Beer Recipes I've Used With Success

Irish Porter

by Oakbarrel Winecraft, Inc.
Berkeley, CA

This is the first brew I ever attempted and it turned out very nice. I found it to be on the lighter side of Porters, in terms of taste.

Ingredients:

Procedure:

Fill brew kettle with 2.5 gallons of cold water. Crack grains and add to cold water in a grain bag. Heat water and when it begins to boil, remove the grain. Add Chinook bittering hops and boil for 15 minutes. Add malt extract and boil for 30 minutes. Add Irish moss and Fuggles bittering hops and boil for 20 minutes. Strain hops and cool. Add yeast when temperature is 75 degrees (F).

Irish Porter, v. 2

This recipe sort of mixes the one above and the coffee porter below. The basic idea was to make the above recipe a bit more full-bodied.

Ingredients:

Procedure:

To a little more than 2 gallons of cold water, I added the cracked grains in the grain bag. When the water just started to boil, I removed the grains and added the malt extract, dry malt, malto dextrin, and maple syrup. After 15 minutes, I added the Chinook hops and boiled for another 40 minutes. I then added the Fuggles hops, boiled 5 minutes, added the Irish moss, and boiled another 15 minutes.

I pitched the yeast at 74 degrees F and 1.069 sp gr (17 on the Balling scale). Transferred to secondary after 6 days. Bottled 14 days after original brew (64 degrees F, 1.025 sp gr; 6.5 on Balling scale).

Gary's (or Homer's) Coffee Porter

This recipe took its start from the above Irish Porter. Homer then suggested the various changes, as well as the Sumatra coffee because of its relatively lower acidic level. This was a great beer!

Ingredients:

Procedure:

To a little more than 2 gallons of cold water, I added the cracked grains and coffee in the grain bag. When the water was just about to boil, I removed the grains and added the malt extract, dry malt, and malto dextrin. I boiled that for 15 minutes. I then added all of the Northern Brewer hops and boiled for another 20 minutes. I then added all of the Cascade hops and boiled 15 minutes more (I threw in the Irish Moss about 10 minutes after the Cascade hops ... forgot to do it earlier). Finally, I threw in about an ounce of some old Fuggles hops I had in the freezer.

Pitched yeast at 71 degrees F and 1.059 sp gr (15 on Balling scale). Transferred to secondary after 6 days. Bottled 17 days after original brew (1.028 sp gr; 7 on Balling scale).

An Amber to Remember

This was a pretty basic Amber recipe, but I changed it a bit. It ended up tasting quite good, despite problems I encountered in the brewing process (read below). It was very hoppy at first but mellowed a bit with time ... a very nice summer brew!

Ingredients:

Procedure:

To a little more than 2 gallons of cold water, I added the cracked grains in the grain bag. When the water was just about to boil, I removed the grains and added the malt extract and dry malt. I boiled that for 30 minutes. I then added all of the Nugget hops and boiled for another 20 minutes. Suddenly, I realized I'd forgotten to prime the yeast ... shit! So, I had to cool and strain the wort and refrigerate it overnight. The next evening, I slowly reheated the wort. Once it was boiling, I added about 2 ounces of some old Chinook hops I had in the freezer for over a year and the Irish moss. About 10 minutes later, I added the Fuggles hops (also very old) and boiled another 3 minutes.

Pitched yeast at 65 degrees F and 1.044 sp gr (12 on Balling scale). Transferred to secondary after 5 days. Bottled 14 days after original brew (1.016 sp gr; 4.5 on Balling scale at 72 degrees F).

A Bit O' Bitter

by Oakbarrel Winecraft, Inc.
Berkeley, CA

I've had great success with the recipes from Oakbarrel Winecraft in Berkeley, so I went with theirs for an ESB. Unfortunately, I don't think this particular recipe was very good. The beer is fine, though not very bitter and not particularly tasty. I guess it would be fine for a summer brew, but I was hoping for something with more of a bite.

Ingredients:

Procedure:

To a little more than 2.5 gallons of cold water, I added the cracked grains in the grain bag. When the water was just about to boil, I removed the grains and added the malt extract. I boiled that for 15 minutes. I then added all of the Williamette hops and boiled for another 30 minutes. I added 1 ounce of Fuggles hops and continued the boil for another 15 minutes. I threw in the Irish Moss and boiled about 10 minutes more. I then turned off the heat and threw in the last of the Fuggles hops, letting steep for about 10 minutes.

I cooled the wort by submerging the pot in cold water in the sink. I poured two gallons of nearly frozen water into my primary stage 6 gallon bucket. So, the wort was down to 71 degrees F immediately after sparging.

Pitched yeast at 71 degrees F and 1.051 sp gr (13 on Balling scale). Transferred to secondary after 5 days. Bottled 14 days after original brew (1.02 sp gr; 5 on Balling scale at 65 degrees F).