#62 Surly Bender

Here's what happens when substance meets smooth. This oatmeal brown ale defies traditional categories. Bender begins crisp and lightly hoppy, complemented by the velvety sleekness oats deliver. Belgian and British malts usher in cascades of cocoa, coffee, caramel and hints of vanilla and cream. An easy-drinking ale with many layers of satisfaction.

Surly Bender

OG: 1.068 SG
FG: 1.017 SG
Color: 28.8 SRM
IBU: 18.9 IBUs
ABV: 4.7 %

Ingredients:
2 lbs Aromatic Malt
1 lbs Pale Ale Malt 2-Row
12.0 oz Crystal, Medium (Simpsons) (55.0 SRM)
12.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)
10.1 oz Oats, Golden Naked (Simpsons)
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM)


0.25 oz Willamette (First Wort Hop)
0.75 oz Columbus (60 min)
2.5 oz Willamette (0 min)

British Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1335)

BrewTV brewing of Surly Bender

#61 Requiem Raspberry

A refreshing summer beer.  This was one of the most popular fruit beers on Home Brew Talk.

I made a minor change by using the Northern Brewer Gold Malt instead of 6.5 lbs of Light DME.

6lbs Northern Brewer Gold Malt
1 lbs 3.0 oz Light DME
12.8 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 
2.4 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) 
1.00 oz Northern Brewer (60 min) 
0.50 oz Cascade (25 min)
0.50 oz Cascade (7 min)

A good refreshing drink after a day at the pool.

Primary:
7 days at 73 F
Nottingham Yeast

Secondary: 
7 days at 73 F
40 oz of organic raspberries (no sucrose)  

#60 Extra Hard Lemonade

VERY similar to Mikes Hard lemonade

Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated ABV: 5.9%
Estimated Calories: 112

Ingredients:
4 lbs Cane (Beet) Sugar 
7 Walmart Great Value: Lemonade, 12 Oz 
3 Walmart Great Value: Limeade, 12 Oz 
1 pkg Lalvin EC-1118 (Lallemand - Lalvin #EC-1118) or Redstar Montrachet
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient


Primary: 18 Days @ ~70F
Secondary: Until Stable

Other Options Ingredients: • 2kg dextrose • 500g lactose • 12-24 lemons, sliced or chopped fine including peel • 5g yeast nutrient • 1 sachet SAFale yeast • Water to make up 22 litres of wort or Cranberry Lemonade

#58 Skeeter Pee

The original, inexpensive, quick, easy to make, easy to drink, naturally fermented, lemon, hot-weather, thirst quencher.

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 2.30 gal
Estimated OG: 1.064 SG

Estimated Color: 1.9 SRM
Boil Time: 30 Minutes
ABV: 10.4%





Skeeter Pee
Ingredients:
Amt                   Name                                           
16.0 cup              Washington, DC
7 lbs                 Sugar, Table (16 cups)
0.33 cup              Lemon JuicE
Primary (Stir Ingredients)
64.00 oz              ReaLemon
0.75 tsp              Tannin
1.00 tsp              Yeast Energizer

3.00 tsp              Yeast Nutrient

Primary (~2 days)
1.00                  Yeast Slurry
Primary (~4 days - 1.050 SG)  (vigorously mix)
32.00 oz              ReaLemon
3.00 tsp              Yeast Nutrient
1.00 tsp              Yeast Energizer
Secondary (0.995-0.998 SG) (degas)
2.50 tsp              Potassium sorbate (sorbate)
0.50 tsp              Potassium metabisulfite (Kmeta)
1.00                  Sparkolliod - Clears without the Sparkolloid in 30-45 days
Bottling/Kegging (2 weeks after sparklloid)
2.30 lb               Sugar, Table (Sucrose)

After two weeks, the Skeeter Pee should be crystal clear. Rack into a clean, sanitized carboy, add 6 cups sugar, and stir to dissolve. Wait two weeks to be sure no new fermentation begins and bottle.

Notes from Lon DePoppe:
"Not a “hard lemonade” because too many people have tried the commercial versions and they tend to make a mental impression of what it’s going to taste like before trying it. When it doesn’t taste just like the commercial versions (which are usually 5% alcohol, lemon flavored malt beverages) they conclude that it’s a poor reproduction. This stuff isn’t a reproduction; it’s the original home-style without the big marketing budget and price tag. Please be advised that you need to keep an eye on those you serve this to. Because it drinks easily on a hot day and the alcohol is about double that of commercial hard lemonades and beer, it is easy to accidentally over consume; it sneaks up on you real fast."

If you don't have a slurry to start your batch.
Some people have had luck simply sprinkling the yeast on top of the must in the place of using a slurry.  Be cautioned though, that the ferment will take much longer to get started.  It helps to whip the must with a wire whisk to introduce lots of oxygen and keep the must warm.  Be prepared to wait up to a week to see signs of ferment.  An alternative method that has been successful is starting a 1 gallon batch of wine using frozen concentrate, letting it go for 5 days to a week to get good and active, and then using the whole thing in place of a slurry.

#55/57/80/93 Allagash White

This is the most liked Witbier on Beer Advocate.  The recipe comes from Rob Tod of Allagash Brewing Company and is a clone recipe for Allagash White (Belgian Wit). Note: “secret spice” is described as a “pinch of the spice of your choosing”.

Allagash Brewery got their start in 1995 in Portland, Maine. Owner/brewer Rob Tod is quietly making some exceptional Belgian-style beers over on the East Coast. Rob is one of the “brett pack” along with Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River), Tomme Arthur (Port Brewing/Lost Abbey), Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head) and Adam Avery (Avery). They acquired that nickname through their use of and experiementation with brettanomyces and other micrio biota. 

Price		Ingredients
$15.99		6lb Northern Brewer Wheat Malt Syrup
$4.50		1lb Briess DME Golden Light
$  2.25		3/4 oz. Tettnanger (60 minutes) (Add)
$  1.69		3/4 oz. Saaz (60 minutes) (Add)
$  0.56		1/4 oz. Saaz (flameout)
$  0.25		1/4 oz. crushed coriander (flameout)
$    0.50		1/4 oz. bitter orange peel (flameout)
$    0.25		1 pinch "secret spice" (flameout) "secret spice" (anise, cinnamon, vanilla, pepper, or ginger) your choice
$  3.12		Wyeast 3463 Forbidden Fruit (re-using yeast for a second batch) (Add)
$29.11

Blue Moon is a popular brew that is similar with the following changes: 

• Flaked Oats 
• Hallertauer (90 mins) 
• 1.25 tsp of ground corriander (10 min) 
• 0.33tsp of ground Valencia orange peel (5 min) 
• Chico yeast

I originally found this recipe on Home Brew Talks.  

My latest batch used Danstar Munich Wheat Beer Yeast.  I enjoyed the previous two batches both used Forbidden Fruit, but with a recent weather change I wanted to brew and didn't have time to get a starter going.

Additional Sources of Recipe Information
Belgian White Ale Recipe From Allagash - Brew Dudes - Extract with Pilsen malt with slightly lower hop schedule and slightly increased flameout additions
Brewers Friend
BeerSmtih Recipes Allagash White Clone all grain convert - Not sure about hop schedule on this.
BrewToad Allagash White Clone by Five14 Brewing - All grain version of above with similar hop schedule 

#52 Hard Cider

I wanted to create a hard cider for Saint Patrick's Day.  I waited too long so the options are now limited. My initial thoughts were to follow DayFlyer55's 5 Day Sweet Country Cider from HomeBrewTalk.  I was in a rush while making dinner so I skipped the Brown Sugar and went straight for the Molasses and Sugar.  I was just guessing and only decided to lookup the correct ratio now that I am writting down what I actually did.  The ratio for brown sugar is 1 cup sugar to 1 Tbs Molasses.  So, twice as much molasses as need.

My goal is to stop the fermentation as soon as we are below 1.04.  This should give us a sweet cider with 4.9% ABV.  Update:  It was a little too sweet.  So we let the cider go another day and then put it in the lagering fridge to have the yeast stop.  The final is a FG 1.034 and 5.7% ABV and 260 calories/12 oz.

Fermentables 13 frozen concentrate Giant brand Apple Juice    (~4.875 gallons) 2 lbs Dominion Sugar    (~3.8 Cups) 4 oz Grandmas Molasses    (~8 Tbs) Misc 2 Cinnamon Sticks Yeast Munton's Gold

#49 Apfelwein Recipe (German Hard Cider) Apple Wine Recipe

After a number of recommendations from other brewers, 10,838 replies and 1,668,170 views on HomeBrew Talk, I decided to try Ed Worts Apfelwien

The recipe placed 1st in the Cider & Apple Win category at the BJCP sanctioned Alamo Cerveza fest (out of 11 entries) and took 2nd place for Best of Show for the main category of Meads & Ciders (out of 50 entries).

I used following ingredients:

• 12 frozen concentrate Giant brand Apple juice (1 1/2 quarters each)
• 2 pounds Giant brand sugar
• 1 five gram packet of Montrachet Wine Yeast

1. First sanitize the carboy, airlock, funnel, stopper or carboy cap.
2. Add 100 degree water to the carboy, (*** Need Amount)
3. Add packet of Montrachet Yeast to hydrate
4. Add more 100 degree water to carboy
5. Warmed frozen concentrate apple juice
6. Pour melted concentrate into carboy
7. Add hot water to concentrate container to melt more concentrate
8. Add sugar and shake
9. Repeat Steps 5 through 8 until all of the Apple juice in the carboy and 2 lbs of sugar have been added
10. Fill Carboy up to the neck with 80 degree water.
11. Put your stopper or carboy cap on with an airlock and fill the airlock with cheap vodka. No bacteria will live in vodka and if you get suckback, you just boosted the abv.

Ferment at room temperature.

The advice is to let this sit for at least 3 months.

#46 Munton's Nut Brown Ale (1998)

So, this is a test into how bad will it be.  I received a can of Mutton's Nut Brown Ale with a best before October 1998.

The advice on the internet was "As long as the can is sealed, it'll be fine. Just a little darker than normal. Cooper's cans can be good if brewed well. I usually add a 3lb bag of Munton's plain DME & 2 oz of 2 different hops. The color of the DME depends on the style desired. In this case,I'd go with plain light DME. Maybe Fuggle or Kent Golding hops. Don't let anyone tell you cooper's is no good.

If you've got a good process down,you'll make good beer with the right ingredients. I do it all the time. Even my English bitter is coming along fine. And the IPA that started life as an OS Draught can is very good. When I get the recipe tweaked more to my liking,I'll post it."

The goal of the style Northern English Brown Ale

Aroma: Light, sweet malt aroma with toffee, nutty and/or caramel notes. A light but appealing fresh hop aroma (UK varieties) may also be noticed. A light fruity ester aroma may be evident in these beers, but should not dominate. Very low to no diacetyl.

Appearance: Dark amber to reddish-brown color. Clear. Low to moderate off-white to light tan head.

My thoughts:
We were only going to throw away both the can and the yeast.  Since there were extra ingredients, the cost is really about $8.  If it turns out tasting good, then great.  If not, nothing lost.

Grains

4.8 oz 60L Caramel Malt
3.0 oz Chocolate Organic
2.0 lbs Golden Light DME
Hops .35 oz Kent Goldings (15 minutes)
Yeast White Labs WLP002 English Ale (1 year old)

I wrote the above on kegging day.  We will know in a couple of weeks or maybe later today.

This turned out to be a hit.  Many thought that this was one of the better beers.  So a simple change and great results.

#12/44/53/66/82/83 Corona

This is a staple around the house, especially during the warmer months.  This is an inexpensive beer to make when washing the yeast.  This is a cheap $16 beer using extract.

Corona Extra is lighter than traditional beers, with a crisp and refreshing taste.

This light, dry beer has pleasant malt and hop notes with a round dry finish.  Best served ice cold, with a wedge of lime that complements and intensifies the flavor through the palate.

Fermentables

3 lbs Light DME

3 lbs Corn Sugar

Hops

.75 Hallertauer (60 min)

.25 Hallertauer (5 min)

Yeast

WLP940 Mexican Lager

158 Calories

8.7 IBUs