Beer Beer Beer

Danger : Man at Work : Proceed with caution

I haven't done much surfing on BEER to date, and there's so much out there.

You might try the following for size:

Campaign for Real Ale (U.K.)
• Real Beer

• The Beer Ala Modem Page

• WWW Virtual Library: Beer & Brewing: Beer Sites

• Rodgers Palmer's Homebrew Recipe Page

I can't find my Cat's Meow bookmark....

If you live in Boston, MA (well I do) then you should visit the exhausting [sic ] Wort Processors. All suggestions gratefully received :

Recipes

All recipes are for 5 gallons. I generally boil the water that doesn't go into the boil the day before and let it get good and cold.

• Alison's Indian Ale
• Liquid Lunch
• Chilly Lager

Alison's Indian Ale

This has the hop content of an Indian Pale Ale, but it isn't pale, hence the name. (Alison is my able brewing assistant.) I like my beer distinctly hoppy and a mite bitter. If you don't, then don't brew this one.

Ingredients

• 1lb crushed crystal malt
• 7lb Amber malt extract (I use M&F liquid)
• 3 tsp gypsum (if your water needs it)
• 2oz Northern Brewer aa=7.5% (bittering)
• 1oz Cascade (finishing)
• Nottingham Dried Ale Yeast (DANSTAR FERMENT A.G.) or other ale yeast

The Boil

• Put grains and gypsum in 2 gallons of water and bring to boil
• Remove grains, add Malt extract and bittering hops.
• Boil for ~35minutes
• Add finishing hops, boil one minute.
• Chill in bath and sparge into 3.5 gallons of cold water
• Take OG and Pitch when down to 75 F or below
• Bottle with 3/4 cup sugar after 7 days

Liquid Lunch

This beverage covers all four major food groups. Exhaustive research conducted at Harvard Medical School has shown that a post-doc can live off this stuff alone for over three months. It is also recommended for Guinnless nursing mothers. The oatmeal imparts a distinctive 'feel' to this ale, a smoothness on the palate.

N.B. Not all of the preceding is true.

Ingredients

• 8oz Quaker Oats
• 2lb Crushed Pale English 2-row (not an ideal choice ....I've made this mistake twice now)
• 3 tsp gypsum (if your water needs it)
• 4 - 4.5 lb Light Malt Extract (I use M&F liquid)
• 0.75oz Cascade aa=4.3% (bittering)
• 0.25oz Cascade (finishing)
• Nottingham Dried Ale Yeast (DANSTAR FERMENT A.G.) or other ale yeast

The Mash

This is where things get challenging, if you want the brew to come out the same way twice.

• Nuke the oatmeal in 3pints of water - I microwave it until goopy
• Add gypsum and grains in 3 pints of cold water
• Incubate at 55 F for 30 minutes
• Incubate at 65 F for 40 minutes
• Incubate at 67 F for 30 minutes
• Transfer liquid to boiling pot, rinsing grains to extract liquor well.
• Add malt extract and bring volume to 2 gallons

The Boil

• Bring to boil and add bittering hops
• Boil for ~20minutes
• Add finishing hops, boil one minute.
• Chill in bath and sparge into 3.5 gallons of cold water
• Take OG and Pitch when down to 75 F or below
• Optional : Rack after 3 days
• Bottle with 3/4 cup sugar after 7 days

Chilly Lager

Inspired by a Brew I sampled in Taos NM, this is the ultimate accompaniment to a good bowl of chilli. It's pretty tasty on its own, too. The heat is so easily adjusted that I sometimes bottle half the batch, mix in some more FLAMBEAU, and bottle the rest. That way you can have a subtly spiced Lager for all the beer snobs in your circle, and a serious drink for the chilli-heads. The latter will enjoy drinking the FLAMBEAU straight-up, of course, so you might be able to skip the brewing process altogether.

Ingredients

• 5lb English Light Malt Extract (I use M&F liquid)
• 2.5oz Hallertau aa=3.1% (bittering)
• 0.5oz Hallertau (finishing)
• 2tsp or more of "MP West Indian Hot FLAMBEAU Sauce" (Product of Trinidad, but can be found in Stop&Shop)
• St Louis Lager Yeast Liquid Culture (Yeast Lab # L34)

The Boil

• Bring to boil and add bittering hops
• Boil for ~20minutes
• Add 'finishing' hops, boil five minutes.
• Chill in bath and sparge into 3.5 gallons of cold water
• Take OG and Pitch when down to 60 F or below
• Ferment at 55 F
• Rack after six days
• Can lager this for a couple of weeks at 45-50 F
• A couple of days before bottling, add FLAMBEAU. See comment above
• Bottle with 3/4 cup sugar

Spicing to Taste

• After bottling half, you can always stir in another teaspoon of FLAMBEAU.