Grain Cleaner (Indian Tumbler)

Post-boil wort sample.

At least half of the brown ales that I brew wind up being a way to get rid of a bunch of the grain scraps I have left over from various other brews.   Inventory is a whole lot easier to do when you have nothing to count.  This one wound up being that way as well.   I do like them, though, partly because it's a nice canvas on which I can really get creative, and partly because they tend to pair well with a variety of food.  

Two of my absolute favorite brown ales are Sierra Nevada's Tumbler and Dogfish Head's Indian Brown Ale.   Initially, I was going to make a Tumbler clone and in looking up clone recipes found that the "secret" ingredient is smoked malt. So I started looking around at smoked malt, and then thought, "Hey, I've got all this old French Pils and a stovetop smoker, why don't I try smoking my own?"   I couldn't think of a good reason not to, so I got out the smoker and the Alderwood chips and did it.   The smoker's tray held a little over 6oz. of malt, so that's all that I did.   I started off by spraying the malt lightly with water and stirred it while putting it into the tray.   Then I ran the smoker per its directions, but kept it on medium heat, and stirred every few minutes so I wouldn't burn the grain.   It seemed to work out nicely, and the grain came out with a scent reminiscent of smoked almonds, or toast and bacon.  

What I love about the DFH Indian Brown is the hoppiness of it.   The hops and the other flavors just work really well together in that beer.  It's also no slouch in the alcohol department.

After thinking about the brew for a while, I came to the conclusion that I should try to meld these and see what happens.   Unfortunately, I haven't taken inventory in so long, that I really don't know what grain I have, so the grain bill wound up going off of my mark a bit.   The LHBS didn't have any Crystal 60, so I went with Crystal 90 instead, and it turned out that I barely had any Crystal 40.   I was also close to the end on the Marris Otter, so figured I would just add that and have a nice gravity bump, and add slightly to the toasty flavors.   The Warrior, Columbus, and Cascade were all left over from the Pliny the Toddler Variants.   That's fine, though, as I think a bit less emphasis on the fruity side of things will do this beer well, considering the yeast and grain bill.

Grain Cleaner (Indian Tumbler)

Batch Size (Gal): 6
Total Grain (Lbs): 16.12
Anticipated OG: 1.067
Anticipated SRM: 27.5
Anticipated IBU (Tinseth): 65.8
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%
Wort Boil Time (min): 90

Grain:
74.3% -- 11.98 lbs. Canada Malting 2-row Pale Malt
10.1% -- 1.63 lbs. Marris Otter 2-row Pale Malt
6.2% -- 0.99 lbs. Crystal 90L
4.7% -- 0.75 lbs. Pale Chocolate Malt
2.4% -- 0.39 lbs. Alderwood Smoked French Pils
1.8% -- 0.29 lbs. Crystal 120L
0.6% -- 0.09 lbs. Crystal 40L

Hops:
0.74 oz. Warrior (Pellet, 13.7% AA) 60 min.
0.82 oz. Columbus (Pellet, 13.9% AA) 20 min.
0.98 oz. Cascade (Pellet, 5.4% AA) 10 min.
1.00 oz. US Saaz (Pellet, 5.8% AA) 10 min.
1.00 oz. US Saaz (Pellet, 5.8% AA) 0 min.

Yeast:
WLP007 Slurry from 1/2 of my Pliny the Toddler Variant

Water Profile:
Clearview, degassed ~23h
Calcium Chloride: 1/8t

Mash Schedule:
90m @ 153F

Extras:
1 Whirlfloc tablet at 10m left in the boil.

Notes:

• Actual efficiency appears to be ~71%
• The first runnings came out delicious.   Rich toffee/caramel/raisin flavors with a pleasing slightly smoky finish.  22.25 Brix
• Pitched entire slurry at 8PM.   Wort stayed in the refrigerator a bit too long, so the temperature was 57F.