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Smithwick's Ale clone?


SteveL

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Greetings,

Just wondering if anyone can decipher this recipe for a Smithwick's Ale clone into Coopers-friendly, non all grain, language? ie could Coopers cans be used, if so what would get close?

Cheers

 

Smithwick\u2019s Ale Clone

 

5 gallons, all-grain; OG = 1.050 FG = 1.010 ; IBUs = 22

 

Ingredients

 

 

6.5 lbs. pale malt

5.75 oz. roasted barley (300\xb0 Lovibond)

7.25 oz. flaked barley

1 lbs. Karo light corn syrup

4 AAU East Kent Goldings (0.66 oz. of 5.9% alpha acid)

5 AAU Fuggles hops (1 oz. of 5% alpha acid)

1 tsp. Irish moss

Irish Ale Yeast (Wyeast 1084)

3/4 cup priming sugar

 

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I have no idea what kit can would get close. However, I put this recipe into Beersmith and converted it to extract, and then converted it to metric and it came out like this: (Note, I did the boil times myself to achieve the approximate IBUs, and I'm assuming the 5 gallons works out at 20 litres.)

 

2.23kg Light Liquid Malt Extract

200g Flaked Barley

130g Roasted Barley

450g Maltodextrin (I'd probably reduce that to about 200-250g)

 

19g EKG boiled for 40 mins

28g Fuggles boiled for 15 mins

Irish moss added last 10 mins of the boil

Wyeast 1084.

 

Bulk prime with 110-120g Dextrose.

 

Hopefully that helps a little, I have no idea what Smithwick's Ale is like, so I don't know if this recipe would get something like it or not, but that's what it works out approximately to do it with extracts and in metric amounts[joyful] .

 

 

 

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Thanks Kelsey...seriously appreciated!

Smithwick's is an Irish Red Ale which I have been unable to find anywhere but Ireland (naturally!) and London.

Has become something of an obsession to try and brew something similar and your efforts/conversion give me a great head start...

Thanks again,

Steve

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No worries. You might have to increase the hop amounts or boil times, I accidentally did the times for the all grain method. Lol. The IBU's are less when converted to an extract method using those amounts and times. I just increased the EKG to 60 mins and the Fuggles to 25 mins to get to about 21-22 IBUs.

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Hiya SteveL.

 

I spent a considerable amount of time looking into this recipe for you (& for my own interest). I read, & read, & read countless pages on many sites, & even visited the Smithwick's website so I could get an idea of the colour & weight of the beer.

 

Otto's recipe breakdown is a very good starting point.

 

From all the info I read the following things stood out...

 

1). The Roasted Barley grain is a must is you intend to reproduce the colour & a certain flavour profile of that beer. I doubt you can replicate that with only malt extracts.

 

2). Original Gravity at the start of the brew is recorded as being as low as 1.036. The beer itself is not a high ABV beer (somewhere between 3.8-4.4%). I saw numerous recipe clone attempts that added way too much malt etc & their ABV's were way over the original. Look to build a recipe base with a OG of 1.036-1.040 if possible.

 

3). The flavour & aroma hops are definitely EKG & Fuggles. I did see numerous recipes that used a variety of differing bittering hops. Some even had up to 4 mixed for purely bittering, & cook times for the bittering varied betwen 40-60mins. So there is an area to play with for sure. It was described as a "Smooth drinking beer", so I would tend to think a 40min bittering cook would be the way to go. Don't be scared about throwing a bit of Amarillo in amongst your flavouring hops either! [wink]

 

4). Almost forgot, the yeast you use is the most important thing of all. White Labs, WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast. If that is not possible for you, at least go to the trouble of using Fermentis's Safale S-04.

 

It sounds like a nice drop, so if you get anywhere close to replicating it, don't forget to inform your online buddies here. [biggrin]

 

Good luck with it.

 

Beer.

 

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Thanks Beer (how many time have I said that!!)

Yep, it certainly is a smooth drop, a very easy drinker for sure.

Thanks for your input, it's very much appreciated.

I actually have that Irish Ale yeast on hand, was planning to try it in an English bitter but will now use it in this clone attempt.

I'll give it a crack soon and will definitely report back.

Anyone use flaked barley before? Is the process with it the same as roasted barley?

Thanks again,

Steve

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Hi all,

 

For my two cents, Smithwick's a great beer. Definately a session ale designed for spending many long dark hours in an Irish pub.

 

I think the closest you'll get to Smithwick's in Australia or NZ is a pint of Kilkenny. I was first introducted to Smithwick's at the Cat Laughs comedy festival in Kilkenny Ireland that the brewery sponsored. Every gig we were presented with a pint (or two or three or four, depending who was behind the bar).

 

Looking forward to hearing how the clones turns out.

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