Hey, I need halp deciding on a celebration beer.

I'm going to be starting technical school here on May 10th and it's gonna take 10.5 months to complete, and so I figured this is a perfect time to brew a nice delicious beer for my graduation party.

I love wit, but wit doesn't take that long to get ready, I also love a good stout, and those can take that long.

I looked around for different recipes. and found one that looks really interesting, http://hopville.com/recipe/120833/strong-scotch-ale-recipes/maplescotch I like maple syrup, and I like scotch ale, but I'm new at this so I'm not sure if I'd like that.

I know this is a real difficult question because I'm not giving you much in the way of what I like, so I guess I just want something with a complex flavor that will take a while to settle out, and something that will be very drinkable.

I prefer malty over bitter.

look into brewing a barley wine.

I looked it up, and an English barley wine does sound pretty good, I'm gonna run up to grape and gourmet later and get a couple bottles.

Also, I forgot to mention this, but I'm only capable of partial mash brewing. But the local home brew store can do all grain to partial mash conversions.

Belgian Strong Ale, maybe with a little anise for flavor. Barleywine is a great idea. Definitely English like you said if you prefer more malty over more bitter or hoppy.

Good luck in school

+1 on barley wine, also look into imperial stout or imperial porter... they also age out nicely...

I brewed this one about 6 months ago and it is getting REALLY good (imho of course
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bourbon-vanilla-porter-ag-30185/

I say Belgian double or dark strong, both of these will begin to blossom as your training closes. If you go barelywine definitely go English over American but there is still a decent hop presence in both.

Oh, if you have lagering capabilities I’d say doppelbock. That’ll give you the nice malty base you said you like.

unfortunately no, I dont have lagering facilities... and I learned how important that is when the homebrew store sent me home a "ale/lager" oktoberfest recipe, it was disgustig.

phatuna said:

I brewed this one about 6 months ago and it is getting REALLY good (imho of course
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bourbon-vanilla-porter-ag-30185/

Click to expand...

I brew this once a year and its great about about 6-7 months. I also boil 32oz of Vermont Grade C maple syrup for 5 minuntes, cool and add to secondary with the vanilla.

For the bourbon I use Basil Hayden, about 1.5 cups, and let it sit on oak chips in a sealed growler from brew day until bottling day. On bottling day it gets added to the bucket.

VTBrewer said:

I brew this once a year and its great about about 6-7 months. I also boil 32oz of Vermont Grade C maple syrup for 5 minuntes, cool and add to secondary with the vanilla.

For the bourbon I use Basil Hayden, about 1.5 cups, and let it sit on oak chips in a sealed growler from brew day until bottling day. On bottling day it gets added to the bucket.

Click to expand...

wow... this sounds interesting and really good, but I'm worried about the sudden infusion of liquor stressing the yeast on bottling day, have you ever had any issues?

also, never heard of basil hayden bourbon... where would I get it?

excellent question on the yeast stress. 1.5 cups is quite a bit and i've found this beer takes forever to carb. but your original post is looking for that.

Basil Hayden is a small batch bourbon made by Jim Beam. It's about 80 proof and has a peppery taste to it. Your liquor store can get it, and it will run you around 38$ for a fifth. it has worked well for me in Denny's classic recipe, and the maple syrup is just a cool bonus.

so you add maple syrup to the original recipe, with no subtraction of other ingredients? does that make the alcohol overpowering?

I can barely do a 14 pound mash, so I probably altered the original recipe. its not overpowering, but its definitely noticeable. the recipe i use is here:

http://www.clubhomebrew.com/index.php?page=recipeDetail&filter=VTBrewer&id=5

hmm, looks interesting. I'm definitely gonna give it a go. I'm gonna add half a pound of flaked oats for creaminess and head retention, and use a LME conversion, and maybe even use the original recipe to boost the alcohol a little bit.

I'll let you know what I end up doing and how it tastes.

so, after analyzing every variation of the recipe, and looking at things from an angle of my particular tastes, I've come up with this

3 lb munich liquid malt extract
5 lbs light dry malt extract
1.5 lb brown malt
1 lb chocolate malt
1lb crystal malt 120L
.5 lb crystal malt 40L

1.5 ounce fuggle hops @60 minutes
.5 ounce golding @10 minutes

wy1450 "denny's favorite yeast"

oak chips
whirlfloc
yeast nutrient

16 oz grade a dark amber maple syrup
375 ml bourbon
2 madagascar vanilla beans

going to put the bourbon and oak in a container on brewing day, and add it all together into the secondary and not bottling day, just because I want the whole beer to have a chance to age in oak.

tell me what you guys think