Here is an extract version of a recipe I made a few years back. It was a great beer, a little too tart on the cranberries after it aged a bit. So either cut the berries by one third or be sure to drink it up while it’s fresh. (The latter being preferable to the former).

Here is the recipe reproduced here with a few modifications I had to make for local ingredients. The original version of this appeared in the October 2005 edition of BYO magazine!!! We love that mag.

1.5lbs Muntons wheat dried malt extract
3.3 lbs Coopers Wheat liquid malt extract
2.0 lbs of golden clover honey
3.0 lbs of whole cranberries
2 medium navel oranges (seedless)
2 medium apples (Granny Smith)
1/4 tsp. of yeast nutrients
1/2 tsp. of pectic enzyme (dissolved in a little beer before racking)
5 AAU Williamete hops (30 mins) (1.0 oz pellets/23g of 5% alpha acids)
Safale US-05 dried ale yeast (2 packages, formerly US-56)
1.25 cups corn sugar for priming

Brew this up adding the liquid extract late (20 miutes left in boil). Add yeast nutrients right at the end of boil before your kill the flame. Ferment in primary for 7 days. Blend all the fruit in a food processor to make a rough relish; rinds, peels, seeds and all!!!. Put that in the bottom of a secondary fermentor. Rack the beer on top of it. Save a little 80z of beer and dissolve the pectic enzyme in it.  After it is dissolved, dump it in the fermentor. I let mine sit in the primary for ten days, seven may be better to avoid over tarting from those berries.

I was toying around with my new copy of BeerTools Pro (future review post coming) and starting thinking about Extra Special Bitter or ESB. I make a regular Ordinary Bitter and thought about kicking it all up a bit and trying something with a little more oompf. Here is what I came up with (exported directly from BeerToolsPro). I’ll let you know how it comes out in a future post. It’s fermenting nicely at 70F right now.

ESB

8-C Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)

Size: 6.5 gal
Efficiency: 62%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 187.24 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.056 (1.048 - 1.060)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.016)
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Color: 15.8 (6.0 - 18.0)
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Alcohol: 5.53% (4.6% - 6.2%)
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Bitterness: 48.28 (30.0 - 50.0)
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Ingredients:

14.5 lbs English 2-row Pale
1.0 lbs Crystal Malt 40°L
1.0 lbs Victory® Malt
3.0 oz Chocolate Malt
1.75 oz East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 oz East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
1.0 oz East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
1.0 oz East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 0 min
1.0 ea White Labs WLP005 British Ale

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60 °F
Elevation: 0.0 ft

00:05:00 Mash In - Liquor: 4.59 gal; Strike: 171.3 °F; Target: 154 °F
01:05:00 Conversion - Rest: 60 min; Final: 154.0 °F
01:10:00 Mash Out - Water: 2.04 gal; Temperature: 205 °F; Target: 168 °F
01:30:00 Batch Sparge - Sparge #1: 0.0 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 4.5 gal collected, 10 min; Sparge #2: 5.01 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 2.69 gal collected, 10 min; Total Runoff: 7.38 gal

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.28

Here is the recipe I used for the amazing Strawberry Blonde we had this summer. If you are really paying attention you’ll notice its the same as the American Wheat Ale recipe, except the yeast has been changed to WLP051 (my local shop was out of WLP001). I actually made this as a 12-gallon batch and split it between two fermentors and pitched two viles of yeast. This yeast was a first for me and I really liked the clean/crispness of it.

I would like to make a traditional California Common beer with it and compare to WLP001.

Anticipated OG 1.060
Batch size 5.5 gallons
6lbs German Pilsner malt
4.5lbs American Wheat Malt
1.5lbs Munich Malt

0.75oz Tettnanger hop pellets (60min)
0.25oz Cascade hop pellets (20 min)

Fermented with WLP051 (California common V)

After primary, I racked the beer onto 4lbs of sliced strawberries that had been steeped in water that was at near boil temp (heat off during steep). Let sit in secondary with berries for 7 days, then rack to a third fermentor for 7 days. This was to let any loose seeds settle out from the berries. Then bottle or rack to keg. Serve to the ladies and they’ll be sure to ask for MORE!

Extract version:

See American Wheat recipe.

This is a simple wheat beer that I sort of viewed as a hybrid between a German and American wheat. I used German Pilsner malt and American wheat malt. The beer was bittered with the Tettnanger but I used just a little bit of the classic Cascade for that American aroma and flavor. The two hops varieties really came out nicely in these beer.
I went with an American Hefeweizen yeast because I wanted to tone down those strong clove and banana flavors in most German wheats. I fermented it a little on the cooler side of the range (68F) to help keep those Hefeweizen flavors in check.

Try this recipe out next summer, it was the best straight wheat I have ever had.

Anticipate OG 1.060
Batch Size 5.5 gallons
6lbs German Pilsner malt
4.5lbs American Wheat Malt
1.5lbs Munich Malt

0.75oz Tettnanger hop pellets (60min)
0.25oz Cascade hop pellets (20 min)

WLP320 American Hefewiezen

Extract version:

The trouble here is that I used Pilsner malt and wheat. Most wheat extracts at a 50/50 blend of pale malt and wheat. If you can find Pilsner extract (likely) and 100% wheat extract (hard but I know its out there) then you can sub in 4.5lbs Pilsner LME and 3.3lbs wheat LME (100%). If not, drop the Munich to 0.5lb and go with a start of just 9.5lbs of traditional 50/50 wheat LME. Remember this is a simple wheat beer so there is no need to be concerned over too much specialty malts.

Spiced Bourboned Oaked Holiday Amber
For 6.5 gallons final volume.
8 gallon run off, 90min boil.
Anticipated OG is 1060-1065
Mash efficiency is 75%

12lb American 2-row (or 7.5lb DME)
2lb crystal 40L
1lb crystal 60L
0.125lb crystal 120L
0.125lb chocolate malt

1.0oz Nugget (12%AA, pellets) 60-min
0.5oz Nugget (12%AA, pellets) 15-min

4.0oz American Oak Chips
8.0oz Bourbon/Whiskey (see comments below)
1/4 tsp cinnamon-ground fresh
1/8 tsp nutmeg-ground fresh

Mash in at 154F, 90 minute mash.
Boil for 30min, then start with 1st hop addition.
Irish Moss at 20-min mark.

Yeast WLP002 (or WY1028)
Use two vials of yeast or pitch a hearty dose of yeast cake from a previous batch.

Primary ferment at 68F for two weeks.
During primary:
Steam Oak chips in water steamer on high heat, 5 minutes. Steam chips, do not submerge.
Place oak chips and bourbon in a clean mason jar, cap immediately. Let sit in cool place during primary fermentation. Right before transfer to secondary strain the oak out, add spices to the bourbon, and shake well (This will sterilize the spices).
Rack beer to secondary, dump in oak bourbon spice mix. Secondary for two months at 68-70F.

Notes on secondary and Bourbon:
OK, so I don’t actually use bourbon, I have found that Johnny Walker Red Label is sort of smokey and hot, but when mixed with the beer it ages out to a smooth bourbon like quality. But this is where the extended secondary comes in, it really helps move that HOT nasty Red Label taste to the back of the beer, but it keeps a just noticeable supporting role. You can leave the oak chips in during secondary if you want a stronger oak flavor, it’s an experiment I haven’t done. When adding the bourbon mix, you can prime and bottle right away. Then bottle condition for two months and get the same effect. But there is something about bulk aging the entire 6 gallons together that just works for me.

I tasted the 60/- the other night. It’s fully carbed in the keg. Unfortunately, I think it’s pretty thin and lifeless. I didn’t achieve a good enough carmalization with the drawn off portion. I’ll still submit it to the NE regional comp, just to see if my assessment jives with other judges.

Next time I brew it I think I will substitute some of the roasted barely with chocolate malt and black patent and some crystal 80L. I think that will hedge my bet of getting some more dynamic flavors. I’ll also not rush the caramelization step. I know I rushed it this time.

On the last run I drew off 1 gallon of wort and reduced it to half a gallon. I know now that I will likely need to reduce it to a 1/3rd or even a 1/4 gallon to get good caramelization. I’ll have to extend the total boil time to 120 minutes too I think.

Just some thoughts to improve the brew for next time.

Comment if you have had similar experiences or have advice to lend.

Brew on!

With Mike posting the recipes of the beers he is going to brew this weekend, here is my autumn brew for 2007.  I am bringing back the extract, baby, yeah!  So all you beginners can follow along with me.

Maple Porter

Ingredients:

5.5 lbs Light Dry Malt Extract
1.5 lbs Crystal Malt (60 degrees lovibond)
1/2 lbs Black Patent Malt 
64 oz Grade B Maple Syrup
2.5 oz Styrian Golding Hop Pellets

Step By Step 

I will crush the Crystal and Black Patent malts and put them into a steeping bag. Since I have a kettle that can handle a full 6 gallon boil, I will let them steep in that volume of water. (If you just have a big pot, let them steep in 1.5 gallons of water or whatever you can handle on your stove top). To steep, I’ll place the bag of grains into the water and heat it up to 170 degrees.   Once it hits that temperature, I will take the bag out and hold it over the kettle until all the liquid has flowed out of the bag.  I won’t squeeze the bag or force liquid out of it in any way because everything I have ever read has told me not to do that for fear of yucky flavors in my beer.  No squeezing!  No tannins!

I guess tannin flavor is bad in beer.

Once the bag is out, I’ll be turning up the heat and bringing the liquid to a boil.  After the boil is reached, I will add all of my Light Dry Malt Extract and 1 ounce of my hop pellets.   These additions will kill my boil (wah), so I will wait until it comes up for a boil again.  When the boil comes back, I will set my stop watch.  I want to get a rolling boil going for 60 minutes. 

At the 30 minute mark, I will add 1 more ounce of my hop pellets.

At 15 minutes left to go, I will add the last bit of my hop pellets and all of the maple syrup.

When the hour is up, I will kill the heat and cool down the wort to fermentation temperatures…around 70 degrees.

I will transfer the wort to my fermentor and then add my yeast.

Thoughts

I like porters. I like maple syrup. I have never had a maple porter before, but something about it shouts “Autumn in New England” with the maple leaves changing colors and the crisp air blowing through them.

I chose Grade B maple syrup because:

• It has a strong maple flavor
• It’s used mostly in cooking
• You need to use a lot in brewing to taste it
• Using a lot means buying a lot, which means $$$$

So, I am trying to get the most maple flavor for my buck. All the beer recipe calculators were thrown off by my maple syrup addition, so I backed off the malt extract a bit. I am hoping that the maple syrup gives me enough fermentable sugars to compensate for the reduced malt amount. (I would normally have at least 6 pounds of malt extract in a recipe.)

The hops I chose used often in the Porters.  They are produced in Slovenia…so a little variation on the theme of this English style ale.  I am hoping the amount will balance out the sweetness of the malts and syrup.

The yeast strain I chose for this recipe I used before for a Porter I made two years ago and I was happy with the results.  It made for a beer with a nice, soft finish.

Not sure how this beer is going to taste and Mike doesn’t like maple, so I might get stuck with a lot of bad beer.  Here’s to being optimistic!  I hope to brew this beer some time in September.

See comments (#4)  for updates to this recipe.