Kedrigern's Best Brown

For those who know me fairly well, you know that one of my go-to series when I'm upset or need to just curl up and go elsewhere is the Kedrigern series, by John Morressy.  Fun read, I recommend it.  Anyways, I conceptualized this brew based loosely on something the main character would call for when he is settling in with a book--a classic English brown, modified by my tastes, of course.

I chose a brown porter as the basis, and did some research on the more classic style, before it lowered in ABV% around the time of WWII.  Namely, I wanted a somewhat malty, medium strength, brown ale with some hop and English ester character; medium to high body, and medium carbonation--good head would be preferred.  I also would have been perfectly happy to add Brett C., but am not yet prepared to do so.
I plan on a double fermentation.  Primary at 55 degrees, rack off the trub (probably), then add fermentables (and volume) and finish at 72 to get some of the esters.

This is what I came up with.

Kedrigern's Best Brown - Brown Porter

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Batch Size: 3.057 gal

Boil Size: 3.057 gal

Boil Time: 60.000 min

Efficiency: 63%

OG: 1.063

FG: 1.016

ABV: 6.1%

Bitterness: 17.6 IBUs (Tinseth)

Color: 20 SRM (Daniels)

Fermentables

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 Name                          Type                   Amount             Mashed              Late       Yield     Color

Chocolate malt           Grain                   4.000 oz              No                       No       70%       65 L

Special Roast Malt       Grain                  8.000 oz              Yes                     No        72%       40 L

Caramel Malt 80L      Grain                   10.000 oz            Yes                     No        75%       80 L

Maris Otter                Grain                   4.500 lb               Yes                     No        81%       3L

CaraAroma                 Grain                  6.000 oz              Yes                     No        65%       160 L

Munich Malt             Grain                   12.000 oz             Yes                     No         80%      9 L

Cane (Beet) Sugar      Sugar                  3.3 cups                No                      No        100%     0 L

Total grain: 7.0 lb

Hops

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     Name            Alpha   Amount             Use       Time                  Form    IBU

  Fuggles             5.5%      0.400 oz              Boil       35.000 min         Pellet    13.0

  Fuggles             5.5%      0.200 oz              Boil       20.000 min         Pellet    3.1

  Fuggles             5.5%      0.300 oz              Boil       3.300 min           Pellet    1.6

Misc

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      Name           Type     Use       Amount    Time

 Oak Cubes       Flavor   Secondary  0.4 oz       0.000 s

    Brandy           Flavor   Secondary  2oz           0.000 s

Yeast

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Name                 Type     Form    Amount      Stage

Coopers Ale      Ale        Dry       0.247 oz      Primary

Mash

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Name        Type              Amount             Temp                 Target       Time

                  Infusion         2.352 gal             169.186 F           152.600 F  1.3000 hr

Final Batch Sparge          1.522 gal             189.237 F           165.200 F  15.000 min

2-26-15; Heated 10.2 quarts of water to 166.5 degrees (grain 50 currently).  Mashed in, temp 155ish.  I had serious issues keeping the temperature steady, and at the desired 154, and the temperature went into the 160s at times before I got it down (by adding cold water) and kept in it the low 150s.

Boiled some second runnings with 3.3 cups white sugar for 10 minutes, to sanitize, and get some kettle caramelization
OG: 1.080, 2.5 gallons.  I may boil up some DME, or use apple juice to add volume in secondary, and let that ferment out.

The oak cubes are soaking in the brandy, and will be added for the secondary fermentation.

It was nice to learn that a lot of trub is perfectly normal for BIAB

3-4-15; Added ¾ gallon of water with ½ lb of Muntons light DME.  I steeped 0.5 oz of chocolate malt in the wort, pre-boil.  Pre-Addition SG 1.014 (8.8% ABV), post addition SG 1.020.  I added the oak and brandy, and plan to leave the carboy untouched for a week or so, and bottle in a couple of weeks.

3-5-15; Added 1.5 tsp yeast nutrients, since I know there are sugars remaining and I saw little  activity.

3-8-15; Moved the carboy over to Etain’s, to settle and finish fermenting.  I estimate the FG should be around 1.009.

3-13-15; SG is 1.010.  Dry perception, light hop flavour and bitterness, decent aroma.  Not as thick as I would like.  Toasty. 

 

3-23-15; Racked into a fresh carboy for bottling, and added 2oz of dark brown sugar and 1116 yeast for priming. FG 1.011.  The toasted maltiness has mellowed, and balanced out with the hops.  Currently I think it’ll be decent once carbonated (I’ll check in 3 to 4 weeks).  The trub compacted down to a half inch of solid yeast, hop, and grain.

27 12oz bottles, 2 bombers, and 1 sparkling cider bottle (corked and capped) (I was running out of available bottles...).

© John Frey, 2015. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material.  The recipes and other contents therein may not be used for any commercial purposes.