Where to Find the Best Clone Beer Recipes
Finding a beer you love and trying to replicate the taste is not only a great deal of fun for the home brewer, it is also a valuable and necessary step to improving your skill and understanding of what goes into a winning beer. In this article I want to point you to my favorite resources for the best clone beer recipes.
Copyright Tess and Mark Szamatulski
CLONEBREWS
Written by Mark and Tess Szamatulski. Measurements in Metric and US imperial.
This should be every home brewer’s first recipe book. The Szamatulskis have travelled the world tasting, trialing, asking questions, and compiling data so they can bring you 200 recipes for the world’s most popular beers. Even better – every recipe comes with an extract, partial mash, and all-grain version!
After ‘How to Brew’ by John Palmer, this should be every brewer’s second book purchase. Get it on Amazon.
BEER CAPTURED
Copyright Tess and Mark Szamatulski
Written by Mark and Tess Szamaltulski
Improving on their previous work, the Szamaltulskis aim ‘Beer Captured’ directly at craft brewers, with (arguably) a better beer selection for the discerning beer drinker. Featuring 150 delicious craft beers from across the globe, this book also contains several appendices not covered in the original, which provide brilliantly simplified insights into the processes of brewing.
You will still find the excellent conversions for extract or partial mash brewing, making this book essential for brewers of all levels. In fact, I far prefer ‘Beer Captured’ to the original ‘Clonebrews’. Get it on Amazon.
Brewing Classic Styles
Copyright John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff
Written by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer
Two of the greatest names in the world of home brew came together in this masterpiece of easy brewing recipes. Geared mostly toward extract brewers, this terrific book provides readers with 80 winning beer recipes that anyone can make with minimal experience. It’s super easy with this book!
Although they are not technically clone beer recipes, a discerning reader can pretty easily figure out which beers inspired the authors. Get it on Amazon.
Your favorite homebrew forum
Q: “How many home brewers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?”
A: “Ten. One to screw in the lightbulb, Nine to tell him he’s doing it wrong.”
I actually do not recommend using forums to find recipes until you have already been brewing for some time. Like most of the internet, home brew forums are frequented by people with big opinions and very little practical experience.
Although you can and will find absolutely vital information on the forums, you will need to be able to tell what is important and what was written by trolls.
Cloning Brews By Yourself
This is easier than it sounds, but you need to be prepared to retry variations on the same recipe many times. There are usually only four ingredients to get right, so it’s not exactly rocket science.
Unfortunately, it may not be rocket science but it is largely molecular biology. I’ll be posting more about this later, so until then, please check out the resources above, and happy brewing!
Questions or Comments?
Please leave me a review, a comment on my post or any questions!
Hi Jess
Loving your page as I really love bear. I hadn’t realised that it is possible to brew craft bear properly at home.
the homebrew forum looks interesting do they have a facebook page ? as i find them more accessible as it come to my phone
Thanks
Simon
Thanks for stopping in Simon.
There are many homebrew forums out there, for example the one pictured above (with someone suggesting that the OP has no friends.)
If you are just beginning, I strongly recommend you do your initial research in homebrew shops and books, there is too much misinformation around brewing online and you might not find what you need.
When it comes to cloning beers, I prefer to trust the professionals.
I hope this helps!
Hey there this is John from nutritional needs for kids. You really know your stuff. I I’m actually an alcoholic and so none of these really appeal to me but I do believe they would appeal to my younger self 🙂 your content is very easy to read and I’m sure you will bring joy to many to come to your site keep writing 🙂
Hi John, thank you very much for your comment. Maybe I should research some non-alcoholic beverages for people who don’t drink?
This is quite an interesting post. I had no idea that you could clone the brews of others in your home brew. My dad does home brewing and he is always coming up with crazy new recipe ideas that while they taste good they might not be something that uses his full potential. I liked how you said being able to clone a brew is the sign of a good home brewer. I am going to have to let him know that.
Thanks Jessica – but be gentle! Brewers don’t like criticism!
l do enjoy a pint of beer now and then,
l didn’t know there are so many different beer recipes out there!
l would like to give this a big go, although I enjoy a beer on weekends, im not a big drinker but will do this for the challenge and if l succeed, repeat it to impress my friends.
Thanks for a very good and really informative read.
Hi Roamy,
Thank you for checking out my post on clone beer recipes. THese books contain a lot of great info, if you are just starting I recommend Beer Captured.
You might also like to have a look at this article on How To Make Your Own Beer Kit.
Cheers!
I’ve never brewed beer before or anything for that matter but I’m going to get into it.
I’ve just started the research process of getting into brewing my own beer and so I think I should probably get a book on the process.
Do you think I’d be better off to wait until after I’ve read a book on it to start or should I just dive right in and start brewing right away? Then I could just read a book on it as I go along and learn from my mistakes.
What do you think?
Robert
Great question Robert!
Reading books is highly recommended, but too much theory and not enough practice is boring, and you might get confused if you aren’t brewing already.
I recommend you get yourself a starter kit (click here) and then read up on this article: How To Improve Kit Beer. That should be more than enough for your first few batches, which you can try out while you are reading How To Brew or any other book on the subject.
Cheers!
These books teach you how to make signature beers by yourself at home. Beer Captured Written by Mark and Tess Szamaltulski seems like a really good book to start off with. Brewing Classic Styles Written by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer also seems like a really great book to read for home brewing.
Thanks Destin.
If you are looking for a book to start off with, you should probably try How To Brew by John Palmer, available on Amazon.
These books are great as a second buy though!
One of my friends is looking to get into home-brewing but has not got very far yet! He wants to get his own house before he starts doing it properly as is currently in a house share.
However, I know he has been looking at potential useful resources online – I don’t know if he has come across these books yet but I shall certainly be passing on the information! Is there anything you recommend?
Thanks!
Louise
Hi Louise,
Thank you for referring this website! I definitely recommend “How to Brew” by John Palmer as a first resource. It’s easy to find on Amazon – Click here to search in your own country.
Cheers!
-Jesse