| Beer, Wine, Cider & Mead Recipes
Beer | Wine
| Cider | Mead
Beer Recipes
Beeline Braggot | Bomber
Blonde | DogDoc Wheat | Finky
Wheaty | Gingerbread Ale |
Good Olde Brown Ale | Rocky
Mountain Choke Cherry Stout | Other
Beer Recipe Sites
There are some 69 styles and sub-styles of beer, not
including other brewed beverages like plus mead, cider, and
sake. (Refer the BJCP site for specifics:
http://bjcp.org/ ) Each style has dozens (if not hundreds)
of recipes. Slight differences in ingredients, quantities,
temperature, and yeast can make HUGE differences in the final
flavor. That's one reason why people put so much effort into
recipes.
Some customers use recipes and some don't. Hey! It's
your homebrew and YOU can do ANYTHING you want. If, however,
you are like many of us, recipe researching and experimenting
is really a blast! Maybe you always wanted to brew the beer
your grandfather from the old world used to drink? Perhaps
you want to clone a wonderful beer you had while traveling
and can't get at home? Heck, maybe you always wanted to throw
some coffee beans, chocolate, or cherries into your beer for
a wild flavor experience, but didn't know how much?
In any event, should you want to create, modify, or even confirm
the specifications of an existing recipe (e.g. Original Gravity,
Alcohol Content, Bitterness, Color, etc), we recommend using
the online resource, The Beer Recipator. It is free,
fun to use, and pretty darn accurate. They have both a spreadsheet
section AND a recipe database section. Check it out at http://hbd.org/recipator/
While we have a bunch of real paper-style books on the subject
that are just waiting to be thumbed-through at the shop, below
are links to some of our own award-winning recipes
as well as sites with pre-existing recipes. Enjoy!
Beeline Braggot
Brewer: Tony Simmons
Beeline Braggot
Brewer: Tony Simmons
OG = 1.076
FG = 1.021
ABV = 7.7%
Color (SRM) = N/A
Bitterness (IBU) = N/A
Yield: 5 gallons
15 lbs. Wildflower Honey
2 pkg. Red Star Cote des Blanc
1 liter yeast starter
After fermentation is complete, the mead was blended with
an English Ale to create a "Braggot" Additional
honey (about 1 cup) was added to taste. It was well
received by the Mead Tasting Committee.
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For reference, a Braggot is a mead (honey wine) that is either
fermented with barley malt or blended with finished beer.
However, it is not Honey Beer, which is specifically
a beer made with a light hint of honey.
A Braggot/Bracket/Brackett is a honey flavored beverage. A
harmonious blend of mead and beer, with the distinctive characteristics
of both. A wide range of results are possible, depending on
the base style of beer, variety of honey and overall sweetness
and strength. Beer flavors tend to somewhat mask typical honey
flavors found in other meads.
HISTORY OF MEAD
Probably every alcoholic beverage has been called "The
Nectar of the Gods," but mead, a fermented drink made
from honey, may have been the first. Also known as honey wine
or hydromel, mead has been traditionally believed to have
curative, restorative, and aphrodisiac qualities. One mead-makers'
legend tells that the honeymoon tradition began with an age-old
practice of drinking honey wine for one moon — 30 days
— following the matrimonial rite to increase fertility.
Mead has been written about often in poetic or lyrical language,
appearing in Homer, Pliny, Chaucer, Plutarch, Shakespeare,
and Washington Irving, among others. Mead played prominently
in ancient mythology and classic literature, including the
Rigveda, the Odyssey, Beowulf, and the epic poems of Scandinavia;
yet today it is an incredibly underappreciated beverage.
The leading factor effecting mead's decline over the ages
was competition from grape wine. Grapes have generally been
more abundant than honey, and hence wine has often been cheaper
than mead. Indeed, mead survived longest in the cooler northern
regions, where grapes could not be grown successfully. Then,
at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the introduction
of sweet, fortified wines such as Port and Madeira helped
wine prevail there as well. In colonial America, where apples
flourished, hard cider was the local leader from the outset.
MAKING MEAD
Mead happens to be one of the more natural and uncomplicated
alcoholic beverages: Honey and water are mixed and then fermented
using a wine, champagne, or dedicated mead yeast. Mead practically
makes itself. When well made, it rivals the finest wines and
champagnes in the world. Yes, a relatively simple process
produces wine as well, but it requires much more attention
from its producer — starting with the cultivation of
grapes!
A five-gallon batch (a standard home brewing measure) of mead
typically requires 12 to 15 pounds of honey. Honey is highly
fermentable. It contains a lot of sugar that is easily digestible
by yeast, which produces alcohol, and mead ordinarily has
alcohol levels equivalent to most table wines (9 to 12 percent).
MATTERS OF TASTE
A good mead should exhibit the qualities of the honey used
to produce it. As with wines and champagnes, mead can be made
sweet or dry. Which style is produced depends greatly on the
amount of honey, the type of yeast used, and the length of
fermentation. Sweeter meads generally need something to offset
an otherwise cloying taste, just as beers require the balancing
bitterness of hops against the sweetness of malt. Mead makers
often try to replicate the effects of acids in sweet white
wines by using citric, malic, or tartaric acids, which provide
a tangy counterpoint. The addition of other flavorings yields
a range of very different styles of mead (see "Mead Varieties").
After mead has finished its fermentation, the maker has the
added option of rendering the finished product still or sparkling.
Carbonation is generally produced naturally, during a minor,
in-bottle fermentation long known as the méthode champenoise.
High quality, sparkling dry mead tastes like honey champagne.
If such fermentation is not stimulated by added sugar, the
mead will remain still, just like most wine.
MEAD IN THE CELLAR
Mead definitely benefits from aging. Some makers have been
recently experimenting with aging them in wood. Laying mead
down for three to six months before sale is the norm, but
nine to twelve months is not out of the ordinary for extremely
heavy ones or those with lots of flavor components such as
bold fruitiness or assertive spices. Consumers should also
consider cellaring their bottles for a few months and judging
whether age improves their taste.
Mead can be drunk either straight from the refrigerator or
at room temperature, but is best enjoyed lightly chilled.
Bomber Blonde Ale
Brewers: Tony Simmons and Mike Musgrove
OG = 1.048
FG = 1.012
ABV = 4.8%
Color (SRM) = 6
Bitterness (IBU) = 23
Yield: 12 gallons
All-grain Batch...
16.5 lbs. Pale Malt
2.5 lbs. Pils Malt
2.5 lbs. Crystal 20L Malt
1.0 oz. Progress pellet hops (6% aa) - 60 min
0.5 oz. First Gold pellet hops (8% aa) - 45 min
1.0 oz. Hallertau whole hops (5% aa) - 15 min
0.5 oz. Perle whole hops (7%aa) - 15 min
Split into two batches using...
White Labs German Ale II (WLP003) - 6 gallons
White Labs English Ale (WLP001) - 6 gallon
DogDoc Wheat (Award Winning)
Brewer: John Eustis
OG = 1.049
FG = 1.012
ABV = 4.8%
Bitterness (IBU) = 13
Color (SRM) = 3
Yield: 5 gallons
Extract Batch...
2 cans Muntons Wheat Malt Extract
1 oz. Hallertau Pellets (4.5% aa) - bittering 60 min
1 oz. Hallertau Pellets (4.5% aa) - finishing 15 min
White Labs Hefeweizen IV yeast
Tip: Add a medium-sized lemon (diced) into the start of
boil.
Finky Wheaty
This award-winning recipe makes a refreshing, German-style,
golden hefeweizen. For a less fruity/spicy version, use with
either White Labs' Hefeweizen IV or White Labs' American Wheat
yeast.
Yield: 5 Gallons
OG: 1.053
FG : 1.015
ABV : 4.9%
SRM : 4
IBUs : 13
Boil time : 60 minutes
7.0 lbs. John Bull Liquid Wheat extract - 2 tins
1.0 lb. Weissheimer Malted Wheat (in muslin bag)
1.0 lb. Briess 30L Crystal Malt (in muslin bag)
1.0 oz. Hallertau pellets 4.5% (bittering) - 60 min
0.5 oz. Hallertau pellets 4.5% (finishing) - 15 min
0.5 oz. Hallertau pellets 4.5% (aroma) - steep
1/4 tsp. Irish Moss - 15 min
Yeast: 1 vial White Labs Hefeweizen (WLP300)
Heat water to 130°F. Add bagged malts. Bring slowly up to
155° F. Hold temp for 10 min. Remove bagged malts (do not
wring out). Bring to boil. Turn off heat. Stir in liquid malt.
Return to boil - watch for boil over!
Add Hallertau bittering hops. After 45 minutes, add Irish
Moss. With 5 minutes left, add Hallertau finishing hops. Boil
another 5 minutes. Cool to 90° F (wort chillers are a handy
tool here). Add cooled wort to 3 gallons of cold water in
sanitized carboy. Aerate well.
Pitch Yeast at 70°F. Ferment 6-7 days at 70° F. Rack to secondary
for 10-14 days at 68-70° F. Bottle or keg after final gravity
is reached.
Enjoy.
Gingerbread Ale
Brewers: Tony Simmons & Jennie Blechman
OG = 1.066
FG = 1.013
ABV = 7.3%
The goal was to create an old-style of spiced brown ale
(hence the lack of
water treatments, yeast nutrients, or finings.) A basic, strong
brown ale
recipe was agree upon. Then, experimentation was done with
a variety of
sugars and spices.
Recipes for 'Flips' and 'Lambswools' were also attempted.
However, they are
best served warm/hot and the volume of particulate matter
did not lend
itself well to bottling. At a club tasting, the best results
for our spiced
brown ale came from the addition of Chai spice tea and Agave
nectar, which
tastes remarkably like holiday gingerbread. Enjoy!
Background:
"Widely valued as a flavoring and a medicine, ginger
is one of the oldest
spices known. It was so popular in beer in American at one
time that, as
Sanborn Brown observes, 'There were times in the country's
history before
the introduction of lager beer when the commercial sale of
ginger beer
exceeded both hopped beer or cider.'" - Stephen Harrod
Buhner, Sacred and
Herbal Healing Beers
"Recipes for flips, as for other foods and drinks,
varied from town to town.
Fortunately, a significant number of the recipes were printed.
Despite the
variations, all exhibited common roots. Generally the formulation
called for
'a great pewter mug or earthen pitcher filled two-thirds full
of strong
beer; sweetened with sugar, molasses, or dried pumpkin, according
to
individual tastes or capacities.'" - Gregg Smith, Beer
in Early America
"Tavern owners and others prepared lambswool by warming
a strong (old) ale
while mixing in grated nutmeg, ginger, and sugar. Apples were
then roasted
until the skins burst and were added to the warm beer mixture
before
serving." - Gregg Smith, Beer in Early America
"There is also circumstantial evidence supporting the
theory that beer-based
mixed drinks were designed as a way to save terrible beer.
As brewing's raw
materials, equipment, instruments, procedures, and science
advanced in the
late 1800s, beer mixed drinks faded from popularity and all
but disappeared.
They did not outlast the period when the quantity of beer
was greatest and
quality poorest." - Gregg Smith, Beer in America
Good Olde Brown Ale
(option for Good Olde Gingerrooted Ale)
Here is an easy recipe for Good Olde Brown Ale that was won
1st Place, Champion Beer, & Reserve Grand Champion at the
1999 La Plata County Fair. Having experimented with a variety
of yeast strains, I suggest using White Labs British Ale as
it provides a slightly drier finish to this "Good Olde" malty
brown ale.
Yield : 5 Gallons
OG : 1.046
FG : 1.011
ABV : 4.5%
SRM : 25
IBUs : 22
Boil time : 60 minutes
3.5 lbs. John Bull Amber Malt Extract
2.0 lbs. Muntons Dark Dry Malt Extract
4.0 oz. Briess Caramel Malt 60L - steeped in grain bag
4.0 oz. Briess Special Roast Malt 50L - steeped in grain bag
4.0 oz. Briess Chocolate Malt 350L - steeped in grain bag
1.0 oz.
Fuggle Hops whole dried (Bittering) 4.5% AA - 60 min
1.0 oz. Cascade Hops pellets (Finishing) 6.0% AA - 30 min
1.0 tsp. Irish Moss - 15 minutes 1-3 oz.
Freshly grated ginger root (optional at start of boil)
Yeast: 1 vial. White Labs British Ale Yeast (WLP005)
Heat water with bagged malts. Removed bags at 165° F. Bring
to boil. Turn off heat. Stir in liquid & dry malts. Return
to boil - watch for boil over!
Add Fuggle bittering hops. After 30 minutes, add Cascade finishing
hops. After 15 more minutes, add Irish Moss. Boil another
15 minutes. Cool to 90° F (wort chillers are a handy tool
here.)
Add cooled wort to 3 gallons of cold water in sanitized carboy.
Aerate well. Pitch Yeast at 70° F. Ferment nine days at 68°
F. Rack to secondary for 14 days at 65-68° F. Bottle or keg.
Enjoy.
Rocky Mountain Choke Cherry
Stout
Recipe supplied by Tony Simmons, Siebel graduate and
owner of the Brew Haus. This Rocky Mountain Choke Cherry Stout
won First Place La Plata County Fair in the Stout/Porter Category.
"Locals here in southwest Colorado have been making Choke
Cherry wines, jams and jellies for generations. To my knowledge,
no one in my area ever tried it in beer before. These Choke
Cherries were a gift from my next door neighbors Able & Clara
Martinez who planted the trees in their childhood. Choke Cherries
are small berries with a very tart flavor. Their extreme tartness
balances nicely with this sweet and malty stout. Several Native
American tribes revere the Choke Cherry Tree for its hardiness,
beauty and abundant harvest."
Yield: 5 Gallons
Original gravity: 1.066
Final gravity: 1.022
ABV: 6%
IBUs: 46
SRM: 35+
1.0 lb. Briess Crystal Malt - 60 L
0.5 lb. Briess Roasted Barley - 500L
0.5 lb. Black Patent - 525L
0.25 lb Chocolate malt - 350L
3.3 lbs. John Bull Dark liquid malt extract (LME)
3.3 lbs. John Bull Amber liquid malt extract (LME)
1.5 lbs. Muntons Dark dry malt extract (DME)
1.5 oz. Northern Brewer whole hops (7.4% AA) - 75 minutes
1 oz. Cascade whole hops (6.5% AA) - last 5 minutes
2 Tbs. Gypsum - add with boiling hops (to compensate for our
very soft water)
8 lbs. Fresh or frozen Choke Cherries (if unavailable use
sour cherries)
Yeast: 1 vial White Labs Irish Ale (WLP004)
In two gallons of cold water, add grains and heat to 155°
F . Hold for 30 minutes. Sparge with half gallon of 165° F
water. At boil, add malt extract, Northern Brewer hops and
gypsum. Boil 75 minutes. Add Cascade hops and boil for five
more minutes. Turn off heat and add Choke Cherries. Hold for
20 minutes to pasteurize. Cool to 67° F and transfer to wide-mouthed,
sanitized fermentation bucket. Pitch yeast and attach airlock.
Ferment at 65° F for 6 days. Then rack to secondary (glass
carboy). Keep at 65-67° F for 9 more days. Bottle condition
with 3/4 cup light dry malt extract or keg and force carbonate.
Condition for 2-3 weeks.
Enjoy.
More Beer Recipe Websites:
http://BYO.com/recipe/archive.html
http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/recipe.asp
http://whitelabs.com/recipe.html
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