Old Ale

[justinakajuice]

Thinking about making this as my first attempt at AG brewing. Any thoughts? All of the numbers are right in the middle of where it should be according to Beersmith.

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 1.64 %
12 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 78.69 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6.56 %
1 lbs Oats, Malted (1.0 SRM) Grain 6.56 %
3.00 oz Cluster [7.00 %] (60 min) Hops 41.8 IBU
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 6.56 %
1 Pkgs Irish Ale (White Labs #WLP004) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.086 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.023 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.26 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 41.8 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 16.9 SRM Color: Color

 

[RICLARK]

The recipe looks great, it will be great in a year. One question, What are the Rice Hulls for?

 

[Stratotankard]

Just a guess, but maybe he put them in to protect against a stuck sparge with the pound of oats in there? I'd think it would take more than a pound to cause issues. I've used up to 3 pounds and didn't have a problem, but I probably got lucky on that one.

Terje

 

[llazy_llama]

Probably the same thing mmb uses them for, along with his false bottom and SS brillo pad. Super redundancy to prevent a stuck sparge.

That's just my guess, I really have no idea.

 

[mkling]

Your IBU calculation seems low. When I enter the same recipe in BeerSmith, I get nearly 60 IBU instead of the 42 you list. My subjective experience says 3 oz of Cluster will give you a very bitter beer. I suspect for an Old Ale, it'll be out of balance giving you IPA bitterness without the flavor & aroma in IPAs to make the hopping more complex & balanced.

So I'd think of dropping the hops down an ounce. For an old ale, I'd personally add a couple ounces of something roasted (chocolate, black patent, or roasted barley all would be ok).