Old Peculier Recipe

[MightyMouth]

I had a mate around yesterday for a brew session and he really enjoyed it. He doesn't have room for all the equipment but wants to do a brew using mine. He is partial to Old Peculier and I have had trouble finding a decent AG recipe so using several extract recipes I found on-line as a basis I have come up with this, any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated.

5.50 kg Maris Otter
460 gm Crystal Malt
150 gm Torrified Wheat
120 gm Chocolate Malt
150 gm Black Treacle
300 gm Dark Brown Sugar,
300 gm Cane Sugar
40 gm Northern Brewer [7.00 %] (90 min)
20 gm Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min)
20 gm Fuggles [4.50 %] (2 min)
1 Pkg Nottingham ale Yeast

Color █████

[Aleman]

How about Mine

For 23L @ 1.062 38IBU (Mash Eff 85%, Tinseth)

4330g Pale Malt
410g Crystal
75g Weyermann Carafa Special III
135g Chocolate Malt

280g Brown Sugar in the boil (About 1/2 way through)

19g Fuggle ( 4% Alpha) (60 Minutes)
28g Challenger ( 8% Alpha) 60 Minutes
10g Fuggle (4% Alpha) Steep

[MightyMouth]

Looks interesting Aleman, My efficiency is nowhere near 85% though, I am working on about 70% so would need to up the grain bill significantly. How much like OP is it?

[Aleman]

It's very close (to the draught version ) I've modified the recipe a bit Originaly allt he dark malt was provided using roast barley, but other people commented that it was too roasty, so I then did a version with All Carafa Special III (A Dehusked roast malt - similar colour to Roast barley) and that turned out to be too 'soft' although it didn't require the long term aging that th other versions had. . . . This version has just the right roast character

Prime with Black treacle . . . . its not authentic but then Theakston's have a special blend of dark sugar syrups made up to their specification . . . and no you can't get hold of it

[MightyMouth]

Assuming 70% efficiency then, What would I need to do with my grain bill? Could I just up the pale malt or do I need to up all the grains equally?

[mixbrewery]

I had a similar problem when i did mine recently.
This is my own variation Old Pependicular.

Just had two samples - Bottle: good aroma and taste but this bottle had too much golden syrup as primings, bit of a 'gusher' when opened as it wasn't chilled.
Corny: Too cold in my new kegerator, 12 deg C. Lacked aroma and taste until it warmed up.
Decided to mix the samples - magic!!
Colour is to light and it could have a bit more body - next batch i'll increase the black malt by 100gr and mash at 68 deg C.

Don't forget - my recipe is a 50lt batch.

[Aleman]

Assuming 70% efficiency then, What would I need to do with my grain bill? Could I just up the pale malt or do I need to up all the grains equally?

Up the Pale to 5Kg and the crystal to 500g, Carafa to 100g and Chocolate to 150g . . . Should give around 1.060

[MightyMouth]

cheers aleman, just one more Question, where do I get Weyermann Carafa Special III ? or can I use something else in place?

[Aleman]

Hop and Grape stock all of the Carafa Malts . . . Its pretty unique as it is dehusked after malting, and then roasted, so all the harsh roastiness that you get from the husk of the grain is just missing, its great for Black bier (essential) as it still retains the clean crisp character, its also good for a quick maturing stout.

To replace it . . . Try cold steeping. Take 300g of roast barley, and add it to a litre of cold water, Leave to stand for 16 Hours, stirring when you remember, drain off the liquor int the mash tun (or boiler), and throw the grain away. . . . . Its a technique I came across suggested by Mary Ann Gruber at Briess maltings

[MightyMouth]

Thanks again, I'll just get it from H&G rather than fafing about.

[toplad]

Theakston Old Peculier

Grain/Extract/Sugar
4.326 kg Marris Otter Pale Malt
0.588 kg. Crystal Malt
0.299 kg. Torrefied Wheat
0.137 kg. Black Malt
0.570 kg. White Sugar

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
26 g. Challenger Hops Whole 6.5% (Start of Boil)
38 g. Fuggles Hops Whole 4.5% (Start of Boil)

Yeast
Nottingham

90 minute mash @ 67 - 68 deg C
Boil for 90 minutes

found recipe in and previous post..
did this on friday and got OG reading of 1064 which seems a bit high to me,

though ABV is around 5.5

[spearmint-wino]

Toplad's recipe looks very similar to the one I did from Wheeler's BYOBRAAH - came out a little high too but tasted very much like a bottle of OP when I did a side-by-side tasting

[jubby]

I will be brewing this shortly, using alemans recipe. Can anybody recommend a residual/target alkalinity figure for the water? I assume that i would use the figures for brown ales/porters at about 150 mg/l CaC03 but would like to confirm this as I have never attempted a dark beer.

Also, if I am correct, why the high alkalinity figure?? Is it because the dark malts are acidic?

[Aleman]

I brewed a stout today with an RA of 24mg/L and hit a mash pH of 4.6 I would probably target a bit lower than that claimed 150mg/L probably no higher than 100mg/L

[jubby]

Thanks aleman. Do you know the reason for the higher residual alkalinity for darker beers? I use 20-30 for bitters and I achieve this with CRS. No other additions are necessary due to the hard water.