Craft Brew: 50 Homebrew Recipes from the World's Best Craft Breweries

260 Pages·2016·36.9 MB·English

by  Ferguson

Craft Brew
50 homebrew recipes from the world’s best craft breweries
EUAN FERGUSON
Contents
Introduction
Equipment
Ingredients
Brewing your own beer
How to follow these recipes
Wheat, saison & sour
Red, amber & rye
Pale ale, IPA & lager
Stout, porter & black
Brown, Belgian, bitter & strong
Glossary of terms
Index
Breweries
ENGLAND
The Kernel Brewery: EXPORT INDIA PORTER
Camden Town Brewery: INDIA HELLS LAGER
Beavertown Brewery: SMOG ROCKET
Brew by Numbers: 01|01 CITRA SAISON
Weird Beard Brew Co: BORING BROWN BEER
Thornbridge Brewery: KIPLING
Dark Star Brewing Company: ESPRESSO
Siren Craft Brew: UNDERCURRENT
Burning Sky Artisan Brewers and Blenders: SAISON À LA PROVISION
Marble Brewery: MANCHESTER BITTER
SCOTLAND
Brewdog: PUNK IPA
Williams Bros Brewing Co: 80/-
IRELAND
Brú: RUA
Trouble Brewing: HIDDEN AGENDA
WALES
The Celt Experience: SILURES
USA
Brooklyn Brewery: SORACHI ACE
Bruery Terreux: BERET
Anchor Brewing: ANCHOR STEAM
Saint Arnold Brewing Compay: BLUE ICON
Stillwater Artisanal: OF LOVE & REGRET
Evil Twin: BIKINI BEER
Gigantic Brewing Co: GINORMOUS
Lagunitas Brewing Company: LITTLE SUMPIN’ SUMPIN’
Boneyard Beer: NOTORIOUS
Firestone Walker Brewing Company: UNION JACK
Oskar Blues Brewery: DALE’S PALE ALE
Russian River Brewing Company: RON MEXICO
Deschutes Brewery: BLACK BUTTE PORTER
Ninkasi Brewing Company: OATIS
Odell Brewing Company: CUTTHROAT PORTER
Rogue Ales: HAZELNUT BROWN NECTAR
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project: ORIGINS
DENMARK
Mikkeller: CREAM ALE
To Øl: BLACK BALL PORTER
NORWAY
Nøgne Ø: #100
Lervig Aktiebryggerie: RYE IPA
SWEDEN
Omnipollo: 4:21 RASPBERRY SMOOTHIE IPA
ITALY
Baladin: OPEN WHITE
Brewfist: CATERPILLAR
Birrificio del Ducato: WINTERLUDE
ESTONIA
Põhjala: ODENSHOLM
GERMANY
GERMANY
Freigeist: KÖPENICKIADE
NETHERLANDS
Brouwerij De Molen: SPANNING & SENSATIE
AUSTRALIA
Mountain Goat Beer: HIGHTAIL ALE
Young Henrys: NATURAL LAGER
Two Birds Brewing: SUNSET ALE
NEW ZEALAND
8 Wired Brewing: SAISON SAUVIN
Three Boys Brewery: WHEAT
Yeastie Boys: DIGITAL IPA
Renaissance Brewing: STONECUTTER
Introduction
Why brew your own beer? After all, pubs are full of it; the shelves
of bottle shops groan under the weight of all those lovely stouts,
pale ales and lagers. Can you really make it better than a
professional? The answer to that is: maybe, maybe not, but it
doesn’t really matter. Brewing your own beer is fun, satisfying
and creative.
The life-affirming qualities of fermented grain have been known to humans
since at least 9000BC, and today it’s the world’s most popular alcoholic
beverage. There’s been a lot of excited talk about a ‘renaissance’ or ‘revolution’
in beer, which might seem odd, given that it never went away. But it’s the way
we think about beer that’s changing: its versatility, taste, strength, potential, even
its place in society. At the heart of this is what’s come to be known as craft beer.
What is craft beer?
‘Craft’. Does that word in front actually mean anything? Some people say craft
brewers have a small output. Well, compared to a brand like Budweiser, perhaps
they do. But Lagunitas, for instance, produced 600,000 barrels of beer in 2014 at
its California site. Other people think craft brewers are all independent. For the
most part, that’s true: craft beer lovers will tell you that a brew free of the taint
of big money tastes much sweeter. Others claim that craft beer has in-your-face
flavours and cancel-tomorrow ABVs, and is full of ingredients that don’t belong
anywhere near beer, like foraged herbs or grapefruit or tonka beans. But try
Marble’s Manchester Bitter, a modern interpretation of an old, old style, which
sits down beside you for a gentle cuddle rather than whacking you over the head:
things become less clear-cut. So let’s make our own definition – craft beer is
about values over volume, it’s about spirit over finance, it’s about soul over
cynicism. If that sounds like the sort of thing you like, then craft beer is for you.
And this book will help you not only become a craft beer drinker but a craft beer
brewer. Homebrewing is an integral part of the craft beer revolution – most
commercial craft brewers started making it at home and there’s still a close
connection between them, their product and the people who drink it.
The world’s best breweries
All the recipes here come direct from the world’s most exciting, groundbreaking,
fearless and uncompromising breweries. Take inspiration: having a go at
Mikkeller’s Cream Ale or Gigantic’s Ginormous imperial IPA is much more
enticing than making plain old generic versions. Start with something simple and
move on when you feel like you’re getting to grips with the techniques and you
understand your equipment. And when you get more confident, use the recipes
as springboards to dive off into your own creations – more/fewer/different hops
at different stages, a touch of roasted malt or rye or oatmeal, complementary
ingredients like fruit, herbs, spices, tea, chocolate, vanilla, coffee… You’re only
limited by your imagination.
Kit, extract and all-grain
Anyone can buy kits that contain everything to make beer. (Well, a sort-of beer.)
Open a packet of mixed malt-and-hop extract, pour it in a bucket with some
water, wait a while, drink: more or
less, that’s it. But you can also buy
microwaveable meals and flatpack
furniture – it doesn’t mean you should.
You may get a passable approximation
of a distant relative of beer from a kit,
but it will lack life and will provide a
mere droplet of the enjoyment that
comes from brewing from scratch. The
next progression from kit brewing is to
use dried malt extract in place of
fermentable grain: extract brewing
uses a soluble powder or syrupy
substance in the mashing stage. This
can lead to decent beer, and many
homebrew journeys begin this way.
It’s easier, certainly, but will probably
leave you feeling like you’re missing
out on the mistakes, trials and triumphs
of real brewing. This book
recommends taking the plunge and
going all-grain from the start. You’ll
learn heaps from your misses and
miscalculations. So here, all recipes
are all-grain – using real malt and real
hops. It involves a bit more work, but
it’s worth it.