Alright, ended up brewing this yesterday actually. I'm stationed away from home right now, brewing in a hotel room, so I figured I may as well spend Thanksgiving w/ 200billion of my hungry little friends, right?
Had some problems with the mash, but the boil and beet additions seemed to go fairly well.
Got a really high OG, around 1.080 (and was pretty sh** faced by this point, so I didn't write it down, just going from the memory of looking at it and seeing it in the green... 1.080 sounds about right), likely attributed to the cocoa in the mix (?).
Recipe Overview
Target Wort Volume Before Boil: 3.00 US gals
Actual Wort Volume Before Boil: 3.00 US gals
Target Wort Volume After Boil: 2.70 US gals
Actual Wort Volume After Boil: 2.70 US gals
Target Volume Transferred: 2.70 US gals
Actual Volume Transferred: 2.70 US gals
Target Volume At Pitching: 4.00 US gals
Actual Volume At Pitching: 4.00 US gals
Target Volume Of Finished Beer: 3.50 US gals
Actual Volume Of Finished Beer: 3.50 US gals
Target Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.006 SG
Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: -No Record-
Target OG: 1.054 SG
Actual OG: 1.081 SG
Target FG: 1.015 SG
Actual FG: -we'll see-
Target Apparent Attenuation:: 70.4 %
Actual Apparent Attenuation: ---
Target ABV: 5.1 %
Actual ABV: 8.9 %
Target ABW: 4.0 %
Actual ABW: 6.9 %
Target IBU (using Tinseth): 13.0 IBU
Actual IBU: 9.4 IBU
Target Color (using Morey): 20.5 SRM
Actual Color: 20.5 SRM
Actual Fermentation Temp: 69 degF
Fermentables
Ingredient Amount % MCU When
Crisp Marris Otter 1lb 0oz 11.9 % 1.0 In Mash
German CaraRed 6.00 oz 4.5 % 1.6 In Mash
UK Brown Malt 6.00 oz 4.5 % 5.3 In Mash
US Carapils Malt 4.00 oz 3.0 % 0.1 In Mash
US Caramel 80L Malt 4.00 oz 3.0 % 5.0 In Mash
Belgian Biscuit Malt 4.00 oz 3.0 % 1.4 In Mash
Belgian Special B 4.00 oz 3.0 % 9.2 In Mash
US Chocolate Malt 2.00 oz 1.5 % 10.9 In Mash
Extract - Munich Malt 5lb 0oz 59.7 % 10.0 Added w/ 20 min left in boil
Sugar Beet 4.00 oz 3.0 % 1.1 Added to primaries (see notes below)
Sugar - Lactose 4.00 oz 3.0 % 0.0 Will add at bottling
Hops
Variety Alpha Amount IBU Form When
US Willamette 4.8 % 0.50 oz 7.7 Bagged Pellet Hops 40 Min From End
US Willamette 4.8 % 0.50 oz 5.3 Bagged Pellet Hops 20 Min From End
Other Ingredients
Ingredient Amount When
Cocoa Powder 8.00 oz In Boil (15min left)
Whirlfloc Tablet 1.00 oz In Boil (15min left)
Creme de Cacao 2.00 oz Will add at bottling
Vanilla Extract 0.50 oz Will add at bottling
Yeast
Wyeast 1318-London Ale III
Mash Notes
Mashed in all the grains at 157F w/ 1gl plus 2 cups of water... in my boil pot, so it didn't quite keep the heat like I thought it would, despite constant heating. After about 10min it had dropped to about 143F, so I put on the heat and got it back up to 157F in about 5 min.
Damn, now it got too hot too quick, hopefully I caught it before I killed off all the little buggers, f*** I need a real mash tun, a better thermometer, or to stay more sober/less distracted while brewing. [Edit: Seriously doubting the accuracy and responsiveness of my thermometer, temperatures kept rising when tun was off the heat, cooling when it was on it...unless the differences in heat between the top and bottom of a 3" mash bed are really that great even after stirring.]
Note: despite original suppositions, no beets in the mash, see below notes for more info.
Boil Notes
So... actual, the boil went pretty well. Hops went in at the right time. Added the extract at 20min left with the 2nd addition, and finished on time... so, actually, it may work well.
Fermentation Notes
Split the batch into 5 x 1gl carboys, w/ the remaining beet extract in a 1qt bottle with an airlock
A: 15oz of Pom added
B: 1.5 cups boiled beet juice added + 1.5 cups mixed beet juice
C: 1.5cups pure beet juice added + 1.5 cups mixed beet juice
D: Will add fermented beet after initial fermentation
E: Control
Z: Half/half mix of beet juice, and boiled beet water, added koji-kai (fungi used to convert starches for sake making) to pure beet juice + boiled water runnings, and added champagne yeast [all i had, and don't necessarily want any flavor here, so dry is better], no idea how this will work out, but... f*** it (in moderation, otherwise it may chafe)