Pliny the Elder Clone

Pliny the Elder. Just speaking these words to any beer geek induces instant salivation. This gem of a beer is one of the flagships of Russian River, which is in my opinion one of the best breweries in the US. In addition to mastering the hop, they have also basically mastered the funk, as exemplified by their glorious beer, Beatification. As for Pliny, I was able to try some 2-week-old earlier this year and it really did live up to the hype.

Whereas many brewers are secretive about recipes, Vinnie Cilurzo is quite open. There was an old recipe from him which called for oodles of Chinook hops, but the recently-published recipe in Zymurgy seems to be more like what I had, with a serious citrus bite but mellow bitterness (rather than what you might expect from a chinooked version). The recipe is ridiculous - we used well over a pound of hops in a 6 gallon batch. But with the 2009 hop-crop just being available and the hop shortage over, what better time to brew this beer?

We decided to go with Wyeast 1450 as it seemed to leave a very clean, smooth character in our last Rye. But this yeast does seem to work pretty slowly and does not seem to be the best attenuator. If we did this again I would probably go with 1056 like the original recipe suggests.

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Pliny the Elder Clone v1 aka "Golden Shower" (due to the fact that Corey got sprayed w/ beer and hops during bottling). Recipe based on Zymurgy article, scaled up to 7 gal to account for hop loss
6 gal batch, brewed 10/11/09

17 lbs US 2-row
0.75 lbs Carapils
0.75 lbs Crystal 40
0.95 lbs Table sugar (added to pre-boil wort)

4.5 oz Zeus (16% aa) 90 min
1 oz Zeus 45 min
1.5 oz Simcoe (12.7% aa) 30 min
3 oz Simcoe flameout
1.5 oz Centennial (7.8% aa) flameout

Dry-hop charge #1 (with 12 days left in fermenter)
1.25 oz Centennial
1.25 oz Simcoe
1.25 oz Columbus (16% aa)

Dry-hop charge #2 (with 5 days left in fermenter)
0.25 oz Centennial
0.5 oz Simcoe
1 oz Columbus


1.075 OG
1.020 FG (target was 1.012, better luck next time)
7.1% ABV
100+ IBUs

Water profile: 76 ppm Ca++, 13 ppm Mg++, 56 ppm Cl-, 133 ppm SO4, 9 ppm Na+, 26 ppm bicarbonate

Yeast propagation: WY1450, 0.9 gal starter @ 1.045, 6 days old, constant shaking to aerate

Mash: Single infusion, 150.5 F (target was 149.5), 1.75 qt/lb, 100 minutes. Batch sparged w/ 5 gal water at 190 F (2 rounds, 2.5 gallons per round, rest time 15 min). Preboil 10.9 gal @ 1.048, mash efficiency 73% (note: grain was crushed by Midwest and we always seem to get low efficiency with them)

Brewhouse result: ~6.1 gal cast-out vol. (about 1.2 gal loss due to hops), OG 1.075, brewhouse eff. 62%.

Post boil w/flameout addition. A joy to whirlpool.

Fermentation: 68 F for first two weeks, rise to 74 F during third week, drop to 68 F during dry hopping.

10/12 Krausen 1" only 6 hr after pitch!
10/18 1.034
10/23 Only down to 1.030
10/26 Pitch a pack of Munton's Gold
10/28 Hydrometer sample down to 1.014 (note, this was the fast ferment test NOT the beer)
11/1 Racked to secondary, gravity 1.020. Began dry-hopping w/ first hop charge. Flushed w/ C02 and swirled to get hops wet (did this several times over the next few days)
11/8 Second dry-hop charge
11/14 Only at 1.020, bottled, target 2.3 vol CO2
12/1 Peaked

Review (12/7/09, bottled for 3 weeks, last week was in the fridge)

Aroma - Huge hop nose. Bitter grapefruit, tangerine, mushy tropical fruits. A bit of candy-sweet malt hidden back there. Still lacking that blissfully clean citrus wallop of the real thing.

Appearance - When yeast and hop debris is left behind, it is perfectly clear. Pale golden-amber. Big white, frothy head with lots of structure and moderate lacing.

Flavor - Blast of grapefruit rind, bitter citrus peels. Maybe more bitterness than the real Pliny, but I like it. Basically no malt character but for a little sweetness. Hop flavor seems to have faded a bit lately (faster than the aroma).

Mouthfeel - Nice creamy mouthfeel. Carbonation pretty much perfect. Lingering, brutal bitterness, like you ate an orange peel. I like.

Overall - Go for a bit less bitterness (maybe reduce sulfate in water?). Try for better attenuation. A teeny bit fusely when warmer. Maybe try dry-hopping with pellets so the hops contact the wort more fully (rather than having so many just float above the level of the beer). A damn fine beer, better than the Rye IPA, but a little lower than my expectations. Peaked at 2 weeks from bottling.