Apple Barrel Ale!

[jmfitzgerald]

ok, so brew day is approaching... still working on a name, but that can all come down the road and adjust as the flavors develop to see what actually comes through. i started from this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/apple-cinnamon-ale-260967/ with the original idea and recipe starting point, then have come up with this...

4.5 Gallon batch - Extract
19.6 IBU's
15.8 SRM Color

6 lbs Munich LME
.5 lbs Light DME

1 lbs Carared (24 SRM)
.5 lbs Caramel 60L
.25 lbs Caramel 120L

.6oz Northern Brewer (8.5%) 60 min

at flame out:
4.5 oz Molasses
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove

White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast

Ferment at 67-68 degrees for 4 days, then add 1.5 gallons of pure apple cider reduced down 50%, so .75 gallons total. bring total batch size up to 5.25 gallons. ferment another 2 weeks with cider, then move into a secondary and let sit on 1-1.5oz Brandy soaked oak cubes for 30 days before bottleing.

estimated pre apple cider addition of 1.057 SG, then with adding cider i've read 1 point per gallon, so new estimated SG of 1.072 ish. estimated FG from beer smith is 1.013 which would give me an 7.74%ABV nice fall time oaked/brandy/cinnamon/apple ale thinking of omitting the extra light DME to bring it down just a tad, but probably not?

i've read through a lot of these forums and put a little of this and that from a lot of what i've read and others opinions. i think this should make a nice fall time ale! i'm starting this a bit late and will be just a bit late for fall/apple season come drinking time after proper bottle conditioning, but i think this just sounds great, and will linger over into a great turkey day beer any critiques or additional thoughts? thanks everyone. these forums are great!

 

[jmfitzgerald]

Ok, so today was brew day... here were the changes because of what was available, and just a bit of tweaking along the way!

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Apple Barrel Ale
Brewer: Matt Fitzgerald
Asst Brewer:
Style: Fruit Beer
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 5.70 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.20 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 4.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 17.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1 lbs Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) (60.0 SRM) Grain 1 12.5 %
4.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.1 %
0.55 oz Northern Brewer [9.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 20.1 IBUs
1.50 Items Cinnamon Stick (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice 9 -
0.50 tsp All Spice (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice 11 -
1.00 Items Clove (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice 10 -
4.5 oz Molasses (80.0 SRM) Sugar 5 3.5 %
6 lbs Munich Malt LME (8.0 SRM) Extract 4 74.7 %
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 12 -
8.0 oz Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 3 6.2 %
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 8 -
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 7 -

Very happy with what i have so far! I think the spices are right on, but could use a bit more cinnamon, so i kept one of the cinnamon sticks in the carboy during fermentation. it looks a bit darker than expected, but we'll see how it looks after adding the apple cider. I plan to let it work it magic at 68 degrees for 4 days, then saturday morning i'll add the 1/2 concentrated apple cider and let it sit for another 10-14 days before moving it to the secondary and adding the brandy soaked oak cubes.

 

[craig_reed]

bought the ingredients for this, and I am pumped to try it this weekend.

 

[jmfitzgerald]

hummm... well back after a week trip, it's now been fermenting away now for 13 days, 9 of them with the apple juice concentrate added... opened the fermenting fridge to see the carboy toped with almost a green hue to it. was worried at first. pulled the carboy out and under closer inspection, it looked "ok", maybe it was the lighting? i pulled a sample and took a gravity reading... it's down to 1.012, but had a weird after taste to it, that it didn't have before adding the apple concentrate... worried that something's got to it or the apple juice concentrate funk-a-fied it? not going to come to any conclusions yet, still going to let it sit, then oak age it and see how it turns out! fingers crossed!

 

[craig_reed]

hummm... well back after a week trip, it's now been fermenting away now for 13 days, 9 of them with the apple juice concentrate added... opened the fermenting fridge to see the carboy toped with almost a green hue to it. was worried at first. pulled the carboy out and under closer inspection, it looked "ok", maybe it was the lighting? i pulled a sample and took a gravity reading... it's down to 1.012, but had a weird after taste to it, that it didn't have before adding the apple concentrate... worried that something's got to it or the apple juice concentrate funk-a-fied it? not going to come to any conclusions yet, still going to let it sit, then oak age it and see how it turns out! fingers crossed!

Hmmm...

Now I am a bit worried about brewing this up. I think people have used the apple cider before, so not sure. I got all the ingredients for this, and was planning on brewing today or tomorrow.

 

[craig_reed]

Except I wasn't planning on oaking this beer.. just strait up apple cinnamon ale was what I was going for