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Yuengling Lager Clone Recipe

My sister in law is from Virginia and she brings up cases of Yuengling when she comes back from visiting her family.   They (she and my brother) had a party last weekend and I had a few as I usually do when I am there and there is no homebrew around.

As I was drinking, I got to thinking:  I wonder if I could reverse engineer the recipe to brew a clone.  I found it to be a test of my tastes informing me what I know about homebrewing ingredients.

I read some boards and I went to the official Yuengling site to get some clues.  I found some interesting stuff:

  • They hop the brew with Cluster and Cascade hops.  I didn’t taste any Cascade flavors in that beer, maybe they don’t use that much or they add it in early in the boil.
  • Corn is the adjunct they use, not rice.  I read that they use corn grits.  If I were to use them too, I will need to learn how to do a cereal mash.
  • The amber color comes from caramel malt.  I was thinking it was Munich malt because of the cereal graininess/lack of sweetness in the taste, but that flavor must be coming from the grits. They must use just a little bit.

So here’s my first attempt at the recipe.  I will need to throw it through a recipe generator to get color finalized.

5.0 lbs American 6 row malt
3.5 lbs American 2 row malt
1.5 lbs Corn grits
0.5 lbs 60°L Caramel malt

Mash for 60 min at 149° F

1 oz Cascade Hops  60 min
1 oz Cluster Hops Boiled 15 Minutes

WLP800 Pilsner Lager Yeast

What do you think? This is more of an exercise in setting a target and trying to hit a target. I could try to make a Sam Adams clone, but I guess that’s too predictable for a Boston guy.

We have presented other clone recipes. Take a look at the Allagash White and the Mack and Jacks clones.

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3 Comments

  1. Jorge

    I haven’t had that beer, but it sounds like you are on track… figuring out which bittering hops they used will probably be the hardest to find out…

  2. Brewski

    I would love to hear how this turns out. I grew up drinking Yuengling when I lived up in Delaware. Now I live in Tampa Florida very close to the Yuengling brewery. Many fine local establishments have it on tap in Tampa. Who knew?

  3. Jimmay's Own Brew

    I like the idea; In Virginia now and easier to buy Yeungling- being from Oregon try:
    sub more carmel malt for little less corn
    the “willamette hop” for bittering (pretty mellow) the last 15min see what that does( maybe a pinch of either saaz or hallertauer for some kick)
    sounds like your on the right track! thanks for the info on the topic

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