Brew #50 Recipe Suggestions

This weekend I'm brewing up #49 and I'm thinking about #50. What should I make? I want it to be something special. Which direction should I take? A style I haven't done yet? Some historical beer? A massive beer? Unusual ingredients? Help me with some ideas.

Now if it was me, I'd go one of two ways,

Brew my favourite and treat myself looking forward to something I know I'll love.

Or.

Go for a Christmas pudding type beer.

The English definition of pudding may be a little different than our American connotation. Care to elaborate?

As one of my favorite styles of beer and the fact that winter is closing in a lagering season is upon us, I'd shoot for an experimental schwarzbier. I <3 black lager.

Brewsmith said:

The English definition of pudding may be a little different than our American connotation. Care to elaborate?

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Well Beer is basically liquid bread, so how about a liqud version of this.

It's got to have, spices, treacle, spirits, fruit. Dark and warm.

orfy said:

Well Beer is basically liquid bread, so how about a liqud version of this.

It's got to have, spices, treacle, spirits, fruit. Dark and warm.

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Holy shizazzle, I do NOT want to try a beer based off of that pic.

Why not?

Dark bitter, spicy, malty, some fruit, roasty nutty warm flavours that warm the belly.

Sounds like a good beer to me if you get it right.

orfy said:

Why not?

Dark bitter, spicy, malty, some fruit, roasty nutty warm flavours that warm the belly.

Sounds like a good beer to me if you get it right.

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Because I live in the midwest and that looks like some form of nasty WI hotdish that someone left in the oven for too long. That could just be me though....

I vote big - something you can cellar for a couple of years and that will age well. It's your anniversary, for chrissakes! Big, honkin' Belgian - like a monstrous, complex, Belgian Dark Strong, or a barleywine.

I've had a couple of sour beers lately that were very tasty; if you ever wanted to get into brett or lactobacillius, now would be a good time! Recent information from both Jamil and James Spencer on this topic.

Either that or a "Golden Anniversary" clone.

the_bird said:

I vote big - something you can cellar for a couple of years and that will age well.

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I vote something big, too. BIG. Big enough that you can enjoy it when batch 100 rolls around .

How about Pumba's Holy Hell.

Described as 30 lbs of malt and 14 oz. of hops in 5 gal. of beer.

Having lived in southern California, I don't think a Christmas Pudding type beer would really be suitable (unless you like dousing your beer in brandy and setting fire to it).
How about an ESB. Perfect for those brutal Californian winters.

-a.

I don't want to do a barleywine. I usually do those in december on an annual basis. I did a big belgian that's waiting around for this Christmas. So I think those two are out of the picture.

The schwartzbier sounds like a possibility.

Other choices include a Double IPA, or maybe another Old Ale. That's on the strong side. Or maybe something along the lines of Arrogant Bastard...

What about a traditional brown made with almost all brown malt and maybe some 2-row just to make sure there's enough enzymes?

More suggestions please.

Steinbier. Make it nice and difficult on yourself. =)

-D

I think I've figured out what I want to do. Here's the plan:

A combination barleywine, bitter, and small beer all from the same mash, and all in the classic English style.

Step 1: Stuff as much grain as I can into the MTL (about 14lbs) and mash
Step 2: First 3 gallons of run-off will be the barleywine, next 3 will be the bitter, final 3 will be the small beer.
Step 3: Boil each seperatley for 1 hour with mostly just a 60 min bittering addition of English hops.
Step 4: Pitch all with the same yeast and ferment

I like it! It's a nice nod to tradition and a way to stretch out and push yourself a little. Very cool.

I'm thinking of doing something very similar soon, but will only do two beers, an Old Ale for long aging and a Mild or Ordinary Bitter for quick consumption. The other thing I was thinking was to do two mashes back to back, using the first running from each for the Old Ale and the 2nd/3rd runnings of each for the smaller beer. The way I figure it that would give me 4 to 4.5 gallons of Old Ale into the fermenter and 5.5 gallons of Mild.

Chad

that looks like a very creative endeavor! Lately with the high gravity stuff I have been brewing, I should have considered the likes of a small beer from the same mash.

So I think I have this thing nailed down. Here's the plan:

Three beers from one mash, all classic English styles - Barleywine, ESB, and Ordinary Bitter (Small Beer).

Grain Bill: 14 lbs Total
12.5 lbs. British Maris Otter
0.5 lb. Munich
0.5 lb. Crystal 60
0.25 lb. Crystal 150
2 oz. Biscuit
2 oz. Pale Chocolate

Single Infusion Mash at 153 for 60 minutes
3 seperate runoffs of 3 gallons each


Estimated OG:
Barleywine - 1.085
ESB - 1.050
Small Beer - 1.030

Hop Schedule: Each will get a 60 minute bittering addition and a 5 minute aroma addition, all EKG pellets 4.75% est.

Barleywine ~ 65 IBU
1.5 ozs. 60 min
1.0 oz. 5 min

ESB ~ 40 IBU
0.75 oz. 60 min
0.5 oz. 5 min

Small Beer ~ 20 IBU
0.375 oz. 60 min
0.25 oz. 5 min

All pitched with Nottingham dry yeast

I will check gravity for each pre boil and adjust hopping accordingly

you could make it an anniversary beer, "50/50 amber ale", OG of 1.050 and 50 IBU. check the Jamil Show about amber ales, 1/1 for OG/IBU isn't out of line for an amber. depends on what you like, though. I'm also +1 on Orfy's suggestion, brew your favorite/best recipe to commemorate all that you've accomplished in 50 batches.

Brewsmith said:

I...or maybe another Old Ale. That's on the strong side...

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I sure am loving the way my Old Speckled Hen is coming along. You up the grain bill to about a 1.065-1.070 and you're getting into the old ale category with that.

It's one of those beers that you taste...and you know instantly what it is. Very unique flavor...and if possible, it actually has some of the characteristics of Orfys "pudding".

Did everyone just miss post #18?

Looks nice, just wondering how are you doing your OG, est. with three separate run offs?

Right now, just a little guessing. If I run the numbers at a straight brew at volume of 7.5 gal (starting volume 9 gal) the OG comes out to about 1.056. The first runnings are going to be higher. I going to have to fly sparge this because my mash tun will be full to the top. When I collect 3 gallons I'll pull a sample for gravity and start another 3 gallon runoff in another pot and repeat.

Ah cool, thats kind of what I figured, just wasn't sure if their was a way to calculate it.

I've mashed in at a stiff 0.9 qt/lb so there's a little room left in the tun. Sparge begins at 4:00 pm PST. :rockin:

Woohoo! I'm looking forward to the progress reports. Should be fun.

Take care,
Chad

orfy said:

Well Beer is basically liquid bread, so how about a liqud version of this.

It's got to have, spices, treacle, spirits, fruit. Dark and warm.

Click to expand...

Back in high school we used to light bags of that on fire and throw it on people's front porches. :cross:

Well everything is in fermenters and in the temperature controlled fridge. I collected close to 2.5 gallons in each fermenter. Pre-boil gravity on the barleywine was like 1.077! Now I know how those old british beers had such high gravities. Here's the scoop on each:

Barleywine:
OG: 1.115
IBUs ~ 84
Color - Amber/Brick Orange
Thick mouthfeel on the wort. Sweet but plenty of kick from the hops. I think this one will balance nice with some age.

Bitter:
OG: 1.046
IBUs ~ 33
Color - Orange
I think this one will turn out really nice. The wort was balanced. Sweet and still hop bitterness to balance. We'll have to see how much hop flavor is there once it ferments.

Small Beer
OG: 1.023
IBUs ~ 17
Color - Gold
This one is going to be the big question. At such a low gravity the wort was barely sweet and there was plenty of bitterness, even at 17 IBU's. When it's all fermented out it should be just over a 2% beer.

I bottles the three beers last night and was able to sample each. I did the small beer first and was pleasantly surprised by the taste. It is definately thin, being only 2%, but still has some malt favor and hop bitterness, flavor and aroma, almost like a bready/biscuity English pale ale, just less of everything.

The Bitter tasted great. Bready, malty and just a hint os sweetness and fragrant, earthy aroma of EKG's. ABV is right about 4%.

The barleywine finished at a whoping 1.031 (higher than the starting gravity of the small beer!) but at over 11% ABV. It is thick, rich, malty, and still has enough bitterness to balance.


The only thing I was a little suprised about was the attenuation. All were under 70%, when the stated minimum was about 73%. In fact, the results were backwards from what I anticipated. The Small Beer had the least attenuation, and the Barleywine had the most, although I did pitch 2 packets into the barleywine. They each had sat on the yeast for about a month and showed no signs of activity for several weeks in a temperature controlled environment, so I know they were ready. I can't wait to do a side-by-side-by-side tasting of these when they're carbed up and chilled.

Sounds like a very neat little experiment... That barleywine should be good to go for a long time to come. You should have corked a 6-pack and/or dipped a couple bottletops in brewer's wax for tasting in years to come!

the_bird said:

I vote big - something you can cellar for a couple of years and that will age well. It's your anniversary, for chrissakes! Big, honkin' Belgian - like a monstrous, complex, Belgian Dark Strong, or a barleywine.

I've had a couple of sour beers lately that were very tasty; if you ever wanted to get into brett or lactobacillius, now would be a good time! Recent information from both Jamil and James Spencer on this topic.

Either that or a "Golden Anniversary" clone.

Click to expand...

I agree. Something that needs some time to age.

RoaringBrewer said:

Sounds like a very neat little experiment... That barleywine should be good to go for a long time to come. You should have corked a 6-pack and/or dipped a couple bottletops in brewer's wax for tasting in years to come!

Click to expand...

Well, I could do the wax thing. That would be kinda cool...