Unclassifiable Recipe.

Well, I was digging through a friend's experimental recipes, and found a recipe for a 5 gallon extract batch that I can't even start to classify what it might be. Maybe you guys can put a name on it, I brewed it because other than the Special B and Columbus I had the rest of the stuff lying around.

6# Light Liquid Malt Extract (Late Extract Addition 10 min)
1# Special B
1# Wheat Malt
1# Light DME
2# Light Brown Sugar (10 min)
1 oz Columbus (60 min)
1 oz Cascade (25 min)
1 oz Saaz (5 minutes)
American Ale Yeast



I put it into beersmith, got starting gravity of 1.072, so I pitched a half liter starter of some whitelabs east coast ale that I had laying around last wednesday.

I used 12.2 AA Columbus, 5.5 Cascade, and 5.3 Saaz, so I'm at 23.7 IBU according to beersmith. Boiled it up, hit 1.069 on the SG, pitched the .5 liter starter at around 72 degrees, hooked up the blow off tube and it was off to the races from there. Brewed it on Friday night and It hasn't stopped bubbling or pushing krausen through the blowoff for the past 48hrs. After looking around to see what the special B is used for (mainly dubbels and other belgians)

Beersmith description: "Extreme caramel aroma and flavored malt. Used in dark Belgian Abbey and Trappist ales. Unique flavor and aroma."


If any of you could help me put a classification on this recipe, other than it will be a decently sweet dark beer with a high alcohol content. I really have no idea what this will be like. I know the hops arent very balanced, but right now the hop smell seems to dominate the fermentation.

The closest thing on beersmith that I could find was between 8C English Special/Strong Bitter or 10C American Brown Ale

I still dont understand why the wheat malt is in this recipe.

I think you're closest to an American Amber. It's a bit strong and dark for that style, but it's neither an ESB nor a Brown Ale.

That's no style I know. Many beers defy classification, and that's fine. We don't have to put a style label on everything.


TL

Yuri_Rage said:

I think you're closest to an American Amber. It's a bit strong and dark for that style, but it's neither an ESB nor a Brown Ale.

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ok.

TexLaw said:

That's no style I know. Many beers defy classification, and that's fine. We don't have to put a style label on everything.


TL

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I guess your right, I just would like to know how he came up with this recipe.

ChuckMoney said:

I guess your right, I just would like to know how he came up with this recipe.

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Probably the same way I come up with a bunch of my recipes. "I bet that would be good."


TL

It says on northern brewer not to use more than 1/4 lb per 5 gallon batch. Is there any particular reason for this?

ChuckMoney said:

It says on northern brewer not to use more than 1/4 lb per 5 gallon batch. Is there any particular reason for this?

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If your talking about the Special B, I have no idea why they would put such a cautionary statement out like that. I use a pound and a half in 5 gal of my Irish Honey Red. I love the special B myself. Stone uses a fair amount of it too.
As with anything, give it a try and pay attention to the character it imparts. You can then use that info to adjust later or use it specifically in a new recipe.
A little bit of Wheat malt can add a very nice mouthfeel and add some complexity to the malt profile without adding any real color or caramel.

I was talking about the Special B. I tend to like it myself, but the guy working the local homebrew store said that it was going to be out of stock for a few weeks back in april, so I bought 10lbs and try to use it sparingly. Honestly this is the first recipe that has ever called for more than a half pound, so i was kind of timid adding it.

I've seen some claims that large amounts of Special B can give a beer a sweet plum flavor.

ChuckMoney said:

I was talking about the Special B. I tend to like it myself, but the guy working the local homebrew store said that it was going to be out of stock for a few weeks back in april, so I bought 10lbs and try to use it sparingly. Honestly this is the first recipe that has ever called for more than a half pound, so i was kind of timid adding it.

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I just used a pound of it in a Belgian Strong Ale I just did. Tastes fine so far.

Don't be afraid of the B. . . .

Cheers,

I've had some beers with a lot of Special B in them, and they tasted like Dr. Pepper. Some folks love that, but I do not care for it.


TL

It is roughly in the Old Ale category, on the light side, especially in the hops, but close. I like Special B, especially in bigger beers. Let it age a little and call it a Pittsburg style Old Ale. The wheat will help cut some of the Special B and it will have an assertive hop flavor for the style.

I have enough homebrew leftover from my last 3-4 ventures to let this one go untouched for a very very long time, I'm kind of thinking this might have been a little better with candi instead of brown sugar, and belgian trappist yeast instead of east coast ale, maybe less hops as well. Either that, or switch to lighter hops such as fuggles and EKG, drop the brown sugar and use a british ale yeast. Either way, I'm no longer slightly worried about whats going to come out of my fermenter.

If there were some stoppage in fermentation (beersmith says the fg should be 1.019, but i'd like it to be a little dryer) if it doesn't get there due to the east coast ale not being that tolerant of higher alcohol levels, would there be a problem with me pitching another starter, or pray tell a different variety of yeast?

I say let it ferment out and see what you have.

Sounds good, it was at 1.024 sunday 7am, and yesterday looked to be slightly lower than 1.024 yesterday at 7 but not 1.023, this morning when I checked it was at the same spot. But yes, Pittsburgh style Old Ale sounds like a marvelous tag for it. It got me thinking about doing a whiskey rebellion stout as well.

A new style has been born and we know its creator!

david_42 said:

I've seen some claims that large amounts of Special B can give a beer a sweet plum flavor.

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The most I've used (iirc) is .75 lb and it is a very distinct Raisin flavor, pushing Plum type flavors. Of course, that does have to do with the rest of the recipe is tailored to help push that to the front.