A BEER TO CALL YOUR OWN

IF one was designing a beer recipe for the beginning brewer, it would probably be good-tasting (not too sweet, not too bitter) and as fool-proof as possible. Just Brew It club co-founder Norman Farrell’s Dark Yummy Beer recipe comes close to the mark. "It’s a very reproducible, good-tasting beer," said fellow Bartlesville club member Tim Harper.

NORMAN FARRELL’S DARK YUMMY BEER
3.3 pounds of hopped dark malt extract 4 pounds light dry malt extract 1 ounce Tettnanger hop pellets (4.O% alpha) boiled 45 minutes 2 teaspoons Irish moss 1/2 ounce Tettnanger hop pellets (4.0% alpha) boiled 10 minutes 1 pack Nottingham dry yeast or Wyeast 1098 British ale yeast 3/4 cup corn sugar (for bottling)

Place two gallons cold water in boil pot. Heat water to boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add malt extracts. Stir until fully dissolved. Continue to heat to boil, stirring occasionally, taking care to avoid boiling over. Add the first ounce of hops and stir. (The wort, or unfermented beer, should boil vigorously at this point.)

Boil for thirty minutes, then add the Irish moss (it aids in the clumping of proteins so the beer clears better in the bottle). Boil another five minutes and add second portion of hops. Boil for another ten minutes, then add the last portion of hops.

Quickly cool the wort by using either a wort chiller or covering your boil pot and setting it in a cold water bath until cool. Soak everything that will contact your cold wort in a bleach solution for ten to fifteen minutes, then rinse with tap water. Pour the wort into a fermenter; top up to five gallons with cold water. Cool until temperature is below 80° F., then stir, slosh, or shake to incorporate oxygen into wort to ensure good yeast growth. When cooled and oxygenated, add your yeast starter and attach the fermentation lock. Signs of fermentation should be evident within twelve to twenty-four hours. Give it about a week to ten days to work out at room temperature, then bottle.

To bottle, sanitize and rinse bottles. Gently siphon beer into a large sanitized container. In a separate container, bring a cup of water and the corn sugar to a boil. Add to the container of beer and gently stir. Boil bottle caps for five minutes. Siphon beer into bottles, leaving an inch or so of head space. Secure the caps and move bottled beer to a dark location at room temperature. Age for two weeks (four is better), and enjoy.