DeFalco's St. Almost Amber Ale Recipe

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Texas_Brew

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
76
Reaction score
0
Location
Houston
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
Yeast: Dried -1 pkg. Safale S-04
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.053
Final Gravity
1.013
Boiling Time (Minutes)
70
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Tasting Notes
like st arnold amber ale?
DeFalco's St. Almost Amber Ale Recipe

INGREDIENTS:
6 1/2 lbs. light malt extract
1 1/2 lb. pale malt
1 1/2 lb. Cara-Vienne malt
1 1/3 oz. Cascades hops or 2/3 oz. Columbus hops (bittering)
1/2 oz. Mt. Hood or Liberty hops (flavoring)
1/2 oz. Mt. Hood or Liberty hops (finishing)
1 pkg. Calcium Chloride water salts
Yeast: Dried -1 pkg. Safale S-04 or Windsor ale yeast
Liquid - Wyeast #1968, #1272 or White Labs English or California V Ale Yeast
1 pkg. Bru-Vigor (yeast food - for tap water) 3/4 cup corn sugar (priming)

PROCEDURE:
Note: If you are using Wyeast liquid yeast, prepare the yeast 24 hours prior to brewing! Activate the yeast by “smacking” it to rupture the internal pouch, thereby mixing its contents with the other contents in the pouch. Allow the yeast to remain at room temperature to swell. Check the packaging date on the pouch. If it has been over two months since it was packaged, allow an extra day for the pouch to swell up. If you are using White Labs Pitchable Yeast, simply remove from refrigerator and allow to warm up to room temperature during the brew session.

1. In a small saucepan, bring a gallon of water to 160°-170° and turn off the heat. Add the bag of grains and water salts (if used) and steep 30 minutes. Now, gently sparge (rinse) the grains with hot tap water (ideal temperature 168°) and bring the total volume up to two or more gallons in a stainless steel or enameled kettle (avoid aluminum). As a rule, boiling as much of the full five gallons as possible is best. Bring to boil and resume step #2.

2. Turn off heat and add malt extract. Return to boil, taking care not to allow wort to overflow onto your stovetop. Start timing now, continuing the boil for 5 minutes. Add the bittering hops (1 1/3 oz. Cascades) and boil 40 minutes. Now add the flavoring hops (1/2 oz. Mt. Hood or Liberty) and boil 10 minutes. For aroma, add the finishing hops (1/2 oz. Mt. Hood or Liberty) and immediately turn off heat.


3.To facilitate cooling, we suggest placing your brewing kettle in the sink with 5 or 6 inches of cold water (A tray or two of ice cubes in the cooling bath wouldn't hurt). Allow to stand for 20 - 30 minutes in the cooling bath.

4. For best results, we recommend using Wyeast or White Labs liquid yeast. If using dried yeast, while the wort is cooling, rehydrate the dried yeast. To do this, sprinkle the yeast into a cup of lukewarm (90°- 100°F) water and cover with saran wrap or tin foil. Let stand for 10 - 20 minutes.

5. Pour the cooled wort into the fermenter. Bring the total volume up to five gallons. Check and record the temperature and specific gravity at this time. Make the necessary gravity corrections for temperatures above 60‚° (Add .001 for every 7° above 60°F).

6. If the temperature is less than 80°, pour the yeast "slurry" and the packet of Bru-Vigor (if using tap water) into the wort and place the lid and airlock over the fermenter. Although ideal fermentation temperatures are lower, it is very important to get the fermentation started as soon as possible to avoid contamination of the beer. In any case, be aware that temperatures over 110° will most likely kill your beer yeast.

7. For best results, ferment at 60° - 75°F.

8. FERMENTATION: Double Stage - The beer will be ready to rack (syphon) when the rocky head subsides (2 - 4 days) and the gravity drops to approximately 1.016 or less. Syphon the beer into the secondary fermenter. As soon as the foaming allows, top up the secondary with water to within 2 - 3 inches of the fermentation lock if your volume is short. Allow to ferment and settle until action has virtually ceased and the beer has clarified.
FERMENTATION: Single Stage - Allow wort to ferment for 7 days. Assuming your fermentation lock has stopped bubbling proceed to step #9, bottling preparations.
http://www.defalcos.com/component/content/article/139.html

I'm starting my first brew Tuesday I went to defalcos my lbhs in Houston and picked up the ingredients for a recipe on there website. I just would like to see what you guys would think about this brew! they gave me the blu vigor and calcium chloride i don't think this is necessary because I will be using bottled water

showphoto.php
 
thank you cincybrewer its fixed! I brewed this on Tuesday march 29th. the only issue I had was the cooling after the boil it took perhaps 45 min or longer. my brew pot is too big to put in my sink so I put it in my bath tub with a few bags of ice. problem Is who ever installed my bathtub faucet installed it backwards so I accidentally turned on the hot water and my ice started to melt. I bought another bag of ice and threw it in the brew pot outher than that its going great and i cant wait to taste it

brew20.jpg



brew35.jpg
 
I just bottled it today! I tasted It and It tastes great! Just what an amber ale should taste like. I'm hope that the hopy flavors come through more after bottle conditioning. I cant wait to share this beer with family and friends! I'm thinking of brewing a stone IPA clone for my next brew
 
I poped one open just now. And its tasty my and my wife love it and it can only get better as it ages this is what I needed to get me started I can't wait to brew my next batch!
 
I poped one open just now. And its tasty my and my wife love it and it can only get better as it ages this is what I needed to get me started I can't wait to brew my next batch!

Congrats on the brew. Defalcos has some good basic recipes. Started there 10+ years ago with a trappist recipe they have.

Good to see another local Houston brewer!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top