The freedom to experiment and explore are the qualities that attract many into the homebrewing hobby. In fact, homebrewers oftentimes lead the way in style and flavor-combination development. Which in turn leads to award-winning brews.
In this Homebrew Spotlight, award-winning homebrewer Eric Wentling shares one of his favorite recipes. Eric is a BJCP National ranked judge, and has been homebrewing for 26 years since his mother taught him the ropes! He is also a founding member and president of Jack Of All Brews Homebrew Club in the Southwest Metro area of the Twin Cities in Minnesota.
About this brew, Eric says, “I brewed this for my 40th birthday. At first it was a little hot and not as complex as I had hoped. I lost track of the box of bottles for about a year and dug it out last year to try again. I won a coveted blue ribbon in the Minnesota State Fair Homebrew Competition 2015 with this batch!”
Of course, blue-ribbon brews don’t happen without fantastic ingredients. BSG Handcraft is proud to be able to be the distributor of quality ingredients like many of those in Eric’s recipe. Thanks to Eric for sharing his story and recipe and to all homebrewers for doing what you do. Brew on!
40 Isn’t Old Ale
Batch Size: 6 gallons
OG: 1.094
19 lbs Crisp Maris Otter
12 oz Crisp Crystal Dark 77L
4 oz Crisp Black
1 lb Dark candy sugar syrup (90L)
Pilgrim hop (9%AA) 2.25 oz (67 IBU)
English Ale yeast
Mash in all grains at 152 for 1 hour.
Step up to 168 for mash-out.
Bring to a boil, then boil 30 minutes.
Add hops and boil another 60 minutes.
Ferment at 68 degrees until no longer bubbling in airlock. You might want a blow off tube for this one in the first few days!
Transfer to secondary fermenter and age for 2-6 weeks.