Vagabond Gingered Ale
"Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin
True, the theology is a bit questionable, but I've always liked that quote. I think Mr. Franklin was on to something...
After a two year hiatus from making beer, we finally started up a new batch last night. The recipe is straight from the home brewer's bible, an American style ale spiced with ginger for the holidays. Right now, the brew is fermenting away, bubbling merrily through the airlock. Next week sometime, we can bottle. Then comes the worst part: the waiting. An ale like this one needs to sit for at least three to four weeks in bottles before it'll be ready to quaff. Where's the happiness in that?!
You won't find these instructions particularly helpful for making your own beer, unless you've already got a batch or two under your belt. They're mostly for my own recordkeeping. If you're wanting to learn more about beer making, starting from the ground up, check out the book mentioned above.
Vagabond Gingered Ale
- 1/4 lb crystal malt, crushed
- 1/2 lb chocolate malt, crushed
- 3.5 lbs dark malt extract syrup
- 2.5 lbs dark dried malt extract
- 2 oz. Cascade hops (boiling)
- 1 oz. Willamette hops (finishing)
- 4 oz. fresh grated ginger
- 1 vial White Labs California Ale Yeast
- 1 1/4 c. dried extract for bottling
Add crushed grains to two gallons cold water and bring to boil. Remove spent grains and add malt extracts, boiling hops and ginger. Boil for one hour, adding finishing hops 1 minute 5 minutes before the end. Sparge to a bucket, top to five gallons with cold water and add yeast when temperature is 70-75 degrees. O.G. as measured was 1.044, right at the thick end of where the book says it should be.
Update 11/23: Final gravity at bottling time was 1.017, yielding 3.48% alcohol by volume.
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I am not a beer drinker but I do like chemistry. Good luck with your brew.
Just yesterday I was thinking that I hadn't heard anything about your beer and wine making in a while. So thanks for responding to that thought. :)
Gia, thanks! I'm fairly anal about keeping all my equipment sterile-- like operating room sterile. When a batch goes bad for someone, most often the problem isn't the recipe but their fanaticism with cleanliness.
Topher, I suspect this beer would be darker than you usually like, but I'm glad you noticed my recent successes with mental telepathy.
I just got back into brewing myself. After a long hiatus, I tried my hand at an all-grain Belgian Dubbel. I made quite a few mistakes (probably because I chose to have quite a few friends over), but it felt great to be back at it.
Your beer sounds tasty. Last year my friend Andy brewed a rather pungent holiday ale with these ingredients IIRC: palm sugar, nutmeg, ginger, orange zest, cinnamon (maybe). It had such strong flavors that our first impression was mixed. However, Andy recommended we try it in snifters, and it changed everything. I'm surprised that choice of glassware could have such a strong affect on the overall impression, but it was a dramatic difference.
I'll be sure to pass along any good recipes. I have a goal to brew once a month. I'm planning to brew an IPA later this week.
Mark, a batch a month? That ends up being a prodigious quantity of beer. Which IPA recipe do you use? IPA is my "go to" beer-- good in any season and most people like it.
Yeah, I plan to let my friends help me consume it. ;-) Andy and I get our best recipe's from a friend who works at The Cellar Homebrew in Seattle. He sends us the ingredients. Here's the IPA I plan to brew this week.
Grain bill:
8lbs English Pale Maris Otter Malt
4lbs US Rye Malt
1lb. German Munich Malt
1lb. Crisp Caramunich Malt 15L
.5lb German light crystal malt
Hops: (time represents time IN boil, not when to put it in)
The hops in parenthesis are from Andy's first IPA that was excellent, so that would be an alternative recipe. (He doesn't have that recipe at work, so there might be some mistakes, but he's pretty sure it's close)
1oz. Chinook 60 minutes (1oz. Chinook)
2oz. Crystal 60 minutes (2oz. Fuggles)
1oz. Chinook 30 minutes (1oz. Columbus)
1oz. Amarillo 10 minutes (1oz. Willamette)
-----------
1oz. Chinook - dry hop (1oz. Columbus)
1oz. Amarillo - dry hop (1oz. Amarillo or Willamette -- not to sure about this)
Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast
Alan, Here are a few corrections to the alternative IPA recipe:
There was an additional Hop added during the boil.
1 oz. Amarillo 10 minutes
Which brings the total boil hops in the alternative recipe to 6oz.
Dry Hop
1 oz. Crystal
1 oz. Amarillo
All of the hops used were leaf hops