One of my favorite beers is Really Old Brown Dog. So naturally I want to come up with a recipe. Found a Smuttynose blog ( conjures up an image of something requiring tissue ) that gave this : Malt: Pilsner Malt Pale Ale Malt Crystal 60L Brown Malt Special B OG - 18° p TG - 4.5° p; ABV - 7.0% Hops: IBU 40 Bittering - Liberty Flavoring & Aroma - Crystal With Brewer’s Friend Calculator I can make workable guesses for the recipe but it will likely take some trial and error to get the percentages right. So I thought maybe a shortcut might be to ask the knowledgable brewers here. Care to hazard an educated guess?
I've seen some references to Smuttynose's house strain being "Chico," so maybe try Wyeast 1056, WLP001, or US-05. No, these aren't really all the same strain, but they perform similarly and all have been called "Chico."
ROBD has a malty fruitiness so I thought Safale 04 for the first try. I've not heard that about "Chico". I'll have to research some on that. Thanks for the input.
You said "malty fruitiness", not "yeast-deriven esters". I'm guessing that comes from the Special B malt, and not the yeast.
Indeed the Special B malt is essential to the flavor. As far as yeast goes I thought the 04 would be more compatible. But I'm in this to learn so I appreciate learning more.
Looks like I will have to try some different yeasts along with the various percentages of the fermentables to see which works best for this. Hopefully the experimental batches are at least a drinkable learning experience. Cheers all!
Have you considered asking the brewery? Some will give you the recipe. Some, if you tell them what your draft recipe is, will offer hints. Some will tell you to get bent. But you never know unless you try. Once, for an article, I surveyed a lot of comm'l brewers, via email, on a particular aspect of their beers. Most had no problem giving me the information I asked for.
Thanks for the suggestion, I will have to give writing to Smuttynose a try. With no percentages the base malts even seem odd to me. I'm guessing the Pilsner malt would be the dominant amount of base malt.
