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Sewer_Urchen Winter ale
This started out as an attempt to make a Long Trail Double Bag clone, didn't turn out to be that, but this will make a great winter ale. And with the high malt bill I think making it now and letting it age 5-6 months it will be really tasty when I get home from work on a cold Maine January night. This is also my first non-kit recepie, so proudly I share: Sewer_Urchen Winter Ale!
6.6# (two cans) Muntons Amber LME
3# muntons Amber DME
1# Crystal 2
1oz Northern Brewer pellets (60 min)
1/2oz German Tettnanger pellets (15 min)
1/2oz German Tettnanger pellets (2 min)
Safale US-05
5 oz Dextrose priming sugar
Started Crystal in2 gallons cold water and brought up to 165*F. Dipped and let drip out like a tea bag for 5 min in 165* water.
Discarded Crystal and added LME and DME, (Looking back I think next time I'll do a late extract addition to get the IBU's higher, but it's still decent) and brought to boil and added hops as described above.
Ice bath then poured into 3 gal of cold water in my bottling bucket, took a cup out and disolved yeast in it for 10 min. Funnelled 3/4 into primary carboy, added yeast mixture, and funnelled the remaining 1/4 on top. Funneling churned it up pretty good and I didn't continue to shake the carboy (40 year old glass, I just don't like shaking it full)
It was warm here so first day in the primary it was staying at about 78*, then by day 3 it was down to 74-75* range, by day 7 it was at 70*. On day 7 racked into 5 galon carboy from primary and topped off with about 6C of cold water. Bottled after two weeks in secondary. Conditioned for...well its malty and still conditioning, it's carbed now, but I'm going to let it sit till this winter.
Should be about 7.3%ABV 
with about 11 IBU's (if I did a late extract addition or a 4 galon boil it would be around 26 IBU's, which is what I think I'll do next time) and about 252 callories per 12oz bottle. Can't drink too many of these at a time!
Nice job with the recipe formulation! I really enjoy that aspect of brewing. Sounds like a beer your patience will be rewarded with.
My only observation is not in your content, but in your procedure. It is my opinion that a chico strain yeast should not be fermented quite so hot. Keep in mind that fermentation process heats the wort a few degrees anyhow, so the bulk of your fermentation was at or close to 80 degrees. You may wind up with some off flavors in that beer, I wouldnt rule out the flavor of green apples in the finished product.
I understand that for many temp control is difficult, especially a steady temperature, however an effort should be made to keep yeasts under 70, (preferably 65) for a clean ferment.
Yeast control is vital for clean beers, and for bigger beers like this one, it can play a crucial role. The other thing yeast hate to do is cool down, they would rather warm up. So a ferment starting at 63, then creeping over time to 68 may be healthy for them, however once they become acclimated with warm, they tend to shut down as they cool. This could lead to a couple of things. First you may have underattenuated wort by a few points. This may eventually be attenuated in the bottle during conditioning, now giving you double carbonation levels. Second, they may not have the strength to clean up their post ferment biproducts, leaving other off flavors behind.
Last if you are patient enough to wait for a 5 month condition, you should be patient enough to wait for a full fermentation. You did not list the OG, but a 7.3% ABV is telling me it was probably somewhere around 1.065-75ish. That is a pretty big beer, needs lots of strong healthy yeast, but just as important, it needs a good long ferment, I would normally go 2-3 weeks or longer. Take the extra time and make sure it is clean and finished before packaging. These bigger beers are more expensive to make, take longer to condition, and mature well. Always go a little longer than a little shorter in a process to insure your peace of mind months down the road.
Sorry if I sound a bit harsh, it is just that experience has brought me and others down these same paths, and I would rather have you maximize your enjoyment and finished product. Shortcuts may still get you a great beer, however attention to theses critical notes may make the same batch the best you have ever brewed.
:)Yes, I appreciate the insight of more experienced brewers! The high ferment temp I knew would raise some eyebrows, and I would have liked it to be lower, but even in my basement it wasn't getting below 78 (It was during that real heat wave a month ago) and there was little I could do about it becasue I don't have a brewing fridge. I didn't get an OG because my hydrometer broke during the boil 
, and the ABV is an estimate based off of an online calculator. This is the batch that I posted "Fermentation started again in secondary" a few weeks ago, and you mentioned then that the week in the primary could and probably should have been 2 weeks at least. I had gotten a little paranoid because the owner of my LHBS raised an eyebrow when I told him I left the Hefe I did previous I left in the primary for 2 weeks and he seemed concerned that would leave off flavors. I know now that isn't the case and will probably leave most of my beers in the primary for 2 weeks min in the future. And yes, it started fermenting again for a few days in the secondary.
As I said, I was going for something diferent, and the initial flavor is a little too malty for my taste, but that said, winter ales tend to be quite malty, if you're familiar with Maine brews, this one's similar to Geary's Winter in maltiness. So this recipe will almost certainly have some perfection in the future, which I will post as a continuation later on as this progresses, but from the initial taste test it should be a decent winter brew to start with.
I hope this will progress, as you say Thirsty, to a really great brew and see if others try it. Time will tell!
sewer_urchen wrote:
my suggestion would be if you do this again in the future, perhaps leave the malt bill the same but up the IBUs to get a better balance. 11 IBUs just isnt enough to balance ANY beer, let alone a malt bomb. Shoot for 35-40 IBUs and I think you would be happy.
That was my thought. Like I said in the orriginal post, if I do a late extract addition with the 2 gal boil (all I have is a 12 qt pan) the IBU's would be more like 26, and I was thinking of using 2 oz of the Northern Brewer next time as well.
sewer_urchen wrote:
but even in my basement it wasn't getting below 78
Sounds like good Saison temps to me. When life gives you lemons..........
Giventofly wrote:
sewer_urchen wrote:
but even in my basement it wasn't getting below 78
Sounds like good Saison temps to me. When life gives you lemons..........
I'd really like to have a 78* basement right now. I'd LOVE to make a Saison!
So last night I tried one of Samuel Adams Barrell Room Collection, the Stone Brook Red, and lo and behold, it tasted exactly like my Winter Ale...Though this one rings in at 9.5%, and mine was closer to 7.4% the flavors, color, foggyness were all about the same...The only major difference is that my winter ale has a larger head and better head retention (more like a stout, which may be an effect of the crystal [pretty sure it was the 20L])...
So if you want to try a Samuel Adams, Stone Brook Red (Oak Barrell Collection) CLONE, [say that three times fast] here's the recipe for you!
The flavors could be cleaned up a bit by using a lower ferment temp, I'd try to keep it arround 65* next time arround.
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