Homage to Old Speckled Hen…I brewed a version of this nearly 10 years ago and was inspired to return to it recently. I’m closer to the beer in my head, but it needs a bit more on the dark malt character. I’ll go heavier on the crystal 120 next time around. The hops threw a surprisingly strong herbal note – I’m wondering if it was the Challenger used for bittering, or perhaps the lot of EKG I bought? Has anyone else gotten strong herbal from either of those hops? I don’t recall it in the EKG I’ve used previously, but I just may have missed it.
Details and recipe on the blog, as usual.
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Nice looking beer! Great glass too.
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Dunkels bock – this is my third brew of the recipe (with minor adjustments along the way), and it’s perfect for my tastes. Richly malty with that lovely bread crust and malt quality…Details on the blog.
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Kölsch! I messed up the grist slightly by adding a half pound of Munich II by accident, but it’s still an exceptionally drinkable (and pretty) beer even if not to style specs. Only three more packs left of Lallemand Köln in my stash…
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Looks great.
What’s the plan after your Koln yeast is gone? I’ve been trying to decide on a liquid alternative.
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I might give the Cellar Science version a try, just as another dry yeast experiment. (anyone out there have experience with their Kölsch strain? I’ve heard that Cellar Science is repackaged from ADY, with no specifics)
For liquid, I’ll probably go with WLP029, because they are local and fairly easy to get. Or maybe Imperial’s Dieter, because my shop often carries them.
I’m planning to try Novalager warm and I want to try Mustang Kölsch from Bootleg Biology. Bootleg is in Nashville which is not too far from me.
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This is where I got the idea to try Novalager in a Kolsch.
Thank you! (and that is a super useful post, also – I hadn’t realized that Belle Saison also was discontinued; I made a really nice batch of saison with it last year, and am sorry I won’t be able to play with it more).
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WYeast 1968 is my favorite followed by 1469. It’s all I use
Well, I didn’t realize the autofocus was wrong, but here’s a slightly blurry pic of my latest wild ale farmhouse.
Bready, slightly tart. I like it 
.
PS — it’s almost 50/50 6-row & corn with CTZ to 15 IBUs and sourdough culture.
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Looks great. Nice glass too.
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All Fuggles bitter. Have not brewed this in a while. The Fuggles brings out the caramel flavor.
Served using my short southern spouts
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American Rye Ale (American Wheat with a large portion of wheat replaced with rye).
American Amber Ale
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Looking good, BB. Megary over on Biergarten just mentioned AAA as well. When I was a new brewer I would make batches of AAA all the time because it seemed like a wide-open category where there was a lot of latitude. This fall I will have Omega West Coast Ale up and running and I plan to design one. Care to share your recipe? Cheers brother.
My Amber Ale is pretty basic: 85+% base (I use ~ a 32.5/32.5/20 split of Am Pale/Vienna/Munich but any combo or single base would do), 10+% C malt (sometimes all 50/60, sometimes split half and half 50/60 and 70/80 — I don’t go darker because I don’t like the plum/raisin flavors but you could), 2.5+% Toast (I don’t like a lot, sometimes Amber sometimes Victory — same thing IMO), and color adjust w/ Midnight wheat, Blakprinz, Carafa Special, etc. (nothing too roasty IMO). You’ll notice that doesn’t equal 100% due to rounding up to make whole numbers makes sense when weighing. Close enough is good enough to get 1.052-1.056 or so.
Then, it’s just ~32 IBU(s) usually split evenly by weight at 15/1/WP. This one has .33 oz each of Citra, Amarillo, Mosaic across all three additions. You could dry hop I guess but I rarely do w/AAA and didn’t this batch.
I like a malty Amber so I shoot for ~5.4-5.5 mash pH, So:Cl ~.75, mid level minerality water ~350 TDS, and ~154°F single infusion mash. Just trying to point all the dials and levers to malty.
This one uses Bry-97 but really any clean yeast will do that will leave a bit of body.
Cheers!
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