Anchor Liberty clone recipe?

[Jeb]

Hey,

I've been looking for a tested and tasty clone recipe for Anchor Liberty. Seems there are a few out there, but most are old and a little sketchy. There is one from a 2003 Zymurgy article and one from the Beer Captured book.

Recipe factors that are up for dispute are using exclusively Cascade hops and the yeast choice. None of the recipes indicate using White Labs WLP051 California V, but that is what is listed on the yeast info page here:
http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm

Any help would be appreciated!

Here is the recipe from Zymurgy found on the web:

Recipe from Zymurgy July/August 2003

All grain/ 90 min boil
Assuming 70% eff.
5.5 gallons

OG 1.058
FG 1.013
IBU 47


Mash at 150 degrees for 1 hour
collect 6.5 gallon wort

10 lb 2 row pale malt
.5 lb 15 L crystal

***Liberty Ale uses Cascade exlusively for bittering, flavor and aroma no matter what "other" recipes state.

1 oz N Brewer whole hops, 8 % AA @ 90 min
1.5 oz Cascade whole hops, 5% AA @ 45 min
1 oz Cascade whole hops, 5% AA @ 30
1 oz Cascade whle hops, 5% AA at 1 min
2 oz cacade dry hop in secondary for 1 week
Irish moss at 20 min
American ale/ California ale yeast

Extract plus sp. grains: Sub 7.5 lb light extract syrup for pale malt, steep crystal for 20-30 min in 150 degree water. Increase N. Brewer to 1.25 oz and boil for 60 min instead of 90 min. The rest of the hops are the same

[thatguy314]

That looks pretty good for the most part. My one major criticism is that 001 isn't the right yeast.

Wyeast 1272 / WLP 051 is the anchor ale strain.

Also, anchor does an open fermentation, which I'm not sure is necessary to replicate at homebrew levels, but you could do by putting foil on your carboy instead of an airlock.

[JohnF]

Yeah, I can't imagine anyone who has had an anchor ale and a sierra nevada ale thinking the sierra nevada yeast is appropriate for an anchor clone but lack of appreciation for the overwhelming role fermentation plays in beer flavor is a pretty pervasive problem in homebrewing.

I do think it is weird that the recipe says Liberty is all cascade and then has a N. Brewer bittering addition (although I think that is a fairly minor issue).

Anywho, that recipe doesn't look unreasonable. I might have guessed a darker crystal (like 40), but I haven't had the beer much since I moved away from the West Coast.

[thatguy314]

Yeah, I can't imagine anyone who has had an anchor ale and a sierra nevada ale thinking the sierra nevada yeast is appropriate for an anchor clone but lack of appreciation for the overwhelming role fermentation plays in beer flavor is a pretty pervasive problem in homebrewing.

I do think it is weird that the recipe says Liberty is all cascade and then has a N. Brewer bittering addition (although I think that is a fairly minor issue).

Anywho, that recipe doesn't look unreasonable. I might have guessed a darker crystal (like 40), but I haven't had the beer much since I moved away from the West Coast.

The yeasts are fairly similar actually. Anchor east is very clean as well, but slightly fruitier and has worse tolerance for high alcohol ales. Scott at Captain Lawrence told me that he preferred it to Cal Ale, but switched because it didn't work quite as well on his DIPA.

When I toured at anchor they told me that liberty is 100% cascade and that steam is 100% NB. That's a factoid I've heard from many difference sources, though I've never actually seen the brewer say it anywhere. I think you can sub NB for cascade for the bittering hop to save $, but I'm fairly certain Liberty has always been a 100% cascade beer. Also, they also only use leaf hops at anchor, though don't know if that will tremendously affect the character. I've found the freshest leaf hops to have a better, more complex aroma, but to have worse shelf life, take up more storage space, and have less ease of use. In other words, I'm sure leaf to pellet hops would be the last tweak, if even necessary at all.

[Jeb]

Thanks for the input!

The asterisked comment saying that Liberty Ale is 100% Cascade was contradicting the Northern Brewer bittering addition that Zymurgy listed.

Sounds like 100% Cascade and WLP051 is the way to go.

Cheers!

[Fritz Eye]

That looks pretty good for the most part. My one major criticism is that 001 isn't the right yeast.

Wyeast 1272 / WLP 051 is the anchor ale strain.

Also, anchor does an open fermentation, which I'm not sure is necessary to replicate at homebrew levels, but you could do by putting foil on your carboy instead of an airlock.

+1 on the yeast, check out Mr. Malty.
Regardig open fermentation, Brewing TV did a test where they did an open fermentation in a bucket. Seemed really interesting, I may try this doing a Belgian just to cover my ass.

[Hightech.Redneck]

I recently listened to the Sierra Nevada podcast from when the brewer was on the show. I'm pretty sure that the "using all Cascade hops" is fairly accurate for SN brew.