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When homebrewing we seem to always be lacking time, well if you have kids and a wife anyway. I started thinking how I could get more out of certain beers. I came up with an old ale that can be split into two completely different tasting beers. One is dry hopped and the other is oak aged, so you will need a space for it to sit and age to perfection. Personally this is one of my favorite beers. I make a 15 gallon batch and age 5 gallons of it on American oak cubes. You can split it up however you wish. 

The American Old Ale or (base beer) has a slightly woody and floral aroma, complimented by its sweet malty attributes with a light smoky finish. I use oak smoked malt but have also used cherry smoked malt which can impart some caramel, toffee, and bacon undertones.

The oak aged version is very smooth at first. It does pack a punch and has a lot of oak flavor if given proper time to age and mature, it has a sweet malty/vanilla aroma with flavors of stone fruit, toffee, and caramel topped off with a smooth oaky finish only achieved in aged beer. I have kept this beer in cans for as long as a year and half to see how much it changes and if you can keep from drinking it as soon as its ready you will be in for a real treat. 

American Old Ale 10 Gallon Recipe

Grain:

22lbs       2 Row

2lbs        Crystal 90

1lbs        Oak Smoked Malt

1.5lbs      Victory Malt

1lbs        Munich Malt

1/2lbs      Special Roast

1/2lbs      Flaked Barley    

Hops:

2oz         Apollo-First Wort

2oz         Centennial-30 min

2oz         Chinook-1 min

Yeast:

Wlp001 or 50/50 wlp001/wlp008

OG 1.074     FG 1.015-1.022   ABV 7.7%    

Mash 152-60 min    Boil-60 min

After fermentation of the base beer is complete DO NOT ADD FININGS but lower your fermenter temp to 45-53F and dump some yeast. The colder the better. I normally try to dump twice before separating the beers. After you do this transfer 5 gallons into a carboy, or another fermenter of some sort, add 3-4oz of American oak cubes and age for 3-4 weeks at 38F or longer if you desire. Now that you’ve got the aged beer squared away it is back to the base beer. She needs some dry hops! 4oz of Fuggle for 3-5 days then add your finings cold crash, keg, carbonate and enjoy.   

Cheers,
Justin, Grounders Brewing Co