Northern Brewer Winter Warmer

[kegdawg]

Hey all, decided today to attempt my first big/long brew. To go with it, I was feeling a bit crazy and bought myself an immersion wort chiller. Also going to make an attempt at my first yeast starter also. Here's the recipie:

OG 1.069

.75 lbs Simpson's Medium Crystal
.25 lbs Simpson's Chocolate

3.15 lbs Gold Malt Syrup (60 Mins)
6.3 lbs Gold Malt Syrup (15 Mins)

3 oz Willamette (2 oz at 60 mins, 1 oz at 10 mins)

Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale

Looking at that, are there any suggestions of additions to make?

I'd like to let this sucker bottle condition for a good few months, will it last that long in the bottle? or will the aging stop at a certain point?

 

[user 84304]

If you want to get crazy, since you're doing a starter, add an aeration setup with an oxygen tank and regulator and diffusion stone! Zymurgy!

Also, it'll never really "stop" aging, but once you bottle it there's not much you can do to fix/improve/alter the beer. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Decide when to bottle when you hit target gravity and when it tastes close to you. Then, once bottled, it'll age and your flavors will continue to develop still.

Cheers!

 

[kegdawg]

Thanks! Northern Brewer doesn't state a specific final gravity, how do i calculate that?

 

[user 84304]

Per the BJCP Guidelines for 19A, you're looking for 1.015 - 1.022, but as with anything in homebrewing, it's all about your taste.

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style19.php

Cheers!

 

[kegdawg]

Cool, thanks a ton!

 

[tojo]

I brewed this early December of last year and bottled late January. I hit the OG listed at 1.069 and my final gravity was 1.014 after a total of 7 weeks in primary/secondary fermentation. I have some sitting in my basement now and give them out periodically. People rave about it still. I'm saving the rest of my bottles for this coming Christmas season.

I'm going to brew another batch in a couple weeks for next year since I was so pleased with it.

 

[Jtc2811]

I just brewed this myself! I hit the OG and tossed in S-04.

The tweaks that I ended up doing were to add an oz of Spalt at the beginnign of the boil (I get terrible utilization from partial boiling) and then at flameout I added a bunch of spices, some vanilla, and orange peel. in essence, I combined NB's winter warmer with their spiced winter ale. I'm also going to "dry hop" it with more spice 5 days before bottling.