Basic Porter

This is the third in a series of recipes taken from The Homebrewer's Recipe Guide.

"This easy recipe is typical of the traditional sharp-flavored British porters. While the process is quite simple, the flavors are anything but. This is a very good recipe for the beginning brewer, with results that are sure to impress"

Ingredients

6 2/3 pounds amber malt extract

1 1/2 pounds Alexander's amber malt extract

1/2 pound black patent malt

1/2 pound crystal malt (60L)

1 teaspoon gypsum

1 1/2 ounces Kent Goldings hops (bittering)

1/2 ounce Liberty hops (aroma)

1 package English ale yeast

3/4 cup corn sugar for priming


Procedure

Place crushed black patent and crystal malt in water and steep at 155 degrees for 30 minutes.

Remove spent grains and add malt extract, gypsum and Kent Goldings hops.

Boil for 1 hour.

Add Liberty hops for the last 5 minutes of the boil.

Cool wort and pitch yeast.

Ferment for 10 to 14 days.

Bottle using corn sugar.

Age for 10 days

Technorati Tags: Beer, Hombrew, Basic Porter

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Apricot Wine

Second in the series

"The apricot's intense flavor becomes mellow and full-bodied in wine. The lovely golden color is a plus."

3 pounds fresh apricots
1 1/2 pounds sugar
1 pound honey
1 pound high quality dried apricots chopped
Juice of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon grape tannin
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 teaspoon pectic enzyme
1 Campden tablet
1 package wine yeast

Cut fresh apricots in half, remove pits and cut the fruit into quarters. Put the fruit in the fermenter and cover with sugar. Mix 1/2 gallon of water with the honey in a suacepan and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam. When no more foam rises to the top, add the chopped apricots to the honey mixture and pour over the fresh apricots. Add the lemon juice, lemon tannin, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme and Campden tablet to the mixture. Let stand for 24 hours.

Add the yeast and let the mixture ferment for one week, stirring daily. Remove the solids and pour the liquid into an airlocked fermentation vessel. Let ferment for one month. Rack again and let ferment for two months. Rack again then bottle, cork and cellar the wine.

Wait at least six months before sampling.

Makes 1 gallon

My Note - Dried apricots usually are treated with sulfites. Try to purchase untreated apricots.

Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Apricots, Recipe

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Basic British Brown Ale

This is the second in a series of recipes taken from The Homebrewer's Recipe Guide.

"This is a basic brown in the tradtional style of northern England. It relies on a blend of malts to achieve its characteristic toasty flavor. Low hop bitterness and fruity yeast are also essential."

Ingredients

3 1/3 pounds amber malt extract

3 1/3 pounds dark malt extract

1 pound cara-pils malt

1 pound crystal malt (80L)

2 ounces chocolate malt

1 1/2 ounces Kent Golding hops (bittering)

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 ounce Fuggle hops (flavoring)

1/2 ounce Kent Golding hops (aroma)

1 teaspoon gypsum

1 package British ale yeast

1 cup light or dark brown sugar for priming

Procedure

Place crystal malt, cara-pils malt, amber malt and chocolate malt in water and step at 155 degrees for 1/2 hour.

Add gypsum and bring water to a boil and remove spent grains.

Add malt extracts, 1 1/2 ounces Kent Golding hops, and brown sugar.

Boil for 1 hour adding the Fuggles hops after 30 minutes and 1/2 ounce Kent Goldings for the last 5 minutes.

Cool Wort and pitch the yeast

Ferment for 7 to 10 days.

Bottle using 1 cup brown sugar.

Age in bottle for 7 days.

Other Recipes in Series

Any Pub in London Bitter

Technorati Tags: Beer, Homebrew, British, Brown Ale

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Pineapple-Orange Delight

This is the first in the series of recipes from Making Wild Wines and Meads.

"The color is light, but the flavor is redolent of the tropics. Choose a ripe pineapple, one that will release a leaf of its topknot with a firm tug--or give the pineapple the sniff test. The flavor--and ultimately the bouquet of your wine--will be reflected in the aroma of the pineapple, you use"

Yield 1 Gallon

4 pounds ripe pineapple

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

4 ounces golden raisins, chopped

2 pounds orang-blossom honey

12 ounces ornage juice concentrate

juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/4 teaspoon tannin

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 Campden tablet

1 package wine yeast


Chop and core the pineapple, and transfer to a 2 gallon plastic bucket. Add the sugar and raisins, and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, mix the honey in 1/2 gallon of water and bring to a boil. Skim off foam. When no more foam rises to the top, pour the honey-water mixture over the pineapple mixture. Add the orange juice, lemon juice, orange zest, tannin, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme and Campden tablet. Let stand for 24 hours.

Add the yeast and let the mixture ferment for one week, stirring daily. Remove the solids. Pour th eliquid into an airlocked fermentation vessel and let ferment for 1 month. Rack again and let ferment for two months. Rack again. When fermentation is complete bottle.

Wait at least six months before sampling.


Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Pineapple, Orange, Recipe

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Any Pub in London Bitter

This is the first in a series of recipes taken from The Homebrewer's Recipe Guide. There are a couple things to know about making these recipes.

1. All recipes are for a 5 gallon batch

2. Most recipes are extract recipes

3. All recipes us liquid yeast

The name says it all. This style of classic ale can be found in every pub in London. It is a very light beer that is usually served hand drawn and at cellar temperature in London pubs.

Ingredients

3 1/3 pounds light malt extract - this is usually 1 can

2 pounds light dry malt

1 1/2 ounces Kent Golding hops for boiling

1 ounce Cascade hops for finish

2 teaspoons gypsum

1 teaspoon Irish Moss

1 package London ale yeast

1/2 cup corn sugar for priming

Procedure

Combine malt extracts, gypsum and Kent Goldings hops in water

Boil for 1 hour

Add 1 ounce Cascade hops and Irish Moss for the last 5 minutes of the boil

Cool wort and pitch yeast

Fermentation should be complete within 10 days.

Bottle using corn sugar.

Age in bottle 5 to 7 days.

Other Posts in Series

Basic British Brown Ale

Technorati Tags: Homebrew, Beer, London, Pub , Bitter

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Blueberry Port

6 pounds (12 cups) blueberries

1/2 cup Dry malt

4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon acid blend

1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

2 campden tablet

1 package Sherry or Port yeast

water



Crush the fruit. Add 12 cups of water and all other ingredients except the yeast. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Let sit overnight.

Specific gravity should be between 1.090 and 1.095. Sprinkle yeast over the mixture and stir. Stir daily for five days.

Strain the must and squeeze the juice out. Siphon into secondary fermentor, add water to make up volume and attach airlock.

Rack in three weeks, and every three months for one year. You must finish wine dry when making Port. Bottle

The wine is best if you can refrain from drinking it for one full year from the date it was started.


Technorati Tags: Wine, Winemaking, Port, Blueberries, Recipe

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Saison

Ingredients:



8 lbs extra pale dry malt extract

13 oz. pale candi sugar (or white table sugar)

7 AAU's hop pellets - 70 minutes

½ oz hop pellets-5 minutes

Wyeast or white Labs Saison yeast (or culture your own from the dregs of a good

bottle-conditioned Saison).

/>Method:



Heat
6 gallons of brewing water (use two pots if necessary). Stir in malt
extract into the brewing water until dissolved and boil for 70 minutes,
adding hops and sugar as indicated. Cool to 80 degrees and pitch yeast
starter. Aerate thoroughly. Ferment at 80 degrees to 88 degrees. O.G. = 1.072.



Technorati Tags: Beer, Homebrewing, Belguim, Saison

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