conpewter

Recipes 

I'm thinking as soon as I get my brew system fixed and some money I'll brew this recipe. I may do the 2.5 gallon batch like FailureDrill did as that would be easier, though I would need a 3 gallon secondary.

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"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." - V

Primary: Nothin
Secondary: Shady Lord RIS, Water to Barleywine, Pumpkin wine, burnt mead
Kegged: Crappy infected mild
Bottles: Apfelwein, 999 Barleywine, Oatmeal Stout, Robust Porter, Robust smoked porter, Simcoe Smash

FailureDrill

Recipes 

After about two months in the bottle, I cracked one open.

Appearance: Black as a Coal Mine at night. Not much carbonation, though a tiny film of bubbles escorts the fluid to the bottom as it is consumed.

Aroma: There is a sweetness there, a stong aroma of licorice, the oak comes through and an obvious strong malty presence.

Taste: Interesting to say the least. At about 14%, the alcohol is not nearly as strong as I expected. Quite drinkable in that regard. The Molasses/licorice is the strongest flavor, followed on by a roasted taste which gives way to the hop bitterness at the end. I think there is some dark chocolate there also.

Overall: Definitely a sipper, a 12 oz bottle should be SHARED by a friend. I think I would certainly tone back the molasses next time to let the other flavors through, possible let it sit longer on the oak chips. Without much carbonation it has the consistency of a hearty red wine, leaving stickiness on your lips as you drink it. Overall, I would say it was a successful brew. Certainly learned a lot about my system while making it. In regards to brewing, I think using the leftover runnings as a smaller beer would make alot of sense. I am going to remake this one, but change the recipe towards a different direction. I'm also going to keg the batch, bulk age it for a while and then bottle it form the keg with Biermunchers system to give it the proper carbonation I think it needs.

Thanks for the recipe!

slimer

Recipes 

A beer in this style shouldn't have a lot of carbonation.

FailureDrill

Recipes 

Mine was basically flat, which I think was from not enough corn sugar and the high ABV. I think with kegging I can control it and get it to the level more mirroring commercial variations.

saq

Recipes 

I saw some activity in this thread and remembered I had a bottle of The Emperor thats been in the fridge for a few weeks, heres a fully mature review! It is MUCH better than the last time I tried it. This beer should age pretty nicely.


Appearance: Black, very very black. Thin dark tan head that sticks around and after a while settles down to a crown. Jostling of the glass during drinking seems to kick up a little more carbonation.

Aroma: Huge and complex yet approachable. Bittersweet dark chocolate, molasses, some dried fig/date and raw bready aromas, some roastiness and maybe a touch of sherry-like nice oxidization.

Flavor: Big, enticing, bold, very smooth. Again a fine bittersweet dark chocolate becomes a good comparison. A little initial almost chocolatey sweetness up front before almost coffee-like roastiness, some molasses sweetness and mead-like fermented honey characters (2lbs of honey), some dark malts and bitterness as it finishes. The flavors are huge you have to take a few sips before getting a real handle on how many things are going on here.

Mouthfeel: Ultra rich and intense, but surprisingly not super thick due to the 80% attenuation and because of this it doesn't tire on the mouth. Oily, coats the mouth and lingers for a while. It engages the mouth and takes it for a ride. Since this is a sipping beer I feel it is quite good.

Overall: This is one mother of a beer and definitely a sipper. The alcohol is well hidden but the warming in the chest is noticable. It barely avoids being too big and too sweet and doesn't come down harsh.

I'm really enjoying this beer now, I'll have to have some buddies over and we can crack open a Dark Lord and Emperor bottle and do some comparisons.

dcp27

Recipes 

Wow this beer sounds amazing. Did you ever end up comparing it to the real deal? You mentioned swapping in Special B, but is there anything else differently you would do now that its matured?

saq

Recipes 

I haven't done the tasting yet. I have a bottle of 09 and a bomber of my attempt that I need to crack open and compare. Probably in a few weeks I'll get a chance!

slimer

Recipes 

Wait another month and you can do a vertical tasting.

saq

Recipes 

If I can get my hands on a bottle of 2010. Any takers?

humann_brewing

Recipes 

awesome saq, if you were to change anything with the recipe, what would it be?

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On tap: Batch 1 Flanders Red, experimental sour 1.072 > 1.000, #70 Simple, gone complex pale 1.063 4/5/13, #71 French IPA, American IPA with spanish cedar and fermented with 3711 1.059>1.008
Fermenting: #72 Flower power saison 1.053>1.004 with lavender and jasmine
Aging: #67 Bareleywine 1.116 11/07/2012, Flanders 2 batches 1.056 and 1.060 12/12/11 and 3/26/12, Smoked Porter 1.063 10/11, pepper RIS 1.088 7/11, Kriek, 1.052 12/11, RYE IPA sour experiment 8/12, Berliner Weisse 1.030 9/20/12