Dun Brat "Leine Lifter"

Some time ago a friend made a comment about Pike's Kilt Lifter being delicious and theoretically doing the job in its name...but having an Irish persona (and brewery), I decided this was inappropriate.  Kilts are only nominally period (pre-1603)...so I decided to make an imperial Irish red and name it leine lifter (leine being the primary garment of 16th century Ireland).

Ingredients

Amt	Name	Type	#	%/IBU
0.80 tsp	Lactic Acid (Mash 60.0 mins)	Water Agent	1	-
5 lbs 8.0 oz	Optic Malt (2.8 SRM)	Grain	2	40.7 %
5 lbs 8.0 oz	Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)	Grain	3	40.7 %
7.0 oz	Crystal 135/150 (140.0 SRM)	Grain	4	3.2 %
7.0 oz	Crystal 50/60 (55.0 SRM)	Grain	5	3.2 %
2.0 oz	Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)	Grain	6	0.9 %
0.50 oz	Pacific Gem [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min	Hop	7	27.5 IBUs
0.25 oz	Pacific Gem [14.00 %] - Boil 8.0 min	Hop	8	4.1 IBUs
0.50 oz	Fuggle [4.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min	Hop	9	1.8 IBUs
1.0 pkg	London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124.21 ml]	Yeast	10	-
1 lbs 8.0 oz	Honey (1.0 SRM)	Sugar	11	11.1 %

Because it's a high ABV beer, I went with a larger grain bill, and kept it fairly simple...equal amounts optic and maris otter, with a small amount of English crystal malts.  As for roasted barley, I used just enough to adjust the colour.

Since it is a higher gravity beer, I needed a higher level of hopping than normal (for me), and required a higher alpha hop...as is my wont for darker "cask style" beers, I used pacific gem; a high alpha New Zealand hop which is fairly mild and smoothly bittering, with flavours of "cask oak" and blackberry.  A small amount of fuggle for earthiness was used for finishing.

London ESB was used, as I pitched this on the yeast cake from the Ginger Stout.

Once again, as it is a rather large grain bill, I went with a multiple step mash to promote fermentability, decocting to add some caramel tones.

Mash Steps

Name	Description	Step Temperature	Step Time
	Add 21.46 qt of water at 158.1 F	146.0 F	15 min
Mash Step	Decoct 2.40 qt of mash and boil it	152.0 F	20 min
Mash Step	Decoct 2.64 qt of mash and boil it	158.0 F	30 min

OG was 1.078. 

After racking to secondary, I added an estimated amount of honey to raise the gravity to 1.095.

 I bottled with more honey, aiming for a low 2.2 volumes of Co2.  The flavour was delicious, amazingly complex, and will age extremely well...indeed, it needs it; I will probably open the next bottle around mid August to check carbonation levels, then again closer to Christmas if it hasn't yet.  The FG is 1.010...11.3% ABV!





© John Frey, 2017. 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.