What are you brewing?

[nzbrewer]

Since this is the most popular thread on the RealBeer.co.nz forum I thought I would start it here just to see what happens

[denimglen]

Funk the shit out of the two litres, pasteurise and dump it back in the main beer - a la Guinness?

[Mike Neilson]

Guinness probably only do it to get rid of the bad beer they made and now have to do it!!

[warra48]

Martin,
Boil the crap out of the 2 litres of wort to concentrate it down to about ½ litre or less, and add it to your fermenter?
Should help to up the SG a bit, seeing as you're concerned about that?

[Martin Bridges]

That's not a bad idea! Might get some interesting caramelisation, too.

[Martin Bridges]

Thanks warra, that's just what I did. Reduced 2 litres down to half a litre on the stove, then chucked in the Dark Candi syrup just to pasteurise it. Cooled the lot then chucked it into the fermenter. Hydro reading is currently 1.038 but I doubt everything has mixed all that well so I'm not really sure. Tastes unbelievably awesome though - like sweet tar with hints of dark fruits.

I also split about 4 litres off into a small fermenter (jerry can with an airlock) as I'd got fed up with the explosive ferment gushing through the airlock. Gives me the opportunity to do something different with that one too.

[Reviled]

Gives me the opportunity to do something different with that one too.

Blackberries or cherrys maybe?

[Martin Bridges]

Just checked the SG of the main fermenter and it's down to 1.016, so not far off done. Still tasting good - not as acrid as I expected with all that roast barley, lots of complexity and a long finish.

I think I'll bottle a few bottles off it this week then chuck the oak and the Porter Noir dregs into the secondary.

[Martin Bridges]

Another round of processing on this one today. It fermented out at 1.014, which is quite impressive. Makes it an 8% beer by my calculations (started out at around 1.075 including all the sugars). Still tasting pretty smooth with a reasonable amount of sweetness. Alcohol is definitely present but not overpowering.

I've bottled 5.5L of it with a very small amount of priming sugar, just so I've got some clean bottles either for drinking or blending.

I racked the remainder into a secondary fermenter and added 12g (half an ounce) of medium toast oak chips, which I'd sanitised by boiling them in the microwave for a minute or so. Later today I'll also add the dregs of a bottle of Hallertau 2007 Porter Noir. Then it'll be a case of occasional taste testing to see how it's going. Hopefully should have something nice around my 40th birthday in August.

[Tilt]

Martin - Talk about coming to the source via the long way around...!  I put together a recipe for a Belgian Stout the other day and then stumbled across Jolly Pumpkin's Madrugada Obscura CYBI clone episode which has a very similar grist to the one I cobbled up....another search brought up your notes on your take on this from the BN forum.... so I've come full circle to ask a few questions.  I'm only planning a non Brett version...so from your experiences of the clean portion of TTBH...

If you were to do this again is there anything you'd do differently?

What temp did you mash at?  Is 65 degrees about right?  (I'm concerned an overly attenuative wort might make this seem too astringent)

Is the amount and type of simple sugars about right? 

My recipe has similar hop additions but with Pacific Gem and NZ Styrians - do you think they'd do the beer justice?

Cheers

[Martin Bridges]

I mashed at 67 because I wanted to make sure there were some residuable fermentables for the bugs to get their teeth into. If I was just brewing the "clean" beer I might be tempted to go a bit lower because it did turn out pretty chewy. I liked the "clean" beer but I was quite tempted to do a blend with the "dirty" portion, which has thinned down quite markedly due to the addition of the bugs.

I'd happily brew it again and do it pretty much the same. However, one thing I'd say is that this beer needs time, even for the "clean" version. The amount of roast in there could cause it to be a bit acrid & astringent, which definitely softens over time. It's still going strong for me.

The hops don't have a big impact so I think you'd be fine with those substitutions.

Happy to help with any more questions.

[Tilt]

Thanks Martin - much appreciated,

I've just mashed in at 66 - to split the difference between your temp and Jolly Pumpkin's.

I take your point about time for the roast to mellow - going from the smell of the grist just now this is going to be one hefty, acrid beer.  Just what I'm looking for as I love those flavours. 

I'm looking forward to this one sitting in the cellar for a while for time to do its work.

[Tilt]

Another query ....You don't by any chance have notes on the fermentation temp profile that got yours down to 1014 do you? 

I'm aiming for it to sit at 18-19 for three days and then a slow rise to 23 over 5 or so days to finish it off. Does that sound similar?