My second all grain brew, this beer took 3rd place in it’s category at the 2014 Connecticut Beer Trail Homebrew Contest with two 41 scores (score sheets below).  It was about 4-months aged at the time of entry.  I brewed it in the typical manner with Belgian Candi Sugars and oaked it with both chips and cubes (in hopes of added complexity).  This was also my first time using a proper yeast starter (though I did still under-pitch by about 100 billion cells… some stress on Belgian yeast can create desirable effects for the style).
 

Batch Size:  5.25 Gallons
Measured Original Gravity: 1.083 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
IBUs:  25.2
ABV:  8.9%

Recipe:

Mash at 152F for 75 minutes then fly sparge until desired amount of wort is collected:

12 lbs 4.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row)
1 lbs Caramunich Malt
8.0 oz Special B Malt
4.0 oz Wheat, Flaked

2.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] – Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Spalter [4.50 %] – Boil 1.0 min

1 lbs Candi Sugar, Clear (1.0 SRM) – Flame out
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Dark (90.0 SRM) – Flame out

1.0 pkg Belgian Abbey Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1214) – 2 liter 1.035 starter 48 hours in advance

1.50 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 10.0 days) Flavor 10 –
1.50 oz Oak Cubes (Secondary 10.0 days) Flavor 11

Tasting Notes:

I’m really proud of this one.  There are layers upon layers of complex dark fruit and malt flavors with an effervescent, off-dry finish.  The subtle oak plays perfectly against these flavors.  On a downside, after 4 months of aging the bottles became “gushers” as was noted on my score sheets.   After 6 months they are regular geysers.  I obviously over-carbonated.  I’m hoping they will gas-off with time.  I’m not concerned about letting these sit for another 6 months to a year.  Time is your friend with this style.  I recently brewed up a revision of this brew which has not yet been bottled.  Stay tuned for that recipe in the future.

Score Sheets:

This was my very first all grain brew.  The recipe was a slight modification on a Brown Ale recipe supplied by my local homebrew supply store.  What do you know? All grain really wasn’t that difficult!  If you want to read more about making the jump to all grain check out this article.

Batch Size:  6.00 Gallons
Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
IBUs:  28.3
ABV:  4.6%

Recipe:

Mash at 152F for 75 minutes then fly sparge until desired amount of wort is collected:
9 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt, Halcyon
10.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt – 40L
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt
6.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt – 80L

1.00 oz Challenger [8.20 %] – Boil 60.0 min
0.25 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] – Boil 20.0 min
0.75 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] – Boil 1.0 min

1.0 pkg London Ale III (Wyeast Labs #1318)

Tasting Notes:

A very easy drinking Brown Ale.  Not overly complex.  A hint of roast, coffee, caramel and nutty notes.  It served it’s purpose of bridging the gap between light Summer beers and roastier Autumn beer well.  I mashed at 152F with the intention of allowing the beer to dry out some, keeping the body light.  If you’d like a maltier brew with a little more mouthfeel, I’d recommend mashing at a higher temp… maybe 156-158F.