American Strong Ale

[jskinner10]

This is something I came up with while playing around on BeerSmith. It started out as a weird Belgian/American Imperial Red Hybrid. In the process of tweaking that recipe, I started to take a different direction and came up with this. Any input would be greatly appreciated since I am a noob at recipe formulation.

Thanks!

Type: Extract
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Starting Boil Vol: 4.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Estimated OG: 1.080 SG
Estimated FG: 1.019 SG
Estimated Color: 22.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 77.7 IBUs
Estimated ABV: 8.1%

0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min 14.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min 3.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min 8.6 IBUs
1.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min 15.5 IBUs
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min 6.5 IBUs
1.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs

12.0 oz Caramel Malt - 80L 6-Row (Briess) (80.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Special Roast (Briess) (50.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
3 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract
6 lbs Light Dry Extract [Late Addition Boil for 15 min](8.0 SRM) Dry Extract

WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast (1000 ml starter)

 

[jskinner10]

bump

 

[Malticulous]

You may want a 2L starter but I still doubt it will finish at 1.010. You would have to trade some extract for sugar to do that.

 

[jskinner10]

That 1.010 is a typo, it should be 1.019.

 

[EBloom97]

Could be more Belgiany... I would definitely think about using a Belgian yeast strain to give it that extra dimension.

 

[jskinner10]

I'm not going for a Belgian Strong. Thinking something more Bastardesque.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

dry hops? I'd dry hop the crap out of it with chinook. If you brew and ferment it cleanly, it looks like it'd be good, complex, with depth of flavor. Just make sure your ferment is good, healthy yeast at a good pitching rate with temperature control...the 1000ml starter wont be enough. On something like this, the ferment will make the difference between complex and deep, and muddy and jumbled tasting.

 

[jskinner10]

Thanks strat. You think a 2000ml starter would do the job? I had also thought about dry hopping it with some chinook and cascade, maybe something in the tune of 6oz's total? 3oz each? Maybe just step it up to 8 oz total (4oz of each) just for the hell of it. By the way, what kinda strat you runnin' into that marshall? I've got an '05 Highway One.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

Thanks strat. You think a 2000ml starter would do the job? I had also thought about dry hopping it with some chinook and cascade, maybe something in the tune of 6oz's total? 3oz each? Maybe just step it up to 8 oz total (4oz of each) just for the hell of it. By the way, what kinda strat you runnin' into that marshall? I've got an '05 Highway One.

Are you using a stirplate for your starter, or no? That makes a big difference in what volume you'll need.

I'd keep your dry hops on the conservative side (2-3oz each variety). Chinook has a VERY piney, overbearing dry hop character which I personally like alot, but it's easy to over-do it. You can always add more next time but you cant take them out if it's too much.

As far as the guitar, my strat is a '98 usa standard. I've got a bunch of others too, my favorite is my prs custom 22 in "watermelon jolly-rancher" red.

 

[jskinner10]

Yes, I'll be using a stir plate. I just made one about a month ago and it's quite a beast. Yeah, I guess it would be a good idea to be conservative with the Chinook. One thing that I forgot to mention in the original post is that I am planning on doing a 60 minute boil. I was wondering if I shouldn't step it up to a 90 min? The only concern I have with the 90 min boil is that with my current setup I can only boil a max of 4.5 gallons. Would I lose too much volume with the 90 minute boil to where the added hop extraction benefit would be offset by the amount of top off water I would need to use to bring it up to 5 gallons?

98 US standard eh? Very nice guitar :rockin:. I occasionally drool over PRS guitars, play them in a shop and then promptly go back to my car to cry because I can't afford one.