I am looking for vokunteers that would like to experiement with some barrel blending. As a group we brewed to fill a 53 gallon BCS barrel about 6-7 months ago. The beer that went into that barrel was an Old ale recipe called Elixir of Life.
I am looking for 2 brewers that would like to brew up the same Old Ale recipe. Once the two batches are done, a portion of the Aged Old ale will be removed from the barrel. The batches that were freshly brewed will then be add to the barrel to replace what was removed.
In addition, I am also looking for a few people that would like to blend a finished beer using the Oak Aged Old Ale.
Most styles of beer are fine. However, stronger beers may hold up better to blending with this beer.
The idea is to sit down with a few finished beers and sample different combinations, using BA Old Ale as the base.
The goal is to take character from the BA Old Ale and make it as complex and tasty as we can...mixining in different malt tastes, hops, etc.
If you are interested in brewing the old ale or a blending beer, please reply here. indicate which you would like to brew.
I'd like to have everything ready to blend and refill by mid September.
ill do another base beer.....are you guys doing a group treacle order??
I can do a batch at the open house too. That batch we could put in the keezer when ready
Lucas,
I'm thinking about brewing this beer at the open house on the 13th. If you and Eric P would like, we can brew this beer togther then...I am going to be starting kind of early though. Or if you guys prefer...the Sunday after the open house would work too.
We can bottle a couple bottles for the competition, using the old ale from the barrel. I will make sure that I try to shoot for just over 5 gallons when I make a fill batch.
Hey dave, the Old Ale AHA club competition entry is due Oct 31, do you think you might be able to pull a bit out and blend a few bottles to submit?
I know there are a couple other entries that we will have to compare against, but I would hope to get at least one version of the barrel in the running.
My blend beer is ready and awaiting.
You can count me in for 5 gal, still want to try and brew at the same time?
Oh... my... god. Why haven't we done this? http://thechive.com/2013/09/17/guys-rig-up-buddies-plumbing-with-beer-wh...
I'm going to bump this thread. I was waiting for the group grain buy to finish up...as this brew requires a decent portion of Marris Otter for the base.
Now that the grain buy is closed and orders are set for comming in the next week or so, I wanted to revive this thread.
I am mainly looking for people to do re-fill batches for the old ale barrel - elixir of life. We will also do some blending with other beers...most of those batches have already been offered by various people. I will update the main body of this thread next week to reflect everyone involved.
But I am looking for as many fill batches as I can get. The more base we have the better.
So far I have about 20 gallons of elixir that people are offering to brew:
David - 5gal
Lucas - 5gal
Eric Padilla - 5gal
Lager Dan - 5 gal
I would tentatively like to shoot for Nov 7th to remove/refill the barrel. Batches of elixir should have at a minimum 10 days of fermentation complete...more is of course better.
If you want to brew/participate in the blending, please let me know by replying to this thread and indicating what you will be offering (either a blend batch or base of elixir for the barrel).
If you want another hoppy blend beer let me know....ill do a ipa.....got some hops i want to clear out before this years harvest
It sounded like this past weekend that you needed someone to brew another base elixir fill batch, if so count me in and I'll try and get it brewed in Sept.
Oh... my... god. Why haven't we done this? http://thechive.com/2013/09/17/guys-rig-up-buddies-plumbing-with-beer-wh...
ESB sounds like a good fit.
I am still looking for at least one other person to do a fill batch. I'm going to do one of the fill batches...just need another person. Once the fill batches are brewed, we can set a date for having blends ready.
Hmmmm....I'm not a big fan of peat - both in beer and scotch. I am also wondering how much would be used both in the primary blend as well as the auxillary blend - probably not much since peat is a very assertive flavor. How much peat smokeyness comes through in the beer? Got anything else?
I have a peat smoked wee-heavy of sorts all brewed up and ready to go...
Sean - I'll mark you down for a hoppy beer for blending. I think that will be nice in the finished product.
On a side note ( and we discussed this a little at the barrel blending meeting that Daniel hosted) I think that once we blend our initial batch, that we will probably have an ample volume left over to do a second blend with what is left over...which I think will be nice as well.
I think either an ipa or dipa would be awesome.
Well, if I have to brew to be involved in the blend, then I want to brew for it. I'll probably do something to blend, have to think it up, though.
How about an IPA? Firestone's delicious 15th Anniversary Ale was a blend that included some IPA. Even though it was a small percentage of the total recipe, the hop character stood out, and was definitely noticeable even though it was competing with some really heavy barrel aged stouts. If others think this is worth a try, I will contribute a batch of IPA or DIPA.
I would like to see people who originally filled the barrel participate in the blending by brewing either a fill or blend batch.
But to answer your question, no - not unless you elect to do some blending. The volume of the barrel will be the same...the removal of approximately 7 gallons and filling of 10 fresh is to both top up the barrel and to add complexity. The original idea of the barrel was to have it be a solera - adding complexity by removing portions and adding fresh beer to introduce layers of complexity.
.
At the one year mark we will most likely empty the barrel and the original brewers for the barrel will split its contents.
The 6 month blend date was designed to a) add complexity by blending young and old beer b) to top up the barrel from what has been lost to absorption and evaporation (that's why aprox. 7 gallons will come out and 10 gallons will go back in) and c) to allow others to be involved if they did not get a chance at the origin of this project.
are the original brewing members getting any?
Kyle - that sounds perfect. I'll mark you down for a blend batch.
Also, I forgot to mention. Once we have a final blend, we will bottle and split bottles amongst the group evenly. That way everyone gets somthing...whether you are doing a blend batch or a fill batch.
I would like to brew something along the lines of a chocolately/vanilla brown ale if you think it would blend well. If not I can brew something else you think might pair better.
UPDATE:
Okay, we have four batches of fill old ale that have been brewed. This will be exchanged with a portion of agged Old Ale from the barrel. The original brewers of the barrel will see no change, in fact we will be topping up the barrel and adding complexity...which was originally detailed in the Exilir of Life thread.
We had four people brew for this:
David - 5gal
Lucas - 5gal
Eric Padilla - 5gal
James Lewis- 5 gal
Thats 20 gallons brewed. We will end up having to top off the barrel, so this should leave us maybe 16-17 gallons of beer to use as a base for blending.
The next question is who still has a batch of beer that they want to use to blend with our old ale as a base? I know i aked before, but its been a while. If you can reply here I wil add your name to an event that will create in the nxet week or so. Is there a date that works for everyone best to do a blend session? We will sit around a table and mix different quantities, then scale up a batch and bottle.
i definitely have a batch to blend. It will be one of two selections from my rum barrel, not sure which yet.
Daniel, I'll mark you down. We probably don't want any additional
oaked batches though.
We should set some guide lines too...everyone should have at least 3.5
- 5 gallons so that we can scale things up without issue. I would also
like to do a secondary blend with what we have left over.
ok, probably don't have anything that isn't oaked, so don't count me in!
Dave,
I have my Chocolate Vanilla brown ale ready to go for the blending. It is the other 5 gallons to the 10 gallon batch which people tried at the last meeting. Let me know when the blending will be.