The Clone Ranger
This is a clone recipe of one of my favorite IPAs, New Belgium’s Ranger IPA. For whatever reason, they decided to retire this recipe to make way for their Voodoo Ranger line of IPAs. I’ve yet to try a Voodoo that I like, and despite emailing the brewery with complaints, they still haven’t reversed their terrible, terrible decision.
Sure, they did a 12-pack sampler with 3 cans of the original last year, but I never saw the multi-pack, and even if I’d found one, I’m not sure I would have bought 9 beers I don’t like to get 3 that I do.
Anyway, I don’t want to take any credit for reverse engineering the beer by taste. New Belgium posted the ingredients, if not the actual recipe, on their website, along with the ABV and IBUs. I suppose I can take credit for guessing the color (SRM) which gives us the grain bill ratio, 2-row to crystal 120. I guess that makes me a beer scientist of sorts.
[He is totally not a beer scientist and thinks that the steps that happen between wort and beer are because of yeast-poop and magic; please see the Notice of Liability below -the MelloMooseMedia Legal Team]
Here’s how they describe it which is my blueprint for fine tuning the hop additions:
Bring out the hops with Ranger IPA ! This clear amber India Pale Ale beauty bursts at the starting gate with an abundance of hops: Cascade (citrus), Chinook (floral/citrus), and Simcoe (fruity) lead off the beer, with Cascade added again for an intense dry hop flavor. Brewed with pale and dark caramel malts that harmonize the hop flavor from start to finish, Ranger is a sessionable splendor for all you hopinistas. Thank your Beer Ranger!
And here’s my current 5-gallon, all-grain recipe (link to BeerSmith PDF):
5 Gallon / No-Sparge / :60 Boil
Anvil Foundry 10.5 All-In-One System
Estimated Brewhouse Efficiency: 68% (you’ll need to adjust based on your brewhouse efficiency)
OG: 1.066
IBUs: 71.9
12# 13.4oz 2-Row
10.4oz Crystal 120
1oz Chinook (.5 at :60, .5 at :10)
2oz Simcoe (.5 at :60, .5 at :10, 1 at steep/whirlpool)
1oz Cascade (1 at :05)
2oz Simcoe (dry-hop, 5 days)
2oz Cascade (dry-hop, 5 days)
White Labs WLP001 – California Ale
*****
Pliny the Elder
Pliny, for a long time, was hard to come by in and around Santa Cruz. I’d heard a lot about it, but never had the opportunity to try it. I asked a couple of local liquor stores with good beer selections if they could get it, but was told that they just didn’t distribute in the area (one guy was a real dick about it, and I’ve never gone back to that shop). Eventually I found a shop online that carried it in Los Gatos near where my wife worked. She stopped in one night and grabbed me a couple of bottles (the store limit) at $10 a beer.
I was… underwhelmed.
It had been built up too much in my mind, and I was expecting the perfect beer. It was good, but maybe not 10 bucks a bottle good. Eventually I decided I needed to give it another shot, and found a shop in Sunnyvale near where I worked who carried it. Again, $10 a bottle with a 2 bottle limit (although, there was one lady who would let me buy 3 or 4 if they had more than a case in the back). With no overblown expectations, I enjoyed these later bottles a lot more.
I was talking to a buddy who I worked with about my Pliny experiences, and he told me I had to try it on tap. There was a restaurant, St. John’s Bar & Grill, not too far from where we worked, that got a keg of Pliny every Thursday. You had to get there early or it’d be gone. He volunteered to work from home one Thursday morning, and then get there when they opened, grabbing us a table and a couple of pitchers. I got there at lunchtime and the place was packed with a ridiculously long line at the bar, but as promised, he was holding a table with 2 frosty pitchers for us (us was 6 people total; we didn’t drink a pitcher each). It was pretty damn good.
I am fortunate to live next to an amazing little market. They have a great beer selection and are within walking distance–maybe 10 minutes round trip–from my house. They now carry Pliny! And they only charge $7 a bottle. Shut up!, I’m totally not telling you the name of the place. It’s become one of my go-to IPAs.
Anyway, in case my source dries up, or like some other stupid brewery, who will remain nameless, they decide to quit making Pliny, I wanted to see if I could brew something close.
Here’s how it’s described on the Russian River Brewing site:
Pliny the Elder is brewed with Amarillo, Centennial, CTZ, and Simcoe hops. It is well-balanced with malt, hops, and alcohol, slightly bitter with a fresh hop aroma of floral, citrus, and pine.
And here’s the recipe from the MoreBeer! Brewmaster’s kit (link to BeerSmith PDF):
5 Gallon / No Sparge / :90 Boil
Anvil Foundry 10.5 All-In-One System
Estimated Brewhouse Efficiency: 62% (you’ll need to adjust based on your brewhouse efficiency)
OG: 1.077
IBUs: 150.9
13# 2-Row
1# Cara-Pils/Dextrine
6oz Crystal Malt 40
1# corn sugar/dextrose (boil :10)
2oz Cascade whole hops (Mash) [These aren’t mentioned in the description by the brewery]
2oz Magnum (2 at :90) [I’m not sure if this is an exact swap, but the brewery’s description says Amarillo and doesn’t list Magnum]
3oz Simcoe (1 at :45, 1 at steep/whirlpool, 1 dry-hop for 3 days)
4oz Columbus (CTZ) (1 at :30, 3 dry-hop for 3 days)
3oz Centennial (2 at steep/whirlpool, 1 dry-hop for 3 days)
2pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)
[I also added 6oz of acidulated malt to the mash to try and nudge the pH to 5.2, but it’s not an official ingredient included with the kit and you might not need to adjust your pH]
*****