All Grain Recipe: #18 Stone Levitation Clone

Levitation is a 'light' session beer made by Stone Brewing Co. Like most other beers by Stone, Levitation doesn't really have a 'style'. If you had to assign a label to it, you could call it an American Amber, even though it consists of British malts, British yeast and American hops. Levitation is a pun: it is light and thus defies gravity.

Unlike Stone's other beers, Levitation bucks the 'more of everything' trend by being a 4.4% ABV session beer. It has a lot of malt flavor and a big focus on hops (45 IBU, 4 separate late hop additions), but low alcohol and a very light body. The big flavor almost clashes with the light, almost watery mouth feel of the beer, but overall it works.

Levitation is a great beer, but my main problem with it is that it costs the same as many other bigger, more impressive beers. For a session beer, that is a bad thing. Consider that you might go through a 6-pack of Levitation instead of a bomber of Arrogant Bastard. Still, sometimes that's exactly what you need: a beer that won't get you trashed when hanging out and drinking all night.

This ends up being a pretty cheap beer to clone. If you can perfect it, you can save a lot of money over the usual $10 per six pack price.

My recipe is below, followed by the original 6-gallon recipe from Can You Brew It (episode link here).

Stone Levitation Ale

American Amber Ale

Type: All Grain	Date: 6/11/2011
Batch Size (fermenter): 12.000 qt	Brewer:
Boil Size: 18.180 qt	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min	Equipment: Brew Pot, Full Boil All Grain (5 Gallon)
End of Boil Volume 12.480 qt	Brewhouse Efficiency: 85.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 10.000 qt	Est Mash Efficiency 85.0 %
Fermentation: My Aging Profile	Taste Rating(out of 50): 50.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 3 lbs 13.8 oz Pale Ale Malt, US (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 84.7 % 7.2 oz Crystal/Caramel Malt - British 70/80L (75.0 SRM) Grain 4 9.9 % 3.6 oz Crystal/Caramel Malt - British 135/165L (150.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.9 % 0.3 oz Black (Patent) Malt (560.0 SRM) Grain 6 0.4 % 11.0 g Centennial (MoreBeer 2011) [9.20 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 7 28.7 IBUs 21.0 g Amarillo (MoreBeer 2011) [9.30 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs 5.5 g Simcoe (MoreBeer 2011) [12.20 %] - Aroma Steep 30.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs 16.5 g Mt. Hood (MoreBeer 2011) [6.10 %] - Aroma Steep 30.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs 14.0 g Amarillo (MoreBeer 2011) [9.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 12.5 IBUs 2.00 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 2 - 3.00 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 1 - 1.0 pkg Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [35.00 ml] Yeast 11 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.046 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.043 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.5 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.1 %
Bitterness: 41.2 IBUs	Calories: 142.4 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 15.4 SRM
Mash Profile
Mash Name: BIAB Double Sparge	Total Grain Weight: 4 lbs 8.9 oz
Sparge Water: 11.962 qt	Grain Temperature: 74.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	Tun Temperature: 165.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE	Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time Mash In Add 8.000 qt of water at 165.4 F 157.0 F 45 min
Sparge Step: Drain mash tun, Batch sparge with 2 steps (5.981qt, 5.981qt) of 168.0 F water
Mash Notes:
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Bottle	Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 59.46 g	Carbonation Used: Bottle with 59.46 g Corn Sugar
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 70.0 F	Age for: 28.00 days
Fermentation: My Aging Profile	Storage Temperature: 70.0 F
Notes
Total water is 18.21 + 4.56 * 0.3912 = 20 quarts. Sparge with 12 quarts, mash with 8 quarts. Ferment at 67 for 4-5 days, raise to 70-72 as soon as fermentation completes. Dry hop at 65. Subbed Mt. Hood for Crystal because MoreBeer doesn't sell Crystal. Subbed 11 gm. Centennial for 7 gm. Columbus because I have extra Centennial and didn't want to buy 7 grams of Columbus.

The original recipe:

Stone Levitation Ale

American Amber Ale

Type: All Grain	Date: 1/3/2010
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.000 qt	Brewer: Stone Brewing Company
Boil Size: 37.802 qt	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min	Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal)
End of Boil Volume 27.040 qt	Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 24.000 qt	Est Mash Efficiency 75.8 %
Fermentation: My Aging Profile	Taste Rating(out of 50): 50.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU 9 lbs 5.9 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 84.7 % 1 lbs 1.6 oz Crystal/Caramel Malt - British 70/80L (75.0 SRM) Grain 2 10.0 % 8.8 oz Crystal/Caramel Malt - British 135/165L (150.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.0 % 0.7 oz Black (Patent) Malt (560.0 SRM) Grain 4 0.4 % 14.0 g Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min Hop 5 26.2 IBUs 42.0 g Amarillo Gold [9.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs 11.0 g Simcoe [12.00 %] - Aroma Steep 30.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs 33.0 g Crystal [3.50 %] - Aroma Steep 30.0 min Hop 7 0.0 IBUs 29.0 g Amarillo Gold [9.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 7.0 IBUs 1.0 pkg Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [35.00 ml] Yeast 9 -
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.046 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.2 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.6 %
Bitterness: 36.9 IBUs	Calories: 152.1 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 16.6 SRM
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out	Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 1.1 oz
Sparge Water: 29.131 qt	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE	Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Steps Name Description Step Temperature Step Time Mash In Add 14.000 qt of water at 173.5 F 157.0 F 45 min
Sparge Step: Fly sparge with 29.131 qt water at 168.0 F
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Bottle	Volumes of CO2: 2.7
Pressure/Weight: 167.62 g	Carbonation Used: Bottle with 167.62 g Corn Sugar
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 68.0 F	Age for: 28.00 days
Fermentation: My Aging Profile	Storage Temperature: 70.0 F
Notes
Ferment at 67 for 4-5 days, raise to 70-72 as soon as fermentation completes. Dry hop at 65.