Gift for a friend's wedding, need some advice

So first off I have to thank you guys for all the advice and tips you've given me already. They were invaluable a few months ago when I made the hop-goblin clone partial mash with my bucket kit. It came out tasty and delicious albeit with a bit of the banana ester / off-color flavor. I've let them bottle ferment for 4-6 extra weeks and they've only gotten better with age.

But the reason I post today is a good friend of mine is getting married in August and a home brew would be a fantastic gift. I just want to make sure I brew a perfect ale as the occasion demands.

He's a big fan of a brew from Buffalo NY called Trainwreck, described as a "medium-body, medium strength German Amber Ale that delivers rich, malty flavors and aroma, finishing slightly sweet with a mild, momentary toasted nut presence on the tongue." He's also an avid Sam Adams Octoberfest drinker, so clearly a malt lover.

I'm looking for some recommendations from you guys for an easy, fool-proof recipe I could make. I wouldn't be opposed to an extract only recipe to make sure it comes out delicious.

I have on hand a bunch of Muntons Chocolate Malt, Crushed Crystal Malt, Briess Dextrine Malt, and LD Carlson Irish Moss. All left over from the hop-goblin. Using up any of these leftovers in the brew would be a bonus.

A simple recipe might be to use your Crystal #60? malt.
Steam Beer
5 gals.
Steep 1 lbs Crystal #60 in brewing water until temp. reaches 170f. then remove.
Then add malt extract and boil 60 min. for a 1.056 gravity.
Use Northern Brewer hops for 40 IBU's
Clarify with irish moss.
Ferment with White labs Calif. common yeast.
Condition and carbonate in 'fancy' bottles.
mark
Beer Diary...

You could look through the recipe section for an Amber Rye which would be nice and malty. (Shameless plug for my recipe in my drop down as well. It's all grain though.) You could do that with a partial mash of a couple pounds of 2-row, couple pounds of rye, and then add the crystal for color with some light DME/LME to get to your desired OG. I would stay away from hops that are citrus-y as that doesn't really follow through with german/oktoberfest type malty beers.


For a label name though you could call it The "ups and downs between the sheets" ale.

you said you wouldnt be opposed to an extract recipe but can you do all grain? if so, you might want to try this recipe for an "Oktoberfest Ale".

5.5 gal batch

OG 1.061
IBU 24
SRM 11

5 lbs. vienna malt
3 lbs. pilsener malt
3 lbs. munich malt
0.75 lb. crystal 60
0.25 lb. special roast malt

2 oz. Hallertau (60 min)
0.25 oz Hallertau (10 min)
Irish moss (10 min)

Mash at 153 for 60 minutes. Ferment with Nottingham in the upper 50s to low 60s if you can.

I always give mead as a wedding gift, as it's part of the mythology of the honeymoon.

I'd consider a braggot or some sort of honey-beer if not inclined to make a mead.

All great ideas, thanks for the suggestions.

KingBrianI: True, I did a mash with the hop-goblin but it didn't come out quite as clean as I wanted. I want to ensure this beer comes out great or it wouldn't be such a great gift idea. I figured if I could find a delicious extract recipe it be less of a risk. I think my problem with the hop-goblin was due to poor primary fermentation temperature control.

phishie, if the off-flavors of your hobgoblin clone were due to the fermentation temp, then AG won't be a problem. in most cases AG will produce a superior beer. I'd say go AG on the batch, and just do what you can to control fermentation temperatures. If your house is above 70 degrees, do a search on the site for "swamp cooler".

KingBrianI said:

you said you wouldnt be opposed to an extract recipe but can you do all grain? if so, you might want to try this recipe for an "Oktoberfest Ale".

5.5 gal batch

OG 1.061
IBU 24
SRM 11

5 lbs. vienna malt
3 lbs. pilsener malt
3 lbs. munich malt
0.75 lb. crystal 60
0.25 lb. special roast malt

2 oz. Hallertau (60 min)
0.25 oz Hallertau (10 min)
Irish moss (10 min)

Mash at 153 for 60 minutes. Ferment with Nottingham in the upper 50s to low 60s if you can.

Click to expand...

Sounds pretty good, you've convinced me to do an AG, couple questions-

Do you start with 5.5 gallons water to boil with the grain bag for 60 minutes or a larger amount that boils down to 5.5 gallons?

Do you boil some water on the ride to rinse the grain bag after 60 minutes?

Will a bottle ferment induce too much carbonation and overpower the flavor of the beer?

Is that a post boil, post primary ferment, or bottle conditioned OG?

I don't know how to measure IBU or SRM without buying expensive equipment.

phishie said:

Sounds pretty good, you've convinced me to do an AG, couple questions-

Do you start with 5.5 gallons water to boil with the grain bag for 60 minutes or a larger amount that boils down to 5.5 gallons?

Do you boil some water on the ride to rinse the grain bag after 60 minutes?

Will a bottle ferment induce too much carbonation and overpower the flavor of the beer?

Is that a post boil, post primary ferment, or bottle conditioned OG?

I don't know how to measure IBU or SRM without buying expensive equipment.

Click to expand...

I don't boil in a bag so my method will differ from how you'll do it. Perhaps someone who does the the boil in a bag method could chime in for more specifics. However, you'll definitely want to start the boil with more than 5.5 gallons as you'll have some amount of boiloff. For me, I will boil off about 2.25 gallons in an hour (high, I know) so I start with about 7.75 gallons and that boils down to 5.5. You will definitely want to rinse the bag after the mash in order to wash all those extra sugars out. But it shouldn't be boiling, aim for 170 degrees F. When you bottle carbonate, you can adjust the amount of priming sugar to determine how much carbonation the beer develops. Just be sure to let the beer ferment completely in the primary before bottling. The OG listed (1.061) is the original gravity, or what the gravity will be before fermentation. The gravity should end up somewhere between 1.012 and 1.014 after fermentation. Most of us don't measure the actual IBU or SRM. We only use the hypothetical numbers suggested by brewing software. Those are usually close enough for all intents and purposes.

EDIT: I just saw that you had mentioned boiling with the grain bag and want to make sure that was just a typo you made. You should never boil the grains. During the mash, the temperature should be held at 154 degrees F. The bag should then be rinsed in 170 degree F water. The bag is then drained completely and the liquid ONLY is boiled for 60 minutes.

EDIT 2: I should also mention that the wort collected from mashing AND the rinsate (sparge) should add up to your boil volume. Not the mash liquid only. That goes without saying but it wasn't clear in my original response. The mash should be done with 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain. That would be 15 qts (3.75 gallons) for this recipe.