Homebrew Odyssey

I’ve been busy lately concocting different variants of beer god nectar juice. Being cooped up all “winter” has sent my homebrewing bug into hyper mode. I’ve recently acquired an assistant brewer so we’ve scaled up the FatCat Brewing Co. to a 10 gallon capacity (details on this will be forthcoming). Here is what I’ve been up to lately with links to the detailed recipes.

Skadoosh Baltic Porter – I transferred this to my keg the other day and wow! I was blown away. The malt character in this brew is awesome and we even managed to get a sort of smokey character in there. Not sure where the smoke comes from but I’ll take it. It was room temp and un-carbonated but my initial thought was this is one of the best brews I’ve ever made. Of course I tasted this after a 6hr brew day which means I ingested plenty of brewer’s fuel (beer and whiskey) prior to tasting the Baltic. So I might have had my beer goggle goggles on. Nobody panic I think I made the perfect beer.

1.086 OG

38 IBU

8.5% ABV

Smack Yo Momma Pale Ale – We threw together some Citra and Centennial hops and hoped for some magic. The Centennial we used was far passed its prime but in the middle of brew day you really have no choice but to use it. I tasted this one as I transferred it to the keg, which means it was room temp and un-carbonated. My initial thoughts are it is a little too sweet and “biscuity” for what I was going for. I wanted a little more bitterness but the Citra character is awesome. We’ll chill her down, put her on some gas, and see if we just can’t smack our momma’s.

1.053 OG

41.2 IBUs

5.2% ABV

Frenchy Land Bier De Garde – We just brewed this one Sunday so I don’t have any tasting notes yet. This is another one of those obscure styles not readily available. It is a French farmhouse ale with the yeast character of say a Boulevards Tank 7 but the French version is more malt forward. While brewing we did try the Schlafly Bier De Garde and we were pleasantly surprised. It was as advertised by the style with a lot in common with Tank 7, the differences being a thicker mouthfeel and good malt complexity. It was also bit sweeter than a Tank 7. Hopefully ours comes out as good as Schlafly’s. Anyone ready for a Farmhouse throwdown! Don’t be scared Tank 7 and Collette, I’ll be gentle.

1.074 OG

26.0   IBUs

7.7%  ABV

Coming in the not so distant future!

Chael’s Ale IPA – As you all know Super Dave is FatCat’s resident IPA fanatic. It would be rude for us not to throw a little IPA his way. Well hold on kids here it comes. This IPA will be a beast. I’m keeping my gravity within the IPA guidelines at about 7.5% ABV but I’m busting through the IBU ceiling. We tried the Green Flash West Coast IPA in one of our shootouts and it was BITTER. This was our guiding light for bitterness in this brew because anything more bitter than that would be downright unpalatable. Blasting to 91.7 IBUs, Chael’s Ale should have very pronounced bitterness without being completely ridiculous (or so we hope). We’ll be using Citra, Centennial, Chinook, and Sorachi Ace hops. Did I ever tell you how much I love homebrewing? Good luck finding a commercial brew with all of those different hops in it. Stay tuned for the carnage!

Like what you see?  Questions?

You should be able to click on the linked brew names above for the detailed recipe. You can also click here or go to the link on my Homebrew Page to see all of my recipes at Hopville.com. If anyone has any questions about my recipes (past or present) or need help with homebrewing shoot me a line. I’ll do my best to get you up and brewing.

Cheers!