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Author Topic: Request: Left Hand Snowbound clone recipe  (Read 2190 times)

Offline stabzmcgee@live.com

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Request: Left Hand Snowbound clone recipe
« on: November 07, 2012, 10:22:51 am »
This was my grandfathers favorite beer. I would like to be able to replicate it for him with an extract batch of homebrew. If anyone could provide me a clone recipe or something extremely close, I would be forever indebted to them! Thank you all for looking and helping!

Offline Iliff Ave

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Re: Request: Left Hand Snowbound clone recipe
« Reply #1 on: November 07, 2012, 10:33:01 am »
Never tried it but this should get you started...

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Fight cabin fever! Made with Rocky Mountain water, malted barley, hops, yeast, honey, orange zest, and other spices.

Editor’s Note: beginning in 2006, Snow Bound became the name for Left Hand’s strong winter seasonal beer made with honey and spices. It was previously known as XXXmas Ale. Below is the original XXXmas Ale description for reference.

XXXmas Ale is a spiced strong ale, using all natural ingredients to give it its festive nature. We brew this beer from a relatively high initial gravity to give it strength and body. This is (in our opinion) appropriate to a winter beer, and it helps to balance the numerous spices added. Honey is also added to increase fermentable sugars and give additional sweetness. Northern Brewer and Saaz hops are used sparingly, to allow the spices to evidence themselves. We add ground nutmeg, whole cloves, crushed cinnamon, orange zest and chopped ginger to spice the beer. Carbonation is kept low to accentuate the flavor of the beer and spices. It’s like a liquid cake. Brew water is relatively soft.

On Tap/Bottled: IPL, Adjunct Vienna, Golden Stout, Honey Lager
Fermenting: IPA
Up Next: mexi lager, Germerican pale ale

Offline stabzmcgee@live.com

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Re: Request: Left Hand Snowbound clone recipe
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2012, 11:14:18 am »
This is great info, Thanks! Still hoping someone could provide a clone recipe though... You guys rock!

Offline Iliff Ave

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Re: Request: Left Hand Snowbound clone recipe
« Reply #3 on: November 07, 2012, 03:36:54 pm »
You may want to contact Left Hand to get some help. They probably won't give you everything but they may be able to help you out with specialty grains, yeast selection, and estimates as far as OG, IBUs, etc. It looks like this beer is no longer made so it may be difficult to find many people who have tasted it or have a good idea about the recipe.

Actually....just found this

Brewed once a year by Left Hand Brewing to fight cabin fever, this spiced strong ale uses all natural ingredients, including crushed cinnamon, honey, chopped ginger, orange zest, cardamon & cloves. Deep red in color, this medium-bodied beer is a winter warmer – enjoy on a cold night in front of the fireplace. Get it while it lasts!

Style: Strong Spice Ale
Color: Brown/Deep Red
ABV: 8.6%
IBUs: 16
Plato: 18.5
Malt: Premium Pale 2-Row, Munich, Crystal & Chocolate
Hops: Magnum and Saaz

To me it looks as if it might just be a strong brown ale with spices. I would bitter with Magnum for almost all of the IBUs and use Saaz for aroma. Looks like your specialty malts should just be crystal and chocolate. I haven't done extract in a while so I would guess you would want to use light extract for the the two row and possibly amber extract for the munich. Since it is extract I would also throw in some table sugar to increase the fermentability of the wort due to such a high OG.
On Tap/Bottled: IPL, Adjunct Vienna, Golden Stout, Honey Lager
Fermenting: IPA
Up Next: mexi lager, Germerican pale ale

Offline Iliff Ave

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Re: Request: Left Hand Snowbound clone recipe
« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2012, 03:57:18 pm »
Here is what I would recommend for a 5 gallon extract batch. This may be nowhere close but it hits the numbers in Beersmith. This assumes a 3.25 gallon boil that is topped off to achieve 5 gallons.

6# light dry extract
2.25# amber dry extract
1# table sugar (for fermentability)
1# crystal 60
1/4# chocolate

17 g Magnum 14% aa pellets (60 min)
21 g Saaz 4% aa pellets (10 min)
I would throw all of the spices in at 5 minutes remaining. From the couple of reviews I read, the spices aren't that noticeable so go easy on them.

OG 1.083
IBUs 16.3
SRM 20.3
not sure what yeast they use...I would assume WLP002/007
On Tap/Bottled: IPL, Adjunct Vienna, Golden Stout, Honey Lager
Fermenting: IPA
Up Next: mexi lager, Germerican pale ale

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Request: Left Hand Snowbound clone recipe
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2012, 04:02:53 pm »
Given that the base malts are 2 row and munich I would check out the munich extract. Looks like the briess is 50/50 munich and pilsner which is not quite right but it's a start. so you would want to play with the crystal and chocolate to get the color you are after. goschman's hop schedule looks like a good place to start.

If you want it drier you could add some table sugar or not.
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Offline Iliff Ave

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Re: Request: Left Hand Snowbound clone recipe
« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2012, 04:14:41 pm »
I just noticed that honey is listed as part of the ingredients too. You could replace the table sugar with the honey although that will just help to dry it out as mort said...probably wouldn't get any flavor. There are better procedures for brewing with honey but I don't know much about that.
On Tap/Bottled: IPL, Adjunct Vienna, Golden Stout, Honey Lager
Fermenting: IPA
Up Next: mexi lager, Germerican pale ale