Doctor Duvel

I'm like a sommelier, but for beer.

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Location: Upstate New York, United States

Favorite Beers: Orval, Samuel Smith, Duvel, Hennepin, Oude Gueze, Chimay, Dogfish Head, Anchor Steam, and anything made by Trappist monks.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Oatmeal Ale and Pilsner

I'm sipping my new pilsner while trying to figure out a wholly unrelated beer problem. Years ago I had an "Oatmeal Ale" from McMullen's. It was lovely, sort of a pale ale with oats. I don't have the information to even think about a clone, and I'm not sure I remember what the beer tasted like, but I have a cake of 1028 opening up tomorrow and I must put something on it to prepare for making imperial stout in a couple more weeks. Thus the McMullen's inspiration. I have three ways of adding oats--indeed, I have oats to get rid of: rolled, Fawcett's oat malt, and Simpson's Golden Naked Oats (a sort of dehusked, toasted oat product).

I also have some pellet First Gold hops I've been wanting to try.

So I'm thinking I should lightly Burtonize the water, use Maris Otter as a base, a 1/4 to 1/2 lb. of Carastan as an accent, maybe 2 lbs of oat malt, and a lb of these golden naked things. I think, given that this yeast is pretty hard core, that I'll mash at 153-4 to avoid an overly dry beer. I think I'll hop it to the tune of a .7 BU:GU ratio, reserving an ounce for a final addition at shut-off.

The result is the following un-named beer of dubious potential quality:

OG 1051
IBU 35.2

8.5 lbs Maris Otter
2 lbs Fawcett's Oat Malt
1 lb Simpson's Golden Naked Oats
.5 lbs Bairds Carastan

1 oz First Gold (70)
.5 oz First Gold (15)
1 oz First Gold (0)

Mash at 153
1.5 tsp Burton salts in kettle

On another note, my pilsner is good. First attempt at the style last year was kind of a flop. It is hard to do. This one has no evident flaws. It's just bit bitter for a traditional Czech example, but I wanted to swing more toward, say, Victory Prima Pils. It's got a moderately full body to balance the hops and a lively spiciness from whole-flower domestic Saaz.

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