White Rabbit

[RobinW]

I've brewed up a white rabbit dark ale clone and it obviously has too much carafa in it.
Took over a week for it to mellow out. Twas very tart.

Here's the grain bill for a 40L batch

7.40 kg Gladfield American Ale Malt (5.0 EBC) Grain 5 72.5 %
1.00 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (7.0 EBC) Grain 6 9.8 %
0.45 kg Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC) Grain 7 4.4 %
0.40 kg Carafa I (Weyermann) (630.4 EBC) Grain 8 3.9 %
0.35 kg Gladfield Medium Crystal Malt (111.0 EBC) Grain 9 3.4 %
0.20 kg Caraaroma (Weyermann) (350.7 EBC) Grain 10 2.0 %
0.20 kg Chocolate Wheat (Weyermann) (817.5 EBC) Grain 11 2.0 %
0.20 kg Gladfield Light Crystal Malt (63.0 EBC) Grain 12 2.0 %

Is 4% carafa too much. Smells and tastes like its too much.
Couldn't find Chocolate Wheat, used Chocolate Barley instead.

 

[DustyDustbag]

I've brewed up a white rabbit dark ale clone and it obviously has too much carafa in it.
Took over a week for it to mellow out. Twas very tart.

Here's the grain bill for a 40L batch

7.40 kg Gladfield American Ale Malt (5.0 EBC) Grain 5 72.5 %
1.00 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (7.0 EBC) Grain 6 9.8 %
0.45 kg Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC) Grain 7 4.4 %
0.40 kg Carafa I (Weyermann) (630.4 EBC) Grain 8 3.9 %
0.35 kg Gladfield Medium Crystal Malt (111.0 EBC) Grain 9 3.4 %
0.20 kg Caraaroma (Weyermann) (350.7 EBC) Grain 10 2.0 %
0.20 kg Chocolate Wheat (Weyermann) (817.5 EBC) Grain 11 2.0 %
0.20 kg Gladfield Light Crystal Malt (63.0 EBC) Grain 12 2.0 %

Is 4% carafa too much. Smells and tastes like its too much.
Couldn't find Chocolate Wheat, used Chocolate Barley instead.

Did you adjust your ph. I find dark beers will make it too acidic and give a tart flavor.

 

[RobinW]

The next brew through the filter into a serving keg was similarly tainted.

I pulled everything apart and found some hop rubbish caught up in the spring on the out valve of the donor keg I use to to push beer through the filter.

Still got a cube of that brew left so I'll try again soon.

 

[Luxo_Aussie]

G'day Robin.

I'm planning my own White Rabbit Dark Ale for the coming weeks and was curious to know what sort of hops you used?
There are two threads on AHB which go into detail for this style; The long one and the one where someone has summarized the large one in 2012 - post #15 but the longer thread goes on until 2016.
I'm also really struggling with finding a yeast; I can't buy White Rabbit here & WLP 022 is out of season. Any ideas what would be the next best alternative?

 

[RobinW]

I used these for a 40L batch:

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
50.00 g Pacifica [3.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 13 11.4 IBUs
35.00 g Northern Brewer [8.70 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 14 8.7 IBUs
25.00 g Rakau (Alpharoma) [8.70 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 15 6.2 IBUs

1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 16 -

50.00 g Northern Brewer [8.70 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 17 0.0 IBUs
********************************************************************************

I have a packet of Windsor to use on the second cube.I haven't used liquid yeast in some time.
Once it had mellowed it was pretty close in taste to a commercial stubbie but mine was 6.5% not 4.9%.
To be honest I'm not a huge fan but ya gotta try different brews.

 

[hoppy2B]

I've brewed up a white rabbit dark ale clone and it obviously has too much carafa in it.
Took over a week for it to mellow out. Twas very tart.

Here's the grain bill for a 40L batch

7.40 kg Gladfield American Ale Malt (5.0 EBC) Grain 5 72.5 %
1.00 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (7.0 EBC) Grain 6 9.8 %
0.45 kg Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC) Grain 7 4.4 %
0.40 kg Carafa I (Weyermann) (630.4 EBC) Grain 8 3.9 %
0.35 kg Gladfield Medium Crystal Malt (111.0 EBC) Grain 9 3.4 %
0.20 kg Caraaroma (Weyermann) (350.7 EBC) Grain 10 2.0 %
0.20 kg Chocolate Wheat (Weyermann) (817.5 EBC) Grain 11 2.0 %
0.20 kg Gladfield Light Crystal Malt (63.0 EBC) Grain 12 2.0 %

Is 4% carafa too much. Smells and tastes like its too much.
Couldn't find Chocolate Wheat, used Chocolate Barley instead.

If you knock your Carafa back I would suggest knocking some of the crystal and/or Caraaroma back too. The crystal type malts would come across a lot stronger than your Carafa.