Smuttynose Winter Ale clone?

[JeffD1]

Hi all. I'm trying to create a smuttynose winter ale clone, and I can use all the help I can get!

Here are the ingredients from Smuttynose website:

Malt Bill
North American 2-Row, Caramunich, Carastan, Special B, Carahell, Carafa II DH

Hops
Bittering: Bravo
Flavoring: Sterling

Others
Yeast: Abbey Ale
Dark Belgian candi syrup

Starting Extract 15° Plato
Terminal Extract 4.5° Plato

ABV 5.83%

IBU 30

 

[JeffD1]

So I took a stab at creating my first recipe. Here's what I got. Please help me critique it since I don't know what I am doing. I did use this source for brewing dubbels which helped me a lot: www.babblehomebrewers.com/attachments/article/67/belgianale.pdf

My biggest concern is the small amount of hops. But I was shooting for 30 IBUs and that is the only way I could get it so low. Does the percentage of the other ingredients make sense? I was guessing on most of them. I also tried to match the darkness of this beer (40 srm or so) and I got it to 34.9. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!! Thank you so much!

smuttynose winter ale
Belgian Dubbel
Type: All Grain
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal Brewer:
Boil Size: 6.52 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Pot and Cooler ( 5 Gal/19 L) - All Grain
End of Boil Volume 5.98 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 4.60 gal Est Mash Efficiency 84.2 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 78.7 %
8.0 oz Carafa II (412.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.3 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.1 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30L (30.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.1 %
4.0 oz Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.1 %
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.1 %
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Dark (275.0 SRM) Sugar 7 8.5 %
0.50 oz Bravo [15.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 24.3 IBUs
0.75 oz Sterling [7.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 6.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Sterling [7.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Abbey Ale (White Labs #WLP530) [35.49 ml] Yeast 11 -

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.063 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.7 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 30.7 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 34.9 SRM

 

[JeffD1]

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[JeffD1]

Well in case anyone is interested, I bought all the ingredients and I am going to brew it this week. I'll update this and let everyone know how it comes out.

 

[nimboden]

Nice man looks good! I want to clone something from smuttynose so I may give this a shot too! keep us updated.

 

[zachattack]

the "DH" after the Carafa in their description means "dehusked" which I believe means you want the carafa special. Should have a little less bitterness.

Also I'd definitely try to get the dark syrup instead of the sugar. Look for D or D2 syrup.

Otherwise I think this looks great! It's been a year or two since I've had it, but I remember there was a pretty firm hop flavor. So good call on the 10 min and flameout additions.

 

[JeffD1]

the "DH" after the Carafa in their description means "dehusked" which I believe means you want the carafa special. Should have a little less bitterness.

Also I'd definitely try to get the dark syrup instead of the sugar. Look for D or D2 syrup.

Otherwise I think this looks great! It's been a year or two since I've had it, but I remember there was a pretty firm hop flavor. So good call on the 10 min and flameout additions.

Oops, definitely didn't use DH carafa. But I brewed this almost 2 weeks ago. It went alright. I'm not very good at mashing yet/my cooler is awful. And I only had an effeciency of 55%. So we'll see how it comes out. Thanks for the feeback!

 

[JeffD1]

I just had my first glass, and it was great! I definitely recommend this! It was a lot like Smuttynose, maybe a little more bitter because I didn't use Dehulled Carafa, but I think I liked it better.

 

[JeffD1]

I'm not really good at describing tastes but I'll give this one a shot: a little bitter upfront with a ginger like spice and some coffee and caramel/toffee and a sweet aftertaste. Aftertaste is chocolate, molasses, and some fruit, maybe plum?