I’m trying to brew a strong ale, perhaps like an old ale, for the first time. Normally I make pales and ambers, as well as some lighter beers like cream ale and hef. I’m a bit worried that my patience is not up to the challenge, and that I’ll be sipping this after a week in the bottle, haha.
Anyway, here’s the grain bill. I don’t know what this is, exactly. Any tips or opinions?
10# Maris Otter
1# Brown malt
.5# Biscuit
.5# Crystal 120
.75# Crystal 75
.25 Flaked Oatmeal
.5# cane sugar
I’m thinking of mashing around 152F, and fermenting with s-05 so that it doesn’t get too heavy.
Can you give us an idea what else you plan to have going on here? How about hops? Yeast? You only have given part of the puzzle. OG and IBU and volume would be nice, too.
As I said, I’m looking to ferment with S-05. I’m not sure what the OG will come out to, but if my efficiency is okay, it’ll be around 1.068 for 5 gallons. I’m planning to only add a bittering addition–enough Challenger to get me up to about 35-40 IBUs.
Sounds pretty good…though I would agree with the suggestion to up the base malt some. It’s always open to individual interpretation, but for me, ‘old ale’ screams malt, and a very slight sour tang (which would come from extended aging). The 05 should do a fine job with this beer, especially with a bit more malt presence.
After so many years of mega hoppy IPA, ‘old ale’ has become a favorite style along with other maltier styles.
Be sure to report back on the results.
Well, I ended up boosting the pale malt by 1.5 lbs, but ended up getting pretty lousy efficiency. Turned out to be 1.062 for a bit over 5 gallons in the bucket. It’s fermenting like a wild beast right now, in the mid-sixties.
Thanks for all the advice, guys! I’ll let you know how it turns out.