Tag Archives: Isolation Ale Clone

Kegging Update: Fade to Black IPA, Odell Isolation Ale Clone

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I’ve gotten two of my batches kegged during the past couple of days.

First up was Fade to Black IPA. Final gravity was 1.016 (down from 1.065), for an abv of 6.5%. I added the dry hops at the time of kegging, on November 27. The beer just went on-line tonight (4 days later), and is pretty tasty even at this young state. The balance of roasty malts and earthy hops promises to shape up as something special!

The Odell Isolation Ale Clone was kegged on November 30. Starting gravity was 1.061, final gravity was 1.015, and thus the beer is 5.9% abv. I am currently carbonating this, and it will go into the rotation once a tap has freed up. At the time of kegging, the beer was gloriously clear and flavorful.

Isolation Ale Clone

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20161119_204044Another winter beer! Thumbing through the November 2016 issue of Brew Your Own, I ran across a clone recipe for Odell Brewing Company’s Isolation Ale. I can’t say I’ve ever sampled the beer myself, but the description of a rich, malty British strong ale (which isn’t a complete alcohol bomb) had me intrigued. This is the perfect brew to balance out my winter line-up!

The recipe I am brewing here is pretty similar to what was in BYO, with a few minor changes to account for my system’s efficiency and the ingredients I have on-hand. I decreased the amount of Maris Otter by a quarter pound, increased the mild malt by a quarter pound, and decreased the Vienna malt by a half pound. Additionally, I opted for an all-Cascade hopping, which better accommodates my hop stash (I really, really don’t need to buy any more hops!). Finally, I swapped out liquid yeast (WLP007) for dry yeast (SafAle S04), because my local shop had just run out of WLP007 on the day I stopped by.

Isolation Ale Clone

  • 4 lbs. Maris Otter pale malt
  • 3 lbs. mild malt – Ashburne (Briess)
  • 2.5 lbs. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
  • 1 lb. Munich malt
  • 0.75 lb. 90°L caramel 6-row malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. 10°L caramel malt (Briess)
  • 0.25 lb. 120°L caramel malt (Briess)
  • 0.25 lb. 45°L crystal light malt (Crisp)
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.1% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.1% alpha), 40 minute boil
  • 1 WhirlFloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. SafAle English Ale dry yeast (S-04)

Target Parameters

  • 152° mash, 60 minutes
  • 1.062 o.g., 1.016 f.g., 6.1% abv, 30 IBU, 15 SRM, 5.5 gallons into the fermenter

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 4.8 gallons of water at 168.5°, to hit a mash temperature of 153°. I let it sit for 60 minutes (at which point it had declined to around 150°), and added 0.86 gallons of water at 185°. After 10 minutes, I vorlaufed and collected the first runnings. Then, I added another 3.5 gallons of water at 185°, let sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 6.8 gallons of wort with a gravity of 1.050, for 75% mash efficiency.
  • During the 60 minute boil, all hop and other ingredients were added per the schedule above.
  • After flame-out, I chilled the wort to 76°, transferred to the fermenter, and pitched the yeast. I will ferment at 67° for the first three days, and then raise the temperature to 70° for the remainder of fermentation.
  • Starting gravity was 1.061. This was a great brew session, in terms of how closely I hit my targets! I consider this well within the margin of error for my measuring equipment. I brewed this up on 19 November 2016.