Straub Beer (St. Marys, PA) Clone

[butl4701]

Howdy,
I grew up in St Marys and have since moved out of state to Idaho. I have been brewing more and more these days and after an extended trip home for the holidays I am back in Idaho and looking for a clone recipe for Straub Beer. Has anyone heard of Straub? Does anyone have a clone recipe they care to share (or something very close)? Would love to brew a batch and start tinkering but don't have nearly enough experience to start making my own recipe (let alone a clone of my fav. beer).

[farmbrew]

straub was my gateway beer. i wish i had a clone but i would need to go up to st marys and get some fresh spring water from the Laurel Run Reservoir. try a german pils it might get you going with ideas.

farm

[dunleav1]

Howdy,
I grew up in St Marys and have since moved out of state to Idaho. I have been brewing more and more these days and after an extended trip home for the holidays I am back in Idaho and looking for a clone recipe for Straub Beer. Has anyone heard of Straub? Does anyone have a clone recipe they care to share (or something very close)? Would love to brew a batch and start tinkering but don't have nearly enough experience to start making my own recipe (let alone a clone of my fav. beer).

A couple guys I went to Penn State Erie with grew up in St. Marys. We stopped in St. Marys a few times and I drank quite a few Straubs back in the day.
According to the website it's barley and flaked corn and ends up 4%ABV. The mash starts at 104 and ends at 170.
I'll pick up a six pack and do a little analysis and come up with something for you.
In the mean time I'd go with something like this:

7# Domestic 6row
2# flaked corn
90 minute mash @ 150F

90 minute boil
.65 oz Hallertau 4% @60minutes

Pitch 3 vials of wlp840 @44F and let free rise to 50F.
Ferment 3 weeks @50F.
Transfer to brite tank keg and store at 33F for 4 weeks.
Transfer to serving keg, carbonate to 2.5 volumes and drink.

[Steelers&Beer]

that recipe is probably pretty damn close. I go to Marienville a couple times a year and we always take the ride over to drink from the Eternal Tap. Send them an email, couldn't hurt. It might be as high as 30% flaked corn. They use a ton of it! I would also use an American substitute for Hallertau. It's pretty no frills there. Good luck! Drew

[dunleav1]

You could replace the Hallertau with something clean like Magnum, Galena. I'd shoot for 10-15 ibus whatever ibu level you like best.

[butl4701]

Thanks everyone for the posts! I am going to email the brewery and see if they might be able to give me some additional hints. My folks know the brewmaster there (just found that one out!) and I am hopeful that he might be able to shed some light on this one as well. In the meantime I have two batches going right now and when the first one is finished I will likely go for broke and try to clone a batch of Straubies!

Cheers,


~Ben

[Steelers&Beer]

if you go by the brewery, you can get 16 oz returnable bottles in the nice cases for about $18 with deposit. Makes the bottling go a little faster.

[dunleav1]

My is back from her trip to Pittsburgh she picked up my request at Giant Eagle.
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... 200459.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... 200458.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... 200469.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd16 ... 200470.jpg
My Straub was bottled 12/16/11, so it's about 8 weeks in the bottle. It was in the green bottle and it didn't have any skunk going on. Crystal clear (definately filtered) with nice head that is gone pretty quick. Maybe pils malt instead of 2 row, because it reminds me of a German beer instead of an American Lager but with some corn. 4.3% ABV. It has a distinct aroma/taste that brought me back to my first Straub, college, and deer camp in Western PA. Damn, I've used to drink a lot of these. I remember kids saying "Straub's is an all grain beer so you might not like it". I remember thinking WTF does that mean? It tasted ok to me, but there aren't many beers that I don't like...

This is kind of cool:
http://books.google.com/books?id=cYQ7No ... in&f=false

My beer was bottled in St. Mary's, a little google research shows some are being contract brewed in NY.
I'd stick with the St. Marys brewed.

The last picture is a lager I made next to the Straub. It was brewed around the same
timeframe as the Straub. My lager was 93% German pils, 7% Vienna, WLP830.

Tasting each side by side, I'd might go with pils malt instead of 2row or 6 row, then add your flaked corn. You may have to play with the percentages but you should come close. I don't pick up any crystal malts.
I thought maybe Straub may have used a German strain based on my research, but after tasting the beer again I don't get a German yeast at all. I'd stick with WLP840.

I can't pick up any hops in the Straub, so I'd start with the .65 oz I recommended and dial it back until you get what
you're looking for.

Good luck and let me know how you make out.
Post up if the brewmaster give you any info.

JD