Will the Real Arrogant Bastard Please Stand Up

About three weeks ago I brewed the Arrogant Bastard clone given by Jamil and Tasty (the one where everyone but Tasty said cloned). I'll get into recipe and tasting notes later but for now let's see if you can choose the real one from the cloned.

*I'm very sorry for the picture quality. I took the first one without thinking about it then had to take the second one at a later time so I tried to match the lighting as best I could. It still sucks.

Yours is the second pic.

My guess is the 1st one is the homebrew, 2nd is commercial.

Interested in hearing how they compare taste & aroma-wise.

bottlebomber said:

Yours is the second pic.

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I concur.

1st is the clone

Anyone else want to take a stab at it?

I say the first one is the homebrew and the second one the commercial one.

first 1 is a homebrew

[ame]http://youtu.be/VQFxmAdyKcg[/ame]

1st one is homebrew

1st is the homebrew, basing it on slight haze and larger head bubbles..

How's it compare tastewise?

NervousDad said:

1st is the homebrew, basing it on slight haze and larger head bubbles..

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I concur

nervousdad said:

1st is the homebrew, basing it on slight haze and larger head bubbles..

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+1

See, I thought the fluffy, pillowy head in the second pic betrayed it to be home brew, while I wrote the haze off to condensation and poor photography

"The suspense is terrible, I hope it lasts" ~Willy Wonka

I'm with those who think the first pic is the clone, second is commercial... only because it's slightly more hazy, which AB is not.

C'mon, now, with the taste/aroma comparisons!

Brulosopher said:

I'm with those who think the first pic is the clone, second is commercial... only because it's slightly more hazy, which AB is not.

C'mon, now, with the taste/aroma comparisons!

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My pick is the first too

And the homebrew is... Picture number 2!

Here is the recipe:

14# 2-row (compensating for poor efficiency. You may need less)
1# 6oz Special B

1.25oz Chinook @ 90
1oz Chinook @ 45
1oz Chinook @ 30
1oz Chinook @ 10

Yeast:WLP 007 Dry English Ale

Mashed at 148 for 90 minutes

Fermented at 68f

I ended up with an OG of 1.072 and FG of 1.014 in ten days. After that I put it on the gas and added gelatin for clarity (if you haven't done this yet do it now! So cheap and you can read a book through your beer!).

It certainly looks like Arrogant Bastard. I'd say the SRM is dead on. The aroma is very close. I believe Jamils recipe has less initial bittering hops but when I smell AB I don't get much in the way of late hop aromatics. I also wanted to make sure to overpower the massive amount of Special B. I get a lot of spice and subtle pine notes in the nose that wrap up all that malt and keep it in line. Taste is really good. There is a malt complexity to the real AB that is somewhat lacking in mine. You'd think with all that Chinook it would melt the enamel off your teeth but it plays really well with the raisin/plum vibe from the malt. If I had to change anything it would be the specialty grain. I think next time I'll go with a smaller amount of a darker crystal.

Thanks for playing!

TROLL

Told you guys. What a bunch of n00bs

as much AB as I drink I should have picked the correct one... Trick photography...

It's like "Oh god, which one do I shoot?"

bottlebomber said:

Told you guys. What a bunch of n00bs

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Go figure the two tap roomers were right, and EVERY SINGLE OTHER PERSON was wrong

I may have to give this one a go...

emjay said:

Go figure the two tap roomers were right, and EVERY SINGLE OTHER PERSON was wrong

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As per normal

I made a clone following that recipe and also tasted the original side by side with the clone. I'm convinced that there is some centennial in the original one.

Akavango said:

I made a clone following that recipe and also tasted the original side by side with the clone. I'm convinced that there is some centennial in the original one.

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What did you think about the malt bill?

I think there is some c150 in the actual AB. SUPPOSEDLY, a guy from Stone told the guy at the local homebrew shop that there is c150 in it. That was the only hint he would give. So, with that knowledge I made an attempt at it.

88.7% 2-row
9.3% C150
2.0% Special B

3oz Chinook @ 90
3oz Chinook @ 0

OG: 1.066
FG: 1.011

I thought it was a REALLY good beer but there is something lacking in the grain bill. I get a hint of roastiness in the real AB that this lacked. I think the search continues.

Rambleon said:

What did you think about the malt bill?

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Pretty much spot on.

Yeah it's really really close. What's the SRM rating on Special B?

It's really close but I keep seeing the C-150 pop up here and there. What's the SRM of Special B?

Rambleon said:

It's really close but I keep seeing the C-150 pop up here and there. What's the SRM of Special B?

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120-160L I believe

I brewed up 5 gallons today of the 2nd version
15 lbs 2 row
1.5 lbs special b
1.25 oz chinook @85
1 oz chinook @ 45
1 oz chinook @ 15
1 oz chinook @ 0 steep for 20 min

My og is 1.072 and I'm using wlp007
7.5 gal pre boil
6 gallon batch

I cat wait to see how this compares to the real thing, AB is one of my favorites!

Rambleon said:

It's really close but I keep seeing the C-150 pop up here and there. What's the SRM of Special B?

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I usually see special b in the 180-220 range.

Here is mine which is the real one and which is Homebrew? It's hard to tell them apart alone u would not know the difference but side by side the real thing has something extra in the malt.

I tried to clone it myself a few years ago. After several attempts, I believe I got a pretty close approximation of the malt profile with the following grain bill. I don't recall how close the appearance was. This was a 5 gal batch and I get very good efficiency on my system. YMMV

12.00 lbs. US 2 Row malt
1.0 lbs. CaraVienne Malt
1.0 lbs. CaraMunich Malt
0.5 lbs. Biscuit Malt
0.5 lbs. Aromatic Malt
0.5 lbs. Special B

what is the qt/lb ratio?

Benedetto said:

what is the qt/lb ratio?

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For mine I did a 1.5 qt/lb ratio. No real reason for it other than it's what I've always done.

Just made this yesterday. My grains were a bit old (bought them in April) so I missed the OG and got 1.068, but color is right. And it smells freaking great! It's happily fermenting in the basement now. I'll let ya know how it turned out in a few weeks.