It’s been a long, long while since we last brewed, but with the cold weather setting in I got the bug to do a spur-of-the-moment CDA. Instead of hitting the brew store, I literally scoured the basement for ingredients. There were many substitutions. Some of the grain was over year old – but still tasted fresh enough to use for this experiment

Recipe was based on the award-winning Black Frost, but with heavy modifications:

Grain

This is for 12gal

• 20.5# 2 Row
• 3.5# Munich
• 1.0# Kiln Coffee malt
• .5# Caramel 60
• .5# Chocolate
• .5# Black Patent
• .5# Roast Barley
• 2.0# Naked Oats

The chocolate should be mixed with the light malt. However, the patent and roast need to be finely ground (think flour) and added to the top of the mash 30min in. This reduces the flavor but give maximum color.

Mash around 153F for medium body.

Water

To match Burton-on-Trent water water profile (starting with Portland water)
Add per 5 gallon of water pre-boil:

• 3.5g Baking Soda
• 5g Chalk
• 8.5 Epsom Salts
• 15g Gypsum Didn’t have any this time

Lots and lots of hops

75+ minute boil

• 0.5 oz Cascade 7.5%AA at 75m
• 1 oz Cascade at 30m
• 2.5 oz Cascade at 10m
• 3 oz Cascade at 0m
• Wait ten minutes
• 3oz Cascade – hot whirlpool for 10 more minutes
• 4 oz Cascade dry hop dose 1 at ferment temps for 5 days
• 4 oz Cascade dry hop dose 2 at cold crash temps for 5 days

Ferment

This time, I am going to use the Safale S04 cake from a batch of cider (comparable to WLP007). Start the ferment cool at 60ish, let it rise to 70F after a week and dryhop. Then cool back down and 2nd dryhop.

Brew Day

Mistakes were made, but that’s why this is an experiment:

• The naked oats was a bit of a fail. I was thinking “malted oats”. Since they aren’t malted, and have a small sized that slipped through the mill, they really didn’t contribute to the OG. However, they will add quite a bit of flavor.
• I decided to set up the mash and walk away for a few hours to hang out with my daughter.
• Even with the extended 4+hour mash and a temp sustained above 145, the efficiency was only about 65%. Not sure if this was due to the temps, or the old grain.

OG was barely 1.053 – So, were looking at an ABV of 5.4%, not so bad.

Despite all the mistakes, the post boil wort tasted balanced and delicious.

Data

Enter into the calculator:

Gabriel Nagmay^Blackish Frost (Epic CDA experiment)^^101^80^12^75^9^4^65^100^8.8^0.3^0^0^0^0^70^70^20.5^34^34^0.5^41^41^0.5^12^12^0.5^9^9^0.5^63^63^3.5^36^36^1^67^67^0^6^6^5^0.5^75^1^2^5^1^30^1^2^5^2.5^10^1^2^5^3^0^1^2^5^3^0^1^2^5^8^0^1^2^1^60^153^1.2^^^^The chocolate should be mixed with the light malt. However, the patent and roast need to be finely ground (think flour). This reduces the flavor but give maximum color. —- This time the eff really was 65 even with a long (few hour mash). Used 2# naked oats, thinking they were malted oats. They really didnt get ground up, and so probably didnt add to OG. Crystal 120 above was actually kiln coffee. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^7^7^7^7^7^7^0.2^