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Graham Cracker Ale

K

KernelCrush

Recipe: Graham Cracker Ale (real original name, eh?)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 3.98 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.38 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 3.00 gal 
Bottling Volume: 2.78 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 16.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 34.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                  Name                                    Type          #        %/IBU       
2 lbs 12.0 oz        Pale Malt (2 Row) US (1.8 SRM)          Grain        1        49.7 %       
1 lbs                Carabrown (55.0 SRM)                    Grain        2        18.1 %       
8.0 oz                Munich 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM)          Grain        3        9.0 %       
8.0 oz                Wheat - Red Malt (Briess) (2.3 SRM)      Grain        4        9.0 %       
6.0 oz                Special Roast (Briess) (50.0 SRM)        Grain        5        6.8 %       
4.0 oz                Honey Malt (25.0 SRM)                    Grain        6        4.5 %       
2.5 oz                Molasses (80.0 SRM)                      Sugar        7        2.8 %       
0.33 oz              Challenger [7.60 %] - Boil 45.0 min      Hop          8        14.6 IBUs   
0.33 oz              Challenger [7.60 %] - Boil 30.0 min      Hop          9        12.3 IBUs   
0.50 Items            Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)        Fining        10      -           
0.33 oz              Challenger [7.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min      Hop          11      7.9 IBUs     
0.50 Items            Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 mins)          Spice        12      -           
1.0 pkg              SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast        13      -           


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body, Decoction Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 5 lbs 8.5 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                            Step Temperat Step Time   
Saccharification  Add 17.49 qt of water at 158.3 F        152.0 F      60 min       
Mash Out          Decoct 5.11 qt of mash and boil it      168.0 F      10 min       

I'm shooting for a substantial malt backbone that the specialties can run around on. Trying to give the Carabrown a wide berth. Thought about adding some (more) caramel malt, but I think I'll let the honey malt do the sweet talkin. I've not used molasses before; does the usage look like enough to get it noticed without it stomping around too much? Can't wait to make this one...


I have never tried molasses.  Hopefully someone else has. 

I am trying this.  Feel free to tear it apart.

56% Maris Otter
13% ea of CaraBrown & Victory
9% each of Crystal 40 & Munich 10
22 IBU Magnum First wort
4 IBU Wiliamette Steep
WLP002
Mash at 156

I am afraid of cinnamon in the boil since I've never used it before in a beer and don't want to overdo it.  It will go in with the honey later.
 
I make a pumpkin ale every year.  I add 1/2 tsp of pumpkin spice to 6.25 gallons at flame out.  That's about 1/4 tsp of cinnamon for 5 gallons.  I would probably adjust down from there. 

Another option: make a tincture, and dose the finished beer.

A tincture is an alcohol flavor extract.  Take a couple tablespoons of ground cinnamon, and put it in a jelly jar with 1/2 cup of vodka.  Let it steep for several days.  Pour off and reserve the liquid, discard the cinnamon. 

NOTE: the cinnamon will become a slimy mess.  This is normal, its caused by a chemical in the cinnamon that reacts with the alcohol.  Don't worry its not an infection or anything. 

then you can use an eye-dropper to dose a glass a beer (one drop at a time).  If you like the result, then you can figure out the dosage rate for a full batch.  If you don't, then you haven't ruined anything except a pint.




 
Sounds good, Kernel! Our recipes aren't colossally different, so it'll be interesting to see where they diverge. The Great Graham Cracker Ale Challenge of 2014!

Tom, good idea on the tincture. I just did that with cacao nibs for my cherry chocolate pale ale (unfortunately just bottled so I have a bit of a wait to find out the result). My original thinking was that with the cinnamon stick, it would be less concentrated than with ground cinnamon, but controlling the spice addition is probably the better way to go.
 
Well, my take on a graham cracker ale is in the fermenter. Very smooth brew session--hit my gravity, slightly exceeded my batch size, so I'm happy. The sample tastes oh-so-good--maybe a little too bitter, so I wish I'd knocked the IBUs down by about 10 points--but it has this delicious malty, bready background. Is it graham cracker-y? Time will tell, but I'm optimistic.

Made a couple on the fly tweaks:
  • Bumped the molasses to 3oz, and added just before flame out. I can taste just the right amount of molasses in the wort sample, so I'm hoping this remains. I didn't want it too overpowering.
  • Punted and added the 1/2 stick of cinnamon to the boil, with about 5 minutes to go. I get cinnamon in the background--very nice.
  • Instead of doing a "real" decoction for the mash out, I pulled off 6 quarts of wort, brought it to a boil, and added back to the mash. Got me to mash out temps and it was a lot easier than scooping scalding grain! For my purposes, I think this achieved what I was after.
  • After mash out, I pulled 1 quart of wort and boiled down to about 1 cup of super-thick malt syrup. I hadn't planned on doing this, so I diluted this with enough water to return to 1 quart of liquid and returned it to the boil kettle. All this extra carmelization is lingering in the wort sample--and made the house smell very nice :)
  • Used US-05... oops. Thought I had S-04 on hand, and S-33 just didn't seem right. Assuming this is a re-brew, I'll switch over then
Happy brewing!
 
Glad to hear all went well.  Mine is on for tomorrow. Im surprised it got here in time.  I live so far back in the woods I have to come out quite a ways just to hunt.
 
Thinking I will drop my mash temp.  152 will put me a little over 1015 where this Amber usually finishes. 
 
Well Saturday didn't work.  Grain mill had a 'major malfunction' and its going back to Dr. Crankenstein Monday for his lifetime warranty tune up.  Mashed anyway with a poor crush that took 3+ hours  to finish (I stopped counting).  Got ready to chill and after working fine earlier the pump froze up.  If it wasn't toast it is now.  Anyhoo, had lots of wort to sample before I dumped this morning.  I think it needs more Carabrown .
 
Man, what a bummer. Some days nothing--just plain nothing--goes right. I hope the second try goes better! Once my batch is finished, I'll definitely send you a couple bottles to help pass the time ;)
 
I was talking to a buddy the other day about a graham cracker beer. I like the grain profile way up there, but how would an addition of biscuit malt fair in the mix. Also, just a thought.... Brew a good chocolate malt based  milk stout and layer it with graham cracker beer to make a black and tan style chocolate pie.
 
I am planning to up the Victory Biscuit malt and the Carabrown % both.  Coming from a chef, I am not surprised you can mold it into a graham-crusted chocolate pie. 
 
[Grains]
Two-row (US) 1.250kg Grain 23.3
Golden Promise Malt 1.000kg Grain 18.6
Biscuit (Belgian) 0.750kg Grain 14.0
Honey 0.750kg Sugar 14.0
Maris Otter Malt 0.500kg Grain 9.3
Smoked Malt 0.250kg Grain 4.7
Aromatic Malt (Belgian) 0.250kg Grain 4.7
Crystal 120L 0.250kg Grain 4.7
CaraMunich 0.250kg Grain 4.7
Molasses 0.125kg Sugar 2.3

I havent figured my hops yet. Was going to keep the bittering hops low with more fruit based aroma hops. I got a hard on for smoked Malt in small amounts, I feel it will give this beer a campfire smores nuance.
 
I was starting to feel left out no one else was using any Maris Otter. I read somewhere that blackstrap molasses is less fermentable, not sure.  Sam Calagione used 235 ml light molasses for bottle priming in his book Extreme Brewing.  Good luck with it.
 
I almost always use marris,  and golden promise. To me they are both 2 row domestic, just higher qualities and if you use them in a blend with 2 row it brings out so much depth. As for molasses I was going for fancy
 
That's an interesting grain bill. I don't know if it will taste like a graham cracker, but it will make for some fun, complex tasting.

I love Marris Otter, and would probably have used that in mine if I had any on hand at the time. Between the Munich, the decoction mash out, and the wort carmelization I did, I think I squeezed every last drop of maltiness out of the grain bill. If this one works out, I'll probably use MO as 100% of the base malt--though my LHBS also carries Gambrinus ESB malt and I started thinking that might be an interesting road to travel...
 
Ok looking at this again I was about to use +/- 58% Maris Otter, 25% Carabrown, 15% Victory.  Then as I was looking for a cheap grain to run thru my reconditioned mill to clean it and clicked 6-row and it made me look at the diastatic power of this mash.  Based on 50Linter Otter (crisp data), and 0 for Carabrown & victory (breiss data), I am looking at a 30 L mash.  According to the internet the minimum is 30 (nap time?) to 70-100 (best).  Looks like it wont work, or at least it wont be much brewing fun.

There is a lot of debate too on the DP of Victory malt.  Breiss says 0.  Others claim more.  Palmer says needs to be mashed. Why is there so much discrepancy on this malt?  The more you read the wider the opinions.

Would it be better to convert the Otter alone and steep the victory and carabrown in the remaining volume or add them at vorlauf?  Is there a way to manage a reasonable pH into the kettle at this percentage?

Or is there errors in my thinking?
 
I used to use MO pretty much exclusively as my base malt (though maybe not quite in those ratios), and never had a problem with conversion. You might have to mash a little lower and longer, but I still think you'd be fine to mash everything together.

(I'm not a brewing chemist, and I usually just go by gut, so take that for what it's worth... AKA not much ;) )
 
Me either. Far from it.  I never had a problem using CMO before either but I was surprised to see the DP was that low.  I wasnt at these percentages on the last try but it did take a ridiculous long time to complete the mash.  After 2 hours on my back jabbing at the idle roller on my mill I just blamed it on the crush.
 
Listened to a podcast today with Bob Hansen from Breiss Malting. He says if your weighted average DP is less than 50 you are looking at a 3-4 hour mash time.  Sounds strangely familiar.  He recommends an alpha beta step mash to try to overcome it. Don't think I will go there this time.  Its really hard to step mash with my setup. 
 
With the amount of MO I am using would it be necessary to mash for 4 hours. Also I was reading this other posts about decoction and misunderstood its meaning. In a previous batch I drain ed just the wort out boiled it and added it back to the mash to get different temps for my mash. I have that beer over at my buddy's place layering for awhile but the flavourful after the primary was in sanely good. So that being said what would that method of multi temp mashing be called when you are not truly decocting. I was thinking of doing this methods again with the graham cracker with that grain bill I posted. Would a true decoction have adverse effects on my outcome. I am kind of paranoid about adverse tannins bringing the mash up above 170
 
You have a small percent of CMO, offset by higher DP of other malts in the recipe.  I think your DP number is around 70.  Its not hard to do, just go to the maltsters website grab the DP number, make sure the all the DP numbers are expressed in degrees Linter.  For each grain in the recipe multiply the individual DP by the individual grain weight in the recipe, add those up.  Divide that number by the total weight of grain in the recipe.

If you pick up a copy of How to Brew he explains all types of mash regimes and why and when to use them. 

Decoctions don't create a tannins problem.  I read a good explanation of why not once but cant remember now. 


 
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