Recipes

Hey all,

I have decided that it is far too pretentious of me to keep my recipes to myself.  I have taken a page out of the books of some of the best master brewers (particularly Stone and Rogue, but many others as well) who stand by the notion that the recipe alone does not give away the secret of one's beer.  I would much rather openly discuss my recipes for educational purposes, and also so that people might attempt to recreate them (we all know that plagiarism is one of the highest forms of flattery).  I think that this makes for a more interesting blog.  I also think it will help to educate my readers about just what goes into the beer, which I think adds to the experience.  I now present to you the recipe for my Limerick Session Stout, one that has really come out successfully...it is a simple stout modeled after the most traditional Irish dry stouts and the way that they are brewed in Ireland--using ten percent roasted barley, a healthy percentage of flaked barley, most of the body comprised of English pale malt, hops used only for bittering, and fermented nice and clean to a relatively low ABV:

6 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb flaked barley
14 oz roasted barley
8 oz crystal Maris Otter (may substitute medium lovibond crystal malt)

1 oz East Kent Goldings hops (7.1%AA) @60 min
.5 oz Willamette hops (4.5% AA) @60 min
A note on the hops: I needed the remaining .5 oz of Willamette for another recipe, so that's why I used this combination.  Since these hops are just for bittering, 1 oz of hops with around 9% AA should bring it to about the same IBU...might I suggest Challenger?


Wyeast 1764 - Rogue Pacman Yeast (but any relatively neutral, highly-attenuative yeast will do.  I have made this my "house" strain using these methods)

OG: 1.042 with 70% mash efficiency

Mash at 153° for 60 minutes, perform mashout, and sparge with 180° water (read more about mashing here)