Beer Forum

Our club just had a strange brewing competition. We had our LHBS come up with a kit for a 1.050ish ale. Using that kit as a base we could add and/or subtract up to 1 pound of grain and add and/or substract up to 1 ounce of hops. We also had almost no limitation on other adjuncts (spices, etc.). The judging was then based on the "Best Damn Beer" criteria rather than BJCP guidelines. Details of the base kit and rules are here: http://www.lincolnlagers.com:8880/forum ... sp?TID=240

I won this competition with my Carrot Cake Ale. Some folks asked for the recipe to be posted somewhere, so here it is:

Bugeater's Carrot Cake Ale

BJCP 21-A Spice/Herb/Vegetable, Spice, Herb or Vegetable Beer

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 14.00
Anticipated OG: 1.058 Plato: 14.37
Anticipated SRM: 7.3
Anticipated IBU: 25.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Potential -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
57.1 8.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) 1.036
3.6 0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L 1.034 28.6 4.00 lbs. Carrots Shredded 1.015 0
3.6 0.50 lbs. Special Roast Malt 1.033 40
3.6 0.50 lbs. Wheat Malt 1.038 2
3.6 0.50 lbs. Maltodextrine 1.042 0
Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Argentine Cascade Pellet 3.50 7.5 60min. 0.50 oz. Spalter Select Pellet 2.00 1.4 20 min.
0.25 oz. Glacier Pellet 6.00 6.4 60 min.
0.50 oz. Glacier Pellet 6.00 10.3 First WH

Extras

Amount Name Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 vanilla bean 0 Days(fermenter)
1 Cinnamon Stick 0 Days(fermenter)
1.00 Oz CandiedGinger Root 5 Min.(boil)
0.50 Tsp Nutmeg, fresh grated 0 Days(fermenter)

Yeast
-----
WYeast 3056 Bavarian Wheat

Mash Schedule
-------------
Mash Type: Single Step

Grain Lbs: 13.50
Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.50 - Before Additional Infusions

Saccharification Rest Temp : 154 Time: 90
Mash-out Rest Temp : 0 Time: 0
Sparge Temp : 180 Time: 5

Notes
-----
Shredded carrots were boiled for 10 minutes with 1 pound of 2 row to gelatinize starches prior to adding to mash.
Grated cinnamon, vanilla bean and nutmeg soaked in 6 oz. bourbon for two weeks.
Strain and add to taste at kegging. Candied ginger root added to boil with 15 minutes left.

Planned changes: Cut bitterness to 16-18 IBU to let flavor of carrots come through better. I will probably simplify the hop schedule. Ferment with Wyeast 3068 instead of 3056 (I screwed up and bought the wrong yeast for this batch).

Even though this did not come out exactly as planned, I did win the ugly trophy and a $50 gift certificate from our LHBS.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

thanks bug, i just put it into promash.

cant wait to try it.
couple ?'s where did you get the candied ginger? and how did you like the yeast used? would you change it or keep the yeast.

i cant wait to brew it
-Crut

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo! This was going to be my crowning achievement!!! Now somebody has already done it

Cheers,
OT

PS...thanks for sharing the recipe.

Crut wrote:thanks bug, i just put it into promash.

couple ?'s where did you get the candied ginger? and how did you like the yeast used? would you change it or keep the yeast.
-Crut

The candied ginger, sometimes called sugar ginger, is available in the spice section of most larger grocery stores. I find it quite a bit cheaper in asian markets and at a local co-op grocery store (those earth hippies are good for something. )

I would definitely go with 3068 as mentioned in the notes at the bottom of the recipe. I didn't get the clove esters I wanted when I used 3056.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

thanks bug, off to the organic hippie store an place the online supply order.
I cant wait to try this recipe, might be a double brew day with honey nut beerios.
-Crut

I knocked this out Sunday afternoon and is currently bubbling away like a mofo. I did a 2L Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan starter and slashed the hops down to 1 oz. of Glacier at 60 minutes which Beersmith says should be right around the 18 IBU mark. Tapping out the candied ginger into the boil it came out in a big chunk so I think it was closer to 2 oz. than one but I'm going to lay off the other spices for now and see what it's like after it finishes out. Bonk!

Bug... that sounds really good. Just put this in my list of beers to try this year. Just a question... this may be obvious, but are you adding the cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg after straining, or the infused bourbon?? Because both sound like they could make tasty beers.

Thanks!

I strain out the spices and just add the bourbon to the beer at bottling time. The spices themselves never actually get into the beer.

Wayne