Saturday, August 25, 2012

Sierra Nevada Tumbler Clone (Glass Acrobat)


It is currently hot and humid outside.  I am tired of this weather and I can not wait until it is fall.  I live in Virginia, where it is most beautiful in autumn.  In an effort to bring the changing on the season about a bit quicker than mother nature will allow I am brewing a Brown Ale.  

This beer is based on Sierra Nevada Tumber. A beer I love.  I'm calling it "Glass Acrobat". According to Sierra Nevada's web site they use two-row pale malt, a crystal malt, chocolate malt and smoked malt.  According to a Brewing Network interview with Ken Grossman they use a small amount of very fresh (smoked on site) smoked malt in the recipe. The hops sierra uses are Challenger for bittering, and Challanger and Yakima Goldings for finishing. Tumbler OG is 13.6 Plato (1.054 SG) FG is 3.4 Plato (1.014 sg).  I use significantly more smoked malt than Sierra Nevada dose because the smoked malt I can get is significantly less fresh.  Also I had to make some hop substitutes based on availability. The recipe I came up with to attempt to clone this beer is as follows.  


10 gallon Batch. (76% efficiency) 


18 lbs Maris Otter 

2 lbs Crystal 80 Lov
2 Lbs Smoked Malt
1 Lb Chocolate Malt. 

23.5 g CTZ (13.9 AA) 60 min

42 g UK Kent Goldings (5.8 AA) 15 Min 
28 g Challenger (7.5 AA) 15 Min.

Yeast: White Labs 001 (California Ale)
Mash @ 155


I ended up being much more efficient (87%).  My OG is 1.062.

I am looking forward to this beer.  I plan on fermenting all 10 gallons with a reptiched slurry of 001 from a pale ale that I brewed a few weeks ago and then adding a sour mix to 5 gallons and let it sour for 9 to 12 moths.

I will report back with tasting notes.


Update: 
Tumber, My Clone and a control. 
  This batch turned out great.  Its very similar to Tumbler.  My version is much bolder.  The smoke is just slightly more noticeable and the body is slightly fuller.  

Next time I would do a better job adjusting the recipe to my system (OG too high). I will also probably reduce the smoke malt to 1.5 lbs (maybe 1 lb). 


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