PowerHouse Pale Ale - Third Batch

July 8th, 2008:  This recipe is based upon a recipe used in an earlier batch.  I altered that recipe by adding an extra pound of plain light DME, an extra half ounce of flavor hops, and an extra ounce of dry hops. All these extras were "in inventory", so to speak, and I thought they would be better in beer than in inventory.

Ingredients:

1. 5 pounds dry malt extract (DME)
2. 0.5 pounds 40L crystal malt
3. 1.5 ounces Kent Goldings hops (boiling) - alpha acid = 4.2%
4. 1 ounce Cascade hops (flavor) - alpha acid = 6.9%
5. 0.5 ounces Kent Goldings hops (aroma) - alpha acid = 4.2%
6. 1 ounce Kent Goldings hops (dry hop) - alpha acid = 6.9%
7. 1 tsp Irish Moss
8. White Labs British Ale yeast (liquid)
9. 3/4 cup corn sugar (priming)

OG = 1.062 - This should ferment out at 6.9% ABV.

I heated 2 gallons of Culligan pure water to 160 degrees and added enough room-temperature water to lower the temperature to between 154-156.  I steeped the specialty grains, in a mesh muslin bag, for 30" at this temperature with my smooth-top range set on 2.5.  In the meantime, I brought 1.5 gallons of water to 170 degrees in a separate pot, water to be used for sparging the specialty grains.  After steeping the grains, I sparged the specialty grains and then discarded them.

I took the pot of the stove and added the DME, dissolving it completely before returning the pot to the burner so as not to scorch the bottom of the pot.  I then brought the wort to a boil and added the boiling hops in a fine mesh nylon muslin bag and boiled the wort for 30".

I then added the flavor hops to the muslin bag and boiled the wort for another 15".

I then added the Irish moss to the wort and placed my wort chiller in the wort to sanitize the chiller.  I boiled the wort for another 10".

I then added the aroma hops to the muslin bag and boiled the wort for another 5".  Total boil time is 60".

I then took the pot off the burner and let the wort drip, through a strainer, out of the hop muslin bag.  I then immediately began chilling the wort to about 75-78 degrees.  I poured the wort through a funnel (with a strainer) into my 7 gallon carboy and added enough water to make 5 gallons of wort.

After taking a specific gravity measure, I added the yeast and capped my carboy with a carboy cap and added my airlock.  I wrapped my carboy in swaddling clothes and began fermentation in an upstairs room at approximately 72 degrees.  The wort was 75 degrees at pitching. 

Update 8/4/2008:  I bottled the brew today.  I added 3/4 cup corn sugar to 1 cup Culligan drinking water, mixed, and brought the mixture to a boil.  I boiled it for 5 minutes and cooled the it to about 76 F with an ice bath in a large fry pan in about 6-7 minutes.  I added the mixture to  the bottling bucket and siphoned the beer to the bucket.

Sp Gr = 1.010.

Yield: 44 12 oz bottles.