| The Basics of a Good All-Grain Ale Recipe
There are four main ingredients in every ale:
- water - spring water, artesian well water (tested)
- yeast - dried (packaged) or cultured (liquid)
- malted barley - many types
- hops - many varieties
It's best to go with quality ingredients if you are going to take the time to brew all-grain ales. You will never regret it. And, don't skimp on the water or the yeast (though the reduced cost is tempting). We recommend spring or (tested) well water and liquid yeast strains (White Labs has the best variety and reliability) that are designed to produce the ale you desire.
Decide what type of ale you'd like to make. Would a pale ale suit your fancy in a few weeks? an amber ale? a porter? a stout? a specialty belgian? These various genres of brew require different yeasts, specialty malts and specific hop varieties to achieve their particular color, aroma, bitterness, body, and character of the final product.
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Generally, an all-grain recipe will start with a healthy base of 2-row (or other highly-modified) pale malt (7-12 lbs) and a variety of specialty malts (say, 1-4 lbs) for specific flavors, colors, and effects. You'll need an appropriate yeast and a plan for using hops to provide bitterness, as well as flavor and aroma. The recipe Megan and I brew in the video is an IPA. Here is that recipe as an example:
 Megan's IPA (by Dano)
Yeast: California Ale
Category: English IPA
Target O.G.: 1.068 - Target Final O.G.: 1.016
 Grain Bill: 10 lbs. Pale Malt
.75lbs. 20L Crystal Malt
1/2 lb. Caravienne
4 ox. flaked maize
Mash Type: Step
 Bittering Hops: 1 oz. Chinook at 13.5%
Flavoring / Aroma Hops: 2 oz. Kent Goldings, 1 oz. Cascade, 1 oz. Cascade floater during cooldown
Other Ingredients: 1TBS Irish Moss
1TBS Gypsum (Water treatment)
Instructions: Create a 1/2 gallon yeast starter.
Mash @ 150 degrees for 90 minutes in 3.75 gallons treated water.
Raise to 170 degrees. Sparge w five gallons treated water at 170-180 degrees
(90 minutes - be patient, go slow, let it trickle)
Boil: 75 minutes 1oz Chinook at 75
.5 oz Kent Goldings @ 45
.5 oz Kent Goldings @ 30
.5 oz Kent Goldings @ 15 (add 1-2 tsp Irish Moss, wort chiller)
.5 oz Kent Goldings @ knockout (0)
Run entire wort (after reducing temp) through the 1 oz. Cascade dry hop flowers in mesh bag and float in brew for 1-2 days (or more, if you want) |
Once you have decided on a recipe, you will need to purchase the ingredients. You can do this at a local brewing supply shop (ask around) or consider buying online. There are some great providers.
| Move on to the next step in the brewing process: Sanitization |
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