Dirty Rotten Basterd

This recipe is a basterdized version of the Northern Brewer American Amber Ale beer kit. I've been wanting to make a beer by this name for quite some time. It started with my father-in-law, a man that loves his Arrogant Bastard Ale (Stone Brewing Co.), but can never remember the name. This from the same man that calls "Two and a Half Men" "Two Men and a Boy."

I always wanted to make a clone of Arrogant Bastard and call it Dirty Rotten Basterd... then give a six-pack to my father-in-law. For several reasons, at the moment, I'm not prepared to clone Arrogant Bastard, but I do have 3 oz. of whole leaf Basterd hops from some associates of ours who grow them on their farm. This hop is an unknown variety, but likely mixed from Cascade, Centennial and something else.

Now I had the key Basterd ingredient I needed. I decided to take the NB American Amber kit, turn it on its head by adding some DME, Carafa III (to get it real dirty!), Nugget pellets, and bunch of these Basterd whole leaf hops. We'll see how it turns out.

Video from Brewday

** FERMENTATION NOTES BELOW RECIPE **

The basic inspiration - NB American Amber beer kit.

Here is my recipe full of tweaks as it is.....

DIRTY ROTTEN BASTERD

I ended up with OG 1.060 for 4.5 gallons. I could've topped it up to 5.5 gallons, but wanted the higher gravity.

Steeped in Nylon Bag - from cool water to 170F

1 lb. Caramel 20L

2 oz. Carafa III

1 oz. whole leaf Basterd hops (why not?)

Fermentables

6 lb. Amber LME

1 lb. Light DME

Hops (pellets in wort, whole leaf in nylon bag)

0.5 oz. Nugget pellet (14%AA) - 60 min

0.25 oz. Nugget pellet (14%AA) - 45 min.

1.5 oz. Basterd whole leaf (??%AA) - 30 min.

1 oz. Basterd whole leaf (??%AA) - added to bag at 10 min

0.5 oz. Basterd whole (??%AA) - added to bag for last 2 min.

.025 oz. Nugget pellet (14%AA) - 0 min.

Other

1 tsp. Irish Moss - 15 min.

0.5 tsp. Wyeast Yeast Nutriet - 10 min.

Yeast

Safale US-05

FERMENTATION NOTES

• Pitched dry yeast at 9pm on Thursday, Sept. 16th. OG - 1.060
• Was chugging away by next morning, so I put it on a blow-off tube.
• Saturday into Sunday, went camping.... returned to find it popping once every 2 seconds. Monster fermentation going on. Took gravity reading - SG 1.020 Sunday night. Thick creamy cap of krausen still. Tasting really bitter. Worried I overdid the hops. Nose of orange peel and yeast. Taste is bitter and orange/grapefruit.
• Monday and Tuesday - still going strong, slowed down to a pop/20 seconds. SG - 1.016. 
• Wednesday into Thursday - pop/40 seconds. SG - 1.014. Mellowing out now... harshness is gone and left is a great hop aroma and flavor. Aroma is grass and orange peel. Taste is same orange, black tea, and "red" malts. Now I'm getting excited!