9097-PC Old Ale Blend | Head Brewer Travis Wallentine’s Old Ale
So good we had to share it twice.
This Old Ale recipe was created by Travis Wallentine, head brewer at MAMMOTH BREWING COMPANY in Mammoth Lakes, CA. He combined malts with dark fruit flavors and aged it on French Oak chips for a few days before packaging. The result, a wonderful plum flavored ale with subtle cherry overtones and a barrel-aged feel.
Medium to high malt characteristics with nutty, toffee-like flavors; malty-sweet aromas coupled with the complex characters of Brettanomyces all come together for an exciting take on the classic Old Ale.
9097-PC Old Ale Blend includes an attenuative ale strain along with a small amount of Brettanomyces. The blend will ferment well in dark worts, producing fruity beers with nice complexity. Brettanomyces adds a pie cherry-like flavor and sourness during prolonged aging.
Can you master the barrel-aged flavor without the barrel? Give it a shot with Wallentine’s recipe below!
OLD ALE RECIPE
Batch size: 10 gallon
OG: 19.1 °P (1.076 SG)
TG: 4.7 °P (1.019 SG)
ABV: 7.95 %
ABV: OG 1.080-Final 1.018 (20 Plato-4.5 Plato)
Fermentables:
- American Pale Ale: 25 lbs (11.3 kg)
- Simpsons DRC: 1.0 lb (0.45 kg)
- Weyermann Special W: 1.0 lb (0.45 kg)
- Weyermann CaraBelge: 1.0 lb (0.45 kg)
- Castle Malts Chateau Special B: 1.0 lb (0.45 kg)
- Crisp Chocolate: 0.25 lb (0.11 kg)
- Crisp Finest Marris Otter: 1 lb (0.45 kg)
Hops:
- Nugget: 0.5 oz (14 g) 60 minutes
- Czech Saaz: 1.0 oz (28 g) 0 minutes
- Tettnang: 1.0 oz (28 g) 0 minutes
Yeast:
- Wyeast Old Ale Blend 9097-PC
- Ferment at: 70 °F (21 °C)
Directions:
- Strike temp: 162 °F (72 °C) (look for a mash temp of 152 °F (67 °C), typically there is a 10 °F drop during mash in)
- Mash temp: 152 °F (67 °C)
- Mash Rest: 10 minutes
- Vorlauf: 5 minutes
- Run off: 12 gallons (45.4 L)
- Boil: 60 minutes
Brewer’s Note:
“When I was first researching this style of beer, I wanted to get the barrel-aged flavor without the barrel. I chose malts with a dark fruit flavor like raisins and plums to help bring out the funky Brettanomyces cherry flavor. I aged this beer for 2 weeks after secondary fermentation to give the brett time to show through before crashing it. The main flavors I got out of this beer were plum with subtle cherry and good malt character, and I would recommend aging on 1 oz of French oak chips for 1-3 days before packaging to give it a barrel-aged feel. It was carbonated it low at 2 volumes to help give the cask/barrel-aged mouthfeel as well.”
-Travis Wallentine