Lord Mormont's Ale 8/05/11

A case study in noble hopped brown ales, Lord Mormont's Ale is designed to be a brown ale ideal when you want something dark but not as intense as an imperial stout. It's a bit a of a change from previous brews, being our first real attempt at a dark beer that's under 7% (if you don't count that first ill-fated porter). We used Wyeast 1318, an English yeast which is fruity and a bit sweet, with expected attenuation of about 75%. We aimed to design a beer where yeastiness, maltiness, and hoppiness all came through, and to that extent used a moderate amount of roast grains and aimed for about 30 IBUs. This was also our first half-batch and our first full boil.

Batch size: 2.5 gal

Boil volume: 3.5 gal

Calculated OG: 1.061

Measured FG: 1.019

Estimated ABV: 5.6

Calculated IBUs (Tinseth): 31

Pitching Temperature: 73F

Yeast: Wyeast 1318 London Ale III

Starter: none

Fermentation vessel: Bucket

Malts		Amount	%	Max Pts.	Color
DME		3.25	81%	55.86	1.00
Chocolate		0.4	10%	28.00
Roasted Barley		0.13	3%	25.00
Crystal 40		0.25	6%	35.00	40.00

Hops/Additions		Amount	Time	AA%	IBU's
Tettnang		0.25	60	4.5%	7.59
Hallertau		0.25	50	3.9%	6.26
Hallertau		0.25	30	3.9%	5.06
Tettnang		0.25	30	4.5%	5.84
Hallertau		0.25	10	3.9%	2.39
Tettnang		0.25	10	4.5%	2.75
Tettnang		0.1	50	4.5%	2.89
Total		1.6			32.77

The brew went mostly to plan. We opted out of sparging the grains to save time and temperature, so we'll see if this seriously cuts the extraction rate. Hopefully it won't. The hops had different alpha acid levels than we expected, thus the strange hop schedule. It was reorganized at the last minute. We pitched at 73 degrees, higher than Lee wanted, but it doesn't trouble me. Without a lot more ice or an immersion chiller, we weren't getting it much colder.

Gravity reading 8/16/11: 1.019

Bottled on 8/29/11 with plain black caps. No change in gravity.

Impressions

Lee: An excellent beer. Balanced, bittersweet, and drinkable, with excellent mouthfeel. Roasted grains dominate, with some fruity esters from the yeast. Hops are hard to pick out. Would brew again; might dry-hop next time.