Arrogant Bastard Clone. . . Sort of

I’m curious to know how to brew with a pound of Special B and produce a beer that doesn’t taste like raisin. Short mash? Short steep? Magic?

Originally posted by Quasimodo
I’m curious to know how to brew with a pound of Special B and produce a beer that doesn’t taste like raisin. Short mash? Short steep? Magic?

Cover it up with hops.

Originally posted by tronraner

Originally posted by Quasimodo
I’m curious to know how to brew with a pound of Special B and produce a beer that doesn’t taste like raisin. Short mash? Short steep? Magic?

Cover it up with hops.

This.
100+ IBUs will cover a lot.

OK, I was wrong. The actual recipe was printed in BYO magazine some time back.

Originally posted by Cobra
OK, I was wrong. The actual recipe was printed in BYO magazine some time back.

That’s nearly useful information.

Originally posted by Quasimodo
I’m curious to know how to brew with a pound of Special B and produce a beer that doesn’t taste like raisin. Short mash? Short steep? Magic?

Now that I think about it more, old Arrogant Bastard (when the hops fall off) does taste like raisin. It’s not good.

Special b is a fully glassy caramel/crystal malt with low fermentability. You simply can’t make a normal beer with it as it’s not even close to a base malt. It’s already converted during the malting process (the stewing step during caramel malt production) so the lack of any enzymes isn’t really the issue, but you’d get a very thick, sticky mash that probably wouldn’t even lauter, and a crazy-sweet, dark, nasty tasting wort that would only ferment a couple of points.

If you still want to give it a shot, I’m open to hearing how close my prediction comes.

Originally posted by Quasimodo
I’m curious to know how to brew with a pound of Special B and produce a beer that doesn’t taste like raisin. Short mash? Short steep? Magic?

I would use a varying temp schedule in your mash to get the dryer, less fruity aspects of the special B.

ISO: SMASH Special B/Chinook homebrew. First bottled delivered to me that doesn’t make me vomit gets 100 bucks.