My latest creation!

[Dienekles]

Im brewing a Blackberry English Ale of my own design!! For my sister of course cause I'm such a good brother.

Details:

5 # Light Dry Malt Extract
2 # Munich
1/4 # Biscuit
1/4 # Cara-pils
1/4 # Barley flakes
1/4 # Belgian Aromatic
1.65 oz Quaker Oats

Fruit and Hops

1 oz Mt hood - added a half oz at t-minus 60 mins and another half oz t-minus 30 mins
1 oz Saaz - added half oz at t-minus 15 mins and t-minus 2 mins
3 cups freshly picked and crushed blackberries t-minus 2 mins

1 Tsp Irish Moss - t-minus 60 mins
2 gallons boiled water

Yeast Dry English Ale Yeast (not actually dry, but flavor profile dry)


Partial mash -

Add grains in a grain bag to 3 gallons cold water.
Partially cover pot with lid and bring liquid + grains to 158 degrees.
Cover pot with a lid, leave covered for 45 mins with a towel over top of it.
Dunk and drain grain bag 10 times. Open the bag and move grains around with a wisk. Dunk 10 more times, then discard.
Add Dry Malt Extract, dissolve, return to heat and add Irish moss, do the hop additions at the listed times.
At t-minus two minutes with the last hop addition and fruit in the pot, cover, and put on ice.
Bring to 72 degrees - pour half the wort into the primary, pitch yeast, pour boiled, cooled water into the primary from high up to introduce oxygen, pour the remainder of the wort through two sanitized strainers (or a sanitized strainer and a boiled grain bag for those of you who have read my posts on 'To strain or not to strain?'), using a sanitized spoon to move the cold/hot break around to get as much wort through the strainers as possible.
Put in a cool place.

The fermenter steadily rose from 72 to 78 during three days of primary fermentation. It smells wonderful!!

"Now it has slowed to 1 to 2 farts a minute (as my sister informed me on the phone today)" So I will be going down to re-rack to a secondary on Friday. Which will mean that it sat on the trub for 6 days.

It should turn out purple and creamy. Jam packed with breakfast flavor (hehe). I'll keep ya posted.

 

[Porter fan]

Sounds good !

 

[Toilet Rocker]

Sounds really good. One question I have is the oats. When I brewed an Oatmeal Stout, my HBS told me to use flaked oats, not rolled. Aren't Quaker's rolled? I certainly am far from expert and not sure what the difference is. Be sure to let us know how it comes out.

 

[uglygoat]

flaked have been puffed up like breakfast cereal

you can really use either in a mash, i think the rolled have a better chance of cloggin your mash up or creating a stuck run off, you just have to be careful, however, you will not have to worry with the steep in the grain bag...

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

if it was me, on adding the fruit, i'd wait until the boil shut down, and steep the fruit for 15-20 minutes. less chance of pectins goof'n w/ the brew.
good luck!

 

[Dienekles]

YESSS After 6 days in the primary and two weeks in the secondary, a taste test confirms that the yeast have conditioned the beer to a pleasantly drinkable state!

The color, taste, and smell, arent even remotely that of a blackberry. HOWEVER the smell that comes off of this beer is so strong, that If I hadnt brewed it myself I might think it were a hard liquor!

When you take a swig (at room temperature and with no fizz) its incredibly mild at first, then bursts into complexity.. I can't wait to taste one this weekend, iced down and foamy! (5 days in the bottle - I know thats a lil soon but I cant wait).


OH and about the oatmeal... I didnt have 2row or 6row in with my partial mash... Soooo, I'm not sure I will get all the same results from my precious quaker oats. There might not have been enough enzymes present to convert the oat starches... BUT if anything at all that will only mean a lil bit of chill haze - big deal.

I will keep ya posted!

 

[SwAMi75]

Congrats...sounds nice!