Inspiration
Named after the campfire I had with my brother on Pender Island on a biking/ camping trip we did. All I'll say is that we got lucky and that it was too short lived. So here's an attempt to contain that fire in a glass.
This is probably the most concept focused beer I've ever tried to make, and because of that it may wind up being completely shit. It started with buying a pound of Briess Mesquite Smoked Malt a month or so ago. The aroma reminded me so much of a campfire that I immediately thought of attempting to brew the ultimate campfire beer. A beer that would encapsulate every aspect of camping. Where I ended up landing is somewhere between a Baltic Porter, Rauchbier and a good old American Pale Ale. Yes, this is the dart board beer.
I started by doing some research into the use of Mesquite Smoked Malt and found a document about the malt on their website, recommending:
5-10% Noticeable smoke character in lighter styles such as Scottish Ales and Oktoberfests
10-20% Pronounced smoke character in lighter styles like Scottish Ales and Oktoberfests
30-60% Noticeable to pronounced smoke character in darker styles like Stouts and Porters
Malt
Since I knew I wanted the beer to be dark (but not overly bitter, roasted or astringent) and mid-abv (sitting somewhere in the 6-6.5% ABV range with a soft, round body), I decided to go on the safe side and go for a more "noticeable" rather than "pronounced" character. For the rest of the malt, I went for Carafa II for the colour it provides without the roasted or bitter character of other darker malts; a rather large amount of Vienna since I've had a lot of success with it recently in higher percentages, because of the Baltic Porter angle in this beer (where Vienna can often be used as a base malt), and since I find that it contributes a really nice round, rich, and grainy presence in my beers; and finally some crystal malts for added sweetness in the beer (and comes from the CDA I brewed with Backalley Brewers I'll talk about below).
Hops
This is where this beer starts to teeter into being a more PNW Pale Ale or CDA/ Black IPA. The concept here was to hop in a similar way (though in a mostly subdued fashion) as I did when I brewed a CDA with Backalley Brewers a couple of years ago. That beer is still one of the best I've made, and I attribute that to the relationship between the Carafa and the hops we used. So, the hop bill was taken from that beer and toned down only slightly for this. The idea is to create just enough pine character in the beer to hint at being a PNW beer to be drank outdoors in the cold.
Water
The water profile is somewhere close to being a London porter/ dark ale in the hardness, and just the slightest bit of a balanced pale ale profile. Hoping to create a really rounded and smooth mouthfeel and body with the hardness, similar to the profile we had at the brewery I worked at last summer (Crannog Ales).
Yeast
I really couldn't decide between doing an Ale or a Lager with this beer, so I split it and did both. The Lager portion hints at the Baltic Porter and, to a degree, Rauchbier influence. And while the Ale started as Northwest Ale 1332 (from the CDA I made with Backalley Brewers again), I slowly decided that a Scottish Ale yeast would be more interesting. This yeast is also used to make a host of PNW IPAs (like Gigantic's), and so I figured it would be an interesting bridge between a malt-forward Scottish ale or baltic porter (as this yeast can be used for b. porters as well) and a PNW Pale Ale.
Other
Finally, I had planned to dry hop with Sitka Spruce tips, but I'm not sure about that yet. Will wait to see. The idea is to bring out a more woody and outdoors flavour in the beer.
Ok, that's it. I'm as nervous as you are skeptical right now about how this beer is going to turn out, but here we go. This is probably the biggest risk I've taken in brewing and I'll be holding my breath until I try the first sample. Looking forward to it! Tasting notes to come.
This is probably the most concept focused beer I've ever tried to make, and because of that it may wind up being completely shit. It started with buying a pound of Briess Mesquite Smoked Malt a month or so ago. The aroma reminded me so much of a campfire that I immediately thought of attempting to brew the ultimate campfire beer. A beer that would encapsulate every aspect of camping. Where I ended up landing is somewhere between a Baltic Porter, Rauchbier and a good old American Pale Ale. Yes, this is the dart board beer.
I started by doing some research into the use of Mesquite Smoked Malt and found a document about the malt on their website, recommending:
5-10% Noticeable smoke character in lighter styles such as Scottish Ales and Oktoberfests
10-20% Pronounced smoke character in lighter styles like Scottish Ales and Oktoberfests
30-60% Noticeable to pronounced smoke character in darker styles like Stouts and Porters
Malt
Since I knew I wanted the beer to be dark (but not overly bitter, roasted or astringent) and mid-abv (sitting somewhere in the 6-6.5% ABV range with a soft, round body), I decided to go on the safe side and go for a more "noticeable" rather than "pronounced" character. For the rest of the malt, I went for Carafa II for the colour it provides without the roasted or bitter character of other darker malts; a rather large amount of Vienna since I've had a lot of success with it recently in higher percentages, because of the Baltic Porter angle in this beer (where Vienna can often be used as a base malt), and since I find that it contributes a really nice round, rich, and grainy presence in my beers; and finally some crystal malts for added sweetness in the beer (and comes from the CDA I brewed with Backalley Brewers I'll talk about below).
Hops
This is where this beer starts to teeter into being a more PNW Pale Ale or CDA/ Black IPA. The concept here was to hop in a similar way (though in a mostly subdued fashion) as I did when I brewed a CDA with Backalley Brewers a couple of years ago. That beer is still one of the best I've made, and I attribute that to the relationship between the Carafa and the hops we used. So, the hop bill was taken from that beer and toned down only slightly for this. The idea is to create just enough pine character in the beer to hint at being a PNW beer to be drank outdoors in the cold.
Water
The water profile is somewhere close to being a London porter/ dark ale in the hardness, and just the slightest bit of a balanced pale ale profile. Hoping to create a really rounded and smooth mouthfeel and body with the hardness, similar to the profile we had at the brewery I worked at last summer (Crannog Ales).
Yeast
I really couldn't decide between doing an Ale or a Lager with this beer, so I split it and did both. The Lager portion hints at the Baltic Porter and, to a degree, Rauchbier influence. And while the Ale started as Northwest Ale 1332 (from the CDA I made with Backalley Brewers again), I slowly decided that a Scottish Ale yeast would be more interesting. This yeast is also used to make a host of PNW IPAs (like Gigantic's), and so I figured it would be an interesting bridge between a malt-forward Scottish ale or baltic porter (as this yeast can be used for b. porters as well) and a PNW Pale Ale.
Other
Finally, I had planned to dry hop with Sitka Spruce tips, but I'm not sure about that yet. Will wait to see. The idea is to bring out a more woody and outdoors flavour in the beer.
Ok, that's it. I'm as nervous as you are skeptical right now about how this beer is going to turn out, but here we go. This is probably the biggest risk I've taken in brewing and I'll be holding my breath until I try the first sample. Looking forward to it! Tasting notes to come.
The Recipe
Overview
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 2.25 gallons (ending kettle volume)
Efficiency: 67% (ending kettle)
Wyeast 1728 Ale Portion
Original Gravity: 1.065
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 6.8%
IBU (tinseth): 43.6
SRM (morey): 37.05
Wyeast 2124 Lager Portion
Original Gravity: 1.065
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV (standard): 6.5%
Malt
3.59 lb - Canadian - Pale 2-Row (59%)
1 lb - American - Smoked Malt (16.4%)
0.63 lb - American - Vienna (10.4%)
0.5 lb - German - Carafa II (8.2%)
0.18 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (3%)
0.18 lb - United Kingdom - Carastan (30/37) (3%)
Hops
0.3 oz - Chinook, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13, Use: First Wort, IBU: 21.2
0.15 oz - Chinook, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 8.69
0.4 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 13.72
0.25 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Dry Hop for 3-4 days
0.25 oz - Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.7, Use: Dry Hop for 3-4 days
Mash
1) Temp: 152 F, 152 - 151.5
2) Temp: 168 F
Yeast
Ale Portion: Wyeast - Scottish Ale 1728
Lager Portion: Wyeast - Bohemian Lager 2124
Water
Ca2: 116
Mg2: 0
Na: 0
Cl: 51
SO4: 30
HCO3: 230
7 grams Chalk
1 gram Gypsum
2 grams CaCl
Notes
Brewed June 27th
Batch split into two 1 gallon jugs. Bohemian Lager yeast pitched and stored at 47 - 50F. Scottish Ale pitched at room temp roughly 69-70F, allow to free rise.
June 30th, as signs of fermentation begin to slow, conduct diacetyl rest on lager portion at room temperature (68F)
Dry Hop July 9th
Package (bottling) on July 14th - Wound up with a total of 10 bottles of this beer due to dry hopping and low fills. A small batch!
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 2.25 gallons (ending kettle volume)
Efficiency: 67% (ending kettle)
Wyeast 1728 Ale Portion
Original Gravity: 1.065
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 6.8%
IBU (tinseth): 43.6
SRM (morey): 37.05
Wyeast 2124 Lager Portion
Original Gravity: 1.065
Final Gravity: 1.015
ABV (standard): 6.5%
Malt
3.59 lb - Canadian - Pale 2-Row (59%)
1 lb - American - Smoked Malt (16.4%)
0.63 lb - American - Vienna (10.4%)
0.5 lb - German - Carafa II (8.2%)
0.18 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (3%)
0.18 lb - United Kingdom - Carastan (30/37) (3%)
Hops
0.3 oz - Chinook, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13, Use: First Wort, IBU: 21.2
0.15 oz - Chinook, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 8.69
0.4 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 13.72
0.25 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Dry Hop for 3-4 days
0.25 oz - Simcoe, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.7, Use: Dry Hop for 3-4 days
Mash
1) Temp: 152 F, 152 - 151.5
2) Temp: 168 F
Yeast
Ale Portion: Wyeast - Scottish Ale 1728
Lager Portion: Wyeast - Bohemian Lager 2124
Water
Ca2: 116
Mg2: 0
Na: 0
Cl: 51
SO4: 30
HCO3: 230
7 grams Chalk
1 gram Gypsum
2 grams CaCl
Notes
Brewed June 27th
Batch split into two 1 gallon jugs. Bohemian Lager yeast pitched and stored at 47 - 50F. Scottish Ale pitched at room temp roughly 69-70F, allow to free rise.
June 30th, as signs of fermentation begin to slow, conduct diacetyl rest on lager portion at room temperature (68F)
Dry Hop July 9th
Package (bottling) on July 14th - Wound up with a total of 10 bottles of this beer due to dry hopping and low fills. A small batch!