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Heineken Clone

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 2:01 pm
by canuck
I plan on making a Heineken clone in the very near future. One of my best friend really loves Heineken and also is considering getting into home brewing.......which of course I am really trying to encourage. I know that if I made a Heineken clone and it turned out really close, it would push him over the edge and he'd start home brewing. So I came across this recipe on HBT and am thinking of using it. Thoughts? Anything that you would change?

Amount Item Type % or IBU
9 lbs 4.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 97.4 %
4.0 oz German Light Crystal Malt (10 SRM) Grain 2.6 %
0.35 oz Northern Brewer [8.00%] (90 min) Hops 12.3 IBU
0.75 oz Hallertauer [3.25%] (90 min) Hops 10.0 IBU
0.25 oz Hallertauer [3.25%] (10 min) Hops 1.7 IBU
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc

Danish Lager (Wyeast Labs #2042) Yeast-Lager


Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.053
Est Final Gravity: 1.013
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.2 %
Bitterness: 23.6 IBU
Est Color: 4.0 SRM

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 9:55 am
by Tony L
That looks like it would make a great clone, keeping in mind that real Heini uses a portion of corn in it's recipe to make
up some of the alcohol and to lighten the flavour.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:19 am
by Dirt Chicken
ani idea what percentage of corn? like 2lbs in a 5gal batch ??

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:23 am
by mr x
I'd think 10% at least.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:25 am
by vgoreham
Are you going to leave it out in the sun to get that authentic Heineken taste? :P

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:44 am
by Dirt Chicken
vgoreham wrote:Are you going to leave it out in the sun to get that authentic Heineken taste? :P
Or better yet, let it sweat under a few metal halides!!

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:53 am
by canuck
Tony L wrote:That looks like it would make a great clone, keeping in mind that real Heini uses a portion of corn in it's recipe to make
up some of the alcohol and to lighten the flavour.
Cool, thanks Tony. I'll add a pound of flaked corn as you suggest. I had to special order the 2042 Danish Lager yeast from NG and once it arrives I'll be brewing it.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:25 am
by Tony L
vgoreham wrote:Are you going to leave it out in the sun to get that authentic Heineken taste? :P

Oh ye of little faith.......Heiniken in a can that hasn't been exposed to light is good for what it is supposed to be. A clean euro lager.
No skunk.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 9:04 am
by vgoreham
Haha. I know. But to be honest I actually kind of prefer the bottles..

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:23 pm
by erslar00
vgoreham wrote:Haha. I know. But to be honest I actually kind of prefer the bottles..
I know a few people like that... I tried to switch them over to the cans claiming superior taste and they won't budge...

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 7:54 pm
by canuck
Brewing this recipe up tomorrow with my buddy. Adding a pound of flaked corn to the recipe as per Tony's suggestion.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 10:28 am
by canuck
I got the Heineken clone brewed up yesterday and it's currently in my fermentation fridge at a temp of 52F.

Image

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:43 pm
by Tony L
What was your OG ?

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:59 pm
by canuck
Tony L wrote:What was your OG ?
Tony, I ended up at 1.054.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 1:51 pm
by Tony L
Perfect.

I have an IPA planned for my next brew... hopefully next weekend.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 1:53 pm
by canuck
Tony L wrote:Perfect.

I have an IPA planned for my next brew... hopefully next weekend.
I need a good IPA in my pipeline and planning on brewing one next week as well. Looking at doing a Stone Ruination clone.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2012 11:37 pm
by theanthropos
erslar00 wrote:
vgoreham wrote:Haha. I know. But to be honest I actually kind of prefer the bottles..
I know a few people like that... I tried to switch them over to the cans claiming superior taste and they won't budge...

And I would be one of them. The skunkiness gives it a very dintinquised taste. Heiny is my favorite beer as well and I will be planning to use the recipe and suggestions here and see how it comes out. I will oxidize the hops tool--that's good stuff.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2012 8:45 am
by mr x
Oxidizing the hops won't give you the skunk from my experience. I think you need to hit the beer with uv.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:04 pm
by Hoodie
How did the clone turn out? Did you add the pound of flaked corn or did you substitute a pound for something else called for in the original recipe.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:46 pm
by canuck
Hoodie wrote:How did the clone turn out? Did you add the pound of flaked corn or did you substitute a pound for something else called for in the original recipe.
It turned out very well. I ended up making two batches of it (one for me and one for my buddy) and I used a pound of flaked corn in both. Mine was lagered for 7 weeks. My Heineken drinking buddy claims that it's virtually identical to the real thing.


Image

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:42 pm
by erslar00
Sounds Good. I will give this a shot shortly... sans the UV of course, haha. I do have a question though... Did you start fermentation at 52 deg and hold it at 52 and ferment it out and then lager it for 7 weeks at 2 to 4 deg.. or you mean you held it at 52 deg for 7 weeks? thx

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 10:57 pm
by canuck
erslar00 wrote:Sounds Good. I will give this a shot shortly... sans the UV of course, haha. I do have a question though... Did you start fermentation at 52 deg and hold it at 52 and ferment it out and then lager it for 7 weeks at 2 to 4 deg.. or you mean you held it at 52 deg for 7 weeks? thx
I held it steady at 52F in my ferm fridge for 27 days. No specific reason why 27 days, I just looked back on my records and that's how long it was in the primary. Once transferred to the keg, I lagered it at 34F for 7 weeks.

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:02 pm
by Hoptimus Prime
going to try this recipe soon

Re: Heineken Clone

Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:47 pm
by Slippydog1988
Hi Canuck, would you be able to give details on the mash volumes, sparge volumes etc.??