Thursday, August 13, 2009

Oaked American Strong

It's that time again where I am brewing more beer for a grew barrel brew. Last time I brewed the Oaked Russian Imperial Stout. In a few weeks we will be racking that out of the barrel and racking in this American Strong Ale, brewed with Muscavado which is a dark sugar made from Molasses. I am going to try to find some here in town, if not I will substitute it with dark brown sugar. This will sit in the barrel and oak for about 6 months just like the Oaked RIS has been doing. After this beer I think we are going sour. I am going to pull off the 1st runnings and boil them down to about a pint to get heavy caramelization. Then I will sparge till my kettle is almost full then do a full on boil for 2 hours. Onto the recipe.

Birmingham Beer Barons Oaked American Strong Ale

Malt:
10.5 lbs: Marris Otter
2.5 lbs: Munich Malt
1 lb: Cara-Pils
.75 lbs: Muscavado
.5 lbs: Belgian Biscuit Malt

Hops:
.75 oz: Brewers Gold 9.7%aa 60 min
1.0 oz: EKG 4.5%aa 20 min
1.0 oz: Hallertauer 3.1%aa 10 min

Target OG: 1.086
Target FG: 1.023
Target IBU: 32.8

Actual OG: 1.070
Actual FG: 1.020
ABV: 6.9%

Apparent Attenuation:

Yeast:

Update 8.17.2009: Brewday was long due to the two hour boil and boiling down the 1st runnings. I think cause of the weird boil my efficiency was off a bit. Still should come out great I think. The unfermented wort tasted sweet and all out awesome once it was done. Found Muscavado at Fresh Market and I have to say it's expensive but worth the price. You get the smell and flavor of Molasses but without all the bitterness Molasses has. Im going to dump the rest on some ice cream or something soon.

Update 9.2.2009: Took a final reading of this beer today and got 1.020, I wish it was a bit dryer but it will have to do I guess. Right now I have it cold crashing and it will be transferred into the Jack Daniels barrel next Sunday (9/13).

Update 9.15.2009: Beer was racked into the barrel on Sunday. 6 months from now we will see how it turns out.

Update 6.27.2010: Racked 4 gallons of the beer out of the barrel into a keg today.  Beer was very boozy with bourbon, but still retained a ton of flavor.  Vanilla and fruit dominated.  It's currently carbing and should be ready in a few months.

Posted by nhudson at 8:20 AM
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2 comments:

Zach Garner said...

I think I've bought my Muscovado sugar at Fresh Market, but they probably have it at Whole Foods as well. It's not too cheap, so I hope you don't need a lot.

I use it to make Brazilian Caipirinhas: Cachaça (kind of like rum, but more strongly flavored) with Muscovado sugar and lime. Good stuff.

August 13, 2009 12:42 PM
nhudson said...

Thanks I found some at Fresh Market, Whole Foods didnt have any. I have had Caipirinhas before and love them. Never had it with Muscavado but will use it next time when I make some. I love the Molasses flavor it gives.

August 17, 2009 8:16 AM

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