First AG brew - Bibble clone

I'm about to start all grain brewing after a few extract brews and for my first go I want to try to make a clone of Wild Beer Co.'s Bibble. I tried this beer as part of a selection pack from Beer52 and it was my favourite of the bunch. Strong hop flavour and aroma. Nice and crisp but still with a bit of body. Like a slightly lower alcohol APA.

The info on the Wild Beer website says "Brewed with Vienna Malt and Oats, an amazing mouth filling malt base. Hopped with beautiful Mosaic hops, renowned for their tropical fruit beauty, helped along with some nice orangey Amarillo hops both at the end of the boil and in the dry hop. It is unfined, so naturally hazy. A moreish bitterness is complimented by tropical fruit tastiness."

My recipe is below:
2.6KG Marris Otter
1KG Vienna
300g Crushed Oats

Hops -
60 min: 7g Mosaic
15 min: 20g Mosaic + 20g Amarillo
3 min: 30g Mosaic + 30g Amarillo
Dry hop: 50g Amarillo for 7 days

Yeast: Safale US05

OG: 1040
FG: 1007
4.2% Vol
40 IBU

Does this look reasonable? I will be using the BIAB method and have set my efficiency at 75%. I know this could be ambitious for a first go but I've invested in a grain mill so will be milling fine and squeezing the **** out of the bag after a small dunk sparge, so i'm hoping to hit it. I'm not too fussed if I undershoot as I have a cupboard full of 6% beers and need something a little weaker.

Yes it looks reasonable to me, looks good, though i've never tried that beer so can't say how close it would be. The amount of Vienna is maybe the difficult thing to gauge.

Thanks Clibit.

I left the Vienna at aprox 1/3 as I have heard that it can affect efficiency if the percentage is too high. I know it can be used as the only base malt but I didn't fancy this for my first brew.

That makes sense. :thumb:

Mmmm. That sounds nice! I've used combinations of Mosaic & Amarillo in a few brews now, and it should be cracking :thumb:
What volume of wort are you aiming for? I often brew 25l at a time & your malt bill seems to me a bit short for this volume, whereas anything in the 20-22l range would leave a very big headspace in the secondary FV if it's anything like mine (assuming you want to use 2, of course!).
I'm about to try Vienna malt for the first time & would be interested to hear how it turns out. I hadn't imagined that using Vienna for a quarter of the malt bill would produce a crisp beer - I'd anticipated more body from it but, as I say, I haven't tried it yet!!

Aiming for 23L in the fermenter. It's not a strong beer and the US-05 yeast has 80% attention so this should mean a relatively modest grain bill. I'm going to dry hop in the primary which has worked for me before.

I went for US-05 as my impression was actually quite different from their description. I found it a really refreshing and quaffable beer. Loads of hop aroma and I think the Vienna malt and oats balance what is otherwise a light dry beer.

I really recommend you try it of you like pale hoppy beers. I will certainly update on how this recipe goes and I've just found a shop near me that stocks it so I will be able to do a proper comparison.

Lovely beer, and your recipe looks like a good guess to me.

Simonh82 said:

I went for US-05
I really recommend you try it of you like pale hoppy beers.

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I'll certainly take your recommendation. I'm not doing a dryish beer at present - I think my Brewlab yeasts are fairly low attenuators, though I've no data to support this idea! A light, dry, hoppy beer sounds like a good addition to the repertoire! Should make a good summer quaffing ale :smile:

Hoppyland said:

A light, dry, hoppy beer sounds like a good addition to the repertoire! Should make a good summer quaffing ale :smile:

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Apparently Bibble means to drink regularly in Somerset. Hence the name for their session beer.

What do you think of the Brewlab yeasts? I've heard good things about them in the CAMRA Brew your own British real ale book. They're on agar plates aren't they, rather than vials of liquid?

Simonh82 said:

What do you think of the Brewlab yeasts? I've heard good things about them in the CAMRA Brew your own British real ale book. They're on agar plates aren't they, rather than vials of liquid?

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Well, I guess I'm both a good, and also bad, person to ask about Brewlab yeasts. Bad, because for the last 25 (? can't remember) years I've used almost nothing else - so nothing really to compare them to!!
When I started brewing, all you could get was dried yeast of very dubious quality (mind you, everything was of poor quality, then, particularly hops: buy a poly bag full of wizened, brown, flaky things anyone. Come on, roll up folks, these are real hops even though they smell like cardboard!! :-( )
Well, they did add bitterness, fair play :-?
I can't remember how I found out about Brewlab (early Graham Wheeler book perhaps? No internet in those days :grin:), but what a difference! As an English beer enthusiast, for the first time I had a genuine, vigorous top-fermenter. My beers were transformed overnight - well overmonths - into ones that rivalled commercial ones. When I discovered Morris Hanbury vac pack hops - Gee, things that actually smelled of something! - then the game was changed for good :smile:
Anyway, back to Brewlab. The yeast is indeed on agar, in a sterile vial. It's on an angle, not a plate, hence why its known as a "slope". I know some brew shops sell them, but I order mine directly. They have their own "lag phase", they'll propagate a new slope of whatever strain you want especially for your order, but take about 3 days to do it, quite reasonably! I guess they mainly supply microbreweries. Not the cheapest yeast, each slope I buy is �£6 plus postage - but you can easily keep it going over several generations before you need to renew.
My first dabble was their Burton yeast. I've since tried Thames Valley 1, East Midland 1 and Tyneside, all with excellent results. EM1 my current favourite.
You do have to be prepared for the fact that there's not a vast amount of yeast cells cultured on your slope, so a carefully prepared starter is essential. But I reckon, especially if you order directly, then the yeast is in unbeatable condition. Provided your hygiene is also first class, then one of these slopes will give you a trouble-free starter as long as you take account that it'll be slower to get going than a packet of dried yeast.

And no. I have no shares, and no family employees in this company!! :lol: