Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Abbey Ale
Yeast Starter: Yes
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: Brett B, Belgian Sour Mix
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.004
IBU: 23
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 28
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 at 68-71
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 18 months at ambient
Tasting Notes: see below

Here's the recipe and technique I used...

Recipe: Supplication Clone
TYPE: Partial Mash

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.064 SG
Estimated Color: 20.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 22.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.75 lb Extra Pale Extract (1.3 SRM) Extract 65.85 %
1.75 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 17.07 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 9.76 %
0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.44 %
1.75 oz Styrian Goldings [3.50 %] (60 min) Hops 21.2 IBU
0.25 oz Styrian Goldings [3.50 %] (10 min) Hops 1.1 IBU
1.00 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Belgian Sour Mix I (White Labs #WLP655) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Brett Brux (White Labs #WLP650) Yeast-Ale

Measured OG: 1.053
Measured FG: 1.004
Measured ABV: 6.39%

Here's a compendium of the information I could find out about the beer that helped me with this quest: brown ale aged in French Oak Pinot Noir barrels, aged with sour cherries, fermented with Brett, Lacto, and Pedio; 7.00% ABV; OG 1.064 ; 27 IBU's

*From Vinnie: "We ferment in the primary with Abbey 530 Yeast and remove the yeast post fermentation and hit the beer with Brett and the cherries (25 pounds to a 60 gallon wine barrel) in the wine barrel and let it sit for 2 months. After that we add the bacteria and more Brett, it normally ages for 12 months in the barrel.

My Technique
*Pitch the abbey ale yeast to primary - down to 1.014 after 14 days (ramped up from 68 to 71 over the course of fermentation)

*Transferred to secondary with 2 oz of oak (1oz french-medium and 1oz american-medium), 12oz of pinot wine (Estancia), cherries (3lb of cherry puree, 24oz of frozen cherries), and brett B. Allow it to ferment for 2 months.

*Add belgian sour mix and allow to ferment for another 6-18 months

*After 12 months, cork and cage the beer to 4.0 volumes of CO2 adding 7.5oz of table sugar and 5.5oz of Safale US05

The taste coming out of the fermenter at bottling is exactly what I was looking for. Cherries up front on the nose, nice complexity of oak and malt and brett. Moderate tartness in the finish. Overall, uncarbonated, I think it's a great beer that I really enjoy drinking. Does it compare to the real Supplication? I'll update this in a few months with a side by side comparison and tasting notes.

To make this beer you will need a lot of patience. And space to let this thing go for a total of 18 months or so. But overall it's not that complicated, just need some time. Unfortunately, the bulk of my secondary fermentation was not temp controlled, so ideally, I would fix that in future if I could. Also, when I re-brew this beer, I'd like to do an all grain mash to better control the fermentation profile, also possibly adding a bit of acidulated malt. Also, I may try to always have a batch of this fermenting away, as it could be blended like traditional lambics or kegged for long term storage.

Feel free to ask questions if you have them. I'd like to thank Oldsock on the forums and his website (themadfermentationist.com) for the resources. I also would like to thank Vinnie, who actually responded to my emails and helped me formulate a recipe. Awesome!

Cheers! - BK