[ronrock]

I'm ready to brew up the Zymurgy Anchor Steam Clone. I have punched it into Beersmith and have a couple questions.

Here is the recipe,

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Copy of Anchor Steam Clone Zymurgy 5 Gal.
Brewer: Ron
Asst Brewer:
Style: California Common Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal     
Boil Size: 8.06 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 8.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 66.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
9 lbs                 Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain           1        85.7 %       
1 lbs                 Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM)   Grain         2        9.5 %         
8.0 oz                Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)             Grain              3        4.8 %         
0.50 oz               Cascade [5.40 %] - Dry Hop 21.0 Days     Hop         9        0.0 IBUs     
1.50 oz               Northern Brewer [9.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop           4        52.7 IBUs     
0.50 oz               Northern Brewer [9.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop           5        13.5 IBUs     
0.50 oz               Northern Brewer [9.00 %] - Aroma Steep 5 Hop         7        0.0 IBUs     
0.50 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 mins)              Fining                6        -             
1.0 pkg               San Francisco Lager (White Labs #WLP810) Yeast    8        -             


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 2 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 8.0 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Protein Rest      Add 13.02 qt of water at 132.8 F        125.0 F       30 min       
Saccharification  Add 0.00 qt of water and heat to 155.0  155.0 F       60 min       
Mash Out          Add 0.00 qt of water and heat to 170.0  170.0 F       10 min       


Notes:
------
Mash with 15 quarts water for 30 minutes at 125*F, raise to 155 and hold for 60-90 minutes. Raise temp of mash to170 for mash out, Sparge with 3-3.5 gallons of water at 170*F. Boil 60-90 minutes to yield 5 gallons. Aerate well and pitch yeast at 62*F. Fermant in primary at 60-66*F for one week and transfer to secondary (add Cascades for dry hopping). Ferment in secondary for 2-3 weeks at 48-50*F.

Have 8 oz Acid Malt ready for Mash in case pH is high.

Zymurgy July/August 2004

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This comes in at 66.2 IBU which is high for a California Common. It is also on the lower end of the ABV scale at 4.6% and below the color threshold.  So is this a good clone of the real deal Anchor Steam or should I make adjustments to bring this into the suggested ranges for the style?

Any suggestions on an Anchoe Steam Clone? Maybe I'd be better off with a different recipe altogether.

[gmac]

I made this almost exact recipe (didn't have Cara-Pils so I left it out) but the hops were the same (except for the dry hops which I didnt' bother with).  It was very good.  Was it an exact match to ASB?  I don't know because it's hard for me to find it to compare but I really enjoyed the beer. 

Do you want to stick exactly to style?  If so, you may need to drop the IBU's a bit and doctor the colour but I'd suggest make this one, try it side by side with the original and then see what you think and make small changes then based on what you taste and see.

[jaybeerman]

I've never gotten around to making an anchor steam clone, which is odd because i love the beer.  I have nothing to base this thought on, but the typical pale and c40 clone recipe seems to me to be a homebrewer idea.  Breweries the size and age of Anchor would be way more likely to use process to develope their sweetness, body and color.  I bet they use 2row and corn with a little dark grain or darker sugar syrup.  But like I said I have nothing to base that thought on and the typical c40 recipe will make a fine but not really spot on recipe.  cheers, j

[morticaixavier]

I've never gotten around to making an anchor steam clone, which is odd because i love the beer.  I have nothing to base this thought on, but the typical pale and c40 clone recipe seems to me to be a homebrewer idea.  Breweries the size and age of Anchor would be way more likely to use process to develope their sweetness, body and color.  I bet they use 2row and corn with a little dark grain or darker sugar syrup.  But like I said I have nothing to base that thought on and the typical c40 recipe will make a fine but not really spot on recipe.  cheers, j

All Anchor has to say about it is that it is an all malt brew using 2 row. no corn. My steam beer grain mill is pale malt and c60. I think someone on here toured the brewery recently and had some insight.

[jaybeerman]

All Anchor has to say about it is that it is an all malt brew using 2 row. no corn. My steam beer grain mill is pale malt and c60. I think someone on here toured the brewery recently and had some insight.

Actually it doesn't say anything other than that they use 2row as their base grain, the other malts/grains are undisclosed (notice that their porter also shows that its made with 2row only, even though they discuss the darker malts).  They do however talk about using traditional process to which you could guess they're talking about cereal mashes and or decoctions.  Like i said though i think the pale and c60 is probably a fine route to go.  cheers, j

[morticaixavier]

All Anchor has to say about it is that it is an all malt brew using 2 row. no corn. My steam beer grain mill is pale malt and c60. I think someone on here toured the brewery recently and had some insight.

Actually it doesn't say anything other than that they use 2row as their base grain, the other malts/grains are undisclosed (notice that their porter also shows that its made with 2row only, even though they discuss the darker malts).  They do however talk about using traditional process to which you could guess they're talking about cereal mashes and or decoctions.  Like i said though i think the pale and c60 is probably a fine route to go.  cheers, j

perhaps I didn't read carefully enough. I thought in the description they say it is all malt. I guess that could mean malted corn but... I know the two row is just base malt, although isn't most specialty malt made with two row as a starting point?

[jaybeerman]

perhaps I didn't read carefully enough. I thought in the description they say it is all malt. I guess that could mean malted corn but... I know the two row is just base malt, although isn't most specialty malt made with two row as a starting point?

No, you're right. They have a flyer that states "Each brew is virtually handmade from an all-malt mash in our handcrafted copper brewhouse, a veritable museum of the simple, traditional brewhouses of old."  No corn.  Hmm, I'm surprised.  Did you find your recipe to have the same body and mouthfeel that the original has?  cheers, j

[gmac]

Some people have also mentioned that they think that there is a touch of rye malt in it too.  Not sure if that is true or not but I did an extract version a while back with a lb of rye malt and it was good too. 
Don't know what makes people suspect that there is rye in it but I've heard that more than once.

[ronrock]

Thanks guys, I'm not stuck to the style. I don't plan to enter any competitions with this. But I would like to see how close to a clone I can get with it. I'm surprised that the recipe would be so much different than the style guideline which is what made me think that it will likely not be a very good clone. I'm not a good enough brewer to look at a recipe and tell if it should be a close clone, but the IBU's certainly look high and I can see that the ABV is slightly lower than the reported 4.9% ABV from Anchor Brewing.

I'm sure I can adjust next time, but I'd like to start out at least in the same ballpark.

[jaybeerman]

Some people have also mentioned that they think that there is a touch of rye malt in it too.  Not sure if that is true or not but I did an extract version a while back with a lb of rye malt and it was good too. 
Don't know what makes people suspect that there is rye in it but I've heard that more than once.

Jeffy is pretty smart (I think he's the one you're referring too) and I know he's been to the brewery.  It's all conjecture but rye malt kind of makes sense too.  I would add a bit of body and add to that touch of spiciness that's usually credited to an all northern brewer hop regimen.  Who knows, but it's fun trying to figure it out.  cheers, j

[euge]

To me Anchor Steam is darker than 8. I have a smack pack of Wyeast 2112 and plan to do an extract Cali Common with Briess Sparkling Amber only as a base line. My first time to brew one. Think it'll be close and the SRM about 13.

[morticaixavier]

perhaps I didn't read carefully enough. I thought in the description they say it is all malt. I guess that could mean malted corn but... I know the two row is just base malt, although isn't most specialty malt made with two row as a starting point?

No, you're right. They have a flyer that states "Each brew is virtually handmade from an all-malt mash in our handcrafted copper brewhouse, a veritable museum of the simple, traditional brewhouses of old."  No corn.  Hmm, I'm surprised.  Did you find your recipe to have the same body and mouthfeel that the original has?  cheers, j

That is the main thing I am tweaking at the moment, this last batch I mashed at 158 so we will see. It is nice and malty. I use all cascade hops so it's hard to compare flavour wise though.

**EDIT**

To me Anchor Steam is darker than 8. I have a smack pack of Wyeast 2112 and plan to do an extract Cali Common with Briess Sparkling Amber only as a base line. My first time to brew one. Think it'll be close and the SRM about 13.

Mine comes pretty close color wise everytime I have set them side by side and mine is a 10.5 according to beersmith

[Kit B]

I have tried to email Anchor on several occassions, with varying questions...
They have yet to reply to a single email.
In the last year, I've brewed several CA Common recipes & some have been very close to Anchor, but usually they come out a little darker.
Don't use corn or rye...Stick to barley, since steam beer was brewed before we Americans jumped on the cheap adjunct idea & was hand-crafted from barley...
C60 & C40 are both good, historical additions, along with possibly Vienna or Munich malts.
I don't think Cascades are used in Anchor...I think it's strictly Northern Brewer.
But, I've seen several clone recipes that use Cascades.
Personally, I think you'll want to avoid Cascades, as they add something of a fruity flavor & aroma that don't quite fit with what I taste/smell in Anchor (even though I <3 Cascades).

[jaybeerman]

Kit B, I hate to tell you this but corn was a very popular pre-prohibition adjunct (see comments below).  Otherwise I agree with everything you said, especially the vienna and munich comment.  One other note that I've seen quite a bit in older texts; it's possible that cluster rather than northern brewer gives the spicy notes.  cheers, j


Wahl and Heinus's American Handy Book of Brewing and Malting (1902) describes California Steam Beer as “a very clear, refreshing drink, much consumed by the laboring classes.” And while Anchor Steam is an all-barley malt beer, additives were often used in the early days. According to the book, "Malt alone, malt and grits, or raw cereals of any kind, and sugars, especially glucose, employed in the kettle to the extent of 331⁄3 percent... Roasted malt or sugar coloring is used to give the favorite amber color of Munich beer."

[dannyjed]

I made one a couple of years ago and I believe it had two row, crystal 60, and carapils.  I don't remember the hop additions because I lost my records on that one (hard drive crash), but I'm sure the IBU's were less than what you have.  The color seemed right on and so did the taste.