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Author Topic: Two Brothers Atom Smasher clone ideas?  (Read 2565 times)

Offline TheJosh

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Two Brothers Atom Smasher clone ideas?
« on: April 20, 2012, 01:17:07 pm »
So I'm new to the forum but have read through many threads on several occasions.  I've been brewing for about a year and half and have a dozen or so batches completed.  Most are extract w/ specialty grain or partial mash (apt living and a wife doesn't easily allow for AG brewing . . . yet) 

I've got two friends who I've also recently seduced into the hobby/way of life/addiction of homebrewing.  The three of us together talk pretty much nothing but beer anymore.

Enough of my social life and history? I thought so. Let's cut to the chase . . .

We all highly enjoy Two Brothers Atom Smasher.  One of the friends will be getting married in late fall and wants to have some on hand for his wedding.  More importantly, he'd love brew something similar himself.

Understanding that we have limited skills as of right now and that we may not be able to obtain the oak barrels necessary, does any one have any tips on ingredients for an Atom Smasher clone?  AG can be done though I have limited experience with it.

Any constructive thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks!
« Last Edit: April 20, 2012, 03:50:43 pm by TheJosh »

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Two Brothers Atom Smasher clone ideas?
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2012, 02:06:07 pm »
I have not had the beer in question but if it is a barrel aged beer you can simulate that with oak chips, cubes, spirals, or even staves. These are often available at your LHBS and can also easily be purchased on line. If you can find out what kind of barrels the brewery uses (Jack Daniels, Heaven Hill, etc) you can then purchase a bottle of that same booze and soak the chips/cubes... in it for a couple weeks and then dump the whole thing in your secondary with the beer.

On the recipe, you could try contacting the brewery to ask about it. Often times brewers are happy to share recipe details with homebrewers. Sometimes they are not and this is understandable as it is there intellectual propery and has real value to them. Be polite and understanding if they say no.

If you give a description of the beer that might help folks point you in the right direction though.

**EDIT**

Just did a little googling (is that legal? in public?) and it appears to be an octoberfest/marzen so that is a place to start. Also apparently Two Brothers has a home brew supply shop attached so they might even have a kit available.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2012, 02:10:36 pm by morticaixavier »
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Offline snowtiger87

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Re: Two Brothers Atom Smasher clone ideas?
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2012, 02:24:36 pm »
At 7.7% (according to ratebeer) it is a pretty big Marzen-style beer. Also appears to be aged in bourbon barrels.  Neither one of the these would be a big deal to an extract or partial mash homebrewer to reproduce. However, this is a lager, which means it has to be fermented at constant 50 degrees for 14 days and then lagered at 32 - 40 degrees (the closer to 32 the better) for a couple of months. That would be the challenge if you are not set up for it.
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Offline garc_mall

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Re: Two Brothers Atom Smasher clone ideas?
« Reply #3 on: April 20, 2012, 03:51:13 pm »
So, I agree with pretty much everything said here, but I am going to add my own 2 cents.

1. For sure talk to the brewers about that recipe. If they can't give you a full recipe, I bet they can give you an idea of what malts and hops they use. You can look at some other marzen or oktoberfest beer recipes, and that will give you an idea of the malt and hop percentages and timing.

2. This beer is going to take a while. If you want to have this ready in late fall, you probably want to brew it here pretty soon. I would guess that you are looking at about 3-4 months if you do it right.

3. You might be able to fake it. If you use WY1007, you could probably ferment closer to 60. You still will want to give it some lagering time.

4. As Morticai said, Oak chips soaked in whatever bourbon they used will get you pretty close. Remember that oak cubes have a huge amount more surface area than a bourbon barrel, so start tasting it pretty quickly after you rack it onto the cubes so you can get it off before you get too much oaky-bourbony flavor.

Offline TheJosh

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Re: Two Brothers Atom Smasher clone ideas?
« Reply #4 on: April 20, 2012, 10:35:17 pm »
Thank you everybody for your thoughts on this.  The oak chips/cubes is a brilliant idea and I don't know how I didn't think of it myself.  I've reached out via an email to the brewery. So we'll see what, if anything, they're willing to help with.  Regardless, I'll start up with some attempts in the next few weeks here and update with my findings.

For those of you that haven't had the pleasure Atom Smasher, I highly recommend it if you get your hands on it.  It's a lager styled on marzen/oktoberfest but has some really unexpected flavors to it.  So don't stick to heavily with the style guidelines with this one.  Low head and carbonation level with some toasted and buttery finishing notes all on top of the usual maltiness for the style.  Add the oak aging and it's pure unexpected brilliance.

Anyway, thanks again and I'll keep you posted.