Grain Nut

Grain Nut

Home Brew Hints - Nut Brown Ale Recipe

The first thing you will need to do is acquire the ingredients and equipment for this brew. You will need the standard equipment for making a home brewed beer and the following supplies:

7 pounds of Canadian light syrup
0.5 pounds of Pale Malt (grain)
0.75 pounds of 60L crystal malt (grain)
0.5 pounds of Chocolate malt (grain)
2 ounces of Fuggles pellet hops (bittering)
1/2 ounce of Golding pellets hops (flavoring)
3/4 cup of priming sugar
1 packet of Munton's Gold ale yeast
Hop bags and grain bags

Pour the grain into a grain bag. I recommend that you divided the grain into 2 sections separated by a knot because this is a large amount of grain to hold in a single bag. Fill your pot with 2 gallons of water, add your grain bag, and begin to heat on the stove. Heat until 150 degrees F. For the next 30 minutes keep the temperature between 150oF and 160oF. If the temperature goes past 160, you may reduce heat by adding cold water. During this time, occasionally lift the grain bag and allow it to drain. Do not squeeze the bag. After 30 minutes is up, lift the bag from the pot and again allow it to drain. Discard the grains.

Increase temperature and bring contents of pot to a boil. Remove from heat and add the Canadian light syrup stirring while adding. Keep stirring until it is completely dissolved. Put the 2 ounces of Fuggles hops into a hop bag and tie knot. Add the hop bag to the pot, return to heat, and boil for 45 minutes. Put the 1/2 ounce of Golding hops into a hop bag and tie knot. Add bag to pot and boil for another 15 minutes.

After boiling is done, remove the hop bags from the pot. At this stage, the mixture is known as wort, which is just a word for unfermented beer. The next stage is to quickly cool the wort by removing it from the stove and putting it in the sink full of ice. I have found the best way to do this is to fill the sink with about a half inch of cold water, add put the pot on this thin layer, then add a bag of ice evenly around the pot. I do it this way to keep an even temperature around the outside of the pot while also keeping the pot level. If you add the ice in before the pot, you will have trouble getting it level.

While the wort is cooling, you should take this time to sanitize your fermenter. Mix a teaspoon and a couple of cups of water into the fermenter making sure all surfaces get wet. Pour out the solution onto the top of the fermenter. Rinse the inside of the fermenter and the top at least two times before adding the wort.

By this time your wort has probably cooled down quite a bit. When it reaches 100 degrees it is time for it to be added to the fermenter. Pour a little bit of water to the bottom of the fermemter, making sure the nozzle is shut, before adding your wort. Fill the rest of the fermenter up with tap water to the 5-gallon level.Add the yeast packet to the mixture making sure that you are stirring during this process. It is important that the yeast is aerated. Put the top on the fermemter making sure that is it on there tight. Fill the air lock halfway with water and fit it on the lid's hole.

The hardest part of making this brew is complete. All you have to do now is wait. After about half a day you will notice the air lock will begin to bubble and inside a think foam will be forming on the top of the wort. After 2-3 days I usually transfer my mixture to a glass fermenter for the remainder of the process, but this step is not necessary. What is important though, is that you wait until all the foam is gone before bottling.

About the Author

Pat McLoughlin is a avid homebrewer and enjoys writing about it on his website homebrewhints.com. Home Brew Hints gives step by step instructions on how to brew beer at home as well as a collection of helpful hints that can assist you in your homebrewing process.

Nut Brown Ale - All Grain Homebrew