Jackie O's Hibernator Clone

[yeknom366]

I absolutely loved this beer awhile back and wanted to make something similar. Unfortunately the brewery wasn't too helpful when I contacted them, but it's at least a start.

"Thanks for the email.*The key to any good brown ale is lots of Munich, a combination of caramel malts, biscuit/special roast, and just chocolate malt (no roasted barley or black).* Hibernator has toasted buckwheat, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Happy brewing & good luck! We appreciate your support."

So here's my initial thoughts:

Maris otter + Munich around 16 lbs total. 11 lb MO and 5 lb Munich? Would all Munich be too crazy?

Caramel - combo 50/50 of 40° and 120°. 1-1.5 lb total

Special roast - 8 oz, maybe 12 oz max

Biscuit - up to 3 lbs, whatever necessary to get up to 11% abv

Chocolate - 6-8oz?

Maple syrup, brown sugar, and toasted buckwheat - No idea

Hops - 50ish ibu's of a clean bittering hop at 60 minutes

Yeast - 1056

Thoughts? Improvements?

 

[DromJohn]

Yours look good.

Even at just 1 lb each, the caramel will get you to a slightly dark brown. 1.5 pushes you a bit over in darkness.
IMO, "Biscuit/Special Roast" should be read as "Biscuit, but you can substitute with Special Roast." And if Jackie O's listed ingredients in order, which is the standard, the biscuit/special roast should be less that the combination of caramels. Maybe .75 to 1 lb.
Use the Maris Otter to get to 11.1% abv.
I'd consider a half a pound each of the buckwheat, brown sugar and maple syrup. Because of these, at 75% efficiency, I suspect you will be adjusting the Maris Otter downward.

 

[yeknom366]

How about this:

10 lb Maris Otter
7 lb Munich
1 lb Biscuit
0.75 lb Crystal 40°
0.75 lb Crystal 120°
0.375 lb Chocolate Malt
0.5 lb each of Brown Sugar, Toasted Buckwheat, and Maple Syrup
50 IBUs of what's on hand at 60 minutes
1056 yeast

As for the color, the beer is almost black, and this still comes out medium dark brown. I've never used buckwheat before. Is it something for the mash or the boil?

 

[DromJohn]

If the original is almost black, then reconsider your original crystal and chocolate amounts. My suggested reduction was to lighten it from an almost black to a medium brown ale.

For the one time I used buckwheat, I used Colorado Malted Buckwheat 2.0-3.0 (Colorado Malting Company) purchased from Boulder Fermentation Supply.
For that (with millet) 1 lb Buckwheat, Colorado Chateau Abbey 30 min. 110F; 30 min. 130F
then I'd add your barley timed as you would normally.

This schedule was for a gluten free, so has extra steps. If I remember correctly, it was the millet dictating the steps. You could probably shorten up the steps without the millet, but I'd query the gluten free forum.

If you don't buy malted buckwheat, then you should read: Malting Gluten Free Grains.

Me? I bought malted.