Looking to clone Rackhouse Ale from Great Lakes Brewing Company

[Squad1Guy]

Hello All,

Rackhouse Ale is my absolute favorite beer from Great Lakes Brewing Company. It is only available on tap, and I am not sure how to mimic the deliciousness
Here is the description available:

Rackhouse Ale™

A sweet ale aged in oak bourbon barrels

ABV: 9.5%ABW: 7.6%IBU: 12

Not much to go on, huh? I can figure out the bourbon barrel part based on numerous recipes out there. What's holding me up is the base recipe for a sweet ale. I am also not sure of the hops used. They are very low-key. The carbonation will be low on this beer. If anyone has any ideas on where to start, it would be very appreciated.

 

[Squad1Guy]

So I was able to put together a recipe and finally brewed this up. The recipe itself is painfully simple:

97% pale 2-row
3% roasted barley
Mash at 155-156 F

Boil for 3 hours (I ended up boiling for 4 to reach the right OG, and then had to add water to dilute it back down to where it needed to be ...you can jump a whole lot of gravity points when your volume gets below 2 gallons!)

Approx 12 IBU worth of Hallertau hops added at 60 min (which ended up being 90 min with the extended boil. This still only puts me at about 14 IBU)

Windsor dry yeast (substitute for Wyeast 1028)

Ferment at 18 C (+/- 0.5 C) which is about 64-65 F.

I will add 0.5 oz of whiskey barrel chips soaked in 2 oz bourbon directly to the primary. I plan on fermenting for about 2.5 weeks and then adding the chips and bourbon for 1 week.

Carb at about 1.7 vols CO2 (since this has very low carbonation).

1.5 gallons in the fermentor according to the recipe (I actually got 1.7)
OG 1.091
FG 1.020 (expected...I have read it may be closer to 1.025)

This is an amazing beer which I will finally get to sample (again) on Feb 8 of this year.

Question - I know this is going to be sweet, which is EXACTLY how I want/need it to be. Is there any chance that I would over attenuate if I swirled the fermenter after about a week and maybe raised the temp up to 68 F or so? I really don't want it to drop below 1.020 (and I am not even sure if Windsor can do that, especially with this recipe).

 

[orthogm]

I'm a huge Rackhouse fan, too. Too bad they didn't brew it this year. How did your brew turn out? Do you have an updated recipe? I'm a relative beginner, but Rackhouse is one I want to make soon. Thanks!

 

[orthogm]

So I was able to put together a recipe and finally brewed this up. The recipe itself is painfully simple:

97% pale 2-row
3% roasted barley
Mash at 155-156 F

Boil for 3 hours (I ended up boiling for 4 to reach the right OG, and then had to add water to dilute it back down to where it needed to be ...you can jump a whole lot of gravity points when your volume gets below 2 gallons!)

Approx 12 IBU worth of Hallertau hops added at 60 min (which ended up being 90 min with the extended boil. This still only puts me at about 14 IBU)

Windsor dry yeast (substitute for Wyeast 1028)

Ferment at 18 C (+/- 0.5 C) which is about 64-65 F.

I will add 0.5 oz of whiskey barrel chips soaked in 2 oz bourbon directly to the primary. I plan on fermenting for about 2.5 weeks and then adding the chips and bourbon for 1 week.

Carb at about 1.7 vols CO2 (since this has very low carbonation).

1.5 gallons in the fermentor according to the recipe (I actually got 1.7)
OG 1.091
FG 1.020 (expected...I have read it may be closer to 1.025)

This is an amazing beer which I will finally get to sample (again) on Feb 8 of this year.

Question - I know this is going to be sweet, which is EXACTLY how I want/need it to be. Is there any chance that I would over attenuate if I swirled the fermenter after about a week and maybe raised the temp up to 68 F or so? I really don't want it to drop below 1.020 (and I am not even sure if Windsor can do that, especially with this recipe).

How did it turn out?

 

[Squad1Guy]

It was pretty good initially, but I think I picked up an infection somewhere along the way. Later bottles soured :-(
I think I also needed to add more bourbon flavor. It was lacking a bit there too.

I have been out of the brewing biz for a while. Just getting back into it again. Didi you ever try it? The recipe actually came from Luke at GLBC, so I know it is correct.