Sweet Success!

[Rolling_Thunder]

brewed this at 32 IBU. came out perfect

I agree, it's WAAAAAAAAAY better at a lower IBU. The addition of Malto Dextrin gives it a sweet aftertaste that everyone has noticed and really liked. The vanilla I added helps to give the caramel more body and works really well also.

Amazing head, as others have said. It looks very delic!

I use Kreamy-X priming sugar and get a head like that every time. Great stuff.

Gonna cook up another batch this weekend with a few more little tweeks and see where that takes me...

 

[Amnesiac503]

OK this stuff has been in the bottle exactly 3 weeks now and it has turned out fantastic! It's not the same as the original Shed Mountain Ale but it's a very good unique taste in the same family of uniqueness found in the original. That is to say it's close, it's very good (everyone that has tried it has loved it, even non dark beer drinkers) and many of those that have tried it want me to make them a batch and if I try to meet the demand I'll have to cook up at least 100 gallons!

Here's where I went with my changes to the recipe:

2 oz. Briess Black Patent Malt (by the ounce)
2 oz. Muntons Chocolate Malt (by the ounce)
1 lb Carastan
8 oz. Caramel Wheat
2-3.3 lb Munton's Amber Liquid Malt Extract
2 lbs Muntons Wheat Dried Malt Extract (by the pound)

1 oz. Cascade Hops (US) - 1oz. Pellets
1 oz. Saaz Hops (Czech) - 1oz. Whole
1 oz. Tettnang Hops - 1oz. Pellets
Malto Dextrin - 4 oz.
1 lb KreamyX - Priming Sugar
1 oz. Vanilla Extract
Safael U.S. 50 yeast

Steep grains @ 155 degrees (get water to temp then turn off heat) for 45 minutes dunking in & out of water like tea bag
Bring to boil & add both 3.3 lb. cans of Amber LME & 2 lbs of DME
Toss ¾ oz of Cascade hops in boil for 60 minutes
Toss ½ oz of Saaz 20 minutes to flame out
Add 4 oz of Malto Dextrin 15 minutes to flame out
Toss ½ oz of Tettnang hops 5 minutes to flame out

Fill primary fermenter with 2 gallons of ice & 1 oz of Vanilla Extract.
Add wort to primary fermenter straining through screened funnel then fill with filtered water to 5 gallon mark on bucket to top off.
Cooled wort needs to be between 60 & 72 degrees.
Toss Yeast when wort is to temp.
Slap lid & air lock on it and wait 2 weeks then bottle and wait another 3 weeks.

The next batch is going to have the following changes to the above:

Use Dark malt extract instead of Amber (I ordered Amber by mistake)
Use 2 oz of vanilla instead of 1
Add 8 oz of 2 row to try to get better mouth feel

I'm planning to cook this next batch in about a week and I'll post the findings in a couple months.

Happy New Year everybody!

Reviving a thread here but I had a question about this recipe. I really want to give it a try but I was curious as to what your target OG and FG were? Also, did you make another batch using the 2 oz of vanilla instead of 1 oz, and if so which one turned out better do you think? Thanks!

 

[Jester369]

I appreciate all the dialog with regards to my beer, but I think it is time for a new thread with Rolling Thunders variation. I respect your opinions, but I have to say that I like my recipe just fine. Cheers!

 

[Amnesiac503]

I'm going to make Rolling Thunder's recipe and my friend is going to make yours and we are going to compare, don't worry I'm not picking one over the other. Cheers to you too sir

 

[cg17]

*adds RT's recipe to list*

 

[Jester369]

I'm going to make Rolling Thunder's recipe and my friend is going to make yours and we are going to compare, don't worry I'm not picking one over the other. Cheers to you too sir

Not worried at all, picking is fine! Not everyone is going to like every recipe.

I just think that RT's recipe is different enough that it deserves it's own thread. For me, the hop bill is a nice balance to the malt. The only time I felt the hops were too much was the one time I did a full boil and didn't adjust for the extra hop utilization. Drinking a (properly done) batch right now that, to me, seems very well balanced.

 

[Amnesiac503]

I didn't see either one of your guys recipes in the recipes forums or else I would have asked there for sure. What is your target OG and FG with your recipe Jester? I must say your brew looks delicious, love the contrast between a dark dark beer and milky head (that sounded wrong). Since you have made many batches of this what have you found is the right amount of time in the primary and how long do you let it condition in the bottles?

 

[Rolling_Thunder]

Reviving a thread here but I had a question about this recipe. I really want to give it a try but I was curious as to what your target OG and FG were? Also, did you make another batch using the 2 oz of vanilla instead of 1 oz, and if so which one turned out better do you think? Thanks!

I didn't take OG measurements so I don't know, regretably. I did make another batch with the changes you're asking about, however, changes are as follows:

One 3.3 lb can of Liquid Amber Extract
One 3.3 lb can of Liquid Dark Extract
3 ozs of Chocolate malt
8 ozs of 2 row
2.5 ozs of vanilla

Everything else was the same. Believe it or not this batch has been fermenting for 4 weeks!! It just settled down yesterday and I plan to bottle this weekend so I won't know how this turned out for about 3 weeks.

Interstingly something I forgot to mention was the color in the brew I wound up with wasn't the dark black as seen in Jester's pic. I wound up with a rich Amber color that produced the same head. That got me thinking about what might be possibly wrong with the recipe as it relates to the original Shed which led me to think about how to darken both the color and taste but drive it in a palatable direction that honors the original Shed Mountain Ale. This was the reason for the change in the liquid malt extract to one Amber & one Dark and the addition of an extra ounce of chocolate malt, the 2 row & vanilla.

The batch previous was VERY well received and of the dozen people that tried it only 1 didn't like it and he prefers a much stronger IBU, which apparently Jester does too. In fact that batch was so well liked I've been pestered almost daily since I ran out about when this batch is going to be ready. It's gotten so bad I didn't tell anyone I made this batch so I can avoid the constant nagging...lol They're like a bunch of crack addicts! In retrospect it was a good thing I didn't let them know I made this batch. The 4 week fermentation of this batch would have made them berserk with anticipation.

Jester- my apologies. I didn't mean to stomp through your garden. Your recipe gave me a good starting point/base to work from. I'll start a new thread and continue the journey there.

Have a great weekend!

 

[Jester369]

Jester- my apologies. I didn't mean to stomp through your garden.

No apologies needed! I just felt that we are talking about two very different beers at this point.

 

[Toasted678]

What is a good temp to ferment this monster at?

Also, what yeast is prime for this bill? Jester you said Safale 56... was that supposed to be Safale 5?

I too am super glad this thread got resurrected because this is now my on deck brew.

Thank you as always Jester!
-You're like the HomeBrewTalk MVP.

 

[Jester369]

What is a good temp to ferment this monster at?

Also, what yeast is prime for this bill? Jester you said Safale 56... was that supposed to be Safale 5? .

I try to keep between 64-68. The one time I let it get hot, it was naaaaasty.

Back when I first brewed this, you could still get 56, but not anymore. 5 is a decent substitute.

Hope it comes out great for you! Plan on a good long conditioning time

 

[Toasted678]

Thank you sir.

 

[Toasted678]

Just ordered all the ingredients for the OG Jester Recipe from AHS. Pretty stoked!

In other news, I'm also working on my keezer build this month. Finally found a 9cu ft for $50 on CL. So it has begun. Obviously going to use Jester's keezer as a model too. Sooo is there anything else that I should know about that I can copy you with? haha

Big thanks again for being awesome Jester.

 

[BaddogBrewing]

Definitely on my brew list!

 

[Roost3r]

Thanks Jester, I've been searching for the original recipe. Guess I have 2 brews to do (while I still have some of the real mtn ale left!).

 

[Roost3r]

Just an update, ingredients arrived and yeast starter... started. Brew day will be sat night or sun morning!

 

[Roost3r]

Just an update, ingredients arrived and yeast starter... started. Brew day will be sat night or sun morning!

Brew completed last night. Followed Jesters ingredients and method(s) except for couple of personal additions (like by aerating wort by pouring the 2.5gals from brew pot to ale pale several times).

Currently very happy yeast and stable at 72*

 

[ScootersAle]

Since the Shed closed here in Stowe and the brewery has been acquired and moved to Otter Creek in Middlebury VT, I figured I'd try this out. The 'real' version was pretty good, one of their better beers. As for the style, I believe they described it as a Barley wine.

Brewed this last weekend using 05 yeast. Hydro sample tasted pretty good. I'll post back in a few weeks with how it turned out

 

[Lalo]

Dear Jester,
I realize this is a very old post and not sure if you'll read this, but I wanted to thank you for sharing your recipe, it looks great! The Shed's Mountain Ale is a very complex beer an all-time favorite, and I have not been able to brew a decent clone of this beer at home (I do not live in the US so buying it is not an option for me)

If you read this, I wanted to ask if you you have perfected/ made any changes to your recipe since then. One thing that surprised me about your recipe was the amount of roast and chocolate malts. I never tasted any roasted malts in the original Mountain Ale, but the other day I drank a can of the original (I bought some in 2019 and now I am down to my last can) and noticed there is a "roasty feel" in the finish--it doesn't taste roasty or have the dry-finish associated with roasted grains, which only adds to the complexity of this delicious beer.

Do you think your recipe is more roasty than the original Mountain Ale, or is it just right? Would you adjust the amount of roasted grain if you were trying to brew an exact Mountain Ale clone?

With regards to the hops, the brewery says Mountain Ale is made with generous kettle additions of Northern Brewer and Mt Hood (could be subb'd with Chinook/ Magnum, and German noble hops) for about 35 IBUs. I do not recall any American hop notes in the Original, but I think your hop bill looks great and Cascade would work out fine. Would you still use these hops in a future version of this beer or have you changed it since then?

Thank you in advance for reading this reply, and for any comments and suggestions you may have about your recipe and the Mountain Ale.

Kind regards,

Well, here it is, the Dark-n-Scary:

The guys I play poker with once a month all agreed that it tastes even better than the local microbrew it is trying to recreate! Only problem is we drank almost all of it! Time to get another batch of it going, I guess!

:rockin: