Beer Brewing Blog

I was loaned the book Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione recently and was really taken by the creativity used in some of the recipes. As a big fan of most Dogfish Head brews, I really enjoyed reading some of the methods used to create those beers. One recipe in particular caught my eye so I ordered up the ingredients and today I boiled up the batch. The recipe is for a Port Barrel Aged Belgian Brown Ale. The port barrel flavor will come from soaking medium toast French oak chips in port for a few weeks while the primary fermentation is taking place.

Ingredient List:

Grains:

1.5 lbs Cara-pils malt

2 tspns Gypsum

Boil:

6.6 lbs light malt extract syrup

1 lbs Belgian dark candy sugar

8 oz of molasses

1.5 oz of Kent Goldings hop pellets (60 minutes)

1/2 oz Saaz hop pellets (20 minutes)

1 tspn Irish Moss (20 minutes)

Yeast:

Wyeast 1388 - Belgian Strong Ale

Secondary Yeast: Wyeast 4335 - Lactobacillus delbruekci

Extra:

1/4 lb medium toast oak chips

2 cups port

The boil was straight forward. I heated about 2 gallons of water to about 180 deg F then steeped the grains in a muslin bag for 30 minutes. I then strained the boiling bag for a minute or so and then added the candy sugar and malt extract to the wort. I brought to a boil, added the Kent Goldings hops. After 40 minutes I added the Saaz hops and Irish Moss and after 50 minutes added the molasses. When that was done I strained the wort into my fermenting bucket with 3 gallons of cold water, aerated, added the yeast and aerated again. The SG measured at 1.058.

The remainder of the recipe is after the strong fermentation stops, about a week or so, add the secondary yeast, the lactobacilus delbruecki and allow to ferment for 2 to 3 more weeks. From there, transfer to another carboy, add the port soaked wood chips and let age for 3-4 months.

Here are the Brewsmith notes:

Type: Extract	Date: 5/5/2007
Batch Size: 5.00 gal	Brewer: David J. Snow
Boil Size: 5.72 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: -
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 6.60 lb Light Malt Extract (3.0 SRM) Extract 81.5 % 1.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 18.5 % 1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (60 min) Hops 28.0 IBU 0.50 oz Saaz [4.00%] (20 min) Hops 4.5 IBU 1.00 lb Belgian Dark Candi Sugar (Boil 60.0 min) Misc 1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc 4.00 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 90.0 days) Misc 4.00 cup Port (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 8.00 oz Molasses (Boil 10.0 min) Misc 10.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc 1 Pkgs Belgian Strong Ale (Wyeast Labs #1388) Yeast-Ale 1 Pkgs Lactobacillus Delbrueckii (Wyeast Labs #4335) [Add to Secondary] Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.047 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.058 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG	Measured Final Gravity:
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.6 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.9 %
Bitterness: 32.5 IBU	Calories: 254 cal/pint
Est Color: 4.2 SRM	Color: Color
Notes
Taken from Extreme Brewing by Sam CalagioneBegin by soaking 1/4 lb of medium toast oak chips in port. I used a Fonseca 10 year tawny.