La Roja clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain) OG = 1.062  FG = will vary, IBU = 25  SRM = 21  ABV = around 7%   

"This one of our signature beers, if you will. It is loosely based in the Flanders sour red tradition."

— Ron Jeffries

Ingredients:

8 lb. 5 oz. (3.8 kg) blend of Pils and pale malts
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) malted wheat
1 lb. 4 oz. (0.57 kg) Munich malt (10 °L)
13 oz. (0.37 kg) crystal malt (120 °L)
0.50 oz. (14 g) black malt
1 lb. 2 oz. (0.51 kg) dextrose (added to kettle) 4 AAU Hallertau hops or other noble hop (60 min) (1.0 oz./28 g of 4% alpha acids)
4 AAU Hallertau hops or other noble hop (30 min) (1.0 oz./28 g of 4% alpha acids)
Wyeast 3763 (Roeselare Ale) blend
1 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step:

Mash at 154 °F (68 °C). Boil for 60 minutes. Ferment at ale temperatures, then rack to barrel for aging.

Extract Option:

Omit pale and Pilsner malts. Add 1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Muntons Light dried malt extract and 4 lb. 14 oz. (2.2 kg) Muntons Light liquid malt extract. Steep grains in 4.6 qts. (4.4 L) of water at 154 °F (68 °C) for 45 minutes. Rinse with 2.3 qts. (~2.2 L) of water at 170 °F (77 °C). Add water to make 3 gallons (11 L), add dried malt extract and bring to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, stirring in liquid malt extract for final 15 minutes of boil.

Poor Man's Barrel Option: 

Don’t have the budget (or room) for a barrel? Try this “poor man’s” method of emulating some of the aspects of barrel aging. Conduct your primary fermentation in a bucket or ferment the beer with ale yeast, then rack it to a bucket — adding any “bugs” that may be called for. Buckets are more permeable to oxygen than barrels are, so let the beer condition in the bucket for only about 3 months, then rack it to a carboy for the remaining conditioning time.

Two weeks before racking, take 3.0 oz. (85 g) of oak cubes (French oak, medium toast) and soak them in wine. Use Chardonnay for the Temptation clone, Pinot Noir for La Roja, Cabernet Sauvignon for Darth Porter and Burgundy or Meritage for Grand Cru and La Folie. Change wine every 3 days to lessen the intensity of the new oak. Add cubes when beer is racked to carboy.