Matt brews a Halloween Horror Nights 32 event beer in this episode of Big Monster Brewing, and he takes you from yeast starter to tasting. It’s the first time since 2017 that he has made a beer inspired by the current year’s Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Orlando. The inspiration is this year’s theme, Dr. Oddfellow’s traveling show, so Matt skips the gimmicky add-ins and builds a beer around the word “odd” that you could still drink all night in the Florida heat.
The result is a thiolized cold IPA. Matt explains the style, which he says Wayfinder Beer in Portland, Oregon introduced in 2018, and why the genetically modified yeast fits an event with a genetically modified theme. He also covers what went right and what went wrong on brew day.
In this episode:
- Why Matt brewed a beer for the Halloween Horror Nights 32 event, and his history of event beers, including the four he made in 2020 when the event was canceled
- What a cold IPA is and how it blends a crisp lager with a big hop character
- Omega Yeast Labs Lunar Crush thiolized lager yeast and how it turns precursors in hops and malt into tropical fruit flavor
- Adding Cascade hops to the mash, a two-hour mash with flaked rice, a gravity that came in higher than planned, and ALDC to head off hop creep
- Water salts, a cold crash, dry hopping with Mosaic, Strata and Cryo Centennial, and printing professional can labels
- The full tasting notes, what Matt would change next time, and why he ended up with only 33 cans
Whether you love Halloween Horror Nights or brew your own beer, this Halloween Horror Nights 32 event beer story has ideas to borrow.
Leave a Comment