British Brown Ale Fat Squirrel clone

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Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!
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Joined
Jun 4, 2006
Messages
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Location
UP/Snowbird in Florida
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Nottingham
Yeast Starter
Not if using dry
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.051
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
29
Color
14
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14 at 62
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14 at 62
Tasting Notes
slightly roasty, with a touch of bitterness. Pretty close to Fat Squirrel, I think!
6 pounds Pilsner malt
1 pound Caravienne malt
1 pound Munich malt
1 pound flaked Oats
12 ounces flaked barley
4 ounces chocolate malt

.50 Magnum (FWH)
1.00 Saaz (10 minutes)

Mash at 154 for an hour. Sparge to reach boil volume. If using the pilsner malt, boil for 90 minutes.

View attachment fatsquirrel.bsm

When I was out of pilsner malt, I used maris otter malt, and it came out great! I also used chinook for bittering, since I was out of magnum. That worked well, too.

This recipe has been brewed numerous times by Bernie Brewer and he has photos in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/fat-squirrel-clone-47671/
 
Yooper gave me this recipe last year at this time and I liked it so much I have brewed it three times since. This is a wonderful English Brown recipe! The only difference is I use Wyeast London Ale instead of Nottingham, but I'm sure it comes out great with the Notty!
 
Yooper gave me this recipe last year at this time and I liked it so much I have brewed it three times since. This is a wonderful English Brown recipe! The only difference is I use Wyeast London Ale instead of Nottingham, but I'm sure it comes out great with the Notty!

It did, but I would like to try the London ale yeast, because I think some fruitiness would be better than the neutral yeast in this one.

Also, I toasted the oats in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes, to give it a bit more toasty/roasty flavor. I honestly don't know if it made much of a difference, though.
 
I am going to make this. A friend just happened to give me 6lbs of pilsner recently I didn't know what to do with. Also, I was born and raised in SW Wisconsin. Grew up with this stuff.
 
I think I forgot to mention that this won first place in the category in the HBT BJCP competition. It's a nice beer, well liked by everyone who has tried it.
 
Thanks for the updates and sharing. I'll brew this up soon with the -- looking for those "I wish it were Spring" days at the end of Winter -- in mind.
 
1st: congratulations on the blue ribbon well done.
I was trying to come up with a pilsner recipe using ale yeast. I also have a lb of caravienne waiting to be used. Looks tasty. I have added it to my "to do". Thanks
 
Think I can substitute Brown malt for the Chocolate? I have a ton of it and want to use it. Should it be the same amount? More? Less?
 
Think I can substitute Brown malt for the Chocolate? I have a ton of it and want to use it. Should it be the same amount? More? Less?

Sorry I can't be more specific with an amount, but they're really not comparable. Chocolate malt is a roasted specialty malt, 1/4 lb turns a pale or amber ale into a brown. Brown malt is much milder - it would take a lot to literally make a beer brown in color. I wouldn't quite call it a base malt, but it's in that british gray area.
 
I decided to try this recipe mostly because I really like the idea of putting a lot of adjuncts from the kitchen in a brown. But I also wanted to try to make a lighter weight brown that still has big flavor (see below - that might not have worked), since my browns are usually in that 6% abv, Brooklyn Brown Ale kind of range.

Even after all the substitutions to fit what I had on hand, I still think the recipe is very similar despite changing the amounts of nearly everything:

6.75 lb Belgian pilsner (.75 extra in case of bad efficiency)
1 lb munich
1 lb oats*
10 oz pearled barley* (down from 12 oz)
4 oz chocolate
1 oz roasted barley (not in Yooper's recipe)
9 oz Caravienne, 3 oz Caramunich, 4 oz Crystal 15 (my best guess sub for the pound of Caravienne)

* Ok, even this was a mess. I only had 7 oz of quick oats, so added 9 oz extra thick rolled oats. I toasted all of this at 350 for at least 20 minutes, then boiled the thick cut oats for 30 minutes. Also boiled the pearled barley 30 minutes

Hops were 0.6 - 0.7 oz of Magnum (12.5%AA) FWH and then 1 oz of Liberty (4.5) for 10 minutes. Used Nottingham, batch sparge, fermented around 60 degrees.

The result so far is a good beer, but not what I was going for. I ended up with 75% efficiency and accidentally overboiled it down to 4.4 gallons at 1.065. This is not usually a problem -- if I get better than average (for me) efficiency I just add more water at bottling time. This time though, the ever-voracious Notty cranked this oaty, big crystal malt, 1.065 brown ale down to 1.012.

So I can't decide whether to add a gallon of water to get closer to the original recipe and run the risk of a thin, under-malty brown (1.053 down to 1.010), or keep what I have, a dry, strong, but not very hoppy IBA.

The hydro sample tastes quite good, though, considering the yeastiness.
 
Can anyone far more talented (and probably more handsome) than I convert this to Extract and Steeping? I'm looking to fill a few fermenters in the upcoming weeks to have a supply of summer beers.

Thank you in advance.
 
I made this recipe and it was one of the best beers I have ever tasted. I used the London ESB because I like my ales malty.

I also bottled 18 of these with half a shot of Knob Creek bourbon. Those were also delicious. The flavor of this beer came through and mixed well with the bourbon flavor. When I make this recipe again I will probably split the batch with half bottled with bourbon.
 
6 pounds Pilsner malt
1 pound Caravienne malt
1 pound Munich malt
1 pound flaked Oats
12 ounces flaked barley
4 ounces chocolate malt

.50 Magnum (FWH)
1.00 Saaz (10 minutes)

Mash at 154 for an hour. Sparge to reach boil volume. If using the pilsner malt, boil for 90 minutes.

View attachment 10251

When I was out of pilsner malt, I used maris otter malt, and it came out great! I also used chinook for bittering, since I was out of magnum. That worked well, too.

This recipe has been brewed numerous times by Bernie Brewer and he has photos in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/fat-squirrel-clone-47671/

Yooper,

Any chance of converting this to partial or extract/steep brew?
 
Yooper,

Any chance of converting this to partial or extract/steep brew?

It has to be a partial mash, because of the oats. So let's see, you'd have to be able to mash 4 pounds of grains at a minimum.

1 pound Caravienne malt
1 pound Munich malt
1 pound flaked Oats
12 ounces flaked barley
4 ounces chocolate malt

4 pounds extra light or light DME should work for 6 pounds pilsner malt.

Bring 8 quarts of water to 168 degrees, and add grains. Use two bags if you need to, to make sure the grains are loose. Stir well, and let sit at 150-158 for 45 minutes. Lift out grain bag and pour 170 degree water over the grains up to your boil volume. Discard grains. Bring to a boil, add the DME and bring to a boil again. Add the hops as directed.

That should do it.
 
Thanks Yooper. Going to see if my local brew shop carry all this or not. This will be on my list after Coopers Irish stout and the OSH brew from HBT.

I wish I have had more equiptments to play around.
 
It has to be a partial mash, because of the oats. So let's see, you'd have to be able to mash 4 pounds of grains at a minimum.

1 pound Caravienne malt
1 pound Munich malt
1 pound flaked Oats
12 ounces flaked barley
4 ounces chocolate malt

I'd defer to Yooper's greater expertise, but I think the one pound of munich might not come close to converting all that adjunct. I don't think there is any easy way to do a partial mash for this recipe, but I'm guessing you'd need to use a pound of pilsner, or even 6-row, in place of the munich. You could then compensate for that with 2-4 oz of melanoidin malt if you want.

Ultimately though, with all the great recipes out there I just don't think it's worth trying to pull this one off if you can't do a full mash. Or, if you're hell-bent to try, and can mash a couple pounds, maybe just make a very small batch? You mind discover you like the process and open up to the dark side of all grain insanity.
 
Yooper, another great recipe! Served some of this to a few friends this weekend and they asked me why I was handing out New Glarus and not homebrew!
 
6 pounds Pilsner malt
1 pound Caravienne malt
1 pound Munich malt
1 pound flaked Oats
12 ounces flaked barley
4 ounces chocolate malt

.50 Magnum (FWH)
1.00 Saaz (10 minutes)

Mash at 154 for an hour. Sparge to reach boil volume. If using the pilsner malt, boil for 90 minutes.

View attachment 10251

When I was out of pilsner malt, I used maris otter malt, and it came out great! I also used chinook for bittering, since I was out of magnum. That worked well, too.

This recipe has been brewed numerous times by Bernie Brewer and he has photos in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/fat-squirrel-clone-47671/

Hello there,

I basically dont have anything to mash with and I dont want to buy 1 either. Can i put all the malts, oats and barley into a bag and brew it? yup thats right, can i BIAB this recipe?
 
Hello there,

I basically dont have anything to mash with and I dont want to buy 1 either. Can i put all the malts, oats and barley into a bag and brew it? yup thats right, can i BIAB this recipe?

I'm no expert on BIAB, but I don't see why not. There's a lot of adjunct in this recipe though, so make sure to give the mash plenty of time (at least an hour) for conversion.
 
I brewed this last week pretty much following the original recipe. I did use Maris Otter though, instead of the Pilsner. Wort going into the primary smelled and tasted great and am looking forward to a bottle of it soon. My question is, has anyone tried bottling this with brown sugar instead of corn sugar? Or does anyone have an opinion on how this would taste? Its my first go at this recipe and I dont want to ruin it right out the gate.
 
You can bottle with brown sugar, and it won't really ruin anything, but I don't think it's worth it. In the small amounts that you use for bottling I wouldn't expect any noticeable flavor difference, and you might get a different carbonation level (that depends on whether the two sugar types give the same gravity points, which I don't know off the top of my head).

Anyway, the taste difference, if you can detect it at all, should be a slight molasses note.
 
I had my first stuck sparge with this batch today. I switched from my SS braid to a kettle screen. My first runnings went fine for the first minute and then it completely stopped. I had to move the wort and grains to another cooler. Luckily I kept my old SS braid so I attached it to my mash tun and put the grains and wort back in. The rest of the brew day went fine and I ended up with 82% efficiency. The only reason I wanted to get rid of the SS braid was because it was getting a lot of dings and dents in it but it was working fine. I guess if it aint broke don't fix it. But anyway, I am very excited to see how this beer turns out.
 
I had my first stuck sparge with this batch today. I switched from my SS braid to a kettle screen. My first runnings went fine for the first minute and then it completely stopped. I had to move the wort and grains to another cooler. Luckily I kept my old SS braid so I attached it to my mash tun and put the grains and wort back in. The rest of the brew day went fine and I ended up with 82% efficiency. The only reason I wanted to get rid of the SS braid was because it was getting a lot of dings and dents in it but it was working fine. I guess if it aint broke don't fix it. But anyway, I am very excited to see how this beer turns out.

Sounds like a typical brewday to me! I've only had a few brewdays that went like clockwork, and it felt really weird. I usually manage to leave a valve open, overshoot my HLT temp, have a boil over, or something- just to keep me humble, I guess.

Glad the rest of the brewday went fine for you.
 
Just made this yesterday, with MO in place of the pils malt. Also I used Bravo for bittering and Hallertau for the aroma since that's what I had.
 
Pilsner has a higher chance of producing noticeable DMS in your beer, the longer boil helps suppress that.
 
Made this yesterday with some WLP002 I had in the fridge, didn't bother with a starter because I never have with small batches. (2.5 gallon) Of course this is my first batch to not take off after 6-12 hours. :( Guess I'll repitch with some fresh yeast on the morrow if nothing takes off tonight. Pitched at 68F and kept it there in the fermentorator. Didn't want to drop it too much, because I have some recently bottled ale carbing in there too, so didn't want to crash those 10 degrees and have them go to sleep and not carb.
 
I'm making this next. Sounds awesome! The sign from heaven is that a fat squirrel is barking at me right now from the neighbor's red oak tree. Can't wait!
 
Just bottled mine today and only got to 1.018 FG, but had hit 1.051 OG. I mashed in a pot in the oven, so I know I hit 154 on the dot for 60 min. Used WLP002. Fermented at around 68 deg. This was just a 3 gal batch so I didn't make a starter, and it took ~36 hours to start chugging, maybe that's why my attenuation was poor? Any other ideas?
 
Dumping a whole vial into 3 gallons sounds like you should have been OK, assuming healthy yeast. Maybe the vial got stuck in a hot truck somewhere along the way.

I just made my first starter from washed yeast a couple weeks ago - and had my first blowoff even using a blowoff hose. Starters can make a big difference!
 
Brewing this tomorrow, but I'm using Wyeast 2565 Kolsch. Fat Squirrel has always been one of my favorites, especially when I lived in New England and I could only take back a case or two after visiting family.

Can't wait to see how this turns out.
 
I think it's the weather, but we were just talking about this today! I'm going to brew it next, I think. I should have everything I need, and it is sounding good to me right now.
 
Brewed this up tonight. Used MO instead of the Pils, and my LHBS didn't have any Caravienne on hand, so I subbed Carabelge. At flameout, I also tossed in a tiny bit of fresh cascade I had on hand. Because, well, it was there.

Subbing the Carabelge for the Caravienne was a stab in the dark. Does anyone have any input on what I might expect out of that, or whether this was a good choice?

Fingers are crossed! This one will be bottled and brought along to the annual fall turkey hunt in about six weeks.
 
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