Category Archives: Homebrew

Mead with Fruit

Our first attempt to make mead on December 12, 2011. An easy recipe to follow. The resulting mead is very sweet and seems to get better the longer you wait to drink it – six months or more.

10 pounds light clover honey
2 pounds blueberries (fresh or frozen) (we used frozen)
1/2 gallon apple cider (pasteurized)
1/2 ounce Fuggle hops
1 package champagne yeast

Bring 2.5 to 3 gallons of water to a boil.
2. Add honey and bring back to a boil.
3. Add hops and boil for 30 minutes, skimming of any scum that forms on the surface during the boil.
4. Put blueberries into a hop boiling bag. Lower the heat to a very low simmer and toss in the berries, mashing the bag around to break them up some.
5. Boil for 15 minutes and turn off heat and allow to cool (we use an immersion chiller to speed up the cooling).
6. Transfer from brew pot to fermenter.
7. Add apple cider.
8. Add enough water to bring total amount to 5 gallons. The liquid should be at 80 degrees.
9. Sprinkle yeast evenly over mixture.
When the gravity has dripped below 0.980, bottle and wait.
11. A three month wait makes for eminently drinkable stuff, but the longer you can wait, the better.

Cran Crush

We first brewed this beer in November 2010 as our seasonal beer. It is very fruity and some people just don’t like it. I found it to be very good and plan to make it again next year. The recipe makes 5 gallons.

5 lbs barley malt extract
2 lbs clover honey
2 lbs whole fresh cranberries
2 medium navel oranges (seedless)
2 medium apples (Fuji, Granny Smith, or Braeburn)
2 packages brewer’s yeast
1/2 tsp pectic enzyme
1 ounce Fuggle hops
1 1/4 cups corn sugar

Sanitize all the equipment.
2. In the boil pot add 2-3 gallons of water and begin to heat. Add the malt extract and bring to a gentle boil, stirring frequently.
3. Add hops when the mixture comes to a boil and continue to boil for 40 minutes.
4. Add honey and boil an additional 20 minutes (1 hour total boiling time).
5. Place the mixture (now called wort) into the fermentation container and add enough cool water to make 5 gallons. Sprinkle yeast into the wort when it reaches 80 degrees.
6. Cover the fermenter and put an airlock in place.
7. Ferment for 7 days
Chop apples, oranges, and cranberries (seeds and all) in food processor.
9. While stirring continuously, heat fruit mixture to steaming, but DO NOT boil.
10. Place fruit in sanitized secondary fermenter and allow to cool.
11. Use a siphon hose to transfer wort from the primary fermenter onto fruit mixture in the secondary, leaving yeast sediment in fermenter.
12. When siphoning, keep aside one or two cups of wort. Stir in pectic enzyme until it dissolves, then pour into secondary.
13. Place the top on the secondary fermenter and install airlock. Ferment an additional 7 days.
Just prior to bottling, add corn sugar to wort (necessary for production of CO2 that produces beer’s head)
15. Siphon beer into bottles and cap. Allow beer to age at room temperature for 7 to 10 days. Chill before drinking.

Galloping Gladiator Ale

This pale ale beer was initially brewed for the first anniversary party of my daughter. Her first anniversary was August 22, 2010. The name is representative of the two of them. My daughter rides horses (Galloping) and my son-in-law played semi-pro football for the Green Bay Gladiators. The Fuggle hops comes from the backyard.

Ingredients:
7 pounds, Briess Golden Light malt extract
1 pound, Crystal malt 40L
1 pound, Dark brown sugar
1 ounce, Northern Brewer hops (60 minute boil)
1 ounce, Fuggle hops (30 minute boil)
1/2 ounce, Fuggle hops (10 minute boil)
1/2 ounce, Fuggle hops (15 minute steep)
Nottingham yeast

Procedure:
Fill boil pot with 5 gallons water and heat to 160 degrees. Steep crystal malt at 160 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove grains, add malt extract and brown sugar, and bring the mixture to a boil.

At boil add Northern Brewer hops
30 minutes later add 1 ounce Fuggles hops
20 minutes later add 1/2 ounce Fuggles hops
10 minutes later turn off heat and add 1/2 ounce Fuggles hops to steep for 15 minutes

Cool the mixture to 80 degrees and add yeast. Ferment for 5 days at room temp, transfer to secondary fermenter for 5 days then bottle using 3/4 cup corn sugar.