Input on a "left overs" brew.

[Priemus]

I have alot of left over light DME that has been laying around just a "little" too long. So Ive figured out im going to do this to it.

Im basically going for some kind of Fruity dark ale, with not too much bitterness and sublt hop aroma. That in mind im a Little worried about the amount of special B, not sure if it might be overpowered.

This is for an about 23 leter batch (4.5ish gallon?), its what fits nicely in my fermenter. 15 leter pot topped up with cold water afterwards.

8# Light DME.
.5# Dark Candi sugar
.5# Carared (steeped)
.5# Special B (steeped)

Hops:

1 oz (around 25 grams) Centennial @ 60
.5oz Saaz @ 15
.5oz Saaz @ 0

Only yeasts I have are a Notty, and a coopers kit one that subbed out for notty for a few months ago. So will 99% pitch the Notthingham unless someone has a better idea.

Also have more Carared, special B, all the usual spices (coriander, orange zest etc). Could use Cascade or simco as well, or more Centennial got 4 oz of each on hand, thats all the saaz i have used there though.

Tips? preferably tips that dont involve me having to go buy a trappist yeast want to brew this weekend, only get things via mail order and it takes 2 weeks.

 

[Arneba28]

Might be a little heavy on the special B. This is gonna turn out arou 25-30 SRM I believe, like black. I would switch that saaz for cascade if you want the grain bill to stay the same. Or get rid of the carared and special B and leave the saaz and add some corriander and orange zest. kinda a dark Wit if you do that.

 

[Priemus]

I see the point, I was kind of hopeing to get fruity flavours from that Special B, raisen plum etc, rather than the hops giving Aroma/flavours, I always found Saaz gave a slightly light spicy smell rather than the strong pine and citrus of Cascade, which I thought might be nicer with those steeps.

Dont think I can count on the yeast to provide anything fruityunless I ferment it on the clothes dryer, but Im not so hot on Bananas.

The color im not too worried about, I was thinking about halfing the special B, anyway. But kinda want those slight "chimay blue" raisen things if Its at all possible.

If I left the special b in, even at half amount, it would probably dominate the zest and coriander I imagine, which isnt a bad thing.

 

[Arneba28]

Well leave the saaz if you get rid of the aroma addition I think and you can leave the steeping grains in.

 

[dcp27]

23L is about 6gallons, 4.5 is 17L. If you ditch the saaz, I think you have a pretty good looking old ale there.

 

[Priemus]

ditch the saaz and replace with "x". Or just leave the saazer out entirly and just stick to bittering hops?

And thanks for the converstion I thought gallon was around 5L

 

[dcp27]

well if you were to go for an old ale, you wouldnt need any late hops, theres typically lil to no hop flavor/aroma. its like a more malty, smaller english barleywine

ha no problem, about 3.79L = 1gal = 4qt

 

[Priemus]

Good advise. Will do so and remove later hop additions. Might wanna throw them in a Wit anyway.