I’m thinking about possibly tackling a Nosferatu clone as it’s one of my wife’s favorites and i figured trying to make a beer she loves might be a way to ease her into the cost of a new brew kettle for full boils Get her drunk on this stuff then tell her “hey, guess what I’m gonna buy next”
Flavor: Highly hopped and rich with flavor, yet remarkably balanced
MALT Harrington 2-Row Base Malt: Allows color and flavor from other specialty malts to come through; makes for very clean beer Crystal 77: Contributes to reddish color and adds slight aroma and flavor; contributes great deal to body of beer Special Roast: Contributes subtle hints of toasty and biscuit flavors
HOPS Simcoe: Unique, non-traditional bittering hop; provides high levels of bitterness with smoothness Cascade: Popular in American pale ales; provides citrusy/grapefruit aroma and flavor; complements heavy malts.
So here is my stab at a 5gal partial boil extract version of this beer:
I really would like to nail the color on this one. It’s actually quite red for those who haven’t had it. I’m hoping the specialty grains will produce the desired color but this is the one thing I have almost no knowledge on is the result of steeping different grains on finished beer color.
1.) at 80% alcohol, this may very well be the greatest beer ever brewed in the history of the world.
2.) Seems like a waste of Simcoe to use for bittering, but they do have great flavor, so maybe some of that carries through, and, as they say, makes it unique
3.) I’d probably move both Cascade additions up, and maybe even mix in some Simcoe late
4.) Seems like a lot of crystal, especially for a 3G batch. I know its supposed to have a substantial body, but I would cut it back to a half #
5.) Also cut special roast to 1/4 #
6.) Looks like a good beer, I’m not too versed (versed at all) on nailing the color, but I would think you’d be close
I know I’ve had this beer, but can’t for the life of me remember it. Maybe it was after too many GLBC Dortmunders :mrgreen:
1.) at 80% alcohol, this may very well be the greatest beer ever brewed in the history of the world.
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LOL! oops typo!
When you say “move them up” do you mean earlier or later in the boil? I was originally considering mixing in 50/50 simcoe/cascade at the 15 minute then all cascade as the final addition so on your recommendation I think I’ll go back to that.
Sorry, another typo, this is a 5 gallon batch. I was starting with 3 gallons in the brew kettle.Still think it’s too much for a 5gal batch?
[quote]
I know I’ve had this beer, but can’t for the life of me remember it. Maybe it was after too many GLBC Dortmunders :mrgreen: [/quote]
It’s a very unique beer taking a red and making it super bitter and hoppy. Not what you’d expect :cheers:
sorry- up=later in the boil. Splitting it up between 10, 5, and flameout always works well for me. Also, regarding blending the hops, I have had good results by creating my own blends and adding the blend at the different intervals, as opposed to 10-minute Simcoe, 5-minute cascade, 1-minute Simcoe, and so on. YMMV.
As far as those specialty additions, even on a 5G batch, I would keep the crystal to .75lb maximum. And yes, keep the black malt to around 4oz/.25lb, and it should help you hit your color.
When I first saw this, I thought it was an Irish Red, in which case a bunch of the additions make zero sense. It seems like its closer to hop rod from Bear Republic, kind of an India Red Ale (but with rye), so I think you are on the right track. If your wife loves the original beer, you might get the opportunity to brew this more than once and adjust after a side by side. This would be a great time for a blind triangle tasting with her btw.
FYI, I just did a roggenbier with about an ounce of a newer de-bittered black malt from Breiss called Midnight wheat. The beer has an awesome red hue to it, and a similar color to Hop Rod. Midnight Wheat and Blackprinz are awesome new huskless black malts that give you all the color, but no real roast/acrid flavor. In small %'ages they give the beer a reddish color.
[quote=“Pietro”]
FYI, I just did a roggenbier with about an ounce of a newer de-bittered black malt from Breiss called Midnight wheat. The beer has an awesome red hue to it, and a similar color to Hop Rod. Midnight Wheat and Blackprinz are awesome new huskless black malts that give you all the color, but no real roast/acrid flavor. In small %'ages they give the beer a reddish color.[/quote]
Do you think adding 1oz of midnight wheat or blackprinz to this recipe will throw the flavor off too much or make it too dark? I really want that nice red hue.
Well, I was saying in place of the Special Roast. With the Crystal 80, you wouldn’t need much. If it were me, I’d almost throw an ounce or less in a coffee grinder and add right before you start the boil.
Its just a thought though, as Blackprinz and MW are pretty cool products that are brand new. If GLBC’s website says special roast, I would brew this the 1st time with special roast.
Looking @ Breiss’s website, Special Roast is only 50L and its more for brown/red ales. The ones I am talking about are 500L! So…forget what I said. I was talking to one of the HNIC’s that Breiss sent to the AHAC this year, and he suggested adding a minuscule amount of these products to beers where you wanted a bit of color. I probably could have got away with half the amount I used in my roggen.
Much shorter answer, brew it with the grains GLBC suggests!
[quote=“wallybeer”]From what I remember from this beer there was nothing subtle about toasty and biscuit.
I thought it was victory but I hear they use S.R. The beer had bread like flavors along slight nut finish at the end.[/quote]
Given that, do you suggest uping the specialty grains? Right now I am thinking around 12oz C80 and 8oz of special roast. This may become my first full boil as I just purchased a 10g boilermaker. Not sure if that affects the flavor/color of the specialty grains.
[quote=“wallybeer”]I would try about 6oz. of SR for a 5gal. batch.
Maybe you can send Great Lakes an E-mail asking for percentages.
Some breweries are helpful while others are secretive so you may or may not get a response.
Good luck with your beer.[/quote]
Yeah I’ve emailed them with another recipe before and all they told me was I “was close”. So while helpful they aren’t exactly handing the recipes out.
So this has been in the fermenter for about 10 days now, I took a gravity reading yesterday and subsequently tasted it. It’s very good. The color was way off and appears closer to SNPA (very orange and not red). The Special Roast really came through in the flavor. The hop aroma was very fruity which i didn’t care for too much but I assume once it’s reached it’s peak, the aroma should drop off a bit. The finish was also very dry which is what I was aiming for (with 2lbs of sugar). FG was 1.070 and Current gravity is 1.009 so that is reflective of the dryness.
I don’t think I’m going to dryhop this since I remember Nosferatu having more of a malty aroma than a hoppy one.
Overall I really like it so far. Can’t wait to taste it all carbed up and fully conditioned. Next time I brew this, I will likely add a few ounces of some 400L stuff just to get it closer to a deep red color. There is a store down the street from me that still has Nosferatu on the shelf (or did a couple weeks ago) so I may grab one and compare the two when this is finally bottled and carbed.
Here is the final recipe if anyone is wondering
Steeped grains:
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
8.0 oz Special Roast
Boil:
3lbs Golden Light DME
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min
3 lbs 4.8 oz Light Dry Extract (flameout)
2 lbs Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (flameout)
Get her drunk on this stuff then tell her “hey, guess what I’m gonna buy next”