Day 9: Caribou Slobber Brown Ale by Scott Hackett

[Scott H]

Caribou Slobber Brown Ale by Scott Hackett

Specs:
OG: 1.055
FG: 1.012
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 43.8

Ingredients
9 lbs. Rahr 2 row pale
0.75 lbs. Caramel 60
0.5 lbs. Caramel 80
0.25 lbs. Pale Chocolate
0.125 lbs. Black Malt
Mashed at 153f for 60 minutes

1 oz. US Goldings @ 60 min
1 oz. Liberty @ 30 min
1 oz. Willamette @ 15 min

Wyeast Northwest Ale (1332)

Notes from the brewer:
I've been wanting to make Caribou Slobber for a long time. It's one of those recipes of internet folklore, such as BierMuncher's Centennial IPA or Brandon O's Apple Graf. Anyway, Northern Brewer made this recipe as a clone to Moose Drool, and they are kind enough to post the recipe and instructions. This is awesome!

My original intent was to make "Peppermint Caribou Slobber" in keeping with the holiday theme. I thought about doing a secondary on peppermint candy, but I had no idea how much to use and my worst fear was over-shooting and adding too much. So I went with extract. When I racked to a carboy, I pulled more usual sample, or two, three and sometimes four, on the side and added a small amount of peppermint extract to it. Bad idea. It tasted gross, like mediciney gross. I was really happy with the base beer and didn't want to ruin it with some stupid gimmicky addition, so you've got some straight up Caribou Slobber in your bottle.

This beer will not make you w00t out loud. You won't feel compelled to pound the table and brew it tonight. I think it's a pretty solid beer though, and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. To me, this is the kind of beer that I could have in reserve all year long as a go-to beer and not get tired of it. It's not a crowning achievement of my homebrewing, but it's one that I could see as part of a permanent line-up in the garage brewery.

One last note, that Wyeast Northwest Ale yeast is one strange animal. I've had fermentations that act like this, but this yeast just took it's own sweet time and was a lot more like this. It actually took 3 weeks for the fermentation to finish, and I actually became a little worried that I wasn't going to have time to get it in secondary, then bottle and carbonate. Anyway, a new yeast for me and that's always a fun adventure.

[klinger]

Hi Scott,

This certainly comes close to my memory of Moose Drool, though it's been a few years since I had one. It looks spot on! Very pretty light brown/deep red color with nice head leaving just a little lacing. Aroma smells toasty bready with a bit of earthy herbal hops. Taste is also close to what i remember -- highly drinkable beer. I get a little ester thing going on in the after taste. You said the yeast acted funny. How much yeast did you pitch? What temp did you ferment at?

Thanks for sharing. I definitely enjoyed this more than I would have liked a peppermint brown ale.

[spidermonk]

I agree this is a very drinkable good beer that you can have around all the time. A great ale that's easy to drink but interesting enough to keep you coming back

[Chris Creech]

Solid beer. It was a nice break from all of the spice/fruit/coffee beers. Very drinkable. As you mentioned, it doesn't blow me away, and I typically like my browns a bit more roasty (more on the borderline porter side of things), but this one was quite good. Well balanced. Some noticeable esters as it warmed - yeast may have been a bit stressed, given your description. But overall a quite enjoyable brew.

[ricky]

I've never had Moose Drool, but if it's anything like this beer, I know I'd like it. Very drinkable, very balanced. Great job!

[Scott H]

Thanks for the comments! The yeast may have been overworked. I used one liquid yeast package, but made a healthy starter for it, so I thought it would be fine. Next time I'll use two packages.

[klinger]

Hey Scott,

Just a thought, but it could have been an old package of yeast or one that wasn't handled so well. If there aren't so many living yeast cells in the package, a healthy yeast starter may not be enough.

[Heiko R.]

Scott,

thanks for making a clone of the Moose Drool, it's been quite a while since I last had one. Your beer was pretty close to how I remember it, a very enjoyable well balanced brown. There were some slight esters potentially due to the yeast, but overall this was a rather tasty beer. Thanks for sharing!

Heiko

[mavus]

Scott,
I quite enjoyed this beer, I to get some esters at the end that remind me of maraschino cherries which in my opinion adds to the beer. Great color, I could do with a little more roast as well. Thanks for a very solid beer!
--Jesse

[antonia]

Scott - I've never had Caribou Slobber or Moose Drool, but I definitely enjoyed this. Like you said, this is a good drink-anytime beer. I don't get much in the aroma, and think a bit more malty, roastiness would be nice - but overall, I enjoyed every sip. Thanks!