I love breweries, brewers, and beers that push the edges of brewing guidelines. Firestone Walker, Matt Bryndilson, and Double Barrel Ale (DBA) fit perfectly into that mindset. Before heading to the Central Coast to hang out with my buddy and Re:find Distillery assistant distiller Josh Fugette, I knew that I wanted to visit Firestone Walker and have a few of their beers that I can’t enjoy easily in Wisconsin. My last day along the Central Coast was spent hiking with Josh and then we headed to a tour of Firestone Walker with Josh and master brewer Bryndilson. Villicana Winery and Re:find Distillery owner Alex Villicana was kind enough to set this up and I was disapointed that Alex couldn’t join us.

As a homebrewer, I’ve benefited from Bryndilson’s brewing knowledge and advice through articles and podcasts, so needless to say I was excited to meet him in person and learn about Firestone Walker’s brewery operations. Though, I’m now more excited to learn from him during the CBA program at the American Brewers Guild next summer.

I like to formulate my own recipes and swap out ingredients or change a process to learn as much as I can about brewing, so I don’t brew very many clones. Matt’s tour inspired me to brew a Double Barrel Clone. I obviously didn’t recreate the Firestone union system in which they ferment a portion of several of their beers. I used medium toast oak chips, though I would have preferred to use cubes, but both the Wine and Hop Shop and Brew and Grow in Madison were out of the cubes. I’ll leave the chips in secondary for about half the time I would the cubes-about a week. I hope it imparts an oaky vanilla favor that is balances with the maltiness that’s DBA is know for.

The following clone was adapted from Can you Brew It interview with Bryndildson with modifications for my system.

Stats

Batch Size (Gal): 6.0

Total Grain (Lbs): 12.13

Anticipated OG: 1.053

Anticipated SRM: 15.8

Anticipated IBU: 32 (Rager)

Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0%

Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain Bill

10.0 lbs Maris Otter

1.0 lbs Crystal 10

12 oz Munich

4 oz Crystal 120

2 oz Chocolate

Hops

0.50 oz Magnum @ 60 min

0.65 oz EKG @30 min

0.75 EKG @ flameout

0.75 Fuggle @ Flameout

Yeast

WLP 002

Mash Profile

Mash at 145F for 45 minutes, step up to 156F for 15 min

Two batch sparges at 168F

Fermentation Profile

Pitched yeast at 65F and raised to 68F over 24 hours. Added 1.0 oz oak chips and fermented for 14 days.

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