Kit Recipe for Wild Boar Dark Ale?

[cremmerson]

Alas, I have become both a cheap skate and smart arse in my move to home brewing.

A home brewing acquaintance mentioned he had made a Wild Boar kit that was amazing. So I searched recipe databases for a clone and found... Nothing. The kit is about $65, which I balk at. I would imagine that I could construct a clone with a dark ale kit (say $14), hops ($7) and some spec grains ($7, apportioned across a couple of brews) and still come out at half price.

Unfortunately, I can't find any clone recipes!any adventurous suggestions? I'm more than willing to report back.

Original kit at: http://www.brewcraftsa.com.au/showProduct/Famous+Beer+Recipes/Australian+Beer+Recipes/20968.

Thanks, fellow adventurers!

 

[slash22000]

$65 for a kit is ******* outrageous. You might as well buy the beer for that price.

Your URL leads to a blank page though?

 

[cremmerson]

I agree (re price)!

http://www.brewcraftsa.com.au/showProduct/Famous+Beer+Recipes/Australian+Beer+Recipes/20968

Should shorten to

http://bit.ly/130d7Sx

The price remains unchanged.

 

[slash22000]

Well it's a good thing they give shitloads of detail on the recipe right? Are we talking about "Slaughterhouse Wild Boar"? That's what you're trying to clone?

I'm not an expert and I've never tried the beer, but from the descriptions I'm reading people are saying smooth, fruity, earthy, more "brown" than "dark" in colour ...

You know what I'd do, knowing nothing about the beer at all? I'd start with a Coopers English bitter, steep a little Cararoma malt to give a bit of a fruity malt flavour and darker colour, I'd use an English yeast (S-04 is an easy and cheap option), and I'd maybe throw in some Styrian Goldings hops - maybe a small dry hop if you're not up for a mini-boil, or maybe 1g/L 10 minute boil in a mini-wort. Add as much malt as you need to hit the ABV you need. Don't use any "Brew Enhancer" or sugar, you want to use all malt to get that "smooth" feel.

People are talking about a coffee flavour, I don't have a lot of experience steeping very dark grains, maybe somebody else has some advice.

Disclaimer: I am drinking at the moment so the above could be bullshit, but at the end of the day, it's going to be beer!

 

[cremmerson]

I haven't used Cararoma yet, so that's a plus (seeing how many spec grains I can collect, obviously) but I might avoid the coffee flavour. I threw some cracked coffee beans into my first stout and killed it, I think. Chocolate malt seems to give enough of those flavours already, so I might steep about 150g - which might also help with colour.

Actually, I'm a bit excited about perfecting a clone of a beer I've never tried - coming up with a recipe and then being disappointed with the original. (Let's just watch that one come crashing down).

Thanks for the suggestions, Slash, much appreciated. Especially the bullshit; insightful and informed bullshit liberated by alcohol is always appreciated.

 

[slash22000]

Cararoma is a very dark crystal malt, it suits the "toffee", "syrup" flavour/aroma people are getting from the beer and it will contribute to the "fruity" portion as well.

Yeah don't actually add coffee to it, chocolate malt will be fine (but don't use too much, it's described as being "brown" not "black").

 

[cremmerson]

And that would be why my stout has to be registered as a weapon...

Ok, will look at Cararoma and Choc Malt at about 150g but will take a look at IanH's spreadsheet at try to achieve 5.2 per cent, and will play with hops schedules.

Thanks again for the insight, will come back over be next few days with a recipe for trial.

 

[Tiprat]

Well it's a good thing they give shitloads of detail on the recipe right? Are we talking about "Slaughterhouse Wild Boar"? That's what you're trying to clone?

I'm not an expert and I've never tried the beer, but from the descriptions I'm reading people are saying smooth, fruity, earthy, more "brown" than "dark" in colour ...

You know what I'd do, knowing nothing about the beer at all? I'd start with a Coopers English bitter, steep a little Cararoma malt to give a bit of a fruity malt flavour and darker colour, I'd use an English yeast (S-04 is an easy and cheap option), and I'd maybe throw in some Styrian Goldings hops - maybe a small dry hop if you're not up for a mini-boil, or maybe 1g/L 10 minute boil in a mini-wort. Add as much malt as you need to hit the ABV you need. Don't use any "Brew Enhancer" or sugar, you want to use all malt to get that "smooth" feel.

People are talking about a coffee flavour, I don't have a lot of experience steeping very dark grains, maybe somebody else has some advice.

Disclaimer: I am drinking at the moment so the above could be bullshit, but at the end of the day, it's going to be beer!

you crack me up slash !
i am going to try this too..
cheers bro

 

[cremmerson]

Right, considering all of the above I'm going to try:

Coopers English Bitter, 1.7kg
Dark DME, 1.7kg
CaraAroma, 300g
Chocolate Malt, 150g

Styrian Golding, 20g @60mins
Styrian Golding, 20g @0mins

I am presuming this fits into the "English Strong Bitter" style, and there doesn't seem to be enough fermentables to boost the ABV to 5.2%. The OG is 1026 (leading to ABV of 2.8%) compared to 1054, 5.6%. (And thanks to IanH!)

I'd be interested in your thoughts,slash22000.

This is for a Friday brewing session - the first with a friend - so I have to track the DME down...

Thanks for the input.

 

[slash22000]

What batch size? 23 litres?

You don't need dark extract, between the can and the dark grains it will easily be dark enough as it is. With pale extract you'll probably be getting somewhere around 65 EBC with those grain additions and the English Bitter can, which is around "stout" level darkness.

Not sure where you are getting 1.026 OG from, I'm calculating 1.051. 1.5kg of light dry malt (to replace the dark extract) + the EB can = ~5% ABV at 23 litres, which is close enough.

Dunno how bitter the original beer is, but I doubt it's very high in IBU's, not sure you'd need that 60 minute bittering charge. The EB can comes out at 43 IBU already which should be enough for sure.

I would change the 0 minute addition to a 10 minute addition, but how are you going to boil the hops? You can't boil the EB can, it will do bad things. It might be easier to just dry hop it down the line unless you want to make a mini-boil with some of that dry malt.

 

[cremmerson]

I relied on the IanH oracle and yes, 23l.

Basically, without any additional malt, the whole thing lacked gravity.

All of the changes were made with reference to the spreadsheet - unless I'm using it wrong?

I will do a mini boil and cut back in bitterness. Excellent - all my plans now ready for a chaotic uncertain brew. C'est la beer.

Shall update with final recipe and results in a few weeks.

 

[manticle]

There's no way those ingredients hit 1026.

You say without additional malt but you have dme in your recipe. Presuming the DME was factored into the spreadsheet?

 

[cremmerson]

The recipe with DME gives an OG of 1054 in the spreadsheet. Without it, it's 1026, which is too low.

I'll check again this morning, but I distinctly recall 1026 with kit and specialty grains and hops. I boosted the malt to boost OG.

 

[cremmerson]

Confirmed the 1054 OG with the 1.7kg DME and set it down last night. OG was actually 1055, so ok there. Unfortunately I was so excited to look at the goodies delivered to work that I lost the hops on the bus. Very, very angry.

Will hop the morning with Goldings. Only tea bags but will steep all 14g for 10 mins, then let cool and throw in. Sigh. Disappointing, particularly as I would have had 50g left over for a cheaper price. Damnit.