Need advice putting together a clone recipe after advice from the brewery themselves

[mattsearle]

Hey guys,

I am looking at making a clone of a seasonal beer that I have had recently here in the UK, it's called Bucket of Blood by St Austell Brewery.

http://www.staustellbrewery.co.uk/bucket-of-blood

The beer is a great dark red which is something I really want to acheive in my own attempt.

Malts used are Pale, Dark Crystal (assumed 90l), Crystal (assumed 40l) and Wheat (From their website).
Hops are Perle, Aurora, Cascade and Centennial

I took a chance and emailed the brewery asking for any numbers or advice that he could give me, and received this in response...

"I can tell you that the target bitterness is about 23.5 IBUs and the colour is about 52 EBC.

As you probably know, in addition to pale malt, there is dark crystal, crystal and wheat malt in similar quantities.

We can’t give our recipes away, but the American hops go at the end!!"

To achieve this colour on Beersmith using only the malts detailed in his email means (as far as I can tell) that the percentage of crystal malts to Pale Malts has to be very high, and in my limited experience I tend to use pale malt for about 80-90% on my grain bill. I take his email to read that the dark crystal, crystal and wheat malt are all similar quantities, whereas the pale malt will be the majority on the grain bill.

If anyone could please give me some advice on a possible ratio for the grains that will help me acheive this colour whilst maintaining a good balance in flavour I would be very appreciative.

Thanks

 

[btbnl]

I was trying to do a similar thing with 4 Pines Pale recently, and you're right that it seems to push the base grain down to an uncomfortably low level *unless* they're using something like Midnight Wheat.

If they do, then a 5G batch with

7.50lb Maris Otter (85%)
0.45lb UK Crystal 40 (5%)
0.45lb UK Dark Crystal 80 (5%)
0.45lb Midnight Wheat (5%)

would give the appropriate 4.5% ABV and 52 EBC (assuming 70% efficiency and 75% attenuation).

 

[mattsearle]

I was trying to do a similar thing with 4 Pines Pale recently, and you're right that it seems to push the base grain down to an uncomfortably low level *unless* they're using something like Midnight Wheat.

If they do, then a 5G batch with

7.50lb Maris Otter (85%)
0.45lb UK Crystal 40 (5%)
0.45lb UK Dark Crystal 80 (5%)
0.45lb Midnight Wheat (5%)

would give the appropriate 4.5% ABV and 52 EBC (assuming 70% efficiency and 75% attenuation).

That's hit the number's pretty much perfectly, it must be the way that the brewery does it.

Thanks a lot.