my first attempt at a custom recipe: a sorta DogFish Head India Brown Ale

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okay -- here's my first attempt at a somewhat custom recipe. Me and Brew_MU are gonna try a DogFish Head India Brown Ale copy (based on Calagione's book and some threads on this wonderful site); but with a few modifications (mainly because AHS doesn't have british amber malt). Let me know what you all think (will Munich work? too much hops?), and I'll post more details as it ferments.....

all ingredients from AHS as we don't have a LHBS in Pinetop :(

Grains
12 oz. Munich Malt
10 oz. Crystal 60L
8 oz. chocolate malt
2 oz. black roasted barley

Extract
7 lbs. light DME

Hops
1 oz. Warrior (60 min.)
1 oz. Vanguard (20 min.)
1 oz. Vanguard (5 min.)

Other
8 oz. dark brown sugar (10 min.)

Yeast
Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale Yeast
 
The brew is in the primary....

the OG was 1.060

a couple of things I learned:

1) this was my first time using 100% DME (usually use LME). It clumped up pretty good and foamed like crazy. Is this normal?

2) the Wyeat 1187 never swelled up. I was worried that it might not bloom so I added some dry ale yeast (I figure with an OG of 1.060, some extra yeast wouldn't be bad).

We tasted it and I think it will make a nice hybrid brown/IPA type ale...
 
FWIW, BYO lists the grain bill for this as: Pilsner, Flaked Maize, Amber malt, Crystal 60, Coffee malt, Roasted Barley, Brown Sugar
For extract: Light DME, Light LME & brewers corn syrup for partial sub of some base pils and the flaked maize

The hop sched:
Warrior-60
Golding-10
Liberty-0
Goldings-dry
Libery-dry

yeast - WLP005

my 2 cents: I typically hold off on posting recipes to the recipe section till it's been sampled in the bottle and I know it's a winner.
 
Keep a very close eye on your ferment.

Ringwood is a very petulant yeast, wanting to flocculate before the job is done. It's one of those ultra-traditional British yeasts meant to be conscientiously managed and manipulated. It likes to be roused, moved and nagged. In my experience Ringwood only works well in an "open" fermenter like an Ale Pail; carboys prevent the brewer from performing those tasks Ringwood expects.

Most importantly, if it poops out six points over your desired FG, there's really nothing you can do. So you've got to stay on top of it. Commercial, traditional breweries have paid staff to do this; you're going to have to do it in your spare time.

Some Tips on Dealing With Ringwood:

1. Use another yeast. ;)

2. Watch the krauesen; when it starts to fall, take a gravity sample. If it's at something like 50% attenuation, you'll need to rouse the yeast from time to time. Use a sanitized plastic spoon to get the yeast off the bottom of the fermenter and back into solution.

3. Give it a long diacetyl rest at the end of primary fermentation. Ringwood throws a surfeit of diacetyl which will make your beer taste like butterscotch if the precursors aren't reduced. Thankfully, Ringwood will clean up its own mess (for the most part).

That's about it for the basics. Please don't be frightened by me or by Ringwood; it's a fabulous yeast that gives the brewer things no other strain can give. You just need to make the decision to use it with open eyes and a full education. :D

Cheers,

Bob
 
Hey Here's a recipe given to me from Roaringbrewer. it was really close. I did not use ringwood yeast. It took a long time to smooth out. I drank half of it before it was "great". I believe it was 3 months conditioning. Charlie

This is from Sam Calagione's (DFH founder) book. It's extract, but I'm sure you can convert to AG if you'd like:

10oz British amber malt
10oz Crystal 60L
8oz Chocolate malt
2oz roasted barley
Steep all of this at 150F for 30 minutes

Add 7lb Light DME
8oz Dark Brown sugar

1/2oz Warrior Hops for 60 Minutes
1oz Vanguard Hops at Flameout

Ringwood Ale Yeast/Wyeast 1187

This is of course for a full boil of 6g. Never brewed the recipe but its from DFH themselves. One of my favorite browns too and probably my favorite DFH beer.

EDIT: Not sure why they would put a different recipe in the book than what it is (per the bottle), but its possible its just to protect their trade secret. You could brew the same recipe basically but using the hops you noted (obviously bumped up b/c they are lower AA) and carmelizing the brown sugar, if it makes you feel better.
smile.gif


EDIT2: Upon further inspection and thought, the boiling addition probably doesn't make a huge difference, since all you are getting from it is bittering. They could possibly use this in the clone since its cheaper for the HB and you might not notice a difference (its 15%AA compared to Liberty around 5.5%... thus 3x more hops would need to be used to bitter). The Vanguard at the end is a 5.5%AA hop similar to Hallarteau, but you could easily swap this out for an oz. of goldings...
__________________
 
Keep a very close eye on your ferment.

That's about it for the basics. Please don't be frightened by me or by Ringwood; it's a fabulous yeast that gives the brewer things no other strain can give. You just need to make the decision to use it with open eyes and a full education. :D

Cheers,

Bob

Thanks Bob,

we had a near blow-out this morning in our primary pail (krausen coming out of the air lock. A blow out tube has been rigged, and we'll take a reading once it goes down. Me thinks I'll be sticking with dry yeast for awhile!
 
Hey Here's a recipe given to me from Roaringbrewer. it was really close. I did not use ringwood yeast. It took a long time to smooth out. I drank half of it before it was "great". I believe it was 3 months conditioning. Charlie

thx Charlie, I found that recipe from a search on here...
 
Yep that was exciting this morning! Albeit I have only been brewing for three years with extract kits only but that is the first time we have ever had a blow out! The dry yeast Jeremy used was really going hard and fast in the glass beaker that I had it in proofing (without sugar) just 30 minutes prior to adding it to the wort. I suspect both it and the Ringwood are both working now. We used BrewVint yeast booster as well!

I used about 3 feet of 3/8" inside dia tubing out to a gallon bucket with santized water in it. Ya think this will suffice as a blow tube set up?

At least we know it will have alcohol! LOL:rockin:
 
Brew_MU's blow tube seems to be working nicely, and once the crazy activity subsides, we'll take a reading and possibly rouse the yeast as suggested by Bob.

I'll try to get some pictures up of Brew_MU's rigged-up blow tube...
 
my 2 cents: I typically hold off on posting recipes to the recipe section till it's been sampled in the bottle and I know it's a winner.

Not to get off the topic, but where else would you post recipie questions? The Recipes/Ingredients seems to me to be the only place. Posting in the database is totally different and I'd agree there you shouldn't post anything till you know the final results.
 
Not to get off the topic, but where else would you post recipie questions? The Recipes/Ingredients seems to me to be the only place. Posting in the database is totally different and I'd agree there you shouldn't post anything till you know the final results.

I'm pretty sure that's where this thread was (IPA database section) when that comment was posted and it's been moved to this forum (recipes/ingredients) since.

I agree completely that the recipes/ingredients forum is the best place to discuss a recipe and once it's all skippy, then posted to the approp database section.
 
thx to whomever moved this thread to the appropriate forum and sorry for jumping the shark on the recipe database!

we're still bubblin' away and I'll take a reading tomorrow night and see where we're at.
 
ok,

the gravity was at 1.012 on Saturday (down from the OG at 1.060).

Bob's post about Ringwood yeast had me a little worried, but I'm happy with where the gravity is after 1 week. Another sample tonight...
 
Wow. I mean, wow! Ringwood attenuated 80% without coaxing! Who'd've thunk it? :)

Seriously, good on yer. At this point, if I were you I'd give it a nice long diacetyl rest to reduce some of the famous Ringwood butterscotch. Don't be too quick to crash-cool it or package it.

Cheers,

Bob
 
if I were you I'd give it a nice long diacetyl rest to reduce some of the famous Ringwood butterscotch.

Bob, what's your definition of nice long rest? I'm in no hurry, the temps are fine in Pinetop this time of year, and patience is a virtue I guess.

Doing some searches on here, I've found most of the talk of diacetyl rest is for lagering....I'm guessing the time is shortened for ales due to the higher fermentation temps?
 
Sorry; I sort of lost track of the thread. Four days ought to do it for a rest.

Ringwood produces more diacetyl than other yeasts, so it must be put through a diacetyl rest in order to reduce the compound to tolerable levels. You should still have prominent diacetyl - it is, after all, one of the hallmarks of the yeast - but enough is enough.

Cheers,

Bob
 
bottled yesterday....

tasted a sample and it's gonna be good! not quite as hoppy as I would've liked, but will improve with age.

I'm proud of myself - 11 days in the primary, 17 in the secondary (instead of my usual 7 and 7)
 
after 2 weeks in the bottle I just had to sample a few this weekend.

Came out very nice. Dark, malty, a little sweet, a little bitter, and very creamy. A winner in my book, and probably won't last very long :mug:
 
I am making this recipe this weekend, but don't have amber malt either.
I found this however, which I am trying:

Procedure for Amber Malt"
1. Place pale ale malt to a depth of one-half inch in a foil-lined cooking pan. Retain a few kernels in a separate plate to use for comparison during roasting.
2. Cook in a oven for 45 minutes at 110c and then for 20 to 60 minutes at 150c.
3. After the first 20 minutes at 150c, cut several kernels in half to inspect the colour of the starch endosperm. For amber malt, the endosperm should be "light buff" in colour when finished. Continue heating at 150c until this colour is achieved, usually 45 to 50 minutes.

From:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/british-amber-malt-56801/
 
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