British Strong Ale 11-11-11 Gun Stock Ale (Old Ale) *Official Recipe*

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jmo88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2008
Messages
1,374
Reaction score
31
Location
Seattle
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Wyeast 9097-PC Old Ale Blend
Yeast Starter
yes
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.078
Final Gravity
1.016
Boiling Time (Minutes)
See notes
IBU
57
Color
15 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
1 month
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
8+ months
Tasting Notes
Rich malt with subtle oak. Aged flavors with brett producing leather and sherry
Fist Runnings Boil: 2 US gals (reduced to 1-2 quarts of syrup)
Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.00 US gals (containing the reduced syrup)
Total Runnings: 9 US gals

Wort Volume Before Boil: 7.00 US gals
Wort Volume After Boil: 6.00 US gals
Volume Transferred: 5.80 US gals
Water Added: 0.00 US gals
Volume At Pitching: 5.80 US gals
Final Batch Volume: 5.00 US gals
Expected Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.065 SG
Expected OG: 1.078 SG
Expected FG: 1.016 SG
Expected ABV: 8.4 %
Expected ABW: 6.5 %
Expected IBU (using Tinseth): 57.0
Expected Color: 13.6 SRM
Apparent Attenuation: 78.7 %
Mash Efficiency: 77.0 %
Boil Duration: 90.0 mins
Fermentation Temperature: 68 degF

Fermentables
UK Pale Ale Malt 14lb 8oz (87.9 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Amber Malt 12.00 oz (4.5 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Brown Malt 12.00 oz (4.5 %) In Mash/Steeped
Sugar - Treacle 8.00 oz (3.0 %) Start Of Boil

Hops
UK Target (10.5 % alpha) 2.00 oz Loose Pellet Hops used 60 Min From End

Oak cubes: added to primary fermentation and/or secondary fermentation to taste.

Yeast: Wyeast 9097-PC Old Ale Blend

Mash Schedule
Mash Type: Full Mash
Schedule Name:Single infusion 158
Step: Rest at 158 degF for 60 mins

This is the official collaborative recipe created in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/too-early-start-talking-about-11-11-11-a-180867/ The discussion about the recipe can be found here: official-11-11-11-old-ale-thread-hbt-anniversary-series Because there will be many variables from brewer to brewer, this will make for an awesome swap come next year. When brett is involved there are a lot of unknowns, so the final gravity is a bit of a shot in the dark. Another variable is the oaking. Some may wish to leave it out entirely. Also, the length of oaking, quantity, toast level, and whether it is French or American will all produce very different results. The key here is balance.

The recipe has been posted at Brewmasters Warehouse here.
 
Partial mash complicates the caramelization, but I think it could still be done. Maybe only caramelize like 3/4 of a gallon to a few cups, since there would be no full boil and it is already more concentrated.

What do you think? This will still get your OG to 1.078 assuming 77% efficiency from the mash.

Fermentables for Partial Mash
UK Pale Ale Malt 2lb 0oz (16.7 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Amber Malt 12.00 oz (6.3 %) In Mash/Steeped
UK Brown Malt 12.00 oz (6.3 %) In Mash/Steeped
Extract - Light Dried Malt Extract 8lb 8oz (70.8 %) Start Of Boil
Sugar - Treacle 8.00 oz (3.0 %) Start Of Boil

Once someone with more experience with partials confirms this I can update the original recipe.
 
If you can't find Treacle easily, would it be acceptable to swap in an equal amount of molasses, or should it really be treacle?

Ditto: If you can't get US Target would using German Target to the same IBUs work just as well, or are we talking an actual difference in flavor?
 
I'm going to stick my neck out a bit and say most dark molasses (dark or blackstrap) ought to work as a 1:1 sub for the treacle. It should be close enough, anyway.

Hop character will not show through much on this recipe, so hop substitutions should be fine (though I'd still stick with British varieties). I'm using Phoenix, because it's what I have an ample supply of.
 
Agreed. The reason the recipe was put together with treacle and target was to give a nod to old English ales. I probably won't use target, but will probably spring for the treacle.
 
How much oak would be appropriate for this beer. I did a peaty BW over the summer and did 1.5ozof stavin cubes. I was thinking of doing this beer and upping the oak to 2 or a hair more since it'll be fairly malty.

Also question, are you making the amber and brown malt on your own?
 
I plan on adding 2oz of French oak cubes for the entire primary fermentation (1 month). When I transfer to the secondary, I'll sample it to see if I should add more. I'm guessing that I probably won't do a secondary oak addition but if I did it'd be less than a half ounce. I don't want it to taste like a tree.

My LHBS carries both brown and amber malts so I'll just buy from them.
 
What toast level for the oak? My LHBS only normally stocks American oak chips in either light or heavy toast. I was thinking one ounce of each right after the krausen falls. Alternatively I could have them order Hungarian medium toast cubes.
 
What toast level for the oak? My LHBS only normally stocks American oak chips in either light or heavy toast. I was thinking one ounce of each right after the krausen falls. Alternatively I could have them order Hungarian medium toast cubes.

I've always been told to not use chips. I will be using French medium+. Hungarian medium cubes sound perfect.

Anyone wanting more in depth info on oaking, be sure to check out the Brewing Network's Sunday Session on 11/22/08. There is some great info and tips halfway through the podcast.
 
I've always been told to not use chips. I will be using French medium+. Hungarian medium cubes sound perfect.

Anyone wanting more in depth info on oaking, be sure to check out the Brewing Network's Sunday Session on 11/22/08. There is some great info and tips halfway through the podcast.

Also, episode #4 of Brewstrong (09-15-2008) is about wood aging.
 
Yeah I would be inclined to advise oak cubes. I actually bought 8oz of stavin med toast hungarian from moorebeer for the sole purpose of oaking beers. I just didn't know how much of it I wanted to add. Oak cubes take a while longer than chips to interact with the beer too so leaving them in for the duration of bulk aging is what I'm planning. I think I'll go with 2-2.5oz in the secondary for the duration of bulk aging.
 
I'm planning on using an oz of house toast french oak cubes for the duration of secondary, 6-8 months. I'm still trying to decide on a spirit to soak them in prior to adding to secondary though!
 
I'm planning on using an oz of house toast french oak cubes for the duration of secondary, 6-8 months. I'm still trying to decide on a spirit to soak them in prior to adding to secondary though!
Recently tapped into a RIS that sat on two ounces of French Oak for half a year and then aged for another five months. Very pleased with the results. But I stayed away from the spirits. In my opinion, they make an interesting addition, but tend to overpower some of the subtle character that we work so hard to produce through the brewing and aging process.
 
Recently tapped into a RIS that sat on two ounces of French Oak for half a year and then aged for another five months. Very pleased with the results. But I stayed away from the spirits. In my opinion, they make an interesting addition, but tend to overpower some of the subtle character that we work so hard to produce through the brewing and aging process.

Yeah, I'm thinking of either just a brief boil in the microwave or sterilizing in a pressure canner which is briefly mentioned in the brewstrong episode mentioned above.
 
Hey guys, is this brew too advanced for a new AG brewer? I like the idea of participating, but I dont want to get in over my head.
 
Hey guys, is this brew too advanced for a new AG brewer? I like the idea of participating, but I dont want to get in over my head.

Even better. Just think, a year from now you can swap the beer with other brewers with different levels of experience and see how it compared. I'd like to get as many people involved as possible, hence the signature.
 
Even better. Just think, a year from now you can swap the beer with other brewers with different levels of experience and see how it compared. I'd like to get as many people involved as possible, hence the signature.

Very cool. I'm always up for a challenge.

Do you guys mind giving me a hand finding spots to buy the ingredients? Up until now I'm really only used to buying prepackaged kits.
 
Here I put the recipe up in Brew Masters Warehouse. Since they have both the yeast and all the grain. You can throw it up in the original post if you'd like for easy linking for someone buying the recipe.

http://www.brewmasterswarehouse.com/recipe/ee2df8e3/

so that would get me the grain and the yeast, all i need to do is source the oak chips and the hops, right?

edit: i see the hops on the order, so its just oak chips i need.
 
so that would get me the grain and the yeast, all i need to do is source the oak chips and the hops, right?

edit: i see the hops on the order, so its just oak chips i need.

I'd recommend oak cubes over oak chips. They are thicker and provide a more "barrel-aged" flavor since the chips are thin and almost all surface area.
 
You can probably get all the grains needed along with the oak at Austin Homebrew. I ordered oak a while ago from morebeer.com and got cubes from Stavin. They're $10 for 8oz but I remember a coupon I used to make them cheaper.
 
Might finally have the equipment to do this one! I think I'll see what it's like with my pre-oaked bourbon instead of straight oak cubes :)
 
You can probably get all the grains needed along with the oak at Austin Homebrew. I ordered oak a while ago from morebeer.com and got cubes from Stavin. They're $10 for 8oz but I remember a coupon I used to make them cheaper.

I'm pricing it out at Austin Homebrew, but I can't find the Amber Malt on their site.
 
I think I'm in for this one. Putting it on my next supply order. :)

Amanda
 
I am pulling together what I am going to brew while SWMBO is out of town. I was looking for an Old Ale recipe so I was excited to see this. This will be my first XX-XX-XX brew.

I do have a quick question. I saw this is in the recipe:

"Sugar - Treacle 8.00 oz (3.0 %) Start Of Boil"

So that I am clear, is the Treacle added to the 2 gallon boil - reduced to 1 - 2 quarts which would add to the carmelized flavor. Or, is to be added to the full boil?

Sorry to ask if this was discussed in the other threads.

Thank you
 
The quote below came from another thread. We're all unique in the way we perceive flavors, but ryane's opinion is something to consider. This isn’t the first release of the 9097 blend. Can anyone else share their experience with it?

9097 wont make the beer sour at all, Ive found that I actually dont like the profile it lends to a bigger beer, it does however make a great lower grav brett'd beer

In my experience with it, it was very phenolic in a higher grav wort, and gave off some rotting banana esters
 
I am pulling together what I am going to brew while SWMBO is out of town. I was looking for an Old Ale recipe so I was excited to see this. This will be my first XX-XX-XX brew.

I do have a quick question. I saw this is in the recipe:

"Sugar - Treacle 8.00 oz (3.0 %) Start Of Boil"

So that I am clear, is the Treacle added to the 2 gallon boil - reduced to 1 - 2 quarts which would add to the carmelized flavor. Or, is to be added to the full boil?

Sorry to ask if this was discussed in the other threads.

Thank you

Add it to the full boil. It'll be easier to reduce the first 2gl without the treacle.
 
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