Monday May 23, 2011 posted by: ONOIML8 in Brewing Experiences

2.75 Gal water at 175 degrees F.

In the sack I had:
2 lbs Briess smoke malt
1 lb Muntons Crushed Pale 2 Row Barley Malt
1 lb Muntons Crystal 2 Row Barley Malt

All of this steeped for 30 minutes with the temp never going below 166 degrees F.

Brought to a boil then added one 4 lbs can of Alexander's Pale Malt Extract, 4 oz dark molasses and 1 oz of Norther Brewers hops. Set timer for 60 minutes.

At 45 minutes remaining I remembered to add 2 lbs of Muntons Amber Dry Malt.

At 30 minutes I added 1 oz Kent Goldings hops.

With 15 minutes remaining added another 1 oz of Kent Goldings hops.

End of boil chilled wort to about 90 degrees F. Transferred to a 6 gal carboy and topped off with filtered cold water to bring to the 5 gal mark. Mixed.

Measured OG at 1.062

Pitched Safale US05 dry ale yeast and let sit 5 minutes, then mixed and let sit 10 minutes. Mixed again and installed air lock.

Beer is a about the color of my leather couch. Seems not just opaque but cloudy. I might be wishing I had used Irish moss or something.

Racked to secondary after two weeks. It's not totally clear now but much more so than it was, so I guess I worry too much. Pale red in color. SG is 1.020 at this point.

The aroma doesn't have any smoke or hops, just a whiff of "beer'. But the taste.....all that smoke is like when the wind changes direction and the campfire is suddenly all in your face. Knocks you back. And bitter? Oh boy is it bitter! But the flavor on the back end is just like the aroma, not much going on there. So I'm hoping that a few more weeks in secondary and then bottle conditioning will get the flavors to even out.