Brewed: Hombre Lunar, American Pale Ale

By scot in Beer, Beer Recipes, Home Brewing on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020

Hombre Lunar brew day and recipe creation:

When I home brewed Squirrels With Knives I had a huge amount of help from my friend Mike: he did all the grunt work. He didn’t take payment outside of a few beverages on brew day, a handshake at the end of the day and a thank you. I got off easy.

Mike is a Miller Lite fan that is willing to try craft beer and home brews but won’t go completely off the deep end for big beers. Multiple times he has told me stories of Moon Man from New Glarus Brewing Company. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that this was his favorite craft beer and making a clone, or there abouts, would be a way of showing my appreciation.

Hombre Lunar is therefore is inspired by Moon Man. Surprisingly there isn’t a recipe out there for it as I know that Dan typically keeps recipe formulation close to the vest and it isn’t any different for Moon Man.

I researched and researched and came up with the recipe below. The only thing that I thought was certain was the fact that 5 hops are melded together, in equal parts, to make the smooth hopping profile. After brew day, someone that went on a hard hat tour, that Dan lead, stated he said there were 7 but wouldn’t divulge which 7.

The only information given on the 5 hops was that 4 were from the north-west United States and the fifth was south pacific. This is were a guess work was put into to play. I settled on Citra, Simcoe, Amarillo and Mosaic hops from the United States. Galaxy would be the down-under hop.

Grain bill needed to be simple and light. I used base malt, carapils and caramel 40L. Carapils for head retention while the caramel was to give it a bit of color. Four ounces seemed to be enough to give it a touch of color. Enjoy!

Recipe for Hombre Lunar

General Information:
Brew Date: Thursday, March 05, 2020
Day: Sunny @50*F
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: S05
Yeast Starter: None
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.047
Finishing Gravity: 1.006
IBU: 29.1
Color: 5.2
Mash Time (Minutes): 40
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Conversion Efficiency: 76.79%
Alcohol by Volume: 5.38%
Apparent Attenuation: 87%
Calories per Ounce: 152.1 per 12 ounces
Primary Fermentation: free float for two days, ramp up to 68*F for 6 days

Grain Bill:
9.00 pounds 2-row
8.00 ounces Carapils
4.00 ounces Caramel 40

Mash:
Saccharification @153.6*F

Hops:
0.25 ounce(s) each 2017 Citra, 2019 Galaxy, 2019 Amarillo, 2018 Mosaic, 2018 Simcoe @10 minutes
0.25 ounce(s) each 2017 Citra, 2019 Galaxy, 2019 Amarillo, 2018 Mosaic, 2018 Simcoe @5 minutes
0.50 ounce(s) each 2017 Citra, 2019 Galaxy, 2019 Amarillo, 2018 Mosaic, 2018 Simcoe @20 minutes whirlpool
1.00 ounce(s) each 2017 Citra, 2019 Galaxy, 2019 Amarillo, 2018 Mosaic, 2018 Simcoe dry hop 5 days

Extras:
1.0 tsp Irish Moss @15 minutes
1.0 tsp Yeast Nutrient @15 minutes
1.0 quart of rice hulls

Updates:

• 2020-03-05 evening: @63.4*F, no visible fermentation
• 2020-03-06 morning: @62.2*F, very light fermentation, put on heat @68.0*F
• 2020-03-06 evening: @66.2*F, medium fermentation, raised heat to 70.0*F
• 2020-03-07 morning: @70.1*F, good fermentation
• 2020-03-07 evening: @69.8*F, light fermentation
• 2020-03-08 morning: @69.0*F, no visible fermentation
• 2020-03-12: add dry hops
• 2020-03-17: kegged

Useless Fact:
In the Durango desert, in Mexico, there’s a creepy spot called the “Zone of Silence.” You can’t pick up clear TV or radio signals. And locals say fireballs sometimes appear in the sky.

Tags: hombre lunar american pale ale, home brewing