Recipe: English Red Ale

               I have been brewing my own beers for about 20 years now. I brew every lind of beer you can think of, and many you could never imagine. For my first recipe, we're going to do a simple Ale. In Sweden I ordered my supplies from            http://www.humle.se/ 

The recipe goes as follows,

5 kilos/11 lbs cracked pale 2-row malt

1 kilo/2.2 lbs cracked crystal malt

12 liters/3.2 gallons water, heated to 75*c/167*f

additional 10 l/2½ gal. water heated to 75*c/167*f

100 g/ 3.5 oz Fuggles hops

100 g/ 3.5oz Goldings hops

Wyeast #1099 Whitbread Ale Yeast

I'll walk you through the steps,

                           

Step 1-Mash

5 kilos/11 lbs cracked pale 2-row malt

1 kilo/2.2 lbs cracked crystal malt

12 liters/3.2 gallons water, heated to 75*c/167*f

               Take a ice chest and lay a 1 m/3 ft square pc of cheesecloth in it then put your grains in and add your heated water. Stir well and you want to stabilize your temp at 68-70'c/155-158*f. Close tight, lay a blanket over it and let set 1½ hours. During this process you will convert the malt starch to malt sugar.

Note* The range for converting malt is between 65-71*c/150-160*f. At 65*c/150*f you convert more fermentable sugars which give you a lighter beer, like a pilsner, and converting at 71*c/160*f you get more fermentable sugars and some unfermentable sugars which add to a slight sweetness and more body, like a amber-dark ale.

                            

Step 2-Sparge

               Take hold of the cheesecloth and slowly lift it up, letting all the sweet malty liquid drain off, this is called wort. Put something under the grainsack, a rack or a colander to support it while the grains drip. Take a syphon hose and siphon the wort into a large pot ( by large I mean 30 l/ 6 gal.)

*Note: I have seen some people take a old keg and cut the top off to use as a pot and boil it on a gas burner in the backyard.

Take a additional 10 l/2½ gal. water heated to 75*c/167*f and pour this onto the grainsack in the ice chest again to rinse off all the sugars. This process is called a sparge. Let set 5 minutes, stirring, and then siphon off the remaining wort.

Step 3-Boil

Bring all the wort to a boil and add: 100 g/ 3.5 oz Fuggles hops

                                                      60 g/ 2 oz goldings hops

Let this continue on a full boil for 1 hour.

Turn off the heat and..      then add: 30 g/ 1 oz. goldings hops

Let it set in a cool place for 1 hour to cool down. Keep it far away from any vinegar or fruit that could bring in a wild yeast and sour your beer.

Step 4-Fermentation

              Make a solution of 4 l/1 gal water with 4 tbsp household beach. From now on, rinse everything you use with this, and then with clean water, just to keep things sanitary. Siphon your wort, through a screen, into a 30 L/6 gal glass, plastic or ceramic container.
Note: For our recipe, our goal is to make 25 l/5 gal so add some water to bring it up to the right volume.
 Toss in your remaining 20 g/3/4 oz golding hops for a floral aroma. Pitch in Wyeast #1099, Whitbread Ale Yeast after the wort has cooled to at least 20-24*c/70-75*f. Cover with a top & clean towel or fit a rubber stopper with a 1/4 inch line that seals the vessel and goes to a small bucket of the water-bleach solution. As the beer ferments, the sugar will ferment to alcohol, releasing gasses, and if you have the rubber stopper it will continue to bubble until fermentation is complete. Fermentation at room temperature should take 4-6 days.

Step 5-Bottling

Siphon off the liquid through a screen and a cotton towel, being careful to leave the sediment behind.

Note: The sediment you leave behind is a active yeast culture and perfect to pour anther batch of wort on to start another batch. Or you can take a small amount in a jar and save it, up to a month in your refrigerater

Note: Some people use Irish moss or gelatine to clarify bthe beer, I leave it natural, it's a little cloudy in the beginning, but it will clarify after a few weeks, leaving a little sediment in the bottom. 

Take 1 cup brown sugar & 1 cup water, bring to a boil and cool. Mix this in your uncarbonated beer. Mix it very well and siphon into bottles and cap, being as clean as possible. I buy 1 liter bottles at Ikea with self locking swing top (Grolsch style). Let the bottle set in room temperature for 10 days before opening. The brown sugar will produce a secondary fermentation in the bottle but now the gasses can't escape, thus your beer is carbonated. Enjoy!