I’m getting my winter warmer ready a bit early this year so it can have some time in the secondary to mellow out a little. Going a bit higher gravity than previous years. One of my favorite winter beers is Great Divide Hibernation. I think it’s an incredible Old Ale and usually my favorite during the cold season. While I’m not trying to clone that per se (as no one really has any idea what the recipe is), I’m really just trying to create a good English Strong Ale that is strong, not overly sweet, finishes dry and has some good classic hop characteristics to balance out the malt bill.
Once it’s finished fermenting I’ll transfer it to the secondary and let it mellow out for 4 or 5 weeks. I’ll dry hop it one week before kegging. Should be ready to drink about a week or two before Christmas. I’m going to ferment with a 2L starter (stir plate) with 2 packs/vials of yeast. I basically ended up grabbing the 2 freshest English yeast strains I could find. They should work well for this one.
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Water salt additions (split between mash and sparge water)
Baking Soda – 4gm
Gypsum – 6gm
Calcium Chloride – 4gm
Ca – 72
Mg – 1
S04 – 95
Na – 34
Cl – 64
HCO3 – 89
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OG – 1.081
FG – 1.018
ABV – 8.5%
IBU – 65
SRM – 20
US 2-Row Malt 9lb 0 oz. (56.0 %)
Maris Otter 4 lbs. 0 oz. (25.2 %)
US Flaked Oats 1lb 0oz (6.3 %)
US Caramel 60L Malt 12.00 oz (4.7 %)
US Special Roast Malt 8.00 oz (3.1 %)
Belgian Chocolate Malt 6.00 oz (2.4 %)
Cane Sugar 4.00 oz. (End of boil)
Northern Brewer (8.5%) 1.75 oz. @ 60
Centennial (8.5%) 1.75 oz. @ 15
Fuggle (4.5%) 1.00 oz. @ End
Willamette (4.5%) 1.00 oz. @ End
Fuggle 1.00 oz. @ Dry Hop (1 week before kegging)
Willamette (4.5%) 1.00 oz. @ Dry Hop (1 week before kegging)
Wyeast 1098 – British Ale
Wyeast 1187 – Ringwood Ale
The-ale-gy 