You may well ask what makes this "old ale". Well it beats the **** out of me. Attitude I think. Aging time, in secondary and in the bottle, perhaps. Chocolate malt given to me by a homebrewer who gave up the hobby, 15 years ago in Montreal - strong possibility.
Brit Mollifier, for 23 litres.
Water: Soft charcoal filtered water, treated with 2 teaspoons of gypsum, 1 teaspoon of Epsom salts. Sparge water had 1 tablespoon of 5.2 pH stabilizer. (1 gallon of the sparge water was also used in the mash.)
Grain mashed at 150°F for 2 hours, 15 minutes:
5 lb. American 2-row (Briess)
5 lb. German Pilsner (Weyermann)
1 lb. British pale (Maris Otter)
1 lb. Light German Munich (Weyermann)
1 lb. Flaked barley (from Korea, meant for cooking)
4 oz. British chocolate malt (malting company name lost in the sands of time... this grain was 15 years old!)
In the boil: 4 oz. Brown sugar / 6.5 oz. Molasses / Spices: 3 allspice berries, 1 clove, a small pinch of cumin seed, half of a star anise.
Hops: Summit hop pellets, 18.5% AA, 10g 60 min., 10g 45 min., 10g 15 min., 10g at end of boil
Yeast: Wyeast Kolsch yeast, from previous batches, 2 litre starter was made prior to brew day.
Brew date: 30 Dec 2010 Fermentation temperature: 60°F
Rack date: 29 January 2011 Maturation temperature: 54°F
Bottling date: 12 March 2011 Carbonation: 1.8 volumes of CO2 using 65.0g of brown sugar.
