Concept Beers

[Tony]

I enjoy brewing outside the square now and again. Brewing a beer that is a mix of styles.

I thought i would start a thread where people can post ideas, concepts, recipes past or untried etc etc.

A sort of "What the hell are you brewing?" thread

Im not talking...... "Oh i used some EKG in an APA once"

Im talking things like Belgian Rye Dubbel which is basicly a Roggenbier brewed to belgian Dubbel specs with belgian yeast. I made one and it got infected but plan another shot at it very soon.

Another concept i have is a Wheat based Porter using Wheat malt as aposed to ale malt as the base.

I have a Stout fermented with Saison yeast chilling down ready for the keg and its tasting great. Lightly roasty and smooth but dry as chalk, an interesting combo.

let the mayhem begin!

cheers

 

[reviled]

Great thread Tony!!

Ive added Port to a stout and then just for the hell of it decided to age it on oak chips for a month as well, turned out really nice! In fact, I might have a bottle tonight :icon_cheers:

And I also made a sort of belgian rye dubbel, it was pretty much a strong dark belgian with 30% rye and a belgian yeast, that was also really good!

I think its great to experiment and think outside the square every now and then! Sometimes you end up with an average beer but when you crack onto something awesome its well worth a couple of losses!!

 

[Phoney]

Last night I was looking at all of my hops in the freezer, most of them are about 6 months old and > about 20g in each bottle/bag. Im thinking about making a blended beer... With about 8 varieties of hops and a mixed bag of malts... No idea on my recipe yet but it should be interesting nonetheless!

 

[Bribie G]

Good one Tony

Being an impatient bugger, I love light coloured cold refreshing beers but can't be arsed lagering for months on end, so have been exploring blonde ales and 'fake lagers' for ages now. My best results have been with US-05 and Pilsener malt mashed with rice. Probably my best one to date was an 'all Green Bullet'. I love those hops, they have a bitterness that starts in the middle of the tongue then slips away, leaving you longing for the next drop.

I've tried UK modern summer ales but the hops I've been using such as Target, Challenger and Styrians just don't seem to work with pale beers to my taste. I entered one in the nats and got: "far too much middle/late hop additions" - " too highly hopped for style" - "fails on the basic guidelines". On the other hand I feel that going to the lower alpha hops such as Fuggles or Northdown is going to give too much earthyness and I'm still going to end up with a badly confused ale Maybe a lightly hopped all-Styrians might work.

Using US-05 I've got onto a schedule of a ten day primary at 17-18 degrees, followed by a two week cold crash / lager during which I gelatine then polyclar.

 

[schooey]

You're probably all going to laugh, but I'm going to try it anyway..

My wife is a teacher and an academic, we attend a fair share of wine geek loaded events... At one particular event one said geek was prattling on about dessert wines, and how beer was uncuth and incultured and short in variety... the point at which I zoned out and started thinking about a dessert beer.. A few of you probably read a thread I posted a while ago about Wild Thing and Ice cream, but this is a bit different.

I want to do just a small batch, maybe even do it BIAB, about 9L.. around 90-95% Cara malts, very subtle bitterness that is well hidden, a little NS for flavour, again only subtle, make it really viscous and syrupy to about 12-13% ABV and then when fermented, fortify it slightly with a bit of good brandy, but not too much...

 

[Tony]

Now thats what im talking about!

Carahell and carared as the base malt!

WOW.

Maybe 20% Rye added in there to add to the oily texture?

 

[crozdog]

You're probably all going to laugh, but I'm going to try it anyway..

My wife is a teacher and an academic, we attend a fair share of wine geek loaded events... At one particular event one said geek was prattling on about dessert wines, and how beer was uncuth and incultured and short in variety... the point at which I zoned out and started thinking about a dessert beer.. A few of you probably read a thread I posted a while ago about Wild Thing and Ice cream, but this is a bit different.

I want to do just a small batch, maybe even do it BIAB, about 9L.. around 90-95% Cara malts, very subtle bitterness that is well hidden, a little NS for flavour, again only subtle, make it really viscous and syrupy to about 12-13% ABV and then when fermented, fortify it slightly with a bit of good brandy, but not too much...

Schooey, have a look at the recipe DB for Tony's old ale (or ask him for a copy) it had lots of rich dark fruit flavours and sherry/port notes when I judged it a couple of years ago. it might be a good starting point for you....

 

[Maple]

latest rye experiment just kegged, a roggen that I'm going to sour up with some lactic to 'Berlinner' it, and hopefully end up with a Berlinner Ryesse. new year plans include a rye based Schwartz, and a black wheatie (with rye of course).

Great topic Tony!

 

[Tony]

From memory i used about 12% TF pale crystal that was about 26EBC. I got it from Grumpys and it was amazing stuff.

Havnt been able to replicate the flavours with anything else yet.

I also did a quick single decoction as i buggered up the mash temp and hit 62 instead of 67 like i wanted.

It was a complete stuff up that beer and won gold at AABC

cheers

 

[Adamt]

It seems like the qualification for this thread is:

"Must have rye in it"

:icon_drool2:

 

[Fourstar]

I want to do just a small batch, maybe even do it BIAB, about 9L.. around 90-95% Cara malts, very subtle bitterness that is well hidden, a little NS for flavour, again only subtle, make it really viscous and syrupy to about 12-13% ABV and then when fermented, fortify it slightly with a bit of good brandy, but not too much...

Wow, i thaught i was stepping outside the square thinking about doing a Black IPA sometime soon as ive discussed with Maple. Was thinking a schwarzbier malt bill hopped out of its skull as an Black AIPA

This is the plan so far:

83% Pilsner/Ale
3% Melanoiden
8% Carapils
6% Carafa Special II (maybe sub a small amount of roast barley around 1% just to up the colour?)

40IBU Magnum FWH
20IBU Centennial 20min
10IBU Centennial 5min
50g Whirlpool/cube addition. (centennial or a mix with something else)

Maybe even a dry hop too has maple pointed out.

 

[HoppingMad]

About to make a pumpkin beer myself.

A variation of the recipe in Jamil's book 'Brewing Classic Styles'. Was also inspired by all the chatter on some US sites about making Christmas beers, and some talk about a beer called 'Punkin Ale' brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery (US).

Brewed pretty much like an ESB but with a small addition of cinamon, nutmeg and all-spice late boil.

Then adding half a pumpkin (roasted in the oven then mashed) into the boiler. Supposed to taste like Sweet Pumpkin Pie, but it could wind up like beer pumpkin soup. Who knows!!

A little worried about how much fluid I'm going to get through the tap on this but I'll let you know how it goes!

Also very interested in the crazy spruce beers those guys make over there.

Let the experimental mayhem continue! :beerbang:

Hopper.

 

[schooey]

Wow, i thaught i was stepping outside the square thinking about doing a Black IPA sometime soon as ive discussed with Maple. Was thinking a schwarzbier malt bill hopped out of its skull as an Black AIPA

This is the plan so far:

83% Pilsner/Ale
3% Melanoiden
8% Carapils
6% Carafa Special II (maybe sub a small amount of roast barley around 1% just to up the colour?)

40IBU Magnum FWH
20IBU Centennial 20min
10IBU Centennial 5min
50g Whirlpool/cube addition. (centennial or a mix with something else)

Maybe even a dry hop too has maple pointed out.

See if you can get hold of a Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter, Fourstar... Very much a Black IPA...

 

[Fourstar]

See if you can get hold of a Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter, Fourstar... Very much a Black IPA...

Will keep ym eye open at purvis.

What are your thaughts? Roasty and hoppy or just black malty and hoppy?

 

[Pennywise]

Hopper, a fair while ago i was going through some recipes here http://www.tinkletots.net/kevnlis/beer%20recipes.pdf, page 467 has a recipe for pumkin ale, it's extract but it wouldn't be hard to convert. There's also a few other pumkin recipes, like a wheatie. Never been a pumkin man myself though

 

[Thommo]

This summer I'm planning an Apricot Wheat Beer. Just a general wheat beer 50/50 3068 13 IBU's, with some Apricot nectar in secondary. Tempted by a pumpkin ale also, maybe next year in time for winter.

 

[schooey]

Will keep ym eye open at purvis.

What are your thaughts? Roasty and hoppy or just black malty and hoppy?

Well the Gonzo is American hopped... It has more the roasty and dark fruit character of an imperial stout, but its bittered with warrior, has flavour additions of NB and Cascade, and a lot of cascade late. It sounds funny, but it really works IMO... Either way would be worth a shot I reckon..

 

[glennheinzel]

How about a summer ale made by pitching lager and ale yeasts? The main premise is having a mostly clean fermentation profile, but with some fruity esters. Lager, but with Tim Taylor Landlord yeast esters anyone?

Pitch both yeasts at once. Have a week of 12 deg C and then ramp it up to 18 deg C. Obviously you'd need a lager yeast that doesn't go too crazy at warmer temps.

 

[winkle]

Thinking a Irish Red with peated malt and smoked chillis.

 

[Supra-Jim]

How about a summer ale made by pitching lager and ale yeasts? The main premise is having a mostly clean fermentation profile, but with some fruity esters. Lager, but with Tim Taylor Landlord yeast esters anyone?

Pitch both yeasts at once. Have a week of 12 deg C and then ramp it up to 18 deg C. Obviously you'd need a lager yeast that doesn't go too crazy at warmer temps.

Try Wyeast 2112 (?) Cal Common, this is a lager style strain that operates up nearer to ale temps.

A while ago i was thinking about a Black Forrest Porter, then i saw a recipe for something pretty close to it at the back of JZ's Brewing Classic Styles. Will possbily give this a run leading into winter.

Cheers SJ