I like my session beers, and I’m always looking for something creative and interesting. This is the core philosophy of Stone Brewing, so I was excited to see a recipe for their Levitation Ale. I’m not sure I’ve ever sampled it “in the wild,” but a session amber ale sounded pretty neat.

A few versions of Levitation Ale are floating around, and I used a version from Jennifer Talley’s Brewing Session Beers book. My version is a parallel rather than a clone, with some different hops and malts. The original recipe called for crystal 75, so I mixed crystal 60 and crystal 80, tilting towards the former because I was running low on the latter. I also adjusted the hops, so that I had Mt. Hood and Mandarina Bavaria, rather than Simcoe and Crystal. I also dropped the black malt, because it made the beer too dark. Finally, I used WLP001 versus an English ale yeast. With all of those changes, I should definitely deem this an homage (a la Denny Conn) rather than a clone. Either way, it was an interesting beer.

Levitation Ale Homage

• 8.5 lb. 2-row malt (Briess)
• 12.5 oz. caramel malt 60L (Briess)
• 12 oz. caramel malt 120L (Briess)
• 1.4 oz. caramel malt 80L (Briess)
• 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB (mash)
• 0.7 oz. Magnum hop pellets (12.6% alpha), 60 minute boil
• 0.5 oz. Amarillo hop pelletrs (10.4% alpha), 10 minute boil
• 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
• 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
• 1 oz. Mandarina Bavaria hop pellets (6.7% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
• 1 oz. Mt Hood hop pellets (4.0% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
• 1 pkg. American West Coast Ale Yeast (Lallemand BRY-97)
• 1.5 oz. Amarillo hop pellets (10.4% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

• 1.046 s.g., 1.011 f.g., 4.5% abv, 48 IBU, 15 SRM
• Full volume infusion mash, held at 154° for 60 minutes and 165° for 10 minutes
• Claremont tap water adjusted to hit 72 ppm Ca, 12 ppm Mg, 87 ppm Na, 127 ppm SO4, 110 ppm Cl, 156 ppm bicarbonate, RA=69

Procedure

• I started with 7.75 gallons of water, treated with a Campden tablet and 4 g gypsum, heated to 159° before mash-in. I added the BrewTanB just before adding the grains, and then added 6 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust the mash pH.
• I held the mash at 154° for 60 minutes, with recirculation, before raising to 165° for a 10 minute mash-out. Then, I pulled the grains and brought the runnings to a boil.
• I collected 6.9 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.039, for 72% mash efficiency.
• I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and other finings per the schedule. The boil was 90 minutes long total, so the first hop addition wasn’t until 30 minutes in.
• After the full 90 minute boil, I turned off the heat and added the whirlpool hops, whirlpooling for 10 minutes at just below boiling. Of course, it chilled down into the 180s relatively quickly.
• After the whirlpool finished, I removed the hops and continued chilling.
• I transferred the wort to the fermenter, chilled down to 68°, and pitched the yeast.
• Starting gravity was 1.050. I brewed the beer on 24 August 2024.
• I kegged the beer on 4 September 2024, with a final gravity of 1.014 for 4.8% abv. I added the dry hops in a bag, intending to remove them after a few days and add gelatin. Unfortunately, I forgot that they would sink, and so I couldn’t recover them. Ah well.

Tasting

• Appearance
  • Deep amber beer with moderate haze; persistent but thin ivory head
• Aroma
  • Light caramel malt notes with a good dose of citrus. a touch of pine
• Flavor
  • Medium caramel malt flavor, against a strong orange/citrus and moderate pin character from the hops. Delicious! Medium-high bitterness.
• Mouthfeel
  • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, slightly dry, somewhat thin finish.
• Would I Brew This Again?
  • This is a wonderful session amber ale, bursting with hop flavor and aroma. The haze is a minor flaw, but the flavor and aroma totally make up for it. I would love to try this with the original malt and hop combos, to see how it is. I might also add the black patent back in, to darken the beer. The malt body comes across as a little thin, so for a future version I might try Vienna or Maris Otter instead of plain 2-row, and/or mash at a higher temperature. Overall, this is a very drinkable beer!
• Overall
  • 8/10