Done.
I brewed this yesterday.
2.5 gallon batch
4lbs 2 row
1lbs Munich malt
1lbs wheat malt
0.5lbs peated malt
2oz black patent
0.5 oz armarillo 60 min
0.5 oz cascades 5 min
wyeast 1388
I omitted the Belgian candy sugar and the spruce extract from the original recipe and I toned down the hop weights. The thought process behind this was to not make a beer that had to be choked down. I did want to stay close to the idea that brought this recipe to light but didn't want to butcher it.
The mash smelled odd. I guess it was the peated malt (this was my first time using it). I couldn't put my finger on it. It had a traditional mash aroma but with a little bit of ....... horse stable, if I had to describe it verbally. It tasted ok though. Nothing jumped out as awful or re pungent.
I did have one interesting event that may or may not have an influence on the beer and voids out all the control variables of this experimental brew. I dropped a business card into the carboy....
I was brewing alone and while I was transferring the wort into the 3 gallon carboy using a funnel, I had no one to hold the funnel to allow air to escape as the wort was poured in. If you've ever done this, you'll know that the carboy will periodically burp and spit some wort all over the place. So I imper vised and folded a business card and wedged it in the carboy neck between next to the funnel. This allowed air to escape as the wort was poured in. It worked fine until I forgot about the business card and removed the funnel only to watch as the card plunked into carboy and sank below the foam of star-san and aerated wort. I couldn't believe I just did that! I scanned my brain for what I could think of to get it out. My college best turned up with a pair of chop sticks. I was able to find the card and pick it up but just like a kid in an arcade trying to win a stuff animal in the crane machine, I dropped it once I raised it about an inch. I did this for 15 minutes with the same result time after time. Defeated, I sat there in a mini shock state and decided the only way to beat whatever might be on this business card was to pitch the yeast now and hope my little buddies beat up what ever might be down there. So I pitched at 80/85F; higher that I wanted to but I had to go to work and didn't want to risk coming home to find it fermenting already with some wild stuff or covered in bacteria. That was at about 6 pm Sunday night. By 8 am on Monday morning, fermentation had begun and it smelled like fermenting beer. As luck would have it, the fermentation activity had pushed the card a little higher so I grabbed the chopsticks and gave it another go. This time I had success! Upon examining the card, it hadn't deteriorated, it was still full size just wet with beer. It was still legible. I may as well give a plug to "Flodys 99 Barbershop in Willow Grove Pennsylvania!" thank you for your contribution!
So we are now experimenting with an experiment.... I will post an update at bottling time.
j/k
