Mack and Jacks African Amber clone
Wow, that would be great, I sent you a message on this. Of course I would pay for the beer and shipping, but having some to compare side by side and make little tweaks to would be awsome.
Thanks Man
OK, so I transferred to secondary after 6 days and dry hopped at that point. The fermentation was done but now that it is in the secondary it started back up. Its been in the secondary now for 8 days and I am still seeing some bubbles in the airlock. Its like when I transferred over to the secondary I re-started the fermentation. I assume I just wait it out, I was just curious what you guys think.
Yea, sometimes it will do that when transfered. Just take a gravity reading for a couple days in a row, if it stays the same, it should be fine. You FG should be between 1.013, and 1.018. Depending on what yeast you used.
I even bottled one at 1.020, and another batch hit 1.009 As long as you get three consistant FG's in a row, and you fermented at 65-70, your golden.
Its not going to hurt anything if I just leave it until Sunday would it? I am going out of town and won't be back until Sunday. I thought I would bottle it on Sunday if it can wait that long.
dpturner wrote:
Its not going to hurt anything if I just leave it until Sunday would it? I am going out of town and won't be back until Sunday. I thought I would bottle it on Sunday if it can wait that long.
It should be fine if you wait until Sunday. You said yesterday that it was in there for 8 days already, so I take it that Sunday makes 2 weeks. I've left beers in the secondary for more than two weeks before without any problems. In fact I bottled a pale ale last week that was dry hopping for about 2 1/2 weeks in the secondary. I cracked one open yesterday and it was ok. I'm actually taking some to a homebrew club meeting tonight.
Yeah that's what I thought. I will leave it alone and bottle it when I get back. Thanks for the info.
So, while browsing for stuff at the my LHBS, (Larry's Brewing Supply, Kent, WA), I came across of Larry's clone recipe for an extract African Amber clone. This is what he has:
0.5 lb Wheat
1.0 lb Crystal 50L
1.0 lb Munich Light
3 oz Special "B"
7.0 lb Light Malt Extract Syrup
2.0 oz Cascade (60 min)
0.5 oz Crystal (15 min)
0.5 oz Crystal (5 min)
Yeast: White Labs Irish Ale
Grains steep for 30 min at 160 Deg. Remove grains, add Extract off heat and boil, add hops according to schedule. Otherwise as normal.
Just a variation on a theme. I'm going to try this version next and see how it does. I'll update when I get it done.
Yea, looks good, I'm sure there is a few ways to get there, and using cascade for the bittering is something I havn't tried. Sometimes i've noticed that the cenntenial can be to bitter depending on the alpha acid, but using 2 Cascade could level out that bittering difference.
I've never tried the Irish ale, let me know how it works for you, i'm always trying to nail this one.
I have never had the opportunity to try one of these beers. But from reading this post and reading you guys talking up this beer, I am thinking to put it into the rotation of my 'To Brews.'
Just brewed this last week, and is it ever yummy. I've never tasted the original so i can't say how it stacks up, but I sure do like mine. Cascade is my new best friend.
bruguru: I have been reading through this post and am brewing your recipe AG soon, was wondering about an earlier post you said that the Maris Otter might be throwing your flavors off a bit, but didn't see it in the recipe on page one or anywhere else in this thread. Is the grain bill still 9# pale malt, 1# munich, 1/2# cara pils and 1/2# C80? Thanks
Sorry, I was a little unclear here, The Marris otter is just the brand of Pale base malt that I used, I had never used it before, and it is a highly modified malt. It threw off my og, as I got about 1..070ish from the same amount of malt, plus I had a higher FG then I had planned about 2 -6 points higher then what I usually get. I get about 1.013-1.018 for an FG on this one, but for this batch I got a 1.020. I dont' think it had anything to do with the malt as far as quality of malt goes, I think this is a very high quality british malt, but I was not used to it, and extracted more of the good stuff then planned.
I've only made one All Grain batch of this, and it came out nice, not great, but nice, I went through 4 cases of the stuff in about 3 weeks, as I gave alot to co workers and let people at a superbowl party help me drink a case. If your bringing it to a party, bring lots, because this one is a crowd pleaser.
I have the ingredients to make the version I listed up above, I'll let you guys know how that comes out. One a seperate, awesome note, I scored a Mac and Jack's tap handle off ebay. Apparently I am way to big of a fan of this stuff. Of course, it's the first beer I had that made me notice craft beers, so, there ya go.
FailureDrill wrote:
One a seperate, awesome note, I scored a Mac and Jack's tap handle off ebay. Apparently I am way to big of a fan of this stuff.
Ha, ha, I thought I was the only one who did this, I also got one off of ebay, it looks real cool and it cost like 6 bucks.
I'm a pretty new home brewer, but I have made the Mac & Jack's clone that FailureDrill posted from Larry's Brewing Supply (super helpful people, by the way). I am also a local to Seattle who gets to sample the real African Amber frequently.
I have had great success with FailureDrill's recipe from day one. A couple of notes:
1) I keg it. I've had some trouble dialing in the carbonation, but I don't think that's the beer's fault. (I originally bought the kegerator years before learning to brew because the real Mac & Jack's is only sold as draft.)
2) It clarifies more than the real thing. I omit the Irish Moss, but that doesn't notably change it.
3) I have not yet dry hopped it. I know for certain that the real thing is dry hopped in the keg. When you chisel the bung out of a real African Amber keg, there's a hop sack attached to the bung. Dry hopping it is definitely in my future, which I hope also contributes to the cloudiness I like.
4) With hops frequently sold out, I've done some substitutes. I will report back on that.
5) I ferment in a 6.5 gallon pail and rack directly to my keg.
6) I'm going to go to a blow off tube next time. Last batch was a shuttle launch that quickly clogged my airlock.
7) Compared with buying it from Mac & Jack's directly (if you're fortunate to be local), there's not a lot of savings to home brew. I end up spending $42-45 for a batch of this recipe (with the Wyeast Irish Ale yeast) to make 5 gallons. I was paying $75 for a 7.75 gallon pony of the real thing. But it's way more fun to make it myself.
Overall, though, this is a very excellent beer. Friends who have been used to drinking the real Mac & Jack's at my house have had this, only to be shocked that it was my home brew. Not scientific tasting notes, but certainly enjoyable feedback.
Like bruguru, my mission is to perfect this beer, anticipating the day when I'm no longer local to Seattle.
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