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Winter Old Ale on deck, any suggestions?
This is what I am thinking for my winter warmer old ale, should be ready by x-mas, but I am going to age most of it until the following year.
13 gallon batch
15 gallon boil (90 minutes)
1.094 - OG
1.022 - FG
SRM - 16
IBU - 58
9%ABV
85% mash efficiency
32# Thomas Fawcett Pearl english pale
.5# Special B
.5# Aromatic
1# crystal 80
.3# black patent
1# Lyle's treacle (last 15 minutes)
3# corn sugar (full boil)
3oz magnum pellets 60
2oz EKG pellets 45
4 packets US-04 (rehydrated)
Mash @ 152 60 minutes
Ferment 66
Secondary on medium toast american oak spirals for 12 weeks
That looks pretty tasty man... I can't imagine having the patience (or space) to give a beer a year and a half, though...
Rubberchrist wrote:
That looks pretty tasty man... I can't imagine having the patience (or space) to give a beer a year and a half, though...
Well I will treat it like a normal beer, the secondary will be a little long, but then I will keg it normally, and bottlegun about 4 gallons, then drink the remaining gallon. The 4 bottled gallons I will cellar and taste vertically starting this xmas. At least that is the plan.
Thirsty, I just have to ask. Do you drink all the beer you make? Reason I ask is every time I look at this forum you are making another 13 gallon batch.
dpturner wrote:
Thirsty, I just have to ask. Do you drink all the beer you make? Reason I ask is every time I look at this forum you are making another 13 gallon batch.
Every drop!
No seriuously I split the batch and share a lot. Out of my 13 gallon finished boil, about 11.5 gallons make it to the fermenters, the rest is left behind in hop absorption, trub, break, and kettle and transfer line loss. That gives me 5.5-5.75 gallons in each fermenter. I keep one fermenter at my house, my co-brewer takes the other home with him, and ferments and finishes his own beer.
Out of the 5.5-5.75 gallons, I lose .5 gallon or so to leave in the bottom, so I can transfer a true 5 gallons of clear beer. Once kegged I usually bottle some up for comps, give some away, and save the rest of the keg for tap. With 4 taps always flowing my friends and neighbors help me drink about a keg's worth a week. So with a weekly brew schedule, it works out where a keg is always in the waiting to be tapped, and one is always waiting to be kicked. A pretty even balance.
When I get backed up, it usually balances by having a long term beer conditioning, (like the plans for this old ale) and then I can build a supply of cellared bottles.
I guess I just love to brew often (and drink!)
That's awesome. I wish I lived any where close to you. I need to get my gear to start brewing AG. I love to make it, watch it as it conditions, and then drink it.
dpturner wrote:
That's awesome. I wish I lived any where close to you. I need to get my gear to start brewing AG. I love to make it, watch it as it conditions, and then drink it.
Hell even those of us who do live close wish we lived close.
Thirsty lives out on the open frontier in Massachusetts....
But its always well worth the trip to get out there and see his set up.
Heck, the way you guys talk about your brew days out there, I have half a mind to get a plane ticket one of these summers and join you for the brewing.
Of course, I'd have to fly out again on bottling day to bring any home 8(
Hey man, the garage is always open, and we are always brewing on fridays, all are welcome! (as long as I have grain- keeping fingers crossed for tomorrow!)
That would be awesome. I need a good hands on lesson in AG brewing. Oh well, for now I guess I will just jump in and learn as I go. Unfortunately none of my friends are interested in brewing, just the drinking part.
Thirsty, I wanted to get your opinion since I'm getting ready to brew an old ale/english barleywine myself in a couple weeks. Right now I have an ESB in the primary fermenting with S-04 and my plan was to brew and rack 3.5 gallons of an old/barley on top of the yeast cake once I transferred the ESB to my secondary. This will be my first time racking straight onto a yeast cake and was wondering if you thought this would be better than just pitching a packet or 2 of rehydrated S-04. My OG will be right aorund 1.10.
I know this yeast flocculates extremely well and forms a nice hard cake, so would I need to rack onto and then mix it real well or just leave it be? I planned on aerating the crap out of it before racking. I would also definitely use a blow off tube if I go this route.
It is a mixed bag on this one. I have never re-used us-04, however I have us-05. There was a nice flavor to the 2nd generation us-05.
However 04 does react different, and although I am sure there is a large viable cell count in the cake, there is also a large number of dead autolysized yeast as well. The one thing I can guarantee is fresh rehydrated yeast will produce a delicious beer the 1st time around, and inexpensively. So I am all for experimentation, this time I just think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
If it were my beer I would be pitching fresh.
That reminds me, I think I might transfer this beer to secondary tonight and oak. Can't wait for winter!
Interesting, so I would run the risk of producing off flavors from the dead yeast cells? I guess since I would be keeping this beer in the primary for at least 2-3 weeks then the beer would be exposed to these cells for quite a long period of time. I'll go with the fresh yeast on this one, like you suggested. I plan on this being my "project" beer for the year. What did you get your old ale down to? Did you have to rouse the yeast any to help get it down a few extra points?
How much oak are you using for your secondary? I've considered doing this with mine as well, but have no experience doing this.
As long as your S-04 cake isn't much older than say 3 weeks, I wouldn't worry about the dead yeast effect. The yeast should be pretty hardy still, IMO. Healthy and but dormant.
I wouldn't bother pitching on the entire cake though. I'd add a little fresh wort, or sterilized and cooled water to the cake, swirl it around gently to get some of the cake to loosen up at the surface. Try to leave some of the protein and hop trub at the very bottom of the cake intact. Then I'd pour about 500mL of that into a new fermentor that has the Old Ale wort waiting for it already.
This will ensure a little bit of fresh growth and a clean ferment.
Reusing cake is a good reason to have good temp control on fermentation. When you control fermentation temps the yeast stay happier longer, and you get a more healthy pitch from the cake next time around.
lukeduke wrote:
What did you get your old ale down to? Did you have to rouse the yeast any to help get it down a few extra points?
How much oak are you using for your secondary? I've considered doing this with mine as well, but have no experience doing this.
After reading your post, I just went out and checked the FG for the first time. (been in primary since 6/26) it got down to the .022, (75%AA) which was my target. The hydro sample was delicious, but very warm alcohol, this will need some serious aging.
As for the oak, I have done both chips and cubes. (2 oz for 5 gallons)The chips seem to mellow a tad over time, the cubes however seem to hold firm. This batch I am going to use a spiral (which is like a dowel turned on a lathe) the surface area of this looks to be the best. You just pop it into secondary, rack on top of it, then taste after a few weeks. If it isnt strong enough- wait another week and taste- until you like the intensity. My last RIS I left on cubes for 5 weeks total IIRC.
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