This recipe is one that I stumbled upon while perusing the internet, and it received such praise (and since I really like the original) that I decided I HAD to give it a shot. All I did was scale this recipe down to fit my needs...now only time will tell how well this imitates a real pint of Dead Guy Ale from Rogue Brewery. How about that label? ;-)
8 of 9 Lives Ale - Brewed on: 6/25/2011 - Briess 2-Row: 5 lbs 6 oz - Weyermann Munich Type II: 9 oz - Weyermann Cara Munich I: 9 oz - Briess Caramel 40: 4 oz - Pacman yeast slurry - Perle hops: 1 oz (.625 @ 60, .25 @ 30, .125 @ 5) - Saaz hops: 1/4 oz (5 min)
mash @ 156° for 60 minutes anticipated: OG 1.067 - 6.55% ABV - 31 IBU
brew day: brought 4 gallons of water up to 160°, added the grain sack and the temp dropped to about 154°, so I turned on the burner to get it to the 156° that I wanted. Proceed to 60 minutes of mash time and I put the kettle into the oven for stabilization, stirring every 20 minutes. the temperature was pretty steady between 155-156°...nice!
drained the grains and in went the hops at their designated times...no problems there. after 60 minutes, I killed the burner and let the wort sit for a few moments, then using the chiller I dropped the wort to about 70 °. it seemed to take a little while, but I didn't actually time it. I siphoned the wort into the LBK up into the middle of the "quart" marking...so about 2.4 gallons, maybe a tad more. added 5 drops of fermcap, the slurry of Pacman, and now we wait! also, will be putting this in the cooler with ice pack to keep fermentaion temperatures in the low 60°s...hopefully.
there was not much left in the kettle at all, so there may be a decent trub layer...errr. NOTE FOR NEXT TIME: start with 4.25 gallons. biggity bam, that problem would be solved. I guess there was some decent absorbtion due to the large grain bill, brew strong and learn. OG 1.071 - 6.9 ABV - 30.5 IBU - 80% eff and the color looked spot on
ferment through: 7/22/2011 ~update 7/7: I think that I might have under pitched the yeast a bit, as I have not had a huge fermentation as others have reported with similar recipes and Pacman yeast. Hmmm...anyway, the fermentation temperature was about 65-66° for the first week, but then we went on a weekend vacation and the temperature rose to 70°. With that happening, I decided to leave it right there and ride it out through the 16th at that temperature and not have too many swings for the yeast to deal with. My only concern is that the final product may end up being a little alcohol-y in taste due to the higher temps and OG of the wort. Cross your fingers... ~update 7/22: bottled today, and the sample I took was really nice. no alcohol heat...it was actually quite smooth. the hops are still a bit prominant, but I am sure that they will mellow out nicely by the time bottle 1 gets popped open. aside from one legit "trub" bottle (PET of course), the rest got very clear beer in them. total haul was 18 12oz glass bottles, and 4 16oz PETs. niiiiice!
carb/condition through: mid-August first tester: 9/20/11 Due to some slooooooooow carbonation issues, I only have the trub bottle ready to test out (check out the pic above), and I eagerly twisted open the PET and poured a pint. Kind of a nice muddy amber situation (trub bottle only? we shall see) with a tight little off-white head. Smell was malty/toffee/caramel-y, and the up front taste followed suit. As it went across my palate, there was an earthy and noble hoppiness that finished off the sip. Now I haven't had a "real" Dead Guy ale in a few weeks, but I am gonna grab a bottle and put it up against 8 of 9 Lives...because unless my memory is failing me (insert joke here), this might be quite similar. Stay tuned...