Yazoo Pale Ale & Clone

[Kealia]

I recently brewed up a clone recipe for Yazoo's Pale Ale that I got from Swen. In my recent care package I also received a 'fresh off the line' original from Yazoo, too (see a pattern here?).

Tonight I poured them next to each other to do a head-to-head.
Mine is on the right, Yazoo on the left.



it may be hard to tell in the pic but the original is just a bit darker. Literally maybe just by a point or two in terms of SRM - just enough to detect when side by side. Aroma - mine was a bit stronger on the hops with the original being almost slightly fruity.

As far as taste, the original is a bit more bitter and a bit more floral. Basically, the hops came through better in the original than in mine. They taste similar to each other, like mine is a slightly less amped-up version of the original or like brothers - but not cloned.

I have no doubts the recipe is spot on ( ) so I'm thinking that it might be my water that makes the difference. With my collaboration IPA that I brewed today I've just started adjusting my water so we'll see if that makes the hop pop in future brews.

I'm certainly happy with my version, but I'll guess I'll have to come up with a different name. Being in Silicon Valley maybe it's appropriate that I call mine Yahoo instead of Yazoo.

Swen, let know your thoughts when you do the taste test.

[Beer-lord]

Sounds like you did a great job on this one. They look so close, you can almost blame the light for the slight difference.

I think I talk water for granted myself and so far, all I use is 5.2 and a campden tablet though I let my water sit out overnight too. Have you checked with your local water board to ask if they can test your water and give you the info? Might help. Mine offered but I said no thanks since things seem fine.

[mashani]

I'd like a nice IPA recipe... and I can't get yazoo here... sucks... is this one that can be shared?

[swenocha]

Yazoo's IPA changes hops each and every batch, so I can't help you with that, but I could give advice on the pale and several others when I get home...

[Kealia]

I get my water from a local bottler so it's basically neutral water. It;s very soft and has almost no mineral in it at all (think RO). It's a blank canvas. I started using it when I used extracts and just never started adjusting until last night's batch. I have their water report so I added appropriate amounts of gypsum and epsom salt to this batch.

I'll let Swen post up the recipes if he wants to since I got this pale ale (not IPA) from him. It's just not my place to share something that isn't mine, you know?


Edit to add: I see now that Swen started a thread in the Advanced Recipes section so all is good.

[swenocha]

OK, here's my comparison...



Appearance: Both settle into a small layer of white head. The Yazoo is slightly more orange. The clone is a bit more straw. Pretty close in that regard. Kealia is right... maybe a 1SRM difference. Inconsequential as far as I'm concerned.
Aroma: I get a subtle Vienna malt aroma from the original that I don't get from the clone. Clone is maybe a bit more hop forward in aroma, but the aroma is very subtle in the clone.
Taste: The clone for me is a bit less bitter and a bit less on the vienna flavors. Clone is maybe a bit more hop up front, but I think that's because the grain flavors a a bit subdued.

I think Kealia summed it up nice. The clone is very nice and very similar. As I said in the clone recipe thread on this beer, this recipe was two years old, and the specs listed now show the IBU at 47 (recipe was 40), so I think that that likely contributes to the difference in bitter. The water could well play in as suggested... one thing I really don't know about Yazoo is their particular water chemistry. When I do this again, I'll likely a) up the Pearle to get to a 47, and b) maybe up the Vienna a touch. I love the vienna malt flavor, so it can't hurt in that regard.

Regardless, this is a nice pale ale that I could drink all afternoon while watching the Titans (as I am doing now).

[swenocha]

FWIW, here is the thread where I used this recipe. Interestingly, I made similar comments about mine, so I sense a pattern. Note from the pic that I'm a bit more straw color than the original as well...

Aroma? mine's a tiny bit more cascade forward, but pretty similar
Taste? again, mine's a bit more hop forward (not by much), while theirs has a bit more from the Vienna malt.

[Kealia]

Ahh, Vienna - I think that's what I got that was heavy on the nose. Glad to have a second set of lips on this.

Yeah, that doesn't weird at all.

[mashani]

I wish Yazoo distributed here, I'd probably really like that beer. If you like Vienna/Munich types of malts in an IPA/APA type of beer, try some Victory Hop Devil sometime. It's not as fiendish as the name because it's got a big malt backbone from those types of malts. I like it a lot.

[Inkleg]

Well done Ron and thanks for sharing the recipes Swen.

Still trying to nail down a house pale ale and will be giving this a shot in the future.