The Naked Pint (54 page)

Once the second fermentation is complete (let the beer rest for 7 days to ensure all fermentation has subsided), transfer the beer to a bottling bucket, and add the corn sugar dissolved in ½ cup of water. Stir thoroughly, and bottle the beer.

 

The beer should be carbonated in about 2 weeks.

Note: The beauty of this recipe is that you can do this with any fruit you want. Cherry (sweet or tart), blueberry, and peach work well. Just make sure the juice you use isn’t full of preservatives and is 100% juice because you don’t want extra additives and flavorings. You can also substitute whole fruit for the juice. It’s a little messier and harder to handle, but it’s how the best breweries get their fruit flavors. A good rule of thumb is 2 pounds of fruit for every gallon of beer. I prefer using frozen fruit because it’s been cleaned and is rid of any wild yeasts that could affect the beer. Just thaw the fruit, and add it to the beer after the first fermentation is complete. Let it re-ferment and age for a short time, then filter out the fruit and bottle.

T
he brainchild of cofounders Greg Koch and Steve Wagner, the Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, California, is at the forefront of the West Coast extreme beer movement. We describe undesirable beers as “fizzy yellow water” because Greg coined the phrase. In addition to its amazing array of beers, like Arrogant Bastard Ale and Stone Ruination IPA, Stone has built the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, where they take food pairing and beer education to new heights.

 

SPECIALTY GRAIN BILL

MALT SOURCES

HOPPING SCHEDULE

ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS

YEAST

FERMENTATION TEMPERATURE

DRY-HOPPING

PRIMING SUGAR

Heat 1 gallon of water in a steeping pot to approximately 165°F. Remove the pot from the heat, and add the specialty grains to a grain bag. Add the bag to the pot; the water temperature should drop to 148°F to 150°F once the grain is added. Cover and steep the grains for 30 minutes.

 

Bring 5.5 gallons of water to a boil in a large stockpot. Let it cool to 170°F.

 

After the specialty grains have steeped, remove the grain bag and dip it in the stockpot to help rinse any extra sugars off of the grains.

 

Add the water from the steeping pot to the stockpot, and allow the grain bag to drain dry in the steeping pot. You can add the reserve liquid to the main boil later.

 

Return the stockpot to a boil. Just before the liquid boils, add the malt extract. Stir thoroughly so that the extract doesn’t clump and is well integrated into the wort.

 

Bring what is now wort to a steady, rolling boil. Immediately add the first hops addition. Set the timer for 45 minutes. When the timer sounds, add the second hops addition and set the timer for 15 minutes.

 

When you add the second hops addition, add the tablet of Whirlfloc, if desired. It will help clarify the beer during fermentation.

 

Turn off the boil and add the final hops addition.

 

Once the boil is done, add the table sugar. Stir thoroughly to dissolve. At this point the beer should have reduced to about 5 gallons.

 

Cool beer to 65°F to 68°F. Transfer the liquid from the stockpot to a food-grade plastic fermenter, and pitch the yeast. Close the lid, add the airlock, and shake vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to aerate.

Ferment at the recommended temperature.

 

Once the fermentation is complete, add the dry-hopping addition. This imparts a strong aroma of hops to the finished beer. Let beer dry-hop for 7 days.

 

Transfer the beer to a bottling bucket, and add the corn sugar dissolved in ½ cup of water to the bucket. Stir thoroughly, and bottle the beer.

 

The beer should be carbonated in about 2 weeks.

Y
ou’ll need to read more about homebrew as you get into advanced brewing. Sometimes a handy guide can offer tips for troubleshooting. Maybe you want to geek out about the history of brewing. Or perhaps you are getting too good, and you want more information about opening a brewery of your own. Whatever your homebrew needs, here are some invaluable resources on the subject.

Bennet, Judith M.
Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World
. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. An insightful look into the history of brewing and the female role in the world of beer.

Calagione, Sam.
Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Entrepreneurship from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery.
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2005. A popular brewer’s story about his experience starting up his brewery. Lots of great business advice mixed in with humorous personal trials and tribulations. A must-read for anyone who wants to start up a brewery.

Hieronymus, Stan.
Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them.
Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2005. For advanced brewers who want to perfect Belgian styles, this is an in-depth journey into the hearts and minds—and recipes—of the best Belgian brewers out there.

Mosher, Randy.
Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales and World-Altering Meditations in a Glass.
Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications, 2004. A creative look at brewing, with loads of history and a description of truly unique ales. Mosher offers an approach to brewing that encourages the rebel brewer in all of us.

Nachel, Marty.
Homebrewing for Dummies.
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, 2008. It’s what you think it is: some info for those of us who need to take it slow and simple.

Papazian, Charles.
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing.
New York: HarperCollins, 2003. President of the American Homebrewers Association and the Association of Brewers, this author offers everything you need to begin to brew. Recipes, charts, and guidelines for all styles are found within these pages.

Snyder, Stephen.
The Brewmaster’s Bible: The Gold Standard for Home Brewers.
New York: HarperCollins, 1997. This is for the beginner and more advanced brewer. The book has loads of recipes; style definitions; and detailed analyses of yeast, water, grains, adjuncts, and more.

Brew Your Own
(
www.byo.com
). The leading magazine for people who want to brew their own beer at home. It covers the entire hobby, from simple how-to tips to more advanced technical articles on brewing fine beer. Regular columns include “Tips from the Pros,” “Style of the Month,” “Recipe Exchange,” and “Help Me, Mr. Wizard.”

Zymurgy
(
www.beertown.org
). Published by the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), a division of the Brewers Association, this bimonthly is for the brewer who has a few beers under his or her belt. Topical and timely, it stays on top of the trends, provides good recipe development suggestions, and publishes a timeline of beer competitions for when you’re a good enough homebrewer to say, “Hey, my beer rocks. Somebody should give me an award for this.” Free with membership to the AHA (
www.beertown.org/homebrewing/membership.html
).

Beer Tools
(
www.beertools.com
). Great resources for brewers, including a recipe generator, a recipe calculator, and online brewing tutorials.
BX Beer Depot
(
www.bxbeerdepot.com
). Offers everything from kits to ingredients to equipment. Great pictures!

Homebrewers Outpost
(
www.homebrewers.com
). Brew and winemaking supplies.

More Beer
(
www.morebeer.com
). Absolutely everything for beer making.
White Labs Pure Brewers Yeast
(
www.whitelabs.com
). Where the real brewers go to get their yeast.

Now you’re really living it! You’ve fully incorporated beer into your life. If we knew you, we would be friends. In fact, do share your brews with us if you can. Trading homebrews with the neighbors is a bit better than sharing sugar. There is no better way to know beer than by creating it. You’ll learn more from your homebrew batch than from a million books, so get your tools ready and begin the exercise. We dub you “homebrewer.”

Fill with mingled cream and amber,
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chambers of my brain.
Quaintest thoughts—queerest fancies
Come to life and fade away;
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.