scottland
Well-Known Member
So do you feel that the more nose was due to higher carbonation?
Also both the 60 and 90 clones i have done use the thomas faucet amber malt. Do you think 1.5# instead of the victory and crystal would work?
Amber malt: Yes. that would be even closer to the real thing. The victory/crystal works fine because it's such a small percentage of the final product. With a beer this intense, the subtle differences get lost.
Hop aroma: I'm not sure. I think a little more carbonation would have helped, but I don't think it would have made a huge difference. I think the ABV was what made the big change.
With such a simple grain bill, is it possible to brew this with malt extract? Or is it a silly question for such a complex beer?
The only challenge is, it would be very hard to get this beer to attenuate enough. Unless you know of some extract that attenuates very well. When I brewed it all-grain, I mashed the grains at a very low temp (147*) because that produces a more fermentable wort. With extract, maltsters usually shoot for the middle of the road in terms of fermentability, so you'd probably end up with a very sweet final product. Much like Sean Paxton did, or they did on brewmasters.
BTW - Love the wax cap idea, nice touch for a beer that's worth all the work!
Thanks, I appreciate it. It was pretty fun to do. I'll definitely do it again on other big beers.