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Author Topic: Wassail Recipe  (Read 2812 times)

Offline garc_mall

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Wassail Recipe
« on: November 16, 2011, 02:18:10 pm »
Hello All,

I am pretty new to this forum, and to homebrewing in general. This is my fourth Beer, and will be my 1st one that I am not shooting for a particular style. I have developed the recipes for all of my brews so far, and this is no different. I am planning on creating a Wassail at a christmas party in about a month, and I wanted to create a brew that would taste good on its own, but fantastic in a wassail. This is what I came up with, and I was hoping to get some feedback, as I am preparing to brew this soon.


5 Gal Batch:

5 Lb Extra Light DME
1 Lb Crystal 60
8 Oz Chocolate (350 L)
4 Oz Special B
1.5 Lb Blackberry Honey (At Flameout)
1 oz Magnum (13.1% AA) (60 Mins)

Yeast is a 1.5L starter of Wyeast 1272, American Ale II (Supposed to be the Anchor Liberty Strain)

BeerSmith says its going to be OG 1.056 and 55 IBU, I think I will end up with less IBU, and possibly more Gravity than it says.

I look forward to feedback.

Offline Kit B

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Re: Wassail Recipe
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2011, 02:28:15 pm »
You might be a little closer to 1.060, if you do a really good job with your grains...But, it won't go much higher.

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: Wassail Recipe
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2011, 12:10:12 am »
Are you going to spice it when making the wasail? I might be concerned about that much bitterness clashing with other spices. Maybe dial back the hops to 35-40 IBU?
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Offline garc_mall

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Re: Wassail Recipe
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2011, 08:26:01 am »
Garetz and Tinseth both say under 40, Rager puts it up at 60. I don't happen to have the Daniels formula at hand, but I am guessing from the little experience I have that 40 is probably closer... I guess we will see...

Offline richardt

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Re: Wassail Recipe
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2011, 09:06:02 am »
Agree with dialing down the IBU's, especially if you aren't using an immersion chiller or wort chiller of some kind to bring the temps down quickly after flameout.  Your perceived IBU's will likely be as high or higher than Beersmith calculates--a high perceived bitterness overall is not necessarily what you want when you're adding spices and other wassail ingredients which tend to lend some bitterness of their own, as well.  Good luck.

Better to under-bitter than over-bitter a beer like this one, IMO.