Category: Arrogant Bastard Clone

Brews a’Bubblin’Brews a’Bubblin’

An assortment of things…

Rodenbach

Follow-up on the Brew day

Had some people ask about the Arrogant Bastard clone so I thought I just throw an update out. The brew day went off so surpassingly smoothly that I sort of floated through it.

I modified the recipe some, as I didn’t have all the grain that I thought I did, so the final recipe looks a bit more like this: 

  • 15.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
  • 1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0
    SRM)
  • 1.00 lb Munich Malt – 10L (10.0 SRM)
  • 0.50 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM)
  • 0.50 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM)
  • 0.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
  • 0.25 lb Carafa II (412.0 SRM)

I also went with the 5.72 gallon boil volume recommended which was a mistake given a 90-minute boil time. In retrospect I should have boosted the volume to around 6.5 gallons. Regardless, I had prepared the yeast starter a week or so back and the airlock was bubbling within 12 hours or so.

Next Brews

On another note, I just went to the grape and granary site and picked up ingredients for a Founder’s Breakfast Stout clone and a Flanders Red, which I’m real intrigued about. My wife enjoys Rodenbach so I thought I’d take a stab at it. Little did I know that it involves nearly 2 years and a pitch pack named, enticingly, “The Roeselare Blend” which apparently contains “Belgian style ale strain, a sherry strain, two Brettanomyces strains, a Lactobacillus culture, and a Pediococcus culture” which results in a 1.5″ cake of pellicle on the fermenting beer.

Mr. Beer Kit

As well, I won a Mr. Beer kit on eBay ($25) which I’m going to play with just for kicks and see what I can make out of it. If nothing else there was a post on homebrew talk that mentioned the fake barrel being useful for real ales. Regardless, I can load up that barrel and the party pig and avoid the problems I had with the Keg Charger at the Oktoberfest.

Brew Day!Brew Day!

Took my floating holiday from work today and am brewing an Arrogant Bastard clone; the wonder work of Stone Brewing Co. (I’ll add some holiday spices in the secondary to give it a proper Christmas kick.)

Using the following recipe, which I picked up at Homebrew Talk:

  • 11.5 pounds pale two-row malt
  • 1.0 pounds crystal 120
  • 0.5 lb Special-B
  • 0.75 lb Biscuit
  • 0.5 lb Aromatic
  • 0.5 lb CaraMunich
  • 1.25 oz chinook pellets (12.5 aa%) (15.6 AAUs) @ 90 min
  • 1.0 oz chinook pellets (12.5 AAUs) @ 30 min
  • 0.5 oz chinook pellets (6.25 AAUs) @ flame out
  • 1 tsp Irish moss
  • White Labs WLP007 or WLP001 (English Ale Yeast)

Preparation:
Mash at 155 degrees for 60 minutes. Boil for 90 minutes, adding the hops according to schedule. Add Irish Moss last 5 minutes of the boil. Cool wort and pitch yeast. Primary ferment at about 68 F for 7 to 10 days. Secondary fermentation optional. 

Specifics:
Style Strong Ale
Recipe Type All Grain
Batch Size 5 gallons
Original Gravity 1.074
Final Gravity 1.018
Boiling Time 90 minutes
Primary Fermentation Glass, ~ 68 F, 7-10 days
Secondary Fermentation optional
Other Specifics 75 IBUs, about 7% abv.