ceannt
Well-Known Member
For the first time in several years I have up-graded my Brewing set-up…. New Mash Tun, propane burner and brew pot. In celebration of this I am planning a three Brew series of fairly big special beers…. different, unique brews that I would normally not consider. Not too wacky…. Just different, toss the style guidelines out the window, but not use any funky ingredients (I’ll save them for my annual Summer experimental madness)…. all Dark Beers with late addition Noble Hops….. #1 in the “Trilogy of Darkness” series is “Apocalypse Ale”, an aggressively hopped, mangled beyond recognition Belgian Dark/Strong Ale…. “A beer to sip by the fire while the Zombies scratch at the door”. I will post updates on it at this thread (the recipe is there also) https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/evil-idea-celebrate-new-mash-tun-208992/
So… Time to unveil the recipe for #2…. drum roll (or at least the sound of demons hissing through the window) please….
This one will be a more or less Double Bock brewed as an Ale…. hence the name “Debacle” (De-Bock-Ale). I was going to come up with a catchy phrase for it too, but figured the name was cheesy enough….
I want the grain bill to be relatively traditional…. After all, by definition this will be a “Franken-Brew” just due to the ale yeast… (Abby Normal’s yeast?). I further fulfilled the “toss the style guidelines out the window requirement” by the late hop addition… but didn’t want to overdo it too much….. just enough to make the minions of the big ugly guy with the goat horns happy…
Following the precedent of “Apocalypse” I’m doing all calculations by hand on this…. No computer software allowed…… but if you want to check my numbers, feel free to give me a reality check if I’m way off….
“Debacle”
For a 5-gallon batch:
9.5-pounds Light Munich Malt (I would use darker Munich, but my supplier doesn’t carry anything but the light…
5.5-pounds Vienna Malt
0.3125-pounds Carafa III (should get me to the color I want)
0.25-pounds Caramunich
1-oz. Mt. Hood Hops 60-min.
1-oz. Mt. Hood Hops 7-min. (also considering either Liberty or Ultra… suggestions?)
S-05 yeast…. Or maybe K-97 but don’t know how well it would do at this gravity, the only times I’ve used it things were around 1.054, and it took a lot of nurse-maiding…. I have even given some thought to S-04, just to glorify in it’s Ale-ness……..
O.G. should be in the 1.076 neighborhood
Bitterness of around 26-IBU
Color between 22 and 23… probably closer to 23. (Morey gives me 22.3, but I figure with the decoction and long boil it will be a tad darker.)
APV should be close to 8%... say 7.8%
Convoluted Mash Schedule:
Assume 15.5625-pounds of grain at 70-degrees…
Strike in at 1.2-quarts/gallon with 4.67-gallons at 139.7-degrees for a 20-min. protein rest at 128-degrees.
Step up to 152-degrees with 2.42-gallons of boiling water, for 60-min.
Pull a 2.50-gallon decoction (thick). Boil for 20-min. add back to main mash to target 170-degree Mash-out, 15-min. rest.
I would do a “classic” triple decoction, but don’t really want to go through an 18-hour brew-day……… after all, H.P. Lovecraft was an optimist…. (oooh, wait a minute…. I think I just found the “catchy phrase”
Batch sparge.
90-min. boil. Minimum….
Ferment cool…. it will probably stay in Primary for around 6-weeks or so (I haven’t transferred to secondary since about 1989). Let it age a bit after bottling, couple of months at least.
What do you all think???
So… Time to unveil the recipe for #2…. drum roll (or at least the sound of demons hissing through the window) please….
This one will be a more or less Double Bock brewed as an Ale…. hence the name “Debacle” (De-Bock-Ale). I was going to come up with a catchy phrase for it too, but figured the name was cheesy enough….
I want the grain bill to be relatively traditional…. After all, by definition this will be a “Franken-Brew” just due to the ale yeast… (Abby Normal’s yeast?). I further fulfilled the “toss the style guidelines out the window requirement” by the late hop addition… but didn’t want to overdo it too much….. just enough to make the minions of the big ugly guy with the goat horns happy…
Following the precedent of “Apocalypse” I’m doing all calculations by hand on this…. No computer software allowed…… but if you want to check my numbers, feel free to give me a reality check if I’m way off….
“Debacle”
For a 5-gallon batch:
9.5-pounds Light Munich Malt (I would use darker Munich, but my supplier doesn’t carry anything but the light…
5.5-pounds Vienna Malt
0.3125-pounds Carafa III (should get me to the color I want)
0.25-pounds Caramunich
1-oz. Mt. Hood Hops 60-min.
1-oz. Mt. Hood Hops 7-min. (also considering either Liberty or Ultra… suggestions?)
S-05 yeast…. Or maybe K-97 but don’t know how well it would do at this gravity, the only times I’ve used it things were around 1.054, and it took a lot of nurse-maiding…. I have even given some thought to S-04, just to glorify in it’s Ale-ness……..
O.G. should be in the 1.076 neighborhood
Bitterness of around 26-IBU
Color between 22 and 23… probably closer to 23. (Morey gives me 22.3, but I figure with the decoction and long boil it will be a tad darker.)
APV should be close to 8%... say 7.8%
Convoluted Mash Schedule:
Assume 15.5625-pounds of grain at 70-degrees…
Strike in at 1.2-quarts/gallon with 4.67-gallons at 139.7-degrees for a 20-min. protein rest at 128-degrees.
Step up to 152-degrees with 2.42-gallons of boiling water, for 60-min.
Pull a 2.50-gallon decoction (thick). Boil for 20-min. add back to main mash to target 170-degree Mash-out, 15-min. rest.
I would do a “classic” triple decoction, but don’t really want to go through an 18-hour brew-day……… after all, H.P. Lovecraft was an optimist…. (oooh, wait a minute…. I think I just found the “catchy phrase”
Batch sparge.
90-min. boil. Minimum….
Ferment cool…. it will probably stay in Primary for around 6-weeks or so (I haven’t transferred to secondary since about 1989). Let it age a bit after bottling, couple of months at least.
What do you all think???
