Bell’s Two Hearted Ale Clone Recipe (All-Grain): 5 to 30 Gallons
An all-grain Bell’s Two Hearted Ale Clone recipe you can brew at 5 to 30 gallons: 6.7% ABV and 46 IBU, with the grain bill, hop schedule, yeast and step-by-step process.
In this post
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale Clone at a glance: 6.7% ABV, 46 IBU, OG 1.064. A homebrew clone of Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, the all-Centennial American IPA: grapefruit, pine and floral hops on a clean, slightly bready malt base, at about 7%.
Recipe credit: Bell’s Two Hearted Ale Clone by eschatz on HomeBrewTalk, #15 on HomeBrewTalk’s all-time Top 100. We’ve put it in our recipe card, scaled to 5 gallons at 72% efficiency, and kept the brewer’s gravity and hop schedule. See the original for the brewer’s own notes and the discussion. This is an unofficial homebrew clone; Bräu Supply isn’t affiliated with Bell’s Brewery.
Bräu Supply recipe · All-grain
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale Clone
Grain · for 5 gal into the fermenter
| 10.25 lb (4.65 kg) | Pale 2-row malt | 77% |
| 2.05 lb (0.93 kg) | Vienna malt | 15% |
| 0.5 lb (0.23 kg) | Carapils | 4% |
| 0.5 lb (0.23 kg) | Crystal 20 | 4% |
Hops
| 1 oz (28 g) | Centennial · 9.5% AA | 60 min |
| 1 oz (28 g) | Centennial · 9.5% AA | 15 min |
| 1 oz (28 g) | Centennial · 9.5% AA | 5 min |
| 1 oz (28 g) | Centennial · 9.5% AA | 1 min |
| 0.5 oz (14 g) | Centennial · 9.5% AA | Dry hop, 5 days |
Yeast and water
| 1 pkg | Bell’s house yeast cultured from a bottle, or a clean American ale yeast | |
| Water | Balanced to sulfate-forward water. | |
Process
- Mash: 150°F (66°C) for 60 minutes
- Boil: 60 minutes
- Ferment: 66°F (19°C) until the gravity is stable
- Condition: Dry hop 5 days, then package; it clears best after about 2 months
- Carbonate: 2.5 volumes of CO₂
Brew it on
Based on 72% brewhouse efficiency and about 5.5 gal after the boil for a 5 gal batch. Adjust the base malt if your system runs higher or lower. Hops scale in a straight line; larger kettles extract a little more bitterness.
About this recipe
Every hop is Centennial, from the bittering charge to the dry hop. The brewer cultured yeast from a bottle of Bell’s beer, which is what gives the clone its characteristic fruity note. In their blind test they couldn’t pick it out from the real thing.
How to brew it
- Mash at 150°F (66°C) for 60 minutes.
- Boil 60 minutes, adding the hops on schedule.
- Chill to 64°F (18°C), oxygenate and pitch the yeast.
- Ferment at 66°F (19°C) until the gravity is stable.
- Dry hop with Centennial for 5 days.
- Package at about 2.5 volumes of CO₂.
Tips
- Culturing yeast from a bottle takes a week or two of stepping up starters. A clean American ale yeast gets you close.
- Use fresh Centennial.
Frequently asked questions
Why culture yeast from a bottle?
Bell’s bottle-conditions its beers, so live house yeast is in the bottle. It gives a fruitier character than a neutral strain.
Is this the official recipe?
No. It’s a homebrewer’s clone.
Related guides
Our West Coast IPA, how to make a yeast starter, dry hopping guide.