Hill Farmstead Shirley Mae Clone Suggestions

[konofaye]

Had the HF Shirley Mae tonight on nitro and was blown away. It beats out some of the best porters/stouts I've ever had, and at 3.8%, it packs more flavor than some much higher abv beers. Naturally, it is something I'd love to clone. Does anyone have anything approximating it, or have suggestions on ingredients/techniques for getting in the ballpark?

The website says, "American session version of our Everett porter... crafted from American malted barley, English and German roasted malts, American hops, our ale yeast, and water from our well."

My first thoughts:

1.041 SG/1.012 FG; ~25 IBUS

6# Pale Malt (CMC)
1# Flaked Barley (to approximate the mouthfeel from the nitro)
.75# Pale Chocolate (Thomas Fawcett)
.5# Carafa III (Weyermann)
.25# Coffee Malt (Simpsons)

.5 oz CTZ (45 min)
Wyeast 1318 at 64-66 F

Mash at 156, 90 minute boil

 

[skibb]

I would probably mash in the mid 160s at the very upper level of alpha amylase activity. You want body in this beer - really shoot to denature the beta amylase off the bat. I would also probably mash for 30, or until conversion occurs.

There are some crystal malts in Everett - I would assume (despite not being listed) that there are some in this beer too

 

[konofaye]

I would probably mash in the mid 160s at the very upper level of alpha amylase activity. You want body in this beer - really shoot to denature the beta amylase off the bat. I would also probably mash for 30, or until conversion occurs.

There are some crystal malts in Everett - I would assume (despite not being listed) that there are some in this beer too

Yeah, after posting this I went back to the BYO article just to see their suggestions for Everett. They call for a 25 minute mash at 159, then mashout. The recipe calls for Carapils (1#), cara-37 (assuming Carastan, 1.25#)), Crystal-90 (assuming Briess, .5#), chocolate (1#) and roasted barley (1.25#)

I had never thought to do a shorter mash, assuming it will leave (especially at this temp) fewer fermentables. A majority of conversion would be done, correct, so you'd still have something that'd ferment, but a lot would be left in the beer, hence the body? If that's the case, that's a pretty interesting technique.

They also call for mashing the pale, carapils, and caramalt for 20 min, then adding the crystal 90, chocolate and roasted for 5 minutes before mash out.

The Everett recipe SG is 1.088 and the FG is 1.030.

So, second guess:

7# Pale (CMC)
1# Flaked Barley
.75# Roasted Barley (Crisp)
.75# Pale Chocolate (Thomas Fawcett)
.75# Carastan (Bairds)
.5# Carapils (Briess)
.25# Crystal 90 (Simpsons)

1.053 SG/1.016 FG; 159-160 mash

 

[couchsending]

Anyone ever wondered if Shirley Mae is just the second running’s of Everett?