Cherry Brown (SCVB Brown w/ Dionysus Dregs) (AY)

This beer was brewed by WoW at Santa Clara Valley Brewing and then the wort was given away. It was brewed as a British Brown Ale. An email was sent giving all the brew-day information, which is what I copied into here. I kegged 5 gallons of it.

Brewed 630.0 gallons on 2018-01-14

Preboil gravity: 1.045

Original gravity: 1.055

Final gravity: 1.004

ABV: 6.7%

Apparent Attenuation: 92.7%

Process notes

2018-01-15

Vigorous fermentation in morning. 3-4 inch krausen.

2018-03-14

Kegged. Great clarity. Brown, ruby highlights. Brown malt, bread, toast aroma. Maybe a hint of tartness. Some alcohol. No tart, funk flavors. Some alcohol warmth, maybe a little phenolic. Not sure what to think. Thin, maybe metallic.

Boil for 60 minutes

At 60 minutes

32 ounces of 14% Alpha Acid Magnum pellets

At 5 minutes

32 ounces of 4.5% Alpha Acid Willamette pellets

At 5 minutes

32 ounces of 5% Alpha Acid British Kent Goldings pellets

Mash

[77.59%] 900 pounds of American Pale High Color Malt (GreatWesternMalting) (Recipe didn't specify which American Pale 2-Row malt.)

[9.48%] 110 pounds of CaraMunich Type II (Weyermann)

[4.74%] 55 pounds of White Wheat (RahrMaltingCo)

[4.74%] 55 pounds of Château Monastique (CastleMalting) (This was listed as Aromatic Malt in the email, but that doesn't seem to exist anymore. This might be the same thing.)

[3.45%] 40 pounds of Chocolate Malt (CrispMalt)

Single infusion mash. Mashed with 362.5 gallons (1.25 quarts per pound) of reverse osmosis water for 60 minutes. 1160lb of grain was used in the mash. (Not sure of the water chemistry, but the recipe did give a target temp of 154 degrees and a 1.25 qt/pound water ratio.)

Strike water temp: (0.2/1.25) * (154 - 68) + 154 = 167.8

Yeast

2018-01-14

Pitch starter (started on 2018-01-07 with 500mL water, IntermittentShaking, 107 grams DME) made from 1 pack of Dionysus Through the Ages w/ Peaches dregs at 68°.

2018-01-14

Pitch starter (started on 2018-01-10 with 0mL water, IntermittentShaking, 0 grams DME) made from 1 pack of Dionysus Berlinersfield w/ BlackBerries + Raspberries at 68°. (These dregs were added to the existing starter.)

Dry additions

2018-03-31

8 ounces of Cherry Juice Extract (HiddenStarOrchards). (Dumped directly into the keg. The beer doesn't have a lot going on, so hopefully this helps it.)

Tasting notes (5.00/10; 2 ratings)

2018-07-15

[5/10] Deep red color, light lacing, thin off-white layer of bubbles persists. Very good clarity. Kind of a musty aroma. Smells stale. Hints of cherry, but pretty one dimensional. Flat, cherry soda flavor (even though it's well carbonated). Not enjoying this one too much.

2018-12-24

[5/10] Final pour. Tan, slightly pink head w/ decent retention. Cherry cola aroma. Slight chocolate and dark bread w/ a decent amount of cherry. Definitely cherry-cola-like, and not too bad if that's what the drinker has in mind.