Back in October I brewed a clone of 21st Amendment's Bitter American, which I based on the information available from 21A. The beer, while good, isn't quite an exact clone and it has some flaws. Based on my first batch and some information gleaned from an interview with 21A's co-owner Shaun O'Sullivan, I've tweaked the recipe and now feel that it's much closer to the real deal. I'm not going to get a chance to brew this beer for a while, though. So I figured I'd put what I learned up here in case anyone else is trying to make this beer.

My original recipe was based entirely on the information from 21A's website, where they list all the grains and hops used in the beer, only without percentages. I assumed that the grains were listed in order of amount used. As for the hops, I guessed that the bulk of the hop additions would be flavor and knockout hops. I decided to use first-wort hopping just for giggles. I didn't know their dry hopping schedule or hop mixture, so I followed my normal dry-hopping regimen.

This beer turned out ok, but there are some flaws:

• DMS
• Protein-laden
• Too bitter
• Too low final gravity

I'd already started tweaking my recipe when I heard The Brewing Network's interview with 21A's co-owner Shaun O'Sullivan. To address the DMS and protein, I switched out the 2-Row for Canadian Malting Pale, which is a base malt that I've been using quite a lot. I bumped up the Crystal 10 to give the beer a touch more sweetness. I changed the first-wort hop to a 60-minute addition and dropped the IBU's.

But Shaun revealed a lot of how 21A approaches all their beers. Although the interview was about 21A's Back In Black IPA, more than once Shaun said "we do this with all our beers":

• 90 minute boil
• 60/20/0 minute additions
• Warrior for bittering, Cascade for aroma
• Dry hop before fermentation is fully complete, to keep the hops in suspension
• Single dry-hop addition
• 2 parts Centennial, 1 part Simcoe for dry hop
• 154° mash, 68° ferment
• They don't know their IBUs

With that I've put together my updated recipe. The biggest change is probably the IBU drop. Shaun said that their IBU number comes from past experience and is reflects 'apparent bitterness', not lab-measured isomerized alpha-acids. My initial recipe aimed for a calculated IBU of 42, but calculated IBUs don't include the 'apparent bitterness' added by dry-hopping. So for my new recipe I've dropped the calculated IBUs down to 36.

I don't plan to follow 21A's addition of dry hops before fermentation is complete, but that's because my equipment doesn't really allow it. Also, my understanding is that yeast in suspension can reduce the effectiveness of dry hopping. I'd rather let fermentation finish, have the yeast settle, then dry hop. If I want to keep the hops in suspension I can just roll around the keg that I dry hop in.

There you go! If you happen to brew this, let me know how it goes.