To Clone or Not to Clone

[Scrumpy]

I agree that cloning beers for the purpose of saving money is a lost cause for most homebrewers. However, I still somehow "feel" like Im saving money at times. Unfortunately most of my favorite beers are rather expensive. When I develop a clone or brew an established clone of say, Abyss, Rochefort, St Bernardus, Westie, or Bruery tart, I feel like I bucked the system.
I find it exciting to do a side by side comparison when it's all said and done.
Great thread, now time to get ready for those great superbowel bmc commercials. (wish they would spend that ad $ on better ingredients.)

 

[JAMC]

The cost aspect is interesting. Cloning is maybe a specific case because you might need specific equipment (e.g. a hopback) in order to match the brewing process exactly.

Having said that I think it's possible to get fully up and running as an all-grain brewer on the simplest electric rig for under £300 / $500 assuming that you have some basic tools and enough electrical knowledge to stop yourself getting electrocuted.

 

[EvanAltman36]

I'm still pretty new to the game, but I would tend to agree with those who use commercial brews as muses. For instance, I really like New Belgium and Three Floyd's beers, so I'm working on different clones of some of their beers. My LBHS has kits for Fat Tire and Gumballhead clones, and I actually brewed the Phat Tire kit this past Sunday. I found a Gumballhead recipe and modified it a bit to my own liking by changing the hops and such. Especially when you're starting out, I think it's good to set a baseline by trying to clone a beer you know you like so that you can dial in your technique. I have found that the recipe builder tool here is great too; you can tinker around with ingredients and amounts and have the estimated calculations done for you, thus eliminating guesswork.