Oak barrel aging project

[I_used_to_brew]

I'll be collecting the barrel on the 12th February, so it's time to submit your recipes for consideration.

We agreed that the recipes should be based on a 23litre brewlength and that wherever possible it should be possible to produce a version uding malt extract.

[alikocho]

This podcast might be of interest in thinking about this. From the Brewing Network's Brew Strong show with John Palmer and Jamil Zainasheff.

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew ... Wood-Aging

[I_used_to_brew]

I'm downloading it, will listen to it soon.

Also there is another similar 'show' http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/ ... w-07-30-07

[richpoole]

From looking in my books and on the internet it seems that the best style to brew for a long period of oak aging is a fairly robust dark ale such as a porter or imperial stout. Flavours from the oak can end up pretty strong in the beer so it must be able to handle these characteristics.
I know we decided on an amber beer but now i'm thinking more towards a 6-7% porter such as Matts excellent Durden Park porter we tasted last time.

What do people reckon?

Rich P

[steve crawshaw]

Dark and strong i think. The durden park porter seems like a good candidate, and we have an established reference recipe and brew.

[alikocho]

A porter is probably preferable to an Imperial Stout as it's likely to be more manageable for people to brew. It's going to need to be up above 6% to keep.

The Durden Park one might be a goer - do we remember which it was? (it may have been the Christmas one?)

[MapperMatt]

Hi all,

Yep the porter I brought in last time was recipe number 103 in Durden Park 3rd edition: Flower's Christmas Porter OG 1066.
Its actually quoted as being 'a quick drinking christmas porter'. Also, I should mention that I brewed it without the sugar, which took the gravity down to 1064. So... the recipe for a 23 litre batch is:

5.366kg Maris Otter
1.042kg Brown Malt
0.418kg Black Malt

Mashed with a water to grain ratio of 3L/kg

92.26g Fuggles (4.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes
Fermented at 18°C with Safale S-04

I fermented it down to about 1021, so probably could have gone a bit further... so the abv worked out to be around 4.9%

The other porter thats worth considering is the classic Whitbread 1850 Porter from Durden (recipe 97). This comes in at around 1060. Durden recommend for it to be matured for 4-5 months. The recipe for 23 litres is:

5.177g Maris Otter
1.003g Brown Malt
0.324g Black Malt

Mashed with a water to grain ratio of 2.5L/kg

142g Fuggles (4.2% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes. Boil for 90 Minutes
Fermented at 20°C with Safeale S-04

I think the good thing about both those porter recipes is that they have fairly big burnt flavours and lots of bitterness which should hold their own in the barrel more than say something like Fuller Porter which I think has a more delicate, chocolatey flavour.

[MapperMatt]

Doh... the grain figures for the whitbread recipe should be kilograms not grams!! Apologies

[alikocho]

Hi all,


I think the good thing about both those porter recipes is that they have fairly big burnt flavours and lots of bitterness which should hold their own in the barrel more than say something like Fuller Porter which I think has a more delicate, chocolatey flavour.

I agree - the Fuller's Porter wouldn't hold up to oak aging. I've worked out a recipe based on Meantime's 1750 Porter (which I don't have to hand), which looks intriguing and might be worth considering. I'll post it up later today.

[SteveW]

Hi there everyone!

Like Matt I brewed an 1850 Porter From Durden Park (No. 97 in the Old British Beers Book)

My recipe is a little different as I used Organic Quench Pale Malt from Warminster Maltings and Mashed for three hours, and did a 90 minute boil.

My grist was as follows:

5212g Pale malt (quench)
1022g Brown Malt
357g Black malt

As to hops I used:

142g Fuggles at 4% A.A. (I feel using the lowest percentage Alpha Acid hops gives more Beta acid flavours)

This Gave me 23 litres at 1060

I used Live Gervin yeast From a Previous brew and fermented for seven to eight days - I wasn't measuring F.G. the last time I brewed this, but I do now!

I now brew this in July for Christmas and drinks well! I think that it would last the distance in the barrel.


The other recipe That I consider would be good and I expect it could be brewed with Malt Extract is :

Georges Strong Ale (1896) from Georges Brewery, the brewery is/was sited just across the road from where we meet.
From Durden Park, recipe No. 44

Grist:
9072g Pale Malt

Bittering Hops:
305g Fuggles at 4.2% A.A.

3 hour mash
90 Minute Boil

Target O.G. 1088
I used live Nottingham yeast from a previous Brew.

To achieve the O.G. I had to have a stiff mash around 2.2 - 2.3 litres of liquor per Kilo
and ran off and sparged very slowly.

I don't know how to calculate the amount of extract need for this as an extract brew, If we select this, maybe someone could work it out! It Drank too well as I have none left to bring for sampling!

That my contribution if a little late, what do people think?

At the moment I am brewing a mild, another from recipe from Georges Brewery - X Ale (1867) a 1062 pale mild with goldings hops and Burton Yeast (thanks Matt!)

Steve