22 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

The full story of this beer is on my recipe page (all the way at the bottom). I made this beer late in 2010 and it sat cool and aged for a bit before going on tap a few weeks ago. This is a sort of cross between my MLPA and HOME RUN RED ales. Sort of. I am brewing today (Sat 3/19) and drinking this beer while I brew and it seems to get better with each sip and each glass. Very straightforward recipe just like many of my others. Check it out...

Signature Ale

9 lbs American 2 row Pale Malt
8 oz Crystal 40°L
6 oz Belgian Special B (mash temp is 150-151°)
6.5 AAU of Magnum pellets for 60 minutes
1056 American Ale Yeast

OG: 1.054, FG: 1.013, IBU: 27, SRM: 13, ABV: 5.2%

It's got a reddish-amber color and the balance of the firm, clean bitterness of the Magnum works well with the mildly carmel-like flavors of the Crystal and Special B.

[zymot]

Ken,Looks like a winner. I would encourage anybody to try this recipe.I have learned to love simple and elegant beer recipes. All of my stripped down recipes have resulted in successful beer. Your MLPA and the response from those who have brewed it, support my opinion. The beers that I have brewed that were not as glorious were from recipes that were very complex. I have brewed some busy recipes that turned out excellent, but getting the balance is tricky.I asked one respected homebrewer who turned pro how commercial brewing compared to homebrewing. He told me that a typical homebrew recipe is much more complicated as compared to a typical microbrew he makes now. "Homebrewers use many more grains and hops than we do here at our microbrewery. Two, sometimes 3 grains and just a couple additions is all we need."Someday I am going to brew a base malt + a 60 minute hop addition beer.

[Big Nake]

I have had many brewers preach "simplicity" to me. Some of my recipes are this way and some could use some further simplification. I have 1056 up & running and I was wondering what else I should make. After the dent I put in this keg yesterday, I think I found my answer. Cheers.

[jayb151]

Dammit Ken!How is it that every time you announce a new beer, it looks so darn good!!?? And I haven't been able to brew for 2 months! Somehow, I have a feeling that this pic might get me out of my funk.

[Big Nake]

Dammit Ken! How is it that every time you announce a new beer, it looks so darn good!!?? And I haven't been able to brew for 2 months! Somehow, I have a feeling that this pic might get me out of my funk.

For every beer I post a picture & recipe for, there are 20 clunkers. Okay, just kidding. JayB, if I am the one responsible for getting you out of a funk, so be it. I brewed twice this week (Cabana Lager and MLPA) and I have my next 3 beers planned... a cerveza oscura, a summer wheat kind-of thing (my Main Street Wheat) and then this Signature Ale again. Giddy up & brew, Beerheads.

[MyaCullen]

dang KenI will have to try this one, it's certainly got real potential, I really like the hefty use of special b in it, and the water profile locally is suited perfectly to this type of brew.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Ken, I brewed this for my golf tournament and it went over pretty well. One thing is that I need to check my second batch, I made ten gallons and I forgot to label the carboys so i may have mixed them up with the irish red. Thing is though that at least one person that tried the two side by side could tell a difference at the tournament, so I may have lucked out.The beer - we drnk most of the rest of this beer at the GF's dads house the night after the tournament and it was extremely smooth. Has to be the smoothest, easy drinkingest home brew I have mad to date. It wasn't huge on flavor in any way, just super easy to drink (though we were drinking Denny's RIPA too so in comparison it was highly contrasted). Anyway, I like it, maybe better than MLPA. The one thing I can't figure out though is, this beer was VERY dark red. I was hoping it would be a little more on the red side. I ordered my grains online, but followed your recipe, what should I change to get the srm's down a little?Cheers,Rich

[positiveContact]

Ken, I brewed this for my golf tournament and it went over pretty well. One thing is that I need to check my second batch, I made ten gallons and I forgot to label the carboys so i may have mixed them up with the irish red. Thing is though that at least one person that tried the two side by side could tell a difference at the tournament, so I may have lucked out. The beer - we drnk most of the rest of this beer at the GF's dads house the night after the tournament and it was extremely smooth. Has to be the smoothest, easy drinkingest home brew I have mad to date. It wasn't huge on flavor in any way, just super easy to drink (though we were drinking Denny's RIPA too so in comparison it was highly contrasted). Anyway, I like it, maybe better than MLPA. The one thing I can't figure out though is, this beer was VERY dark red. I was hoping it would be a little more on the red side. I ordered my grains online, but followed your recipe, what should I change to get the srm's down a little? Cheers, Rich

you could sub out some of the C40 for a lighter crystal. I probably wouldn't want to drop the special B much b/c it's such a big part of the flavor in this beer (I'm guessing).

[Big Nake]

Ken, I brewed this for my golf tournament and it went over pretty well. One thing is that I need to check my second batch, I made ten gallons and I forgot to label the carboys so i may have mixed them up with the irish red. Thing is though that at least one person that tried the two side by side could tell a difference at the tournament, so I may have lucked out. The beer - we drnk most of the rest of this beer at the GF's dads house the night after the tournament and it was extremely smooth. Has to be the smoothest, easy drinkingest home brew I have mad to date. It wasn't huge on flavor in any way, just super easy to drink (though we were drinking Denny's RIPA too so in comparison it was highly contrasted). Anyway, I like it, maybe better than MLPA. The one thing I can't figure out though is, this beer was VERY dark red. I was hoping it would be a little more on the red side. I ordered my grains online, but followed your recipe, what should I change to get the srm's down a little? Cheers, Rich

I'm glad it went over well. Hmm, was the beer A LOT darker than the beer in my pic in the first post? Did you use a different base malt that maybe had a little more color to it? I suppose you could sub the 40L with 20L and keep the Special B the same if you'd like the beer lighter. For my Home Run Red, I use 2-row, some Vienna or Munich and then 8 ounces of C120 and 8 ounces of Special B. Dark red and beautiful! Cheers.

[Big Nake]

Oh, you know what else? I have heard of people saying that Special B comes in various SRMs. I think that 140°L is common (it's a pretty dark/red grain) but some people have said that they've seen it even darker so maybe that's it. Just grabbing at straws. Cheers.

[SchwanzBrewer]

I'm glad it went over well. Hmm, was the beer A LOT darker than the beer in my pic in the first post? Did you use a different base malt that maybe had a little more color to it? I suppose you could sub the 40L with 20L and keep the Special B the same if you'd like the beer lighter. For my Home Run Red, I use 2-row, some Vienna or Munich and then 8 ounces of C120 and 8 ounces of Special B. Dark red and beautiful! Cheers.

I followed the grain bill the best I could. Base malt was pale malt.

Oh, you know what else? I have heard of people saying that Special B comes in various SRMs. I think that 140°L is common (it's a pretty dark/red grain) but some people have said that they've seen it even darker so maybe that's it. Just grabbing at straws. Cheers.

I got the grains from Austinhomebrew.com and it says the Special B is 140-155 L. From the website:

The darkest of the Belgian crystal malts, Special B will impart a heavy caramel taste and is often credited with the raisin-like flavors of some Belgian Abbey ales. Larger percentages (greater than 5% of grain bill) will contribute a dark brown-black color and fuller body. 140-155 L

It tasted good, and I would say it was probably 5-8 SRM darker than yours??? I wasn't using a clear glass, just an opaque plastic cup. I was drunk, and when I held it up to the light you could just barely see a hint of red at the base. I will have to put it in a glass and get a good picture (well try, I suck at pictures). Cheers, Rich

[positiveContact]

I normally don't sweat color that much. I'm a lot more concerned with taste/aroma/carbonation/ect. Trying the judge the color in a plastic cup though??? I'd wait until I see it in a regular glass before trying to guess the SRM.

[SchwanzBrewer]

I normally don't sweat color that much. I'm a lot more concerned with taste/aroma/carbonation/ect. Trying the judge the color in a plastic cup though??? I'd wait until I see it in a regular glass before trying to guess the SRM.

Mainly it looked black. I was hoping for something along the lines of Killians color or a little deeper. Taste is #1 for me too, but if I am serving this to people then I don't want to be asked a million times why its black and not red. What really kills me is that the majority of people still classify beer as dark or light. I am getting better at explaining the differences in a dumbed down way in less that 3 minutes without coming across too snobbish about it. When I put descriptions on the beer for the tournament (this one was served), poeple were astounded that they could taste the malts and pick out the flavors. Cheers, Rich

[Big Nake]

Yeah, that beer absolutely should not be black so I don't know what happened. This beer is just pale malt, 8oz of C60 and 6oz of Special B so I can't see how you took a wrong turn somewhere. I could see different base malts changing the color mildly, but not that much. I have noticed that I sometimes have beers where the color comes out quite differently. This is either a mistake on my part (measuring incorrectly or forgetting something) or different products are just a little inconsistent in their color. I sometimes pick up precrushed C60 at one of my LHBSs and it always seems pale to me compared to the stuff I get elsewhere. I have my Hacienda Lager on tap now and it's color should be somewhere around 9 or so and this time it looks like 5-6. I have no idea why, I've made this beer 10-15 times. MLPA sometimes comes out darker or lighter depending on where I get the C60 from. I have also had suppliers screw things up. I went to pick up a bunch of grain and the guy was crushing it and packaging it all up for me and when I got home I saw my bag of CaraMunich and it was really light. I opened it and it smelled and looked like Munich Light. CaraMunich is supposed to be around 45°L and this stuff looked like 10°L so I just used it like Munich and assumed he made a mistake. Maybe you'll make the Signature Ale again and see how it comes out. I have 1272 up & running now on a batch of Bases Loaded Blonde and when that's done, I'm making Signature Ale again. Cheers!

[SchwanzBrewer]

I've still got 4 gallons of it to keg and about 1 gallon left from the other keg, so I don't need to brew it anytime soon, but I love the way it tastes. Up to bat is my palesner recipe and then I have a stout and one other recipe that still needs to be brewed (maybe MLPA - can't remember). Cheers,Rich

[Big Nake]

I had an Amarillo-Citra pale ale in primary that I racked out today and made my amber ale recipe.  When that is done, I'm making this Signature Ale again but with 7 AAU of Northern Brewer (I'm out of Magnum) instead.  I just read a little more about the making of this beer... Leinie brews it in a small brewery north of Milwaukee and they call it a cross between an English Ale and an Amber Ale.  Okay.  They also brew it specifically for the Back Door Lounge situated at the Starved Rock Lodge in the state park which is where I originally had it.  This is a really delicious beer even if I'm just taking a stab at it.  Cheers.

[Big Nake]

Crappy cell phone pic in poor lighting but here is the current batch of Signature Ale on tap. I'm brewing tonight and drinking this beer!

[HVB]

How is it with the Northern Brewer hops?

[Big Nake]

How is it with the Northern Brewer hops?

Really good. There are no other hops in it so as long as the bittering hops are nice & clean, it's all good. It cleared up nicely which is... hopefully... a sign that my pH meter is getting me to a good mash pH. Cheers!