Ingredients
Coming up with this recipe was fairly easy. We didn't consult much, we just figured "ok, we know what flavors we want, and we know which malts provide them, so let's use this this and this." As a result, we derived the following ingredients:
| 10lbs. Pale Malt |
| 0.5lb. Special B 150oL |
| 0.5lb. Chocolate Malt |
| 0.125lb. Black Patent |
| 1.5oz UK Kent Goldings (5%AA) |
| 1oz Fuggles (5.6%AA) |
| WLP002 English Ale Liquid Yeast |
Mash Method
March 22, 2008
Strike 11.125 lbs of grain w/11.25qt (1qt / lb) of 171F water.
Initial mash temp 145, we forgot to close mash tun valve (oops)
T=55
Added 1qt boiling water raised temp to 150F
T=50
Added 1qt boiling water, raised temp to 145F
T=45
Mixed cold spots, added 1qt boiling water, raised temp to 151F
T=40
Added 2qt semiboiling water, raised temp to 157F
T=35
Added 1qt boiling water, mash temp 153F
T=30
Added 1qt boiling water, mash temp 154F
T=25
Added 1qt boiling water, mash temp 155F
T=20
Added 1qt boiling water, mash temp 156F
T=15
Added 1qt boiling water, mash temp 156F
T=10
Added 1qt boiling water, mash temp 156F
T=05
Added 1qt boiling water, mash temp 155F
Total = 23.25 qt / 4 = 5.8125 gal - 2 gal water sucked out to grain =
3.8125 gal
Lautered 5 times (recirculating through the grain bed 4 times)
Sparged w/2.5 gal water to bring total volume out to 6.3125 (~6.5) gal
Brew Method
March 22, 2008
A great thing we did this time was to put all our hops in mueslin bags (1 for each addition). This made things SO much easier. Didn't need to strain out any hops. We just remove the bags at the end of the boil and squeeze out as much wort as possible. Voila!
T=60min
Added 1oz UK Kent Goldings (5%AA)
T=45min
Added 0.5oz UK Kent Goldigns (5%AA)
T=30min
Added 0.5oz Fuggles (5.6%AA)
Started ice bath
T=15min
Added 0.5oz Fuggles (5.6%AA)
Added one teaspoon of irish moss
Inserted the wort chiller for sanitization
T=0min
Turned off the heat, and removed our mueslin bags containing our hops. Moved our pot next to the ice bath and hooked up the wort chiller. Turned it on and let it roll. We just let it go long enough this time that we didn't need to submerge it in the bath. We got it to 65F in about 25 minutes. That was fine. Removed the wort chiller, whirlpooled the wort to get sediment to settle conically in the pot, and then racked from the side into the primary fermenter.
Fermentation
March 22, 2008
Pitched our yeast and put in the basement for storage. Our original gravity reading ended up being 1.064. At first we were thrilled, because this meant our mash efficiency skyrocketed to 80% by using only 1 quart of water per pound of grain for our mash. But alas, we realized we wound up with only 4 gallons of beer instead of 5, so that brought our efficiency way down to 64%. Huge bummer.
Bottling
April 26, 2008
Got 24 bottles of this today, plus a couple glasses. The taste off the bat is pretty good, even given the presence of the primer solution. Our FG was 1.014, giving an abv of 6.45%. The color is very dark, it passes the light test. However it's crystal clear. Once chilled and carbonated, this should be quite delectable.
Tasting
June 22, 2008
Ok, so I tried a few of these before and just never noted it. Previous tastings showed zero carbonation and a bit of an overly malty profile. But just now I cracked another one after refrigerating it for a few days. And this one does not suffer from either of those ailments. It's decently carbed and the flavor is pretty damn good. However, I would hesitate to call it a nut brown. It's definitely more of a porter. Oh well! Still yummy!
Notes
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