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Vienna Ale – Arromatic Caramel Wheat

The recipe I made up for Daniel’s brew smelled and looked so good, I had to make a variation before I’d even tasted the final result. In particular I used different grains for the consumable sugars and picked some with a bit more aroma. Also, I used a different yeast and hops, so while I had a similar goal in mind, I changed a lot of the recipe along the way. Initial brix 17.4, which could lead to an ABV as high as 9.7%. By the time it went into secondary, the brix was down to 10.5.

Yeast was Nottingham, started in a canning jar with honey, which was a great way to use up the last of the honey as well as speed up the start of fermentation.

Ingredients

Czech saaz 3% alpha, 4.8% beta
Nugget 13.5% alpha, 4.5% beta
5 lbs. Vienna
5 lbs. Maris Otter
2 lbs. roasted barley
2 lbs. 20L
1 lbs. Belgian special aromatic
1 lbs. Belgian biscuit (FrancoBelges)
1 lbs. chocolate

This had a lovely flavor and an excellent smell.

racking a whole lot of tasty roasted grains

Cooling was done directly in the brew kettle

Dark as Sin, and Twice as Tasty – Coffee Stout

04 Aug

July 27th Daniel came over hoping to get something appropriate for football season. In particular, something with ‘lots of coffee flavor.’ Towards that end, I picked up a grain bill with lots of roasted flavors and residual malts to make up a strong stout.

Grains

1 lbs.Chocolate Malt
2 lbs. Roasted Barley
1 lbs. Belgian Aromatic Wheat
1 lbs Belgian Biscuit
1 lbs 20 Lovabond Caramel
7 lbs. 2-Row

Hops were added throughout the boil and were 1 oz Summit pellets and 1 oz. Nugget pellets. Yeast was new to me, but came well recommended; Denny’s Favorite 1450, which claimed to be good for big ales and stouts.

Initial Brix was 13.95. After one week, primary fermentation had slowed, and the Brix was down to 9.8, meaning it is already 3.9% ABV. The smell of the roasted grains is very strong, making me think this may take too long to be at its best for the coming football season. Given the recipe was mine, and I’m willing to give it the long cellar time, I offered Daniel the chance to do make a stout which is ready sooner and take this one off his hands if he wants. =) Clearly I was only trying to help out a friend! I look forward to seeing this one come to fullness.

Update: 9/27/2014

Moved to final keg, with a BRIX of 6.9, or 1.027 FG. This speaks to the amount of non-fermentables visible in the result. Great taste with a nice balanced mouth feel, some treacle flavors along with the roasted grains. Look forward to having this chilled and carbonated. Final ABV: 4.1%