Sierra Nevada Porter Clone

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I love American porters, and they are among the first beers I ever brewed (all the way back to 2009!). Sierra Nevada’s porter is a great one, a classic in the American porter style, as listed by the BJCP 2021 style guide. The BJCP also indicates that this style is “becoming increasingly hard to find.” That’s a good reason to make a homebrew version!

I did some searching to find an appropriate recipe, which landed on one that is allegedly directly from Sierra Nevada. I adjusted the grains very slightly to get more even amounts, and I also upped the Carafa Special III and black malt, in order to darken the beer. Oddly, the grain-only version was lighter than consistent with the style (noted by folks at the original link), so I added Sinamar to bring things into line. The original recipe called for Sterling and Aurora hops, neither of which I had on-hand. So, I substituted Mandarina Bavaria and Elixir. They’re not the same, but should be enough in the ballpark.

This was an enjoyable recipe to brew. It didn’t require dry hopping or whirlpooling, and I didn’t bother with a closed transfer. Other than using Sinamar, the ingredients and techniques were dead-basic.

Sierra Nevada Porter Clone

  • 10.25 lb. 2-row malt (Briess)
  • 1 lb. Munich I malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.5 lb. caramel malt – 60L (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. chocolate malt (Bairds)
  • 1 oz. black malt (Briess)
  • 1 oz. Carafa Special III (Weyermann)
  • 1.5 oz. Sinamar (added at end of boil)
  • 1 oz. Mandarina Bavaria hop pellets (6.7% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Elixir hop pellets (5.1% alpha), 15 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Elixir hop pellets (5.1% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. California ale yeast, dry version (White Labs WLP001)

Target Parameters

  • 1.056 s.g., 1.014 f.g., 5.7% abv, 35 IBU, 40 SRM
  • Full volume infusion mash, held at 154° for 60 minutes and 168° for 10 minutes
  • Claremont tap water with Campden tablet

Procedure

  • I heated 7.5 gallons of water to 160°, and added the grains for a mash temperature of 154°. I added 5 mL of 88% lactic acid to adjust the pH, and held the mash at 154° for 60 minutes.
  • After 60 minutes, I raised the mash to 168° for 10 minutes, before pulling the grains and heating to a boil.
  • The mash yielded 6.5 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.050, for 71% mash efficiency.
  • I boiled the wort for 60 minutes, adding finings and hops per the recipe.
  • After the boil, I chilled to 70° and transferred to the fermentater.
  • I brewed the beer on 2 December 2023. Starting gravity was 1.058, just a touch above target.
  • I fermented the beer at 66°, and kegged on 31 December 2023. Final gravity was 1.016, for 5.5% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • The beer is a deep, deep brown, almost black, with a persistent tan head.
  • Aroma
    • Dark chocolate and coffee–very roasty! Resiny hop character. Very nice!
  • Flavor
    • Rich, chocolate and coffee malt notes. Medium-high bitterness with a resiny and piney character.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, moderate carbonation, slightly dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • Yes! This is a fantastic American porter, simultaneously rich and drinkable. It has interesting character, and is just a nice beer. I don’t know how it would stack up against Sierra Nevada’s product, but even on its own this recipe is pretty nice.
  • Overall
    • 10/10

Super SMaSH Pils

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It’s no secret that German Pils is one of my very favorite styles, and one that I finally feel like I’ve mastered. I brewed German pils recipes 18 times in the past seven years, with some batches turning out well, and others less well.

My latest iteration is a SMaSH-esque beer, testing out Rahr’s pilsner malt. I tend to favor European pilsner malts, but that is more through habit than actual comparison. Weyermann, Viking, and Best have all made semi-regular appearances. This past fall, I picked up a 55-lb. sack of Rahr pilsner at the local store, and I wanted to test it in a beer like this. For the hops, I focused on the Edelweiss hop blend from Hop Heaven. In the past, I have absolutely loved the product, and wanted to see what it could do here. Because Edelweiss is a blend, it’s important to note that this is a “SMaSH-esque” beer, rather than a true SMaSH. So, I named my recipe “Super SMaSH Pils”, as a nod to the blend and an homage to a well-known video game.

For yeast, I selected S-189. I’ve been doing lots with Diamond and Novalager lately, and they are truly great yeasts, but I wanted to expand my horizons a little bit. I had a good experience with S-189 in one previous batch, and thought I’d test it out again.

Super SMaSH Pils

  • 10.5 lb. pilsner malt (Rahr)
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB (mash)
  • 1.25 oz. Edelweiss hop pellets (5.8% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.75 oz. Edelweiss hop pellets (5.8% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc pellet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Edelweiss hop pellets (5.8% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. SafLager German Lager (S-189)

Target Parameters

  • 1.048 s.g., 1.007 f.g., 5.3% abv, 37 IBU, 4 SRM
  • Full-volume infusion mash, held at 144° for 60 minutes, 160° for 45 minutes, and 168° for 10 minutes
  • Water built up from RO, to hit target parameters of 53 ppm Ca, 11 ppm Mg, 123 ppm SO4, and 52 ppm Cl, with RA=-51 ppm

Procedure

  • Starting with 7.25 gallons of RO water, I added 4 g gypsum, 3 g epsom salts, and 3 g calcium chloride, to hit my water target. I heated this water to 149° and added the grains along with 1.5 mL of 88% lactic acid. This hit a mash temperature of 144° for 60 minutes, with recirculation. Then, I raised the mash to 160° for 45 minutes, and finally to 168° for the final 10 minutes of the mash.
  • I pulled the grain basket, and collected 6.5 gallons of runnings at a gravity of 1.043, for 71% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, boiling for 60 minutes and adding hops and finings per the recipe. After the boil, I turned off the heat and chilled to 75° before transferring to the fermenter.
  • Starting gravity was 1.049, pretty close to my target. I chilled the wort further to 48° in the fermentation chamber, before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed the beer on 29 October 2023, and fermented at 52°.
  • On 12 November 2023, I moved the beer to ambient (~62°).
  • I kegged the beer on 29 November 2023, with a closed transfer.
  • Final gravity was 1.011, which works out to 5.0% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Brilliantly clear, straw yellow beer that pours with a dense and persistent, creamy white head.
  • Aroma
    • Clean, lightly floral, and slightly spicy aroma. Very pleasant! Malty sweet character, too.
  • Flavor
    • Clean, lightly floral hop flavor, with moderately high yet smooth bitterness. Light malty sweet flavor, with a nice balance against the hops. No yeast character detectable — it is very clean and crisp!
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation; nice and smooth finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • This is a near-perfect pils! It hits every mark of the classic style and is just plain enjoyable. I am incredibly pleased, and would absolutely brew it again.
  • Overall
    • 10/10

2023’s Homebrew Highlights

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2023 was another year with tons of non-brewing things happening in life, so my brew days were pretty important opportunities for relaxation.

  • Favorite Batch
    • American Pale Ale 2023 was a killer batch! It was just a straight-down-the-middle pale ale, which hit every note for a traditional take on the style. I would drink it every day (if that was a good idea).
    • Live Oak Canyon Ale was a close second…it was incredibly drinkable, and an interesting beer in a hard-to-find style.
  • Least Favorite Batch
    • Thanksgiving Transatlantic Barleywine wasn’t a bad batch, but I should have let it age another year. So, even though it was still reasonably drinkable, I will mark it down as “least favorite.”
  • Experimental Recipe With Most Potential
    • Live Oak Canyon Ale (again!). I had such a fun time with this beer, and the introduction of wood into the mix was a nice experimental twist. I would brew this again in a second.
  • Most Fun New Style/Recipe to Try
    • I enjoyed brewing a Czech dark lager; it was fun to try out some new ingredients and go fairly traditional in this beer.
  • Upcoming Beer With Most Potential
    • I just kegged a Sierra Nevada Porter clone recipe, and I think it’s going to be pretty great! Porters are such a hard style to find nowadays, so I always enjoy making them. It’s funny how they have basically disappeared from the landscape, which emphasizes why homebrewing is so important.
  • Best Ingredient Added to Repertoire
    • Wood! I enjoyed my revisit to wood aging with Live Oak Canyon Ale (yet again). I don’t want every beer to be wood aged, but I had forgotten how a straight-up wood (rather than spirit-barrel-aged) character can be nice.
  • Favorite Books
    • The Hops List book was a surprisingly great addition to my beer and brewing library. Because it’s just a…list…of hops, it rewards dipping in and out of the pages, and doesn’t need a sequential exploration. It’s probably one of the more useful books I’ve got, and certainly one of my most-used ones during the past year.
  • Overall Stats
    • I made 22 batches during the year, totaling approximately 100 gallons of beer.
    • Around a third (8) of my batches were some form of lager, which is an increase from 2022. Nearly a third (7) were some form of pale ale (IPA, Belgian pale ale, or American pale ale).
    • My most frequently brewed styles were American Pale Ale (four batches) and German pils (three batches).

Live Oak Canyon Ale

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The holidays aren’t just for dark beers–anything with a decent bit of “heft” to it in flavor, alcohol, body, or some combination of those can be a great sipper next to the fire. Looking to expand my brewing repertoire, I returned to wood-aged beers, with a riff on an Imperial Red IPA from beloved local brewery Claremont Craft Ales. The original, called Happy Days, is an exceptional beer that has taken gold at the GABF (twice!), among a ton of other awards. It weighs in at 9.5% abv, so isn’t a casual beer–but it goes down smoothly nonetheless!

A clone recipe for Happy Days is available, and it’s a surprisingly simple brew. It starts out with just three malts — 2-row, crystal 150L, and a dash of chocolate malt for color, with some dextrose to dry out the beer. CTZ, Mosaic, and Simcoe round out the hop bill…and that’s it! This beer is a testament to how great recipe design and careful handling come together to make something exceptional.

For my own version, I used Happy Days as a starting point, but not the end. One goal was to play with wood aging, so the beer departs from a “clone” pretty much right away. Second, I wanted to try out some different hops, partly to see how they worked and partly to use up my (admittedly too large) hop stash.

I kept the target gravity around the same as the original Happy Days, but dropped the chocolate malt from the recipe. It seemed to be there only for color adjustment, and I just didn’t need it to hit my goals in the current batch. I had crystal 120 but not crystal 150 on-hand, so that was another malt adjustment. I aimed for around the same level of bitterness, but chose HBC 522 and Talus as my flavor/aroma hops. They seemed to have roughly similar qualities to the original recipe. Finally…I needed to figure out an oaking strategy. I didn’t want this beer to be an oak bomb, and I also didn’t want an extended barrel aging process that would kill the hop character. So, I elected to use the BeerStix product, aging a textured slab of wood in the primary as well as a bit in the keg.

The end result was pretty satisfying–one of the better experimental beers I’ve made! I am both glad and sad I did only a small batch–glad because I didn’t need 5 gallons of a 10% abv beer; and sad because this beer really is a smooth drinker, pretty darned tasty, and gone distressingly quickly.

The name for this beer comes from a canyon near where we live…it conveniently has “oak” in the name, so was a logical choice for a wooded beer.

Live Oak Canyon Ale

  • 10.5 lb. 2-row malt (Briess)
  • 13 oz. caramel malt 120L (Briess)
  • 1 oz. Warrior hop pellets (13.4% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Magnum hop pellets (16.5% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.75 lb. corn sugar, 5 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 2 oz. HBC 522 hop pellets (9.4% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. WLP001 (White Labs), California Ale dry yeast
  • 1 medium toast American oak Beer Stix carboy stick, added to primary and carried over to keg
  • 2 oz. LUPOMAX Talus hop pellets (12.0% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 1.093 s.g., 1.015 f.g., 10.5% abv, 125 IBU, 17 SRM
  • Infusion mash, held at 152° for 60 minutes and 168° for 10 minutes, with sparge
  • Claremont tap water, with Campden tablet, adjusted with minerals to achieve 58 ppm Ca, 23 ppm Mg, 54 ppm Na, 155 ppm SO4, 60 ppm Cl, 10 ppm CO3, -47 ppm RA

Procedure

  • Starting with 5.6 gallons of water, I added 4 mL of 88% lactic acid to neutralize the carbonates. Then, I added 2 g epsom salts and 2 g gypsum, to achieve my target water profile.
  • I heated the strike water to 161°, added the grains, and hit a 152° mash temperature. I also added 4 mL of 88% lactic acid, to adjust the pH.
  • After a 60 minute mash and recirculation, I raised the mash temperature to 168° for 10 minutes, before pulling the grains and sparging with ~0.9 gallons of water.
  • In total, I collected 5.25 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.058, for 72% mash efficiency. This was great…but meant that I needed to boil for a full 60 minutes before adding hops — so, the beer had a total of a 120 minute boil.
  • After the initial 60 minutes of boiling, I began adding hops and other finings per the recipe, with corn sugar added at the very end.
  • After the boil, I chilled the beer down to around 68°, before transferring to the fermenter.
  • I brewed this beer on 4 November 2023; it had a starting gravity of 1.089. Once pitching the yeast, I let it ride at ambient (around 62°).
  • Visible evidence of fermentation was present within 24 hours, and the beer was up to around 68° and had vigorous fermentation by 6 November 2023. On the morning of 7 November, the beer had climbed to 74°, so I put it into the conditioning chamber to drop it down over the course of the day. Unfortunately, I overshot a bit and it went all the way down to 45°. I pulled it out to ambient again, and it steadily rose to 62° by 9 November 2023. At this point, I put a thick towel around the beer to raise and maintain the temperature.
  • I soaked the oak stick in water overnight, and then put it into the microwave for around 90 seconds to flash steam and sanitize. I spritzed the oak with StarSan, before adding it to the fermenter. The oak was added to the primary fermenter on 7 November 2023.
  • I kegged the beer on 19 November 2023, adding the dry hops in a baggie and also transferring the oak to the keg.
  • Final gravity was 1.016, for 9.9% abv.
  • I left the keg at ambient until 27 November 2023, when I removed the dry hops and oak, moved the keg to the conditioning chamber, and let it condition and carbonate at 34°.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • The beer has a deep reddish amber color, with a slight haze; it pours with a creamy and persistent ivory head. Gorgeous!
  • Aroma
    • Pine, sweet orange, and resin, with a hint of woody oakiness. As the beer warms up, the wood comes through more prominently.
  • Flavor
    • Hop forward, very bitter beer, with a hint of orange and resiny bitterness, and some woody character behind that. Caramel maltiness is at a moderate level. This woodiness holds mainly until the back end of the palate and the finish, which complements the hops nicely.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium carbonation, medium body, off-dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • What a wonderful experiment! This has been an incredibly enjoyable beer, with high drinkability. Overall, it’s an awesome winter seasonal brew.
  • Overall
    • 10/10

Deep Space Imperial Stout

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The dark depths of winter are a perfect time for dark, deep beers. It’s really hard to go wrong with an imperial stout. I most frequently have them in barrel-aged form, though, which I think distracts from the fact that the “regular” form can have a ton going on as it is.

As I often do, I used a recipe from Gordon Strong’s Modern Homebrew Recipes as my starting point. His “Katherine the Strong” hit everything I was looking for, although I made my usual modifications for ingredients on-hand. In particular, I used US 2-row for my base malt instead of Maris Otter, swapped in some American hops here and there as relevant, and stuck with an American ale yeast. The end result is something that is perhaps more American in character than British, but nonetheless hopefully quite good.

Because I don’t normally make big batches of big beers, both for my own health as well as due to equipment limitations, I aimed for a 3 gallon batch. This makes for a challenging brew, but a rewarding one.

Deep Space Imperial Stout

  • 4.75 lb. Lamonta Pale American Barley Malt (Mecca Grade)
  • 3.5 lb. 2-row malt (Briess)
  • 13 oz. roasted barley (Bairds)
  • 12 oz. caramel 60L (Briess)
  • 8.5 oz. chocolate malt (Bairds)
  • 6 oz. flaked barley
  • 6 oz. black malt (Briess)
  • 6 oz. caramel 80L (Briess)
  • 6 oz. special roast (Briess)
  • 3 oz. caramel 120L (Briess)
  • 0.55 oz. Magnum hop pellets (16.5% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Chinook hop pellets (11.9% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Crystal hop pellets (4.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. BRY-97 American West Coast Ale yeast (Lallemand)
  • 1 oz. Chinook (11.9% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 1.087 s.g., 1.019 f.g., 9.1% abv, 69 IBU, 79 SRM
  • Infusion mash, held at 152° for 60 minutes and 168° for 10 minutes, with sparge
  • Claremont tap water, with Campden tablet

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 6 gallons of water at 160°, to hit 152°. I recirculated at this temperature for 60 minutes, before raising the mash temperature to 168°. I held it here for 10 minutes, before pulling the grains. I sparged with ~0.75 gallons of hot water.
  • In total, I collected 5.35 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.055, for 69% mash efficiency. This was well below my target gravity, so I knew I would need to boil for awhile longer than expected.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, boiling for 75 minutes before adding the first round of hops. I then boiled another 60 minutes with hops and finings added per the recipe, for a total of 125 minutes boiling time.
  • I chilled the wort to 75°, transferred it into the fermenter, and then chilled to 67° in the fermentation chamber before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed the beer on 7 October 2023, and it had a starting gravity of 1.082. This is slightly below the target but not awfully so.
  • I set the fermentation temperature for 66°, and pulled the beer to ambient on 28 October 2023. On 29 October, I agitated the fermenter to rouse the yeast and ensure that the beer fermented out fully.
  • I kegged the beer on 4 November 2023. Final gravity was ~1.023, for 7.9% abv.
  • I bagged and added the dry hops to the keg on 14 November 2023 and removed the hops on 27 November 2024.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • The beer pours with a rich and creamy deep brown head, which leaves gorgeous lacing down the side of the glass over time. The stout is a deep, deep brown beer, almost jet black in appearance in the glass. Amazing!
  • Aroma
    • Cocoa and roasty notes dominate, along with dark roast coffee as the beer warms. At this later point in the glass, there is a very subtle hint of alcohol, but it’s not at all unpleasant.
  • Flavor
    • Deep roasty cocoa and coffee flavors predominate, with a dark chocolate aspect too. Bitterness is high, manifesting on the finish in particular, which keeps the beer from being overly cloying and sweet. The hop character is slightly resiny.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-low carbonation, rich and full-bodied, with an off-dry finish due to the intense hopping.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • YES! This is exactly what I had envisioned as an imperial stout–big and complex flavors, rich, and paradoxically drinkable. The beer definitely tilts towards the roasty and chocolatey, rather than fruity, character as a stout. So, I would say it’s more American than British in overall character.
  • Overall
    • 10/10