Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale (14B) - EXTRACT Homebrew Ingredient Kit

SN Celebration is one of my favorite commercial ale's, so I decided to give this a try. I have to say that this is the best beer recipe I have brewed to date. I tasted the brew before I fermented it and I decided it wasn't hoppy enough for me, so I dry hopped it in secondary. It turned out very good. I already bought another one and I am going to play with the hops a little more on it but I this recipe makes an excellent starting point.

The first time I did this, it came out perfect! The second time I did it was during the summer and it tasted fine when racking it to the secondary, but soon a few of my bottles began to explode. After more than two months in the bottles it was still way over-carbonated and sweet (my FG/OG was spot-on) so I took a few to AHS for help. Essentially I did not aeriate it enough and my bottle storage temperature was too high. Was going to dump it down the drain but gave it away in exchange for empty bottles to start my AHS Oatmeal Stout. I dry-hopped this recipe with 2 ounces of hops and it was much better than the original Sierra Nevada Celebration!

I made the extract version with double dry yeast. This came out very nice. I did a side by side comparison and the malt flavor and color were very close, but something was missing on the finish and aroma. When I make it again (and I will because I enjoyed it), I will add some flavoring hops and 15 minutes (the recipe called for none) and/or dry hop. However, since it is more of winter beer, it will have to wait until the fall.

Brewed on 10/26/12, extract with WLP001 in a 2L yeast starter and full 5 gal boil. Kit came with an extra 1/2oz of Chinook unaccounted for in receipe; I split it between aroma addition and dry hop. Added whirfloc tablet (irish moss) for clarifying. Added an extra ounce each of Chinook, Cascade, & Centennial to the dry hop as well. 7 days in primary, 18 days in secondary, all at a constant 70 degrees. Result was BY FAR the best thing I've ever made. Truly fantastic. Individual characteristics of all three hop varieties came through with a wonderful backbone and color. What I made is NOT a clone of Celebration, but like another reviewer said, this kit is a great starting point. Also, addressing the previous review, my kit did come with Centennial hops. Mine was purchased 10/9/12. Perhaps the receipe has been changed since then.

I hate to do this, as I am a huge fan of AHS's kits, but this was way off. First alarm that went off in my head was "only chinook and cascade?!". I brewed ten gals of this and I hit all my temps and gravs dead on, I registered a 74% eff, and it just tasted like a strong ale. Not even close to an IPA. There wasn't even centennial included with the kit which shocked me. This is the one and only AHS kit I did not enjoy. I cannot recommend this kit.