This year, like the last two, I've decided to try another historical version of the style as documented by the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog: 1940 Truman Stock 1. This was my idea at least but I had to make enough substitutions where I'd hesitate to make a strong claim of anything more than being inspired by the recipe:
- First, it leverages a malt called "High Dried" which is no longer made. The alternate suggestion was Simpson's "Imperial Malt" which is described as providing Biscuit, Honey, and Bread Crust like flavors. This, of course, couldn't be acquired from any of the brewing web pages. Based on these descriptors I opted to use a 50/50 mix of Vienna and Melanoiden malt which provide some similar flavors to those described by Simpson's in their Imperial. The Melanoiden at 45L will make this a bit darker than specified by the recipe. So, it certainly will not be the real deal in terms of grain but I expect it will still have a nice malt profile as brewed. Anyhow, we have a local Malt House here in SEPE which I've been really interested in trying out (Deer Creek). I sourced the base pale malt and specialty malts from them
- Second, the recipe calls for heavy doses of Fuggle and Golding hops (8 oz and 5 oz respectively) to get 106 IBU. I had 2.5 oz of Fuggles from last year for late hopping. Instead of ordering a large amount more for bittering I opted to use some Cluster hops I'd already had from last year's harvest. I used 5 oz to get somewhere close to 100 IBU. These are whole cone hops and are fresh out of an unopened bag. They don't really smell much like Fuggle or Goldings (a bit more flowery and citrus like) but I think they'll be fine for bittering.
I was able to use the right yeast at least, Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast, which is reported to be the Truman Brewery House strain. The recipe also calls for Invert Syrup - I'll make my own which is an easy and very inexpensive thing to do. Shooting for fairly dark Invert #3
I'll give the beer about a month in primary and then transfer to secondary with a bit of oak to age and mellow until early winter.
Recipe Details:
- Grain/Adjunct:
- 17 lb English Style Pale Malt
- 3 lb Vienna Style Malt
- 3 lb Melanoidin Malt
- 1 lb Invert #3
- 5 oz Acid Malt
- Hops:
- 5 oz Cluster (Leaf, 8.1% AA) at 60 min
- 2.5 oz Fuggle (Pellet, 4,7% AA) at 15 min
- Yeast:
- Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast
- Water:
- 1.5 gal spring water
- 5 gal tap water
- 2 tsp CaCl
- 2 tsp Gypsum
- 1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min
- Extras:
- 2 oz of Toasted White Oak Soaked in Cabernet Sauvignon
Process Details:
- Batch Size:
- 6 gal
- Mash:
- 155 F for 60 min
- Boil:
- 120 min
- Fermentation Temp:
- 65 F
- Primary Duration:
- 4 weeks
- Secondary Duration:
- 4 months
Results:
- OG
- 1.110 (Target 1.105)
- Efficiency:
- 72% (Target 69%)
- FG:
- 1.036 (Target 1.035)
- Apparent Attenuation:
- 65% (Target 65%)
- ABV:
- 9.89% (Target 9.19%)
Brewing Notes:
- 5/24/20 - Built a 1.2 L starter using Munich Malt. Set it up on a stir plate. No (or very little) sign of fermentation the next day. Took it off the stir plate down in the basement and moved it to a warm water bath in the kitchen to see if a temperature increase can spur it into action. I'll watch it through the course of the brew day and assess if further action may be needed
- 5/25/20 - Brewday - from 10 AM to 3:20PM - Including setup and cleanup
- Made 1 lb of Invert #3 sugar
- Heated 10 gal of water (50/50 spring and tap water) to 180 F
- Weighed and milled the grain. Added half the gypsum and CaCl to this
- Added 6 gal to the mash tun and cycled through the grant and RIMS until the system had settled at 165 F
- Stopped the cycle and stirred in the grain. Stirred well to eliminate doughballs. Had to add another gal of water to adequately stir things in
- Set the RIMS to cycle at 155 F
- Mashed for 60 min
- Added another 5 gal of spring water to the boil kettle and brought it up to 190 F for the sparge
- Sparged the beer. I transferred a bit of water to the mash tun once the top of the grain became exposed to do a fly sparge. Collected until I had 10 gal of wort
- Added 1 more tsp each of Gypsum and CaCl to the kettle during the sparge
- Started to heat the kettle after collected 3 gal. Had it to a boil right around the end of the sparge
- Boiled for 2 hrs
- Added bittering hops at 60 min. Put them in muslin sacks to make draining the kettle easier. The leaf cluster smell amazing (need to make another beer with these soon)
- Added the invert sugar with about 30 min left to go
- Added Irish Moss and flavor hops at 15 min
- Added the Wort chiller with 5 min left
- Chilled the wort down to the low 70s
- Drained into the fermenter. Let it fall a foot or so to aerate.
- My yeast had shown a good bit of activity once warmed up some I decided to give it a shot for at least a day
- Measured the gravity as 1.120.
- Collected 5.5 gal of beer. Added half a gal to get up to 6 gal (which is 1.110)
- Let the fermentor sit at basement temperatures rather than controlled at 65 F as initially planned. Also let the lid sit on loose rather than setup an airlock so this will be sort of an open fermentation
- 5/26/20 - No signs of fermentation the next morning. I was worried enough to buy a second pack of yeast. By the afternoon there was a nice layer of krausen on the beer and an estery aroma - I worried for nothing
- 5/29/20 - The fermentation has released a lot of esters the last couple days. Krausen has fallen by this afternoon though.
- 6/20/20 - Moved the beer into the chest freezer to cold crash in the high 30s
- 6/21/20 - Added gelatin to fine the beer
- 6/26/20 - Transferred the beer into a glass carboy for aging. Added about 2 oz of white oak which I toasted at about 360 F and soaked in Cabernet for the last year or so. Measured the gravity as 1.038. The has a nice mild yeast character and, while boozy, doesn't taste like there's much if any fusel alcohol - was a good fermentation. I'll let the beer age until December.
- 12/5/20 - Bottled today with 4 oz of priming sugar and a rehydrated pack of wine yeast. Got a bit less than 6 gal of beer after transfer from secondary and this netted me 57 12 oz bottles. Measured the gravity as 1.036 (down a couple points during the 5 month bulk aging). The beer has a nice combination of malt and ester as well as a fair amount of hop character and a bitter kick on the finish. I'll let this carb up for a couple weeks before sampling.
- 1/31/21 - Tasting Notes - Bold malt aroma and flavor with pleasant supporting hop and yeast character. It has a nice complexity in flavors as well. Sticky and sweet which encourages slow drinking - not a bad thing with a 9+% beer. The chocolate character is unexpected but very nice. I used a couple ounces of toasted Cabernet soaked oak in this batch I wonder if that could be a contributor.
- 5/30/21 - Tasting Notes (2021):
- Aroma: Caramel with toasted bread and a bit of fruity ester. Some booze. I think I get some herbal hop character in the mix as well
- Appearance: Reddish brown and fairly clear. Pours with a 2 finger head that slowly fades and leaves lacing on the glass
- Flavor: Sweet bready malt and dark caramel character. Some fruity ester in there as well. Also get chocolate and some booze. Get some hop character in there - herbal and grassy. There is a medium bitterness on the finish balanced by sweet malt
- Mouthfeel: Medium full bodied and a bit sweet. Smooth drinking
- Overall: Complex and boldly flavored. This one has a nice contribution from hops and yeast
- 5/28/22 - Tasting Notes (2022):
- Tasting Notes (39 of 50):
- Aroma (8 of 12): Caramel, brown sugar, and toasted bread along with a musty and lightly fruity character. Get a bit of alcohol coming through as well
- Appearance (3 of 3): Pours with a 3 finger head that fades down to a thin layer after a few minutes. Leaves lacing on the glass. Dark reddish brown in color and pretty clear.
- Flavor (16 of 20): Rich, toasted bread and dark caramel malt flavors. May have a note of chocolate in there too. The malt flavor lingers into the finish with a bit of sweetness and is balanced by a medium-light bitterness. There is a slight bit of fruity character in the lingering in the finish but pretty light. I may be getting a bit of herbal hop flavor in there as well. Alcohol is pretty well hidden. Maybe some oak in there too as I get a bit of vanilla.
- Mouthfeel (4 of 5): Medium-full bodied and slightly sticky sweet. Drinks very smoothly
- Overall (8 of 10): This beer has a really lovely and rich malt character. I think it's very complex and interesting to drink. I like the kick of hop bitterness it has well which gives it a good balance and makes it easy drinking
- 5/28/23 - Tasting Notes (2023):
- Tasting Notes (39 of 50):
- Aroma (8 of 12): Caramel malt and toasted bread. A bit of mustiness. Wine like character. Some fruity notes - raisin maybe
- Appearance (2 of 3): Reddish brown and very clear. Pours with a thin layer of foam that quickly dissipates to nothing
- Flavor (16 of 20): A mix of fruit and malt up front. The finish is slightly sweet with just the faintest bit of bitterness. It has a dark caramel and chocolate flavor that lingers in the after taste
- Mouthfeel (5 of 5): Full bodied and a little sticky. Smooth drinking
- Overall (8 of 10): This is a pretty complex beer with malt character being primary and fruit secondary. Flavor and aroma are pretty bold and rich
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