Sam Adams White Ale Clone Review

I bottled up 2 gallons of my 'Sam Adams White Ale Clone' last night and the small samples we tried just before bottling tasted absolutely amazing!!

So far I've brewed 2 slightly different versions of this clone and both of them tasted really good to devoted, yet somewhat abandoned, SA White Ale lovers. The 2 recipes start out with the standard 'Belgian Naked Witbier' recipe purchased from the Mr. Beer website. The main differences between the two recipes are the addition of Saaz hops, in my first try and Argentine Cascade hops in my second try.

My first try included 1 packet of Liquid Wheat yeast instead of the standard dry Brewer yeast. For the second try the liquid yeast was sold out on the MB website so I used the dry Brewer yeast. Both recipes fermented in the 2 gallon MB kegs for 21 days, undisturbed at a constant 70F.

The spices I used in both recipes are the same but I changed the proportions of the second brew based on our samplings of the first batch.

Here are the 2 recipes, I'll let you decide which one you like the best or do like I did and brew them both.

First Recipe:
Sam Adams White Ale Clone
1 Can Whispering Wheat Weizenbier HME
1 Can Golden Wheat UME
1 Packet SAAZ (In place of Argentine Cascade) Hops
1 Muslin Hop Sack
1 Packet Dry Brewing Yeast (under lid of HME)

My Optional Ingredients
1 Packet Liquid Wheat Yeast (In place of dry yeast)
1 Teaspoon Crushed Coriander Seed
1 Crushed Clove
1 Rind from Small Orange (Strips, removing white from rind)
1 Teaspoon lemon zest
1 Teaspoon Crushed Grains of Paradise Seed

Second Recipe:
Sam Adams White Ale Clone
1 Can Whispering Wheat Weizenbier HME
1 Can Golden Wheat UME
1 Packet Argentine Cascade Hops
1 Muslin Hop Sack
1 Packet Dry Brewing Yeast (under lid of HME)

My Optional Ingredients
1/2 Teaspoon Crushed Coriander Seed
3 Crushed Cloves
1 Rind From Small Orange (Strips, removing white from rind)
1 Zest From Lemon
1 Teaspoon Crushed Grains of Paradise Seed

Bottle Day Was Perfect

Today I bottled up 3 recipes KT's Caramel Hard Apple Cider, Ptarmigan Pale Ale and my favorite beer of all time 'Sam Adams White Ale Clone' that I created using the Belgian Naked Witbier recipe as my starting point.

This time I decided to process 8 litres at a time, first sanitizing each bottle and then adding 2 1/2 teaspoons of cane sugar to each bottle for carbonation priming. I use the optional locking spigot and bottom filling extension tube combination for easier bottle filling.

The White Ale clone tasted really good straight out of the 2 gallon fermenting keg as did the Ptarmigan Ale and the Caramel Hard Apple Cider. I always use my standard 21 day carbonation and 21 day minimum conditioning time so all 3 of these great beers will be ready to drink around the middle of summer.

The next 6 recipes I will be brewing up will have more of a fall weather kind of feel to them and one of them named 'Novacaine' a more late 2011 winter feel.