Moose Drool by Big Sky Brewery

[rpres1977]

Man I'm drooling just thinking about it. I'm in Jacksonville, FL but head out west from time to time to Missoula, MT and you guys are in microbrew heaven out there. I'd love to get my hands on some of that stuff

 

[rpres1977]

From Jacksonville, FL here and I head out to Missoula from time to time. You guys are in microbrew heaven out there. The moose drool and the trout slayer on a couple of my favorite cold one considering I've had plenty of beers from all around the country and I'd love to get my hands one some......I love Montana!!

 

[bob1852]

rpres: you can't get any Big Sky beers out there? in this day and age of transporting micros far and wide?

I figure at worst you could find some of the 12-pack sampler. Find a BevMo or Beverage House and ask them to carry it for you (or brew the recipe I posted!)

 

[RichBrewer]

Ah Moose Drool! This is still my favorite beer.
I first tried it in of all places McChord AFB in Washington. I've been hooked ever since. Big sky expanded into Colorado a couple years ago and I am very grateful to them. It will always be a staple in my fridge.

 

[Ceedubya]

Do we have any updates on this clone recipe? Who has tried it? how was it? would you do it again?

I am thiiiiiiiiiissss close to brewing my first all grain, and would LOVE to give this one a try. Moose Drool is my weakness in commercial beers.

 

[heinz57]

Brew it. The only recommendation I would make is use Wyeast 1968 instead of WLP002.

The sooner you brew this, the sooner you can brew some more.

 

[Ceedubya]

Brew it. The only recommendation I would make is use Wyeast 1968 instead of WLP002.

The sooner you brew this, the sooner you can brew some more.

Good point

I will get this one done in two weeks. I have two in primary right now (a stout and an apfelwein) and a mead on the way early next week. I need to wait for the stout to finish to free up a fermenter.

Plus my new BK will be here this weekend, and i should have the mods done by then, and can finish my mashtun for my first all grain!

If I like this as much as the real thing, it will certainly become a house flavor.

I beleive you mentioned earlier in this thread that the Wyeast 1968 is what they use at Big Sky?

 

[eschatz]

I always brew a brown ale on superbowl sunday. This is going to be this year's brew. Can't wait to see how it compares to the original.

 

[Ceedubya]

Well, you will be a little ahead of me, but lets plan to share notes on this thread when its all said and done.

are you gonna keg or bottle?

 

[eschatz]

Keg

Yeah, I'll definitely keep everything posted on here.

 

[bob1852]

It's bottled and aging - I'm entering it in a competition in mid-february...

I've tasted it ~1.5 weeks into the bottle and it's pretty close to Big Sky. It's a little bit drier, which IMO is good.

I'm hoping to do a side-by-side comparison during the Super Bowl with a bunch of friends and will post back...

 

[Stewartia]

Noob here-First time post-

Made AHS Moose Drool Mini Mash Kit yesterday-Hoping it will turn out well, this beer is the reason I have started brewing, but after tasting my first batch of a clone of one of my local ales-Highland Gaelic Ale yesterday while brewing the Moose Drool, I will definitely keep at it!

Anybody got an extract or partial mash version of this recipe-The AHS kit is definitely different in the hops-1 oz. Goldings for 60 mins., and 1/2 oz Glacier and 1/2 oz Mt. Hood for the last 15 mins., At work and can't remember the grain bill right now, but that looks pretty similar.

Thanks

 

[IrregularPulse]

Interested to see how this clone recipe turns out. I've not had the pleasure but my bro lived in Idaho for 3 years and will not shut up about this beer. If your recipe is accurate i can most likely get him to buy the ingredients, or at least go halves and I'll slipt it with him and teach him to brew. But he's either got to pay for the whole recipe, or pay half and help brew it. Maybe this will be my next brew.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Email I got from Big Sky :
You can find many Moose Drool clones on line for home brewers, but here is one we provide:


Moose Drool

OG 1.052
Color 38
IBU 26

Pale 87%
Crystal 75 10%
Chocolate 2.8%
Black .2%

Final Mash Temp 154° F

70 minute boil

20 IBU East Kent Goldings

Liberty and Willamette for flavor and aroma for total of 26 IBU

Fullers ale yeast

 

[StunnedMonkey]

Email I got from Big Sky :
You can find many Moose Drool clones on line for home brewers, but here is one we provide:


Moose Drool

OG 1.052
Color 38
IBU 26

Pale 87%
Crystal 75 10%
Chocolate 2.8%
Black .2%

Final Mash Temp 154° F

70 minute boil

20 IBU East Kent Goldings

Liberty and Willamette for flavor and aroma for total of 26 IBU

Fullers ale yeast

That looks just like the one they just talked about on Jamil's new show "Can You Brew It." I just listened to it today and they brewed this recipe and blind taste tested it against the actual Moose Drool and all 3 guys picked the homebrew as the Moose Drool.

Of course, Jamil brewed it, probably on some setup that makes the rest of ours look like a booger, but still it seems the recipe must be solid.

 

[farmbrewernw]

I listened to Jamil's show the other day on Moose Drool it didn't sound that hard to make, Jamil said that he was bbq'n and didn't really pay attention to brewing that day and still made a dead close clone to the original.

 

[Edcculus]

Just listened to the first "Can you brew it" on Moose Drool. Sounds like one I may have to brew up soon!

 

[eschatz]

This is some interesting news!

More beer in my future.........

 

[llazy_llama]

Moose Drool is one of the beers that gets me by without Fat Tire. They sell Moose Drool here... no Fat Tire.

FFS, I found Fat Tire in Okinawa! Stupid distributors

 

[Ceedubya]

I can't get the Liberty around here? where is a good source, or can I substitute some hallertau?

 

[eschatz]

Hallertau, Mt. Hood, Crystal

Either will work great.

 

[IrregularPulse]

ok, going to order ingredients for this tomorrow. Going to brew 10 Gallons and was thinking of taking 2-3 gallons and infecting it for storage after initial fermentation. I've never had this beer before though so I don't knwo if it would make a good sour base. I'm making it on good reference from this forum and my bro who lived in Idaho for a few years and won't stop bitching about not being able to get it. Any suggestions on if it would pair well with Brettomyces or another souring agent perhaps?

 

[eschatz]

I don't know anything about souring beers really. You should talk to Evan! He's pretty knowledgeable about this kind of thing.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Here's my recipe using Beersmith to convert the 6 gallon recipe Jamil cloned to an 11 Gallon batch.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - BeerSmith Brewing Software, Recipes, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Forum
Recipe: Jamil's Moose Drool
Brewer: Brad
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Brown Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 11.00 gal
Boil Size: 13.08 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 20.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 70 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
19 lbs 12.8 ozPale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 86.91 %
2 lbs 4.7 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 10.06 %
10.1 oz Chocolate Malt (400.0 SRM) Grain 2.78 %
0.9 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 0.25 %
2.58 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 25.3 IBU
1.11 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
1.10 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (0 min) Hops -
2 Pkgs London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 22.78 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 28.48 qt of water at 164.8 F 153.0 F

 

[eschatz]

You still going to sour this?

 

[IrregularPulse]

You still going to sour this?

Talking to me?
If so I'm probably going to hold off. I got 40-50 to spend on ingredients. I can either make 5G of MooseDrool, or 10 gallons of some AG Kits from NB.com. I might go with that for just to boost my pipeline. Probably their Irish Red kit and maybe their Cream Ale or Kolsch. Anyone have experience with those NothernBrewer Kits? Worth it?

 

[HOOTER]

Anyone have experience with those NothernBrewer Kits? Worth it?

I've ordered quite a few. They have quality ingredients and prompt shipping, although most (not all) of their kits seem to be fairly simple and basic. Every time I've ordered one of their kits I've modified it with extra ingredients, which is a very cost effective method. Overall I'd recommend them to anyone looking for competitively priced, quality beer kits.

 

[Ceedubya]

I just found another reason to love this beer! After months of staring at them, I finally got around to cleaning a bunch of bottles that have been collecting over the past months. In addition to what I normally have on hand, I have not been throwing out or getting rid of any bottles so I had about 5 cases of bottles sitting in my back room. A LOT of these just happened to be moose drool (did I mention I like this beer a lot )

So anyway, threw the first 3 cases worth in for an oxyclean soak. The labels on the moose drool came off way easier than any of the others, especially the local stuff from Lewis and Clark.


They pretty much all were floating by the next morning, and with just a simple wipe and quick rinse, I have a bunch of clean bottles :rockin:

 

[bob1852]

I finally did a side-by-side comparison between the recipe I brewed and the Big Sky version.

Here's my take (albeit biased)

mine was a little sweeter and a little less smokey than the Big Sky version, and in my opinion a better beer...

 

[eschatz]

Thanks for the info. My kegs are all full. I gotta drink one off so I can put this baby on.