Fourth Batch, Arrogant Bastard Clone/American Strong Ale

Well yet another time for some brewing over here. After having the Lukcy Basartd Ale, I decided I needed to try and make a clone of the regular Bastard. I had done quite a bit of searching around. But I settled on the Austin Homebrew Supply clone recipe. I haven't actually had this brew in a while, but I do remember enjoying it a lot, so why not make a clone. Fairly simple as well, I threw it into beersmith for some more accurate details:


BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Arrogant Bastard
Brewer: Spak
Asst Brewer:
Style: Strong Ale
Type: Extract
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.072 SG
Estimated Color: 19.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 99.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 70 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.10 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 84.4 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 15.6 %
2.50 oz Chinook [10.00%] (70 min) Hops 82.9 IBU
0.75 oz Chinook [10.00%] (15 min) Hops 11.9 IBU
0.75 oz Chinook [10.00%] (5 min) Hops 4.8 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00%] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Chinook [10.00%] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: None
Total Grain Weight: 1.50 lb
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Notes:
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Steep Grains in 155F water for 40 minutes, Sparge with 1 gallon of 170 degree water.

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So here we go then. I finally got a probe thermometer, really cheap walmart stuff, but it gets the job done. Even has an alarm on it that tells me when its getting ready to steep. I steeped the grains in 1 gallon of water for about 40-45 minutes. Temp stayed pretty good the whole time, but I did put in on the burner on the absolute lowest setting. I was keeping my eye on that temp. It was covered for the duration.



Then I got to collecting the resulting steep water in there. I sparged over a strainer like normal. Added some more hot water on top of that and then mixed in all the DME. Here is the results after steeping:



Smelled really good in there. Then after the DME was dissolved in there. Then I filled it up to about 6.25 gallons. I was expecting 1 gallon of boil off in the hour, but I actually ended up getting more than that. Here it is ready to come to the hot break:



After it came to hot break(which was quite insane, probably because of all the crystal malt I used lol). I actually never got a boil over during the whole duration, but it did come close. I used my spray bottle again and that tamed it down pretty good. I added the 2.5 ounces of chinook at 70 minutes or so. Got pretty crazy once again, but it kept it steady by adjusting the heat and such.



When it was time to add the aroma/flavor additions, the water level had decreased significantly. I then put in the wort chiller and when it boiled again added my irish moss and .75 ounces of chinook. Then after that at 5 minutes left, the last addition was added. Then at flame out, I covered it and added the chiller. Chilled it down in a good 20 minutes or so.



After the temp came down to comfortable ranges, I poured it straight into my bucket. Pitched my decanted 3L starter of WLP001 and sealed it up. Put a blowoff on it and kept it in the basement.



Right next to it, you can see the 2 cases of 12 ounce bottles. That is the robust porter from last time. I cracked open a bomber of it, but the carbonation was a bit low. I think a week more and the carbonation should turn out better. I kept it down there for a few days, but on Saturday I took off the blowoff and put a normal airlock on it.(and also brought it upstairs to slightly warmer temperatures). It is still bubbling every 3-5 seconds still and it has almost been a week. I may have to wait to rack it to secondary. I may also be racking it onto a bit of water to up the batch size to where I want it if the bucket says it is lower than it should be. The OG came out a lot higher than I wanted(about 1.079). Beersmith should be able to tell me what the new gravity and ABV would be. Can't wait to dry hop this with the 2 ounces of hops, it already smells amazing in the airlock. This is going to rock face.

I also made a video of my brew day, so here that is:



I already have the stout tasting up on my youtube account. I will probably be doing a tasting of the porter next week again, and then I will post that. The Imperial IPA will be waiting the longest time to make sure its carbed fully. I will wait 3 weeks from bottling time to taste that.

Cheers!