Homebrew - Stone 2006 Vertical Epic Clone

I've got a few Stone Vertical Epic's in my collection. Actually I've got years 2007 - 2011 and I will be purchasing 2012 when it comes out. Then I'll do a tasting party to get at least half of  their suggested vertical tastes in my belt. But I wanted to do something a little different and try to brew up one of their recipes that I don't have. Here is the recipe they provide for 2006:


Here are the ingredients:
Pale 2-R Malt: 87.5%, 14 lbs, 14 oz
Dark Wheat: 7%, 1 lb, 3 oz
Carafa Special II: 5% 13.6 oz
White Wheat: 0.5% 1.36 oz

Warrior Hops:  .55oz @ 75
Mt Hood Hops: 4.2 % Alpha  ~.16oz/gallon = .65oz @ knockout

2x White Labs WLP500 Belgian Trappist Yeast

Step Name	Start Temp	Stop Temp	Infuse Temp	Infuse Amount	Water-Grain Ratio
sach	66 °F	148 °F	158.9 °F	25.5 qts	1.50

 Will add 2 degrees for not pre-heated mash tun and mash in at 161.

Mash in at 148 degrees
Boil for 90

Brewed on 10/7/2012 - OG of 1.070



11/7/2012 - Time to bottle! This beer has been sitting patiently in the primary for one month exactly. I gave it a nice long resting period because it was a heavy brew and I had kind of screwed up the starter so instead of using it I just pitched two vials of yeast. That seemed to work ok (the final gravity is 1.011) but the fermentation didn't start as quickly as I've been used to and I think in general pitching a starter at the height of its activity is the preferred way to go.

That being said... this beer is very tasty. It reminds us of other dark wintery ales like 21st Amendment's Fireside Chat. There is a nice smoke/roasty profile that is balanced well with moderate hop bitterness, a silky malt backbone, and clove notes from the trappist yeast. I like it. This beer is 7.9% but you wouldn't know, it goes down very smoothly. I think this may be an exceptional beer to drink after it conditions in the bottle for a couple of months. We bottled with 28 grams of corn sugar per gallon which I think was just about right.