Maine Beer Company: Dinner clone, All-Grain

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.070   FG = 1.007
IBU = 92   SRM = 8   ABV = 8.2%

Ingredients

14 lbs. (6.35 kg) 2-row pale malt
6 oz. (0.17 kg) dextrine malt
3 oz. (85 g) crystal malt (40 °L)
13 oz. (0.37 kg) dextrose sugar (15 min.)
8.3 AAU Falconer’s Flight® hops (30 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 11% alpha acids)
9.8 AAU Simcoe® hops (30 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 13% alpha acids)
8.3 AAU Citra® hops (5 min.) (0.75 oz./26 g at 11% alpha acids)
8.3 AAU Falconer’s Flight® hops (5 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 11% alpha acids)
9 AAU Mosaic™ hops (5 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 12% alpha acids)
22 AAU Citra® hops (0 min.) (2 oz./57 g at 11% alpha acids)
2 oz. (57 g) Mosaic™ hops (dry hop)
2 oz. (57 g) Falconer’s Flight® hops (dry hop)
2 oz. (57 g) Simcoe® hops (dry hop)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
3⁄4 cup (150 g) dextrose (if priming)

Step by Step

Mill the grains and mix with 4.8 gallons (18.2 L) of 160 °F (71 °C) strike water to reach a mash temperature of 148 °F (64 °C). Hold this temperature for 60 minutes. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Sparge the grains with 3.6 gallons (11.7 L) and top up as necessary to obtain 6.5 gallons (25 L) of wort.

Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredient list. After the boil, turn off heat and begin a whirlpool of the hot wort. Let stand for 20 minutes, then chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). There should be 5.5 gallons (21 L) of wort in your kettle. Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch yeast. Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 7 days. Add the dry hops and raise to 72 °F (22 °C) for three more days. Once the beer reaches terminal gravity, bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.5 volumes. You may want to cold-crash the beer prior to packaging to 35 °F (2 °C) for 48 hours to improve the clarity.

Extract with grains option: Substitute the 2-row pale malt and dextrin malt in the all-grain recipe with 9 lbs. (4.1 kg) extra light liquid malt extract. Bring 5.4 gallons (20 L) of water to approximately 162 °F (72 °C) and steep milled specialty grains in grain bags for 15 minutes. Remove the grain bags, and let drain fully. Add liquid extract while stirring, and stir until completely dissolved. Boil for 60 minutes. Follow the remaining portion of the all-grain recipe.

Tips for Success: Maine Beer Company keeps a tight hold on the “official” recipe for Dinner, which is only brewed in small batches and at not-quite-regular intervals. Their website states that they use 6 lbs. (2.7 kg) of dry hops per barrel of Dinner. That translates to roughly 1 lb. (0.45 kg) of dry hops per 5-gallon (19-L) batch of beer. On a homebrew scale this could be detrimental to your beer. Oxidation and vegetal qualities from the hops being the main causes for concern. Consensus among the BYO staff was that 6 oz. (170 g) would be better on a homebrew scale, but feel free to experiment by adding more. Needless to say, late and dry hopping is essential to Dinner’s success. Maine Beer Co. utilizes a hop-burst type technique for Dinner, so feel free to substitute your favorite hop-burst schedule here. Dry hop only after fermentation has completed. Three days with a free addition of pellets seems sufficient to mirror the hop nose on Dinner, utilize seven days if you are using whole leaf hops.