So, I saw the thread on the focal banger clone, however I did not see a "stab at it." So here it goes... *Note: I have never had focal banger before so I could be way off. This is why I am asking for your input. Batch size: 5.5 ADF: 72% O.G. 1.067 (hopefully) F.G. 1.014 (hopefully) ABV: 6.9% (I know it's 7) IBU's 98 SRM: 4 ish Grain: Mash @ 149 for 90 minutes 10 Golden Promise (66.4%) 3.5 Pilsen (23.2%) 12 oz Flaked Oats (5%)(I see in reviews that focal banger has a silky like mouth-feel and I know they do not use wheat. This is why I am using oats) 13 oz turbinado (5.4%)(byo clone uses this for heady so why not) added last 10 mins of boil Boil: 60 minute boil 1.25 nugget @ 60 (44 ibus) (I have a ton of nugget left over this is why I am using it instead of mosaic) 1 oz mosaic @ 30 mins (25 ibus) 1 oz citra @ 10 mins (11 ibus) 3 oz citra/mosaic @ 5 mins (19 ibus) 3 oz citra/mosaic @ hopstand for 30 mins Dry hops 4 oz mosaic/citra for 10 days Yeast Wyeast 1028 london ale (1.5 quart starter) ferment low temp. Note* I might ease up on 5 minute addition. Your thoughts...
It's got be drier than 1.014. Use pearl malt instead. No oats. Co2 extract to bitter as well. Probably hops all late much like heady topper. It's a good beer, crisp.
FatCity, you sound pretty sure of yourself...you're sure no flaked grains or other body building malts? FB's body was definitely not laid out raw like many higher OG beers that are smash like you seem to indicate. I would definitely have some flaked grains or cara-malts in the mix.
Not sure of myself, was just short since I was on mobile device. I've had the beer and I felt it was much thinner/crisper than Heady. Also felt it was lighter too, so I think a cut of Pearl and Pilsner is a good base. Wheat.. I'm on the fence. I like a little wheat in my hoppy beers, but I'm not sold FB had it in there. Caramalts, yeah, probably so. Probably a dash of caramalt or carapils, whichever they use.
I agree, it was a pretty dry beer so I'd go base malt and carapils. The hop profile was definitely more piney than HT when I had it, I'd guess there's some Simcoe or even Chinook in there.
it's all mosiac and citra. The pine is from the mosaic probably. I'm sure they bitter with extract as well, ala heady. I can't see a brewery venturing TOO far from the normal way of doing things on beers that are similar enough. But yeah, not bone dry, but it's drier than heady, if it's not drier gravity wise, they did a good job of the malt profile and keeping it snappy.
I had one last night and you're right....it's very piney with some resin and some grapefruit. And compared to Crusher or Heady, it's relatively dry. Probably finishes around 1.010. I doubt there are oats in it. Wonderful beer.
huh...i only had FB once out of the brite tank and thought it had a mouthfeel similar to Double Sunshine which has flaked oats. My perception may have been off.
Probably no wheat. John Kimmich's wife is celiac, hence his foray into gluten-free beers awhile back. However, they discovered that she could tolerate beers with no wheat content. In the past John put a little wheat into most of his beers for body, head retention, etc. My understanding is that he no longer does this (so Jen can drink his beer). Oats is a possibility but my money is on carapils. And I'm loving Focal Banger, like it better than Heady.
Carapils is definitely a strong candidate Another possibility is a higher FG than most people would anticipate. The bitterness in many of the ipa's in vermont is very smooth. I think this is in part due to more sweetness balancing out the bitterness better than most ipa's (and delivering great body). In my opinion it is much more effective to use gypsum to create a dry finish than shooting for a low FG because the low FG simply results in a thin mouthfeel in my experience. A good example of this is the beer Edward by Hill Farmstead, which finishes at 1.016 at only 5.2%. While Farmstead and Alchemist are not the same brewery, to me their ipa's are similar in mouthfeel.
Late additions seem excessive to me, but it's probably system dependent. To my taste, focal banger is citra forward with mosaic in a complementary role.
so did anyone actually try and brew this one up. I was the op i think a year or so back. I still haven't got around to brewing this either.
I did brew my own clone attempt with the hopes of getting it in the Sept issue of BYO...but John wasn't comfortable providing any input on my recipe so he ended up providing an older, different recipe for the issue. My attempt: 11 g into fermenter: 88% Maris Otter (didn't have pearl) 4% flaked oats 7% turbinado mashed at 160F 30 ibus from Apollo - 60 min boil 4 oz each mosaic/citra at flameout 2 oz each citra/mosaic after 30 mins of whirlpool (chilled to 170F) 4 oz each mosaic/citra dry hop for 3 days Nottingham yeast My og was 1076 (too high) and tg was 1013 so came in at about 7.6% abv. Unfortunately never got to try it against the real deal... so it was all a bit for naught....but the lady friend loved it.
my kick lately for ipas...usually in lieu of adding carapils. Started a few years ago with like 155-156, then up to 158, now 160. Am actually thinking of doing 162 for my APA this weekend. Attenuation has still be good (maybe something to do with the malt...?) and enjoying the mouthfeel of the beers. Iirc 162 is where Kai really saw the attenuation start to plummet...
For a second there, I thought the title said "Fecal Banger". Had to raise an eyebrow. Sorry, okay I'm out of here. [/stupidity]
