I'm going to start a festive ale this weekend and wanted to get some feedback on my intended recipe. I am aiming for something dark but not too sweet/malty, high in alcohol and with a subtle fruity/spicy edge. Below is my recipe and method. This will be the first time I have used T-58 yeast and will be the first time I do a starter for the yeast so hopefully that goes without a hitch! All feedback is welcomed as I am still learning about this, but I am getting more confident with every batch I complete as the results are always good
Ingredients:
1 x 1.5Kg Coopers Light LME
500g Medium DME
4kg Pale DME
200g Light Chocolate Malt
75-100g Brewers Sugar for bottle conditioning
11.5g packet of Safale T-58 yeast
Grated rind of 2 oranges (no white at all!)
1 whole nutmeg
1 piece of cinammon bark
2 cloves
1 star anise
2 cardamom pods
Hops as below
Whirlfloc tablet and/or beer finings
30 mins:
30g Summit
20g Galaxy
20g Apollo
10g Nelson Sauvin
10g Cluster
5 Mins
10g Cluster
10g Nelson Sauvin
Dry Hop:
30g Simcoe Pellets
30g Summit
30g Nelson Sauvin
Target IBU: 79
Target ABV: 9.1%
Estimated OG: 1090
Estimated FG: 1021
Estimated Colour: EBC 68
Yeast Pitch:
- Whilst boiling malt/hops, Add 11.5g yeast to 120ml of pre-boiled water at 27C (+/-3C) in a sterile container.
- wait for 15-30 mins
- stir for 20-30 mins until creamy and add a teaspoon of brewers sugar
- yeast should show activity within 30 mins and is ready to add directly to wort at correct temp
Partial Grain Extraction:
- Mill grain to desired consistency - good default is 0.045 inches (0.11 cm)
- Start with 18L pan of cold of water (3/4 full) with a lid/plate on the bottom to save the grain touching the bottom
- Add grain to a bag and place inside pan (Dont add any of the dust that may spill from the bag)
- Bring the temp of the pan and contents up to 70C
- Put lid on and leave to steep for 45-60 mins (flame out should be fine, but ensure it doesnt dip below 65C or insulate with towels)
- Sparge the grains, do not squeeze!
- Remove the plate/lid before proceeding to bring the temp up to a boil for the hops
Hop Tea:
- Add 1.5KG of LME to the pot (no more than 3/4 full), bring to boil and let froth clear (hot break) making sure not to let anything stick to the bottom of the pot
- Keep topping up the pot with boiling water to maintain the same volume of liquid throughout
- Add the hops in bags in stages as listed above, keep a good rolling boil and keep topping up to counter evaporation
- Add a whirlfloc tablet (if using) with 10 mins left to go
- At flame out, start to cool quickly leaving in hops (constantly stirring while in a large sink of flowing cold water is good enough)
- add the rest of the fermentables whilst pan contents are still hot
- Once cooled below 22C, remove hops, but do not squeeze the hops out
- Sparge the hop bags by pouring additional boiling water over the bags
- transfer to fermentation vessel and top up to 23L with cold tap water
- Once temp is below 22C, take OG reading and then pitch the yeast
Primary Fermentation and Dry Hopping:
- Leave to ferment at 17-18C with an airlock for 28 days or until fermentation has completely stopped (do not let temp >20C)
- Transfer to secondary fermentation vessel and add dry hops (in bag with a very heavy weight).
- Leave for 7 days (or 10 days if no finings being used) with airlock
- If using Finings, Add finings to FV, gently stir and leave for further 2-3 days.
Bottling/Conditioning:
- Syphon into another fermentation vessel, take final gravity reading then add 75-100g of brewers sugar. Gently stir then bottle.
- Leave in a warm dark place to carbonate for 14 days
- Leave in a cold dark place (fridge is best) to settle and clear for 21-28 days
Enjoy! (hopefully)
