Oh, the weather outside is frightful!
Picture this -
The Northeast is covered under a blanket of heavy white snow by a passing nor’easter. A particular obnoxious mix of slush and snow have been blanketing your area for the last 24 hours. Not too much of stretch of the imagination, I’m sure. Your place of employment has closed for the day, but your work is far from done.
Bundled up, and with snow shovel at the ready, you exit your house to brave the frigid cold and shovel your wife’s car and driveway out from under a mountain of snow. You curse the vicious snow demon that has sent yet another blizzard your way as you once again ponder why you didn’t bring your snow blower in for that tuneup this fall like your wife reminded you to do at least a dozen times since August.
What feels like a lifetime later, having managed to avoid roving gangs of deviants hurling snowballs and being eaten by the mythical yeti, you drag your disheveled, frosty mass back in to the house. You have won the day – for now. The driveway has been cleared, but it is still snowing, and now harder. At this rate, you will need to go back out in a hour or so.
Cold, tired and sore all over, you wrestle off your snow boots and remove your nine layers of protective arctic wolverine-fur lined clothing. All you want to do is collapse in a heap on the couch and rest. You are shivering. You are wet. You are generally miserable. But strangely, you are smiling- You had the forethought to brew up a batch of spiced winter warmer!
You hobble to the kegerator, favorite beer glass in hand, and pour yourself a pint. A generous mix of malt, spice and the warming alcohol befuddles your senses, calming your nerves and loosening the knots in your spine. You think to yourself, “Good thing there isn’t any heavy machinery to operate later.”
It takes around two months to make this recipe happen. You can get away with two weeks less of that if you keg it, but a little extra cold conditioning never hurt anything either. Get on this ASAP if you want it ready for bad weather.
Base recipe -
11.5 lbs. English Maris Otter
1 lbs Simpsons Medium Crystal
.25 lbs Simpsons Chocolate Malt
2 oz Willamette (60 min)
1 oz Willamette (10 min)
WYEAST 1728 SCOTTISH ALE YEAST
This is sort of an Old Ale recipe, which I have borrowed from Northern Brewers Winter Warmer recipe. It is a simple recipe, all put together, and easily obtainable via Northern Brewer. If you prefer, you can even mess around with the ingredients as you see fit. Remember – you want a recipe that emphasizes malt with enough bite to create a warming alcohol effect.
A single infusion is perfect for these grains, and you will want to mash at about 152 degrees for 60 min. I use a ratio of 1.25 quarts of water to every pound of grain.
Lauter and sparge, collecting six gallons of wort. You are going to boil this six gallons down to five gallons over the course of your boil.
The spice additions are fairly simple. With the exception of chamomile flowers, you may have everything you need in your kitchen cabinets. For better results, grind your own whole spices.
7 inches Cinnamon Bark
3/4 tsp Freshly Ground Nutmeg
3/4 tsp Freshly Ground Clove
3/4 tsp Freshly Ground Allspice
2 Tbsp of Chamomile Flowers
Add these spices during the last five minutes of the boil.
Cool, aerate, pitch yeast. If you can pull it off, Scottish Ale Yeast ferments well at 50-60 degrees in the primary. If you can’t, try to keep this is the low 60′s to avoid the formation of esters.
Ferment in the primary for two weeks, re-rack to a secondary fermenter and cold condition for an additional two to four weeks.
If you are bottling, prime your concoction and store in a cool, dark place for an additional two weeks. If you are kegging, pressurize cold and wait at least 48 hours before serving.