Newcastle Werewolf Clone Recipe Attempt

[ArkotRamathorn]

Looking for input/critique on this recipe, mostly copied from a Newcastle Brown Ale clone recipe since it seems like, at least to my taste buds, the Werewolf is the regular brown ale with some added kick(not a BJCP judge so feel free to eviscerate me). 5ish gallon recipe (if I'm off on brew day by .1 gallon I'm not going to disintergrate).

6# 2-Row
8oz Crystal 20L
8oz 60L
8oz 80L
4oz Chocolate
1oz Roasted Barley
*the next two things for grain bill I have questions on but, the rest are up for discussion/critique*
1lb Flaked Corn
8oz Flaked Rye (plan on doing a light to medium toast in my oven just before mashing to preserve aroma)
.5oz 11% Target (or another 11% AA hop, depends on what they have in stock at LHBS) 60 min
.2-.3oz EKG at 10, 15, or 20 minutes (not sure on this part yet)

1968 ESB or 1469 West Yorkshire for my yeast, should be in the mid to upper 65-67F for ferment temps

Hoping to get critique on the Flaked Corn and Rye, should I just do 8oz of flaked corn and 8 oz of flaked Rye, or 1lb of Flaked Rye and remove the corn entirely?

For the yeast, would 1968 or 1469 end up too estery at those temps in your experiences with these yeasts? Should I go on the safe side instead and grab 1098 or 1335 for a drier crisper profile (was going for a 148F mash so hopefully it stops close to 1.010 or less)?

 

[Wingnutt73]

Just my 2 cents but from what I can remember I would say less corn more rye but sounds good let me know how it turns out.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Just my 2 cents but from what I can remember I would say less corn more rye but sounds good let me know how it turns out.

I think I agree with this, I'll probably switch the full lb out and save my flaked corn for a different recipe.

If I switch up the 80L a little bit will I get a good red tinge to the beer?

 

[Wingnutt73]

If I switch up the 80L a little bit will I get a good red tinge to the beer?

That may make it too dark

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Got this in the fermenter a couple hours ago. Definitely will up the color somehow next time, cannot comment on how more roasted barley/chocolate malt will change it though later.

 

[Valtyr]

Any word on how this turned out?

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Any word on how this turned out?

Hoping to get this bottled this weekend, due to unforseen circumstances(getting a blueberry sour started) it spent an extra week in secondary.

After seeing it in secondary it may end up a bit on the dark side, but I'm trying not to blast it with bright lights just to check the color around the edges. The taste was good on the hydrometer readings, but I've learned to give little faith in those until its carbonated and conditioned(in terms of comparing it finished product specially if its a clone attempt). Planning on giving it a really low carbonation in the 1.5 volume range.

 

[Wingnutt73]

I thought it might come out a little dark, but I cant wait to hear the results this is one I would like to try for sure.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

So getting it bottled on the weekend of the 5th and 6th ended up turning into getting it bottled on the weekend of the 26th and 27th. It's not as dark, I was being alarmist by looking at it in secondary. I bottled at really low carbonation, I'm horrible with my volumes but I knew I got approximately 5 gallons out of the primary (lost a lot to rye goop), so did about 1.5 volumes for carbonation.

Hopefully by next weekend I can report an initial tasting, I don't know if I got the weird red tinge the actual werewolf has, but I have to try pouring it side by side in similar glasses with the actual Newcastle Werewolf once I'm confident its carbonated.

 

[Wingnutt73]

Dang I was starting to give up on the out come. Can't wait.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Opened the first one of these on Sunday. Its going to need a LONG time to carbonate, probably due to the really long (unintentionally long) secondary. I'll probably open another one when I'm watching Game of Thrones this weekend to give it another test.

After two weeks it did have a little bit of carbonation but not much (campaign for real ale would be proud). The color is definitely a tad on the dark side, but its a deep mahogany brown/black so I'll have to back off a tiny bit on the darker grains. SWMBO tried a couple sips and said she really liked the taste but will have to do a side by side with an actual bottle of Werewolf to determine how close they are.

I think the next time I will be using some rye malt and a tad more flaked rye. I personally think its missing that (in a good way) weird nutty bite the werewolf has, I guess that was the only flavor component of the actual stuff I have a hard time putting my finger on and what I would use to replicate that.

 

[Tug8oat]

Did you ever figure this recipe out? It’s my favorite beer and I’ve been trying to learn how to make it