Golden Strong Ale

Please participate in my Poll to the right! YOU can help me decide a name for this beer.

GOLDEN PHOENIX

I like this one...Mythical but not a Devil or Dragon reference.

GOLDEN SPIRAL

This one is also timeless....evocative of the common threads in nature, art and science.

MR. T'S 30 POUND NECKLACE

This Motherfucker will not take pity on your fool ass if you don't vote for him.

OK, now to the beer. I brewed this up on Sunday after a weekend of serious partying. See Brewtopia post, soon to come. So it was a "dry" brewing session. Clarissa actually hung out and helped me brew, weighing grains and sparging and generally providing support.

Recipe is for 6.75 gallons pre-boil, 5.75 gallons post boil, 5.25 in the fermenter.

O.G. 1.071 IBU's 29

Efficiency was around 79%

9 lb. Durst Pils malt

1 lb. Wheat malt

6 oz. aromatic malt

2 oz. melanoidin malt

.5 lb. DME to bring me up to target gravity

1.5 lb. table sugar

21 gr. Styrian Aurora pellets 7.4% 60 min

20 gr. Stryian Goldings pellets 3.5% 30 min

20 gr. German Saphir pellets 4.2% 0 min

Mash: 3.6 gallons + .5 ml lactic acid. 148 for 75 minutes, raised to 170 over 15 minutes. Total time 90 min.

Sparge: 5 gallons + .25 ml lactic acid. 170 degrees.

Boil: 90 min, hops additions as noted. Whirlfloc at 15, 1/2 tsp Wyeast nutrient at 10 min.

Chill, whirlpool, and collect 5.25 gallons.

Aerated by hand for 8 minutes, Pitch at 68 degrees.

Pitched a 1500 ml starter (stirplate) of Whitelabs 500 trappist ale yeast.

Ferment at 68 for 3 days, then 70 for 1 day, then 72 for 7 days.

Racked to secondary on 11/12/08. Whoah! I could smell banana cream pie from halfway across the room (this yeast kicks of a lot of banana esters). Tastes good, but still only a hint of what's to come. 1.011