The second beer to go into my 15 gallon Dad’s Hat rye whiskey barrel will be an old ale brewed with black treacle.

Old ale is a wide ranging style. For this version we’re shooting for ~7% abv (before barrel aging), complexity from black treacle, and not too much residual sugar. I’m hoping this all plays nicely with the gentle contribution from a barrel that’s already held imperial stout for a while.

The inspiration for the recipe comes from a Beer and Brewing article on old ale.

I’ve always liked Berliner Weisse, but never brewed one. And I’ve been wanting to experiment with kettle souring.

The procedure I’m following comes from this great presentation by Derek Springer: Berliner and Beyond: Sour Mashing and Its Applications

In short:

• Make a starter for your lacto
• Get your wort under 4.5 pH as soon as possible to deter unwanted microbes
• Hold at a happy temperature for your lacto strain
• Minimize oxygen exposure by covering with plastic wrap
• Finally, boil, chill, and pitch yeast as normal to finish the beer

This beer is the first brew to go into my 15 gallon Dad’s Hat rye whiskey barrel. That barrel is destined for sour solera duty, but first I want to brew a couple of big clean beers to make the most of the barrel’s fresh whiskey character.

This stout is based on a KBS clone recipe from Zymurgy that I first brewed way back in 2013. That was a great beer, and I’m excited to try making it again.