and the hop aroma was fantastic. It was so enjoyable that I wanted to try brewing it again last October, but with a few changes to the recipe. I basically kept the grist the same, except this time it was all-grain.

The changes came in the hopping. While the original recipe called for 1 oz each of Cascade and Centennial at 10 minutes and at flameout, I changed the flavor/aroma hops to Crystal and Amarillo at 10 minutes and flameout. I also added 1 oz of each as a dry hop addition for 7 days, to see if I could bump up the aroma of the beer compared to the original. Otherwise, the recipe was about the same, with the Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast. The resulting beer has been quite tasty - obviously the hop aroma and flavor has faded some, now that the beer has been bottled for over 7 months - but I wouldn't say there is a noticeable improvement over the original recipe.

Appearance: Poured with a moderate-sized, off-white head with good retention. Eventually fades to 1/4-finger. Body is dark copper/red, with very good clarity.

Aroma: Strong aroma of musty, citrusy hops. The caramel sweetness is there in the background, but the hops strongly dominate.

Taste: The biscuit and caramel sweetness are up front and center, but are quickly taken over by a strong citrus flavor from the hops. Quite nice, actually. The bitterness is moderate and firm in the finish. No noticeable diacetyl or other flaws.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, moderate carbonation.

Overall: I like it. Nice strong hop flavor and aroma, but backed by an inviting malt character. The dry-hopping was a nice touch. I'd actually be tempted to increase the dry-hopping next time, maybe to 2 oz of each, and go back to the Cascade and Centennial hops of the original recipe.

Recipe: (5.5 gallons, 75% efficiency) OG 1.064, FG 1.015, IBU 65, SRM 17, ABV 6.4%

Grains:
4.54 kg Maris Otter
454 g Caramunich II (45 L)
454 g Munich malt
227 g Crystal 120 L
227 g Victory malt
85 g Pale Chocolate malt

Hops:
Nugget - 14 g (11.2% AA) @ 60 min
Magnum - 39 g (9.2% AA) @ 60 min
Amarillo - 35 g (6% AA) @ 10 min
Crystal - 35 g (1.7% AA) @ 10 min
Amarillo - 28 g @ 0 min
Crystal - 28 g @ 0 min
Amarillo - 28 g dry hop for 7 days
Crystal - 28 g dry hop for 7 days

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale (~250 mL of 2nd-generation slurry, cultured Sept 28th) 

Water: Fredericton city water, mash and sparge water treated with 1/2 tablet of campden.

- Brewed October 4th, 2011, by myself. 60-minute mash with 17.8 L of strike water, mashed in at 151.5 F. Sparged with ~4.5 gallons of 168 F water for final volume of 6.75 gallons in the kettle. SG 1.052 (target 1.054). 60-minute boil. Chilled to 68 F with immersion chiller. Poured/filtered into Better Bottle. Pitched yeast slurry at ~65 F, aerated by shaking for several minutes before and after pitching.

- Fast and furious fermentation over the next few days, slowed down quite quickly. Temperature got as high as 70 F (kept fermenter in ice-water bath to keep temperature lower, as it was a warm week).

- 25/10/11 - Bottled with 122 g table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 for 5 gallons with a max temp of 70 F reached.

Tasting/Recipe : Suits Us Amber

While there are many beer styles that are not, unfortunately, available for purchase here in Fredericton, one that you can find almost anywhere is American Amber. A popular style to brew due to its quick turnaround (if desired), and relative drinkability for most everyone, most North American breweries have at least one Amber that they have available year-round.

There are basically two types of American Ambers that you see... the "normal" one, which is more balanced in terms of maltiness and bitterness/hop flavor and aroma, with it usually tipping towards malty, if anything; and the "West coast U.S." side, which some also often refer to as an "Imperial Amber" or "Red IPA", which is bigger, bolder, and pretty huge with hop flavor and bitterness.

I enjoy both sub-styles very much. One of the really enjoyable regular American Ambers I've had is the Anderson Valley Boont Amber. It's an interesting beer because it's quite malty, with very low hop bitterness, even for the style (15 IBU!), but it still has a nice hop presence in terms of aroma, and to a lesser extent, flavor. Luckily, this was one of the beers that the team from the Can You Brew It podcast decided to tackle, contacting one of the brewers at Anderson Valley and obtaining as much info as possible about how to brew this beer at home.

Back in June of 2011, Geoff and I decided to try this recipe while he was visiting again. You can find a text version of the recipe here, along with all of the CYBI recipes. I was able to get quite close to the recipe, with just a minor change here and there due to available ingredients. The recipe has a large Crystal malt presence, with a total of 2 lbs. Hop additions are generally very low, except for 61 g of Cascade added at flameout, to give that nice, citrusy hop aroma. Anderson Valley uses the equivalent of the Wyeast 1968 London ESB (the Fuller's strain) for their house yeast, which is easily obtainable and provides a lot of character when used. While I only have a few bottles left, this beer has held up quite well, despite the fact that it was bottled over half a year ago.

Appearance: Pours a dark copper/reddish color, with a moderate-sized, off-white head that sticks around for a good while before fading to 1-finger after a minute or so. Body is extremely clear.

Aroma: Sweet, bready malt, with a some caramel sweetness present in the background. Some mild fruitiness from the Cascades is definitely there as well.

Taste: The malt definitely dominates in this beer, but I’m having trouble placing the exact flavor of malt. It’s definitely a bit crackery and slightly sweet. Hop bitterness is quite low (too low for the style, but that’s what the Boont calls for). Hop flavor is low.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied, with moderate-high carbonation.

Overall: I can’t remember if this is close to the Boont Amber or not, only having tried it once (over a year ago). It’s a very decent Amber regardless. I'd be happy to brew it again.

Recipe: (5.5 gallons, 75% efficiency): OG 1.054, FG 1.013, IBU 18, SRM 14.7

Grains:
3.98 kg Canadian 2-row
500 g Caramunich II (45 L)
500 g Crystal 80 L

Hops:
Magnum - 4 g (10 % AA) @ 90 min
Magnum - 4 g @ 60 min
Tettnang - 10 g (4.8% AA) @ 20 min
Chinook - 4 g (12.5% AA) @ 20 min
Cascade - 61 g @ 0 min

Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min

Yeast: Wyeast 1968 London ESB (12.5 mL slurry from early May, with a 1 L & 1.75 L starter)

- Brewed June 13th, 2011, with Geoff. 60 minute mash with 16.43 L of strike water, mashed in at 152 F. Sparged with ~5.25 gallons of 173 F water for final volume of 7.25 gallons in the kettle. 90 minute boil. Added half of Cascade hops at flameout, and the other half a couple minutes into chilling.

- Chilled down to 66 F with immersion chiller. Poured and filtered into Better Bottle. Pitched decanted yeast starter, aerating by shaking for several minutes before and after.

- Active fermentation for several days, reaching as high as 71 F. When it began to visibly slow, put the fermenter in a room with the heat on for a diacetyl rest, getting up to 74 F.

- Bottled 3 weeks after brewing with 125 g table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 for 5 gallons.

- 30/7/12 - Finally, the comparison with the real thing.