Searching For Best Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Recipe! (All Grain Please)

BYO’s seems solid, though it claims a 60 minute boil in the itemized hop additions and a 90 minute boil in the walk-through; Not sure which time duration to pursue…

Sierra Nevada’s website has a similar problem, though the reverse. As well as they recently converted to solely Cascade for the hop additions…

Ozark’s seems great, though he/she separates the Magnum@ 60 and Perle@ 30, rather than combing them at the beginning as BYO does. Wondering of the difference. Suppose I could brew them both and see for my self, though if anyone has tried either, it would save me a lot of time…

Then there is Hoptomology’s. Also looks good.
http://www.hoptomology.com/2011/12/12/brewing-a-sierra-nevada-pale-ale/

There is a link to a “dead ringer” that doesn’t work any longer, if anyone knows it or of one please let me know.
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/c/beer-recipe-exchange?bb=1

Thoughts?

Thanks to all,

-James

I would use the recipe from the Sierra Nevada website. Just move the 90 minute hop addition to 60 and it to the 60 minute amount. The difference in bitterness between 90 and 60 is minuscule.

Good luck.

Not clone, but close enough
1.050ish
93% American pale malt
7% American C40
Mash about 155F

35ish IBU Chonook at 60min
5g per gallon Cascade at flame out
5g per gallon Centennial at flame out

1056 at 65F

SNPA is a great beer to try to clone (inspired by) because it pretty much IS the guide post for the style. I chased it for quite a while and got pretty close. Then I decided to tweak it to what I like, my own spin. My house pale ale, which is probably an IPA, started very SNPA ish. Now days I use Munich instead of Crystal. It’s bigger, 6-6.5%. And more tipped toward hop flavor than malt. My base version is Chinook bittered, then a healthy dose of cascade and centennial in whirlpool. To change it up I sub other American hops in the whirlpool. Today I brewed a base version, and one with equal piles of Simcoe, Vic Secret and Mosaic.

Have fun! Don’t let yourself get frustrated or burned out. And allow yourself to change it up.

I think I got the following recipe from BYO magazine in 2008.  I haven’t brewed it but I tasted a friend’s clone and scored it 43 per BJCP guidelines at the time.

One thing I do know is that they definitely use whole hop cones, not pellets.  Don’t know about boil time.

Also mentioned for the recipe below is that they did NOT dry hop, at least not in 2008.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone
6.5 gallons

OG=1.053
FG=1.011
ABV=5.6%
IBU=32
SRM=7

11.5 lb Pale Malt (2-Row)
1 lb Crystal 60
0.5 oz Magnum (13.6% alpha, 60 min)
0.5 oz Perle (7.7% alpha, 30 min)
1 oz Cascade (5.8% alpha, 10 min)
2 oz Cascade (5.8% alpha, flameout)
US-05

Mash at 153 F for 1 hour.  Ferment 7 days at 68 F.  Dry hop IF desired, but Sierra Nevada doesn’t.  Carbonate as normal.

92% Pale 2 Row
8% C60

Cascade Hops

Chico Yeast

Does the “dead ringer” link take you to a recipe?? It doesn’t work for me.

Awesome, thank you. Definitely affirmed this will be the recipe to use. Liking the idea of separating Perle to the half mark, rather than combining with Magnum at the beginning. Hoping for more Perle flavor than just its bitterness.

Thank you to all who’ve responded. Will have much fun experimenting with this recipe in the future.

Cheers!

Klickitat Jim, would love the recipe of your house pale if you wouldn’t mind sharing. A more bitter pale, like you said, “closer to an IPA” is becoming my personal preference. Munich malt sounds tasty

Northern Brewers Dead Ringer is a Two Hearted Ale clone.

That looks very close (maybe identical?) to Beerfan’s SNPA recipe from many years past on the NB forum.  I’ve brewed it several times, and it gets very close to SNPA (and might actually be better).

Out of town for the week. If you don’t hear back on this by next week, remind me

Got into my recipe software (didn’t think I’d remember my password)

70% Simpson’s Golden Promise
30% Best Malz Light Munich
1.060 target OG

Water is 50ppm Ca, 20ppm CaCl, 70ppm CaSO4

These hops are by grams for 6 gal batch (I doubt IBU calcs)

30g Chinook at 60
30g each of Chinook, Cascade, and Centenial at 170F whirlpool for 30 min.
You can sub any high oil American you want here. I like 30g each of Simcoe, Vic Secret, and Mosaic as a modern twist to my old school Chin/Casc/Cent.

I usually ferment with 1056, but lately I’m digging 1450. 65F till 50% ADF, then free rise to 70F ambient.

I don’t bother with dry hopping. But YMMV

Have fun

Jim, thank you! Cannot wait to brew this

Pretty simple. Let me know how it goes

When I plug this into BeerSmith, the SRM comes out at 9.42 which is higher than the above specs and feels a little darker than SNPA and C-60 seems a little too caramel for the flavor, too.  I’ve seen C-40 in some of these SNPA recipes and that feels a little closer to the color and flavor profile to me.  I’m sure I’d love the above, too, and have made very similar APAs.

I guarantee you that they use C60.

The recipe above for a 6.5gallon batch.  You’ll want to adjust for your system/process/efficiency.  At ~5.25g batch at 75%eff you’d want to reduce to ~0.75lb C60, and use 2-2.25lb less malt… or thereabouts.

Right on.  Great points.  A recipe that works for one brewer might need to be adjusted to work for another brewer.  Always keep it in mind.