BBA Bourbon Brown Ale ( w/ Brett)

BBA was brewed on Big Brew Day 2018 (May 5). I was going for a porter but brewing being what it is, complications lead to improvisation and a Scottish or brown ale resulted.

5/4/2018 Big Brew Day Baltic Porter from Mashmaker
Edit yellow cells in System Setup. Edit green cells for recipe creation. DO NOT edit red or blue cells.					System Setup
Volume into Fermenter	3	gal	11356 grams		Brewhouse efficiency		0.7	%
Boil Time	60	min			Boil off rate		0.5	gal/hour
Select Style	Brown Porter		<-- Style Guideline		Loss in kettle		0.2	gal
Expected OG / FG	1.070	1.014	1.040 - 1.052	1.008 - 1.014	Yeast attenuation		0.8
Expected ABV	7.3	%	4.0 - 5.4	%	Grain Absorption		0.11	gal/lb
Expected Bitterness	37.6	IBUs	18 - 35	IBUs	Loss in MashTun		0	gal
Grain Build
Grain Name	Amount (lbs)	Eff (optional)		Hop Schedule
Munich	8		3629g (90%)	Hop Name	Alpha Acid %	Amount (oz)	Time (min)	IBUs
Carafa 1	0.364	0	165g (4%)	Centennial	8.7	0.5	60	23.9
Caramunich 3	0.364	0.5	165g (4%)	Germ Spalt	2.5	1	60	13.7
Special B	0.200	0.5	91g (2%)
Malt Extract
DME		0
LME		0
Adjuncts / Sugars	Amount (lbs)	Gravity Units
Total Gravity Points		224.5218182
Brew Day Instructions
Desired Mash Temp	152	F	66.7 C
Mash Water Volume	3.25	gal (1.46qt/lb)	12302 grams
Grain Temperature	70	F	21.1 C
Strike Temperature	162.26	F	72.4 C
Grain Absorption Loss	0.982	gal	3717 grams
Sparge water needed	1.432	gal	5420 grams
Pre-boil gravity=1.061	Pre-boil volume=3.7gal

Water was RO, to which I added 3g Baking Soda, 1g Gypsum, and 2g CaCl2.

First wort was hitting 1069, low already, but my PVC grid got completely plugged up and the sparge was stuck after a few minutes. In the end I collected 5 gal at 1035. I made the gravity up by adding 2-3 lbs of DME, no FG was recorded (probably 1065). Since this was a big beer I made a starter of US05.

Some Medium Toast Oak cubes (~2 oz) were also set in some Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey to be added in the secondary, along with the Whiskey :). Fermentation controlled with the TEC at ~60F for two weeks.

Placing the beer on the cubes for another week basically. After secondary finished I bottled ~2 gallons and another 2 gallons got WLP655 each in a 1 gal glass carboy. One of the glass carboys also got about 1/2 the oak cubes from the secondary. While bottling, two bottles also got a few drops of WLP655, hoping to replicate the success of The Mad Fermentationist.

Update 6/8/18: The bottles were quite good already, a tad hot maybe but clear Whiskey taste and oak is delicious. I think in another few months will be really good. Also tasted the oaked and soured carboy and no real strong character yet from Brett so they will continue to sit in fermenters.