Fat Yak Style Receipe

[carniebrew]

I guess it's like a dry hop with a teensy bit of extra aroma/flavour from the boil.

 

[Wadey]

Hi Folks

Just tired the Fat Yak, isn't too bad at all, and that's brewed at 28 degrees. Just bought a STC1000 so going to do this recipe again but at controlled lower temp to see how much it improves.

 

[Masha]

The million dollar question is...

Did it taste like Fat Yak?

 

[carniebrew]

I've been having some fun making Fat Yak style beers lately....but I always seem to end up with an IBU in the low 30's, rather than Fat Yak's 25. It's a bit strange using so few hops at 60 minutes to allow for some larger additions at 20 and 5 minutes to try and maximise the aroma/flavour.

My latest (full extract, 25 IBU) recipe has only a 5gm addition of Cascade at 60m, with 20gm of Cascade/NS (5/15gm) at 20, and 25gm of Cascade/NS (15/10gm) at 5. Makes me wonder what difference it would make to drop the 60m addition altogether, and up the Cascade/NS combination at 20 minutes to 25 grams (10/15gm). I still get 25 IBU, but only need a 20 minute boil instead of 60.

Any drawbacks to worry about when only boiling for 20 minutes?

 

[Phillo]

I've found that if I drop my bittering addition entirely and rely on late additions for the IBUs, the flavour is incredible, but the bitterness (even when calculated to the same IBUs in Brewmate) lacks a certain "kick" that beers with a dedicated bitterness addition have. I always add a small one for that bit of bite, but that's just me. I daresay that many brewers may find the smoother bitterness preferable.

 

[carniebrew]

Thanks Phillo...so do you reduce the boil time to that of your first 'late addition'?

 

[Phillo]

Thanks Phillo...so do you reduce the boil time to that of your first 'late addition'?

I'm an AGer, so I still boil for 90 minutes. However, I understand you're an extract brewer (a method I still heartily defend) so the lengthy boil time is probably not neccessary. Happy to be corrected, but I reckon you could reduce the boil time to whatever is needed to boil your late additions.

 

[Wadey]

Just to answer Masha's question it definitely tasted like a Fat Yak, will see how it improves over a couple of weeks. Do you guys think the high fermentation temp of 28c would have a big impact on taste? Put together my STC1000 the other day so can't wait to do my first brew @18c

 

[ivars]

I've been having some fun making Fat Yak style beers lately....but I always seem to end up with an IBU in the low 30's, rather than Fat Yak's 25.

Was just wondering what the source for Fat Yak being 25 IBUs is? I was quite happy with my last attempt at 27 IBU and was actually considering going to 30 next time.

 

[carniebrew]

Was just wondering what the source for Fat Yak being 25 IBUs is? I was quite happy with my last attempt at 27 IBU and was actually considering going to 30 next time.

Go to https://www.matildabay.com.au/ and click on Fat Yak. It says 25 IBU.

I just had 7 blokes around to my place for our Ultimate Footy AFL draft night, and my 31 IBU fat yak tribute was easily the favourite brew of the night. So I'm sticking with 30+, as it seems many do.

The Nelson Sauvin in this brew makes it quite easy to replicate I think. I didn't put any Pride of Ringwood in mine (used Cascade for bittering) and nobody noticed.

 

[ivars]

Thanks so much for that carniebrew - I don't think I'd actually looked on Matilda Bay's site. :wacko: Mine at 27 didn't seem bitter enough and so the 25 comes as a bit of a surprise. I don't use POR in my extract and grain either, just Cascade for bittering instead, so I wonder if that has some effect on the perception of bitterness. Do you dry hop? I haven't so far but was thinking of giving it a go next time I do a Fat Yak - mine seemed it could do with it.

This is what I did last time and I would really appreciate your comments having just returned to brewing after having given up many years ago.


0.243 kg Joe White Crystal Malt (120.0 EBC)
2.948 kg Light Dry Extract (9.0 EBC)
0.336 kg Wheat Dry Extract 60/40 (16.0 EBC)
24 g Cascade [6.20 %] - Boil 60.0 min
15 g Nelson Sauvin [10.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min
2.89 g Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins)
20 g Nelson Sauvin [10.60 %] - Boil 5.0 min
16 g Nelson Sauvin [10.60 %] - Boil 0.0 min
American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272)

27.7 IBU 13.9 EBC 4.7% ABV

Just wired up my STC1000 so the next go at Fat Yak I'll do at 19C.

 

[carniebrew]

I didn't dry hop this one, and I even decided to try it without my usual flameout additions. This was my hop schedule:
(Cascade - 7.8%, Nelson Sauvin - 10.5%)

15gm Cascade @ 60
5gm NS @ 20
10gm Cascade @ 20
7gm NS @ 7
15gm Cascade @ 7


31 IBU total

I kept the 20m addition on NS that small because of the effect it has on the IBU, being high AA. Next time I'll try a smaller addition @ 60 (it always feels weird only bittering with 5 or 10gm of hops, I don't know why), which will allow me to up the 20m & 7m addition. Even at 31 IBU I thought it wasn't quite bitter enough...but most of my (lager drinking) mates didn't agree. Despite the lack of flameout addition it still had a good whack of the expected fat yak aroma, but i'll do 15gm of each at flameout next time too I think.


There's lots of ways to skin this cat, or yak as it may be...but I would be concerned that in your hop schedule above you're losing any real Cascade aroma/flavour by using it only as bittering?

 

[ivars]

Carniebrew you're a legend! Thanks very much for that. I'll definitely play around with a later addition of Cascade. I was reasonably happy with my Fat Yak but it lacked something and I thought it might not be bitter enough. On my way home I grabbed a couple of bottles of Fat Yak (been drinking mine rather than the real stuff) to compare with mine. There was the answer: @ 27.5 IBU it was actually more bitter than the original and that something lacking was sort of mid palate which was coming from the Cascade! To me James Squires Golden Ale and Fat Yak have had a lot in common which I now realise is the Cascade "breadiness", which I had in my Golden Ale but had missed in the Fat Yak. I'm also going to have a go at pushing the IBUs down to 25, which is too low for an American Pale Ale according to the style guidelines but I'm happy to live dangerously! Have change my recipe and look forward to seeing what the result turns out to be.

 

[carniebrew]

Yeah, at 25 Fat Yak is on the lower end of IBU's even for an Australian Pale Ale. They make up for that with lots of hop flavour and aroma IMO. I've always preferred it on tap vs the bottle, I'm guessing 'coz it's fresher in the keg so more of the hop aroma compounds are still there.

But it seems lots of brewers prefer to make a "fatter yak" as has been referred to many times on this site...more IBU's and a higher FG, to make it more like an American Pale Ale as you say.

I keep waiting for Matilda Bay to bring out a "Morbidly Obese Yak"....

 

[Nick JD]

I can vouce for a Fat Yak IPA being a whoppingly great beer.