BYO's Fat Tire Clone - I think I have a winner

I brewed a 5g batch of BYO's Fat Tire clone recipe on the 15th.

http://byo.com/recipe/685.html

I transferred it to the secondary last night and tested a sample. Wow, this one's going to be good. Even warm and flat, it tasted great. SWMBO even tasted it and agreed. This is going to be the first batch I keg so I can't wait to get it kegged and carbed. Just waiting for the rest of my kegerator supplies to I can finish up the tubing. Exciting times! :rockin:

Hmmm...never had Fat Tire, but I always assumed (given that it was coming from New Belgium Brewery) that it was fermented with a Belgian strain of some kind. US-56? Huh.

I've got a vial of WLP500 (Chimay) and a pak of Wyeast 1762 (Rochefort) in my lagerator. I'd bet that 500 would do very well in such a beer.

New Belgian has their own proprietary yeast strain. It is current being released by Wyeast as part of their VSS series.

I've never had the original either, but I brewed a clone that turned out very well.

Evan! said:

Hmmm...never had Fat Tire, but I always assumed (given that it was coming from New Belgium Brewery) that it was fermented with a Belgian strain of some kind. US-56? Huh.

I've got a vial of WLP500 (Chimay) and a pak of Wyeast 1762 (Rochefort) in my lagerator. I'd bet that 500 would do very well in such a beer.

Click to expand...

Been there, done that with 500... While it makes a good beer, it doesn't wind up tasting like Fat Tire.

New Belgium kinda seems to make 'their version' of beer styles. I REALLY like their Trippel and was gung-ho about brewing a batch of traditional trippel.

well I asked my LBHS guy who seems to know his stuff, and his comment was that it wasn't true to style, however they made a very drinkable trippel.

so until I can find a true trippel import, that's been put on the back burner.

New Belgian's Trippel is one of my favorites, but I think it resembles a Belgian Golden Ale more than a trippel.

I enjoy Fat Tire's malty character and have several friends that consider it one of their favorites, so I have been planning to brew a clone for a while. I just picked up a couple of packs of the new Wyeast Fat Tire VSS and plan on giving it a try.

I had planned on using the clone recipe that was published in Zymurgy (the Jul/Aug 2003 issue IIRC), but my LHBS has a kit that the owner claims is a closer match than the Zymurgy recipe, so I am going to give it a try next week.