Old Ale recipe-comments?

[BrewDey]

I'm planning on giving this one a try tomorrow. Does this look OK?

10 lbs. Muntons Light DME
1 lb. Molasses
.25lbs Carafoam
.25lbs 2-Row Pale
.25lbs Crystal 20L
.25lbs Chocolate
1oz. EKG (4.5 AAU) 60 min.
1oz. Mt. Hood (4.2 AAU) 30 min.
1oz. Cascade (6.9 AAU) 30 min.
1oz. EKG (4.5 AAU) 10 min.
1oz. Cascade (6.9 AAU) 10 min.

Pitch on existing cake of Wyeast 1028 London Ale

I want this to have the malts and the hops balanced-but I want them both to be pronounced...I'm losely basing this on Geary's Hampshire Ale. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Foreigner]

Be VERY careful with the mollasses. I once added 2 ozs and I ended up with a molassesbrau. It was however, a much lighter beer than the one you are planning.

I seem to recall that an old ale is one of the few times where it is actually desirable to add a little bit of sugar to boost the alc. I have never done it though.

Good luck.

 

[BrewDey]

Thanks-I was thinking the molasses would help balance the Cascades...but am thinking I may use candi sugar instead. I've seen Old Ale recipes that use both.

 

[Got Trub?]

I second the caution regarding the molasses - 1# is alot. More like what you would add if it was brown sugar. The only other comment I have is that is alot of hops for both flavour and aroma for a style that is supposed to be low-moderate hop aroma/flavour.

 

[BrewDey]

Thanks-I went ahead and brewed this, but used 12oz. of molasses as opposed to the full pound. I'm hoping the hops will even out the molasses flavor...I'm sure I'll be able to force it down regardless

 

[MattD]

Sounds interesting, I did an Old Ale a while back that turned out decent, and had a sorta similar recipe. I went lighter on the hops for a more traditional old ale though:

9.00 lb Light Dry Extract 67.9 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 7.5 %
0.50 lb Barley, Flaked 3.8 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt 1.9 %
2.00 lb Brown Sugar, Light 15.1 %
0.50 lb Molasses 3.8 %

1.00 oz Target [11.00%] (60 min) Hops 6.0 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50%] (20 min) Hops 1.8 IBU

1 Pkgs Belgian Golden Ale (White Labs #WLP570) [Starter 500 ml] Yeast-Ale

This went in the fermenter on 9/15/06, went to secondary (way early, oops) on 9/30, FINALLY finished dropping the gravity 10/15, bottled FEBRUARY 4TH!!! Obviously I wasn't hugely concerned with this beer, just too much other stuff going on. Still, it came out ok, and I still have some of it now. Hopefully yours will ferment out faster since you're pitching on a cake. I'd love to hear how it turns out