Moose Drool Clone All Grain

[AlfA01]

Hi everyone!

Kind of new brewer here with a little bit of a difficult brew task at hand (well, at least it's puzzling me a bit). I mostly make homemade wine, as I live in Greece and the ease of finding grapes for the wine is very easy, versus finding materials for beer. However, I truly love beer! My favorite of all is a Big Sky beer called Moose Drool.

My dilemma: I've found a clone recipe here but it calls for extract products that I cannot find without ordering them from England. I really don't want to pay double the price to have an extract brew. I have, however, been able to find the equivalent all grain products.

I have ordered the malts, yeast and hops and expect them delivered by courier tomorrow or Thursday. Upon arrival, I can study them more easily and begin to make a game-plan prior to the brew.

Any ideas or suggestion? Anyone tried this recipe before in all grain versus extract? Can't wait to brew, but want to ensure that I am able to get a good product in the end.

Cheers,
AlfA (Dan)

 

[DarthCitra]

Youll need to mash with your light malt since you're not using extract. As long as you converted from LME and DME to grain correctly, you'll be good!

I just recently tried the moose drool, i cant say it was good because it wasnt my style of brew, the mouthfeel wasnt quite there. If you like it then brew on! you can always tweak the recipe how you want.

 

[Malted_hops]

http://www.brew365.com/beer_moose_drool.php

Here is an all grain recipe.

 

[pablosbrewing]

Here is NB version of it - "Caribou Slobber":
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-CaribouSlobber.pdf

 

[gratus fermentatio]

The recipe posted by the OP says to ferment @ 70*F, that seems a bit warm to me. I ferment brown ale at 62*F.
Regards, GF.

 

[MaxStout]

I did an all-grain recipe similar to the ones posted above. It was kind of close to the original, but I liked it a lot. Keep those ferm temps in low 60s.

 

[AlfA01]

Here is NB version of it - "Caribou Slobber":
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-CaribouSlobber.pdf

Sounds like a great recipe as well. Its on the list in the near future recipes to brew. Thanks for the link!

 

[AlfA01]

Youll need to mash with your light malt since you're not using extract. As long as you converted from LME and DME to grain correctly, you'll be good!

I just recently tried the moose drool, i cant say it was good because it wasnt my style of brew, the mouthfeel wasnt quite there. If you like it then brew on! you can always tweak the recipe how you want.

That was my original reason for posting. I was a little worried about the taste. Love the stuff and have been drinking it for years, well, at least before I moved to Greece. In the mid to late 90's you could pick this stuff up really cheap in Costco, etc., in Montana, which was about 60 miles from where I lived.

I've found a local brew store to assist me with the recipe and to ensure my conversions and theirs agree.

 

[AlfA01]

The recipe posted by the OP says to ferment @ 70*F, that seems a bit warm to me. I ferment brown ale at 62*F.
Regards, GF.

I'm fermenting in a ventilated and empty apartment that has blackout blinds. Its concrete wall construction and doesn't receive direct sunlight, so it stays well under 70 in there all day. I'm going to set up the thermometer and take some readings throughout the day to double verify that it doesn't get too warm.

I've used it to ferment my wines, and I been able to keep the temps regulated pretty well in September, which is a very similar weather pattern to what we have right now. I will avoid brewing in July and August, as those are our HOTTTT months.

 

[freisste]

I'm fermenting in a ventilated and empty apartment that has blackout blinds. Its concrete wall construction and doesn't receive direct sunlight, so it stays well under 70 in there all day. I'm going to set up the thermometer and take some readings throughout the day to double verify that it doesn't get too warm.



I've used it to ferment my wines, and I been able to keep the temps regulated pretty well in September, which is a very similar weather pattern to what we have right now. I will avoid brewing in July and August, as those are our HOTTTT months.

That should work. To be extra careful, you could set up a swamp cooler. Put your fermenting vessel in a tub of water. It will act as a heat sink during active fermentation (when a beer can get 5-10*f hotter than ambient) and keep the temperature more steady because of the greater thermal mass.

 

[AlfA01]

That should work. To be extra careful, you could set up a swamp cooler. Put your fermenting vessel in a tub of water. It will act as a heat sink during active fermentation (when a beer can get 5-10*f hotter than ambient) and keep the temperature more steady because of the greater thermal mass.

I had wondered if using this option would work of if it would drop the temp too low. It's a great idea and I will use it if necessary.

Since my initial post the fermentation of my Indiana Ale by BrewFerm has slowed and seems to be steady at bubble or two in the airlock every 3 - 5 seconds. Hope fully that's an indication of how I can control temps for the Moose Drool when I get ready to brew.

I'm a little delayed on the brew due to some improvements on the house and a birthday party. Hopefully I'll be steeping grains first thing tomorrow morning. Instead of boiling wort, I was flipping hotdogs and chicken skewers on the BBQ for a house full of teenagers.

I'll update as soon as I start brewing.

Cheers,

 

[AlfA01]

Hi guys,

I finally found the time and went for the AG brew of a Moose Drool clone. The recipe I used was previously suggested by someone on this thread (I don't remember at the moment, but many thanks to you for the suggestion).

Some details:
Heated initial 18 liters to 175 degrees, then let cool a few moments to reach 160 and began adding grains to insulated container. Allowed to mash for 60 minutes.
Sparged to 24.5 liters and drained grains.
Boiled 65 minutes and added hops according to schedule.
Cooled to 68 degrees F using wort chiller and ice bath. (my wort chiller is the 'homegrown style and requires a little re-engineering after a couple of initial tests).
Rehydrated Windsor Ale Beer Yeast for 15 minutes at 30 Celsius as suggested by the manufacturer.
Pitched the yeast at 9:50 PM with wort at 22 Celsius (70-71 F).
By 11 PM minor fermentation had begun, or at least there was airlock activity. This could be to temp difference and not substantial bubbling from fermentation.

Not a perfect brew by any means, and I'll save you all the details so you don't die from laughter, but in the end it all came together successfully.

Not bad, but definitely see where I need to improve on equipment and technique.

Cheers,
AlfA01

 

[WWJPD]

Sounds like you had a great brew-day, even if it doesn't come out exactly like MD. You can't get it there otherwise there, so even close is fantastic. Be proud you were able to do it and cheers!

 

[AlfA01]

Sounds like you had a great brew-day, even if it doesn't come out exactly like MD. You can't get it there otherwise there, so even close is fantastic. Be proud you were able to do it and cheers!

Many thanks. If its even close, that's perfect for me. I stopped at a specialty beer store and picked up a Liberty Ale and a Doggie Style IPA. So, I did find some American ales here, but they are about 3.70 euros each ($5.15 each). That makes it so that you have to take a loan to buy beers for a BBQ.

I can definitely make these MD clones for much, much cheaper, plus I really like the beer--it's a win-win!

Cheers!

 

[AlfA01]

Well, I thought from all that I read here that I was well on my way to bottling up the Moose Drool soon. I went away for the weekend and came back on Monday night. Much to my surprise, the bubbles were rising just like the next day when I first pitched the yeast...basically, it appears if the yeast was idle, then fermentation restarted. There's 1/2 inch thick head on the beer and airlock activity is about every 2 seconds.

There was a slight temp shift in ambient these days, but not major. The beer had a good three days of ferment starting on the 27th of June. On the 30th it was at 'full tilt' again. I was quite surprised.....anyone seen this before?

Cheers,
AlfA01

 

[BPO]

Sound normal to me. At 70 degrees it could take a week or longer. I make moose drool all the time and I usually leave it at 65 over a week.The activity probably increased due to the change in temperature.

 

[AlfA01]

Sound normal to me. At 70 degrees it could take a week or longer. I make moose drool all the time and I usually leave it at 65 over a week.The activity probably increased due to the change in temperature.

Right on. I just found it a little strange that the fermentation stopped, then restarted suddenly with a minimal shift in temp. Love the Moose Drool...can't wait!

Cheers,
AlfA01