Homebrewing Apple Crisp Ale
By Noah Davis • Dec 4th, 2009 • Category: drink recipes
By Sarah Whitmere
In October, DRAFTMag.com discussed the basics of homebrewing. Today, we’re back with a step-by-step guide to producing the best apple crisp ale your kitchen has ever seen. (And watch the video as well.)
1. Mix up at least 2 qts. of no-rinse sanitizer before you get started. The small packet of C-Brite is the brand shown here, this .8 oz. packet was enough for 1 gal. of sanitizer.
2. Activate packet of liquid yeast, by feeling for a lump in packaging. That lump is a small packet of dry yeast that mixes with the sugary “slurry” and turns your wort into beer.
3. Bring just under 2 qts. of water to 160 degrees Fahrenheit for the mash.
4. Add grains, for this particular kit, I added malt as well. Temperature will fall to about 150 degrees. Stir until mash has consistency of oatmeal, and then take temperature readings throughout mixture. Try to keep it between 144-152 degrees; if it gets too hot, the hulls from the grain will begin to break down and release unappetizing tannins into the brew.
5. Bring 1 gal. of water to 170 degrees.
6. Set up a brew pot that will hold all the liquid you’ve been boiling, with a strainer to strain your mash.
7. Strain the mash, allowing the wort to drain through. Then pour the heated gallon of water over the mash as well. Overall, try to collect more than you intend to have at the end of the batch.
8. Bring wort pot to a boil.
*After this point, EVERYTHING that touches your wort must be dipped in sanitizer!
9. Add bittering hops at beginning of boil, or the point where foam forms and breaks (known as a “hot break”), with this brew I also added a stick of cinnamon. Boil wort for 60 minutes, stirring every ten minutes.
10. Peel and chop two apples.
11. In the last minute of the boil, add flavoring hops.
12. Turn off the heat, and add apples. Let steep for 20 minutes.
13. Prepare ice bath, and add wort. Try to chill wort to 70 degrees as quickly as possible.
14. Remove apples, pour cooled wort into fermentation vessel.
15. Pitch yeast, shake vigorously and use rubber stopper connected to rubber tubing to create a blow-off tube. In this case, my vessel probably isn’t full enough to need one, but submerge the other end of tubing in remaining sanitizer to create air-tight seal.
– Sarah Whitmere is an editorial intern at DRAFT.
