Wedding Themed Ale

[earthwormgaz]

Hi,

So I need to make an ale for my brother's wedding. I'm thinking a middle of the road bitter. I have pale malt, some roasted barley, and a little bit of chocolate malt, and a selection of hops.

I want to also introduce some rose smell/flavour to make it a bit love themed. So, I bought a dozen strong smelling roses, and a bottle of vodka. I read elsewhere that you put the buds and petals into a kind of vodka tea? Will this do the sterilizing job?

Also, I have to do an overnight mash as I haven't got any other time but tonight and tomorrow morning. So, I need to watch the strength right, what with the vodka going in as well?

How much vodka do I use?

I also have Nottingham Yeast and Gervin GV12 to chose from!

Any advice welcome! Want to get this nice for him! :electric:

 

[clibit]

GV12 is the same as Nottingham.

I don't know how much vodka exactly, but not much. Just cover the petals. I have no idea how that is going to work out - whether you will be able to smell the roses or not! Or what effect it will have on the drinkability of the beer. I'd add it at bottling/barreling time I think to ensure the aroma isn't lost before it gets into the final container.

 

[earthwormgaz]

So, this is roughly what I attempted to do. Here's a pic that shows the rose petals in vodka, they're getting some colouring, so something is happening. I might taste the vodka before putting any in. Then it's just working out how much!

I couldn't find chocolate malt in QBrew, so used whatever that American black stuff is!

Brewer: Big Gaz
Style: English Ale
Batch: 5.00 galAll Grain

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.054 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 29 IBU
Recipe Color: 23° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.013
Alcohol by Volume: 5.2%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.1%

Ingredients
-----------
American black patent 0.20 kg, Grain, Mashed
British two-row 4.00 kg, Grain, Mashed
Roasted barley 0.20 kg, Grain, Mashed

Fuggles 10.00 g, Whole, 15 minutes
Fuggles 7.00 g, Whole, 60 minutes
Northern Brewer 10.00 g, Whole, 15 minutes
Northern Brewer 7.00 g, Whole, 60 minutes
Styrian Golding 10.00 g, Whole, 15 minutes
Styrian Golding 7.00 g, Whole, 60 minutes

 

[clibit]

No idea what the rose vodka will do, but that looks a good recipe. :thumb:

 

[earthwormgaz]

Barrelled this tonight. Had a 1/2 pint to taste, seems promising to me. Hopefully it'll be okay for the weekend. I plan to leave it inside, then cold crash it somewhere a day or two before.

Then there's how much vodka to risk putting in there ... :sick:

 

[MyQul]

I'd work out how much vodka to add the same way as working out how much flavourings to add.

Take out 500ml of beer then carefully measure out a small amount of vodka, it can be as little as a few drops depending how strong it is, and add it to your 500ml 'tester'. Keep adding till your satisfied,noting carefully how much your adding, then just scale up the vodka addition to the remaining 5G brew