NoIguanaForZ
Well-Known Member
Ohai.
Some of you may recall that I had this idea. It was given little credence, and upon further consideration it became clear to me that it was, in fact, trying to be two different beers at the same time. Armed with that revelation, I, as noted at the end of that thread, proceeded to brew and, so far as I can tell at this stage of development nail, one of those two beers. (It's still a couple weeks from bottling and it appears my initial impression of "US-05 isn't quite up to this, need a finishing yeast" was correct.)
I am now gearing up to brew the other...which will be the bigger and more experimental of the two, so I've outlined a path to it. I need advice on a couple very specific elements of this path.
My intention with this beer is to capture the other side of the conflicted character I outlined:
I've expanded that slightly to, basically, a high-gravity ale with a noticeable but smooth alcohol character, a generally strong and somewhat broad malt character, approximately all the caramelly maltiness, and a combination of estery and malty "dark" and "fruity" and "dark fruity" flavors, with hops as a pure embellishment to the malt-and-yeast-byproduct symphony and without anywhere near enough coffee, hoppy, or roast character for it to ever be mistaken for an imperial stout. But pitch-ALACK-AND-ALAS-MY-TOP-HAT-HAS-FALLEN-black. I suppose what I have in mind is a bit in the vein of an "Imperial Baltic Porter."
My recipe's grain-per-se-bill is about 75% base malt and about 25% specialty malt, to be divided among Midnight Wheat, Simpsons "DRC" Crystal 110L, Special B, Caramunich, Golden Naked Oats, and Melanoidin Malt, in similar proportions, the exact ratios to be determined based on pre-final-brewing experimentation. These will be supplemented by about a pound each of Dark and Dark 2 Candi Sugar, and possibly between 4 and 8 oz of blackstrap molasses, with an expected ABV in the 15-16% range. I bought a tube of WLP099 to finish of the Smoked Honey Imperial Porter, before I learned about CBC-1, so that's what I'll be using. I intend to build up an extra large multi-step starter, aerate thoroughly, and add the candi sugar and molasses if I go with that as stepped additions, but otherwise feed it all the wort at once.
I'm planning to use hops with some "fruity" and "spicy" or "earthy" character; Columbia sounds perfect IF I COULD GET THEM *table flip* but Galena, particularly with the "blackcurrant" flavor notes, smooth bitterness, and economical bittering value, seems like a good option, but as noted below I'm open to others.
I'm conscious of going out into the weeds a bit here, so I'm going to test this out in two stages. The first will be making <1 gallon batch of beer with 2lbs of base malt, 0.25oz Willamette hops and about 1/4lb of each of the four specialty malts above which my LHBS actually stocks (Melanoidan, Special B, Simpsons DRC, and Caramunich) (so, 4 gallons total), and probably a 5th with all four 1/4 lbs. I'm tempted to do that by mashing all 8-10lb of base malt and steeping the specialty malts for each, but I'm prepared to do 4-5 separate 1 gallon BIAB setups if necessary.
The second test stage will be making a complete, but "ordinary" gravity, beer with those malts and the hops I have in mind. Based on the rest of my brewing schedule, I'll need to use my 5 gallon carboy for that one. I'll probably brew up a 5.5 gallon batch and fill my 1 gallon fermenter with between .75 and 1 gallon to try adding molasses to. My recipe is, tentatively:
Name: Test Drive Porter
Style: "Robust Porter" per 2008 BJCP Guidelines
Mash: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Batch Size: 5.5gal
Grain Bill:
-7.5lb Base Malt
-8oz Special B
-8oz Caramunich
-8oz Simpsons DRC/Crystal 110L
-8oz Melanoidin malt
-4oz Flaked oats
-4oz Debittered Carafa III
Hops:
-1.5oz Galena at 45min
-0.5oz Galena at 15min
Yeast:
-US-05
2 weeks primary fermentation, add 1 oz blackstrap molasses in the gallon fermenter, carb-in-bottle 2 weeks minimum
My actual questions are as follows:
1. With regards to the 1-gallon malt sample batches, is it likely to be worth my time doing 4-5 separate BIAB batches, or would mashing all the base malt and dividing it up for specialty-grain-steeping likely give me an fair impression?
2. With regards to hops, are there any obvious recommendations other than Galena (and for that matter, will it do what I want it to?) that come to mind which would fit my intention of "fruity and spicy or earthy" and that would otherwise complement the style well? My LHBS stocks these these. I had originally planned to use only the malts they stock, but realized I needed to order a bunch of Golden Promise for something else around the same time anyway, so I'll throw in a pound of Midnight Wheat and Golden Naked Oats, probably from Northern Brewer, which stocks these, and I'm really not enthused about adding a third source for ingredients, but I'd consider it if it'd be worth my while.
3. Most importantly, I keep saying "Base Malt" here for a reason. I originally planned on using about a 1/3 Munich and 2/3 Great Western Pale 2-Row; all-Munich occurred to me, but I quickly realized that wouldn't have enough diastatic power. Other options that have occurred to me so far:
Some of you may recall that I had this idea. It was given little credence, and upon further consideration it became clear to me that it was, in fact, trying to be two different beers at the same time. Armed with that revelation, I, as noted at the end of that thread, proceeded to brew and, so far as I can tell at this stage of development nail, one of those two beers. (It's still a couple weeks from bottling and it appears my initial impression of "US-05 isn't quite up to this, need a finishing yeast" was correct.)
I am now gearing up to brew the other...which will be the bigger and more experimental of the two, so I've outlined a path to it. I need advice on a couple very specific elements of this path.
My intention with this beer is to capture the other side of the conflicted character I outlined:
I've expanded that slightly to, basically, a high-gravity ale with a noticeable but smooth alcohol character, a generally strong and somewhat broad malt character, approximately all the caramelly maltiness, and a combination of estery and malty "dark" and "fruity" and "dark fruity" flavors, with hops as a pure embellishment to the malt-and-yeast-byproduct symphony and without anywhere near enough coffee, hoppy, or roast character for it to ever be mistaken for an imperial stout. But pitch-ALACK-AND-ALAS-MY-TOP-HAT-HAS-FALLEN-black. I suppose what I have in mind is a bit in the vein of an "Imperial Baltic Porter."
My recipe's grain-per-se-bill is about 75% base malt and about 25% specialty malt, to be divided among Midnight Wheat, Simpsons "DRC" Crystal 110L, Special B, Caramunich, Golden Naked Oats, and Melanoidin Malt, in similar proportions, the exact ratios to be determined based on pre-final-brewing experimentation. These will be supplemented by about a pound each of Dark and Dark 2 Candi Sugar, and possibly between 4 and 8 oz of blackstrap molasses, with an expected ABV in the 15-16% range. I bought a tube of WLP099 to finish of the Smoked Honey Imperial Porter, before I learned about CBC-1, so that's what I'll be using. I intend to build up an extra large multi-step starter, aerate thoroughly, and add the candi sugar and molasses if I go with that as stepped additions, but otherwise feed it all the wort at once.
I'm planning to use hops with some "fruity" and "spicy" or "earthy" character; Columbia sounds perfect IF I COULD GET THEM *table flip* but Galena, particularly with the "blackcurrant" flavor notes, smooth bitterness, and economical bittering value, seems like a good option, but as noted below I'm open to others.
I'm conscious of going out into the weeds a bit here, so I'm going to test this out in two stages. The first will be making <1 gallon batch of beer with 2lbs of base malt, 0.25oz Willamette hops and about 1/4lb of each of the four specialty malts above which my LHBS actually stocks (Melanoidan, Special B, Simpsons DRC, and Caramunich) (so, 4 gallons total), and probably a 5th with all four 1/4 lbs. I'm tempted to do that by mashing all 8-10lb of base malt and steeping the specialty malts for each, but I'm prepared to do 4-5 separate 1 gallon BIAB setups if necessary.
The second test stage will be making a complete, but "ordinary" gravity, beer with those malts and the hops I have in mind. Based on the rest of my brewing schedule, I'll need to use my 5 gallon carboy for that one. I'll probably brew up a 5.5 gallon batch and fill my 1 gallon fermenter with between .75 and 1 gallon to try adding molasses to. My recipe is, tentatively:
Name: Test Drive Porter
Style: "Robust Porter" per 2008 BJCP Guidelines
Mash: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Batch Size: 5.5gal
Grain Bill:
-7.5lb Base Malt
-8oz Special B
-8oz Caramunich
-8oz Simpsons DRC/Crystal 110L
-8oz Melanoidin malt
-4oz Flaked oats
-4oz Debittered Carafa III
Hops:
-1.5oz Galena at 45min
-0.5oz Galena at 15min
Yeast:
-US-05
2 weeks primary fermentation, add 1 oz blackstrap molasses in the gallon fermenter, carb-in-bottle 2 weeks minimum
My actual questions are as follows:
1. With regards to the 1-gallon malt sample batches, is it likely to be worth my time doing 4-5 separate BIAB batches, or would mashing all the base malt and dividing it up for specialty-grain-steeping likely give me an fair impression?
2. With regards to hops, are there any obvious recommendations other than Galena (and for that matter, will it do what I want it to?) that come to mind which would fit my intention of "fruity and spicy or earthy" and that would otherwise complement the style well? My LHBS stocks these these. I had originally planned to use only the malts they stock, but realized I needed to order a bunch of Golden Promise for something else around the same time anyway, so I'll throw in a pound of Midnight Wheat and Golden Naked Oats, probably from Northern Brewer, which stocks these, and I'm really not enthused about adding a third source for ingredients, but I'd consider it if it'd be worth my while.
3. Most importantly, I keep saying "Base Malt" here for a reason. I originally planned on using about a 1/3 Munich and 2/3 Great Western Pale 2-Row; all-Munich occurred to me, but I quickly realized that wouldn't have enough diastatic power. Other options that have occurred to me so far:
- All pale 2-row, I suppose, but while economical, that seems boring;
- Golden Promise, which I'll be ordering a bunch of anyway;
- Maris Otter, which my LHBS stocks;
- all Vienna malt, which I've heard is in the vein of Munich but lighter, and does have enough diastatic power to mash the whole bill;
- mostly Munich with just enough 6-row to bring the diastatic power up.
