Does anyone have a all grain recipe for Focal banger... any input would be awesome thanks in advance guys cheers.
I'm pretty sure it's close as can be to the Heady Topper recipe myself. Maybe a tad smaller beer. I'd look at Pearl Malt for the base, probably a touch of a dextrin malt, like caramalt, or carapils. Maybe a little sugar to help dry it up a little. Conan yeast to ferment it with, as it leaves enough body, do mash lower end. Citra and Mosaic. I'd suspect after having it, that they also use extract to bitter it, and probably add most, if not all of the Citra and Mosaic late, and in dry hopping.
was lucky enough to have this one straight from the fermenter...even a woman i work with who doesn't like ipas loved focal banger. I think fatcity is pretty much dead-on. now if somebody wants to come up with a beelzebub recipe, i'd be really interested in that one! I think that could possibly have been the best imperial stout that's ever touched my lips...
Well, for starters I'm reasonably sure it uses Conan yeast and a huge buttload of dehusked Carafa. Possibly a bit of lactose; I was fortunate enough to assist John once when he brewed a vanilla porter at the pub and lactose was involved. It has mellowed a bit since the brewpub days (kind of think I like the old version a little better) and Citra has replaced more traditional American hops for the late/dry stuff. My wife loves Beelzebub. If we come up with a decent clone, I'll be forced to brew it a couple times a year. It makes the world's best beer float when paired with Morse Farm maple creemee (we bought a tub of creemee at Morse one winter and hauled ass for the Alchemist, holding the ice cream out the window so it wouldn't thaw. Totally worth the effort).
john mentioned the use of dme too to add body and gravity so can add that to the mix, but that is about all i've got on that front. Back to focal banger...does anyone know if it was lighter colored than heady? Seemed like it was to me
I thought it was lighter colored myself. Not much, though. I felt it was more clean/clear than Heady, so that may have had a little to do with it. It was much more crisp and short lived in the mouth feel, but I liked it. Creamy, yet fleeting and dry. To be honest, I'd figure it's straight pale malt/Pearl, and maybe even some sugar. Focal Banger color
No more wheat in Alchemist beers... Jen Kimmich is sensitive to gluten, however they discovered by trial and error that she could drink beers with barley but no wheat. John used to put a little wheat in many beers, but it is now gone unless he does a hefe or witbier.
Maybe about 11-12% lighter colored? That would jibe with the slightly lower ABV and the same grist. Not certain about sugar in FB but pretty sure there is some in Heady.
You know.. I think 10% would be a good guess. If it's pils/pearl blend, then that too could probably get the color lighter, as well as giving it that grainy crisp malt profile. I'd suspect it's all pearl myself, not sure if they have any other beers they produce, and would even stock pilsner malt, or find the need to source any for a beer they don't brew a ton of.
I might take a stab at it soon but I'm tired of Citra hops so I'm throwing out some old ones that I don't like the taste of and starting over. I got an idea of what I think is a good starting point.
