ale

SMOTY Ale Recipe

Apr 26, 2017

SMOTY Ale (23 Litres)

This recipe produces a flavoursome dark ale with lifted herbal/floral aromatics to complement the roasted malt character. Simply combine both the Dark Ale and Australian Pale Ale beer kits with a generous amount of East Kent Golding as a late hop addition. It may be fermented using the yeast supplied with the kit or ale yeast of your choice. Make it in February or in any other month, if you like.

Ingredients

1.7kg Australian Pale Ale
1.7kg Coopers Dark Ale
10g East Kent Goldings (EKG) Hop pellets
20g East Kent Goldings (EKG) Hop pellets – steep
Both sachets of yeast or ale yeast of your choice
Dextrose Corn Sugar or Carbonation Drops

Features:

Colour: Brown
Body: Heavy
Bitterness: High
Approx. Alcohol Level: 4.9% ABV
Naturally Carbonated: Natural

Instructions:

STEP 1: Mix

Bring 2 litres of water to the boil, add 10g of hops and let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove pan from the heat, add 20g of hops, fit a lid and let steep for another 30mins. Strain the hop tea into a fermenting tub with the beer kits and dissolve. Top up with cool water to the 23 litre mark, stir, add yeast and fit the lid. Try to ferment in the range of 18C–21C. Bottle when the specific gravity is stable over 24hrs.

STEP 2: Brew

Ale yeast strains are generally the most reliable, fermenting quickly and effectively. Ale yeast is supplied with most beer kits. Although Ale yeast can ferment at very high temperatures (as high as 40C), the closer the brew is to 21C the cleaner the flavour and aroma.

STEP 3: Bottle

We recommend the use of PET bottles or reusable glass bottles designed for storing beer. Bottles need to be primed so that secondary fermentation (producing the gas in the bottle) can take place

Priming

Add carbonation drops at the rate of 1 per 330ml/375ml bottle and 2 per 740ml/750ml bottle. Sugar or dextrose may be used at the rate of 8g per litre (approximately 6g of sugar to a level metric teaspoon). Store the bottles out of direct sunlight at 18C or above for at least 1 week while secondary fermentation occurs. Your beer can be consumed after 2 weeks. Bottles may be stored (conditioned) for long periods of time (3 months or more). Conditioning should improve flavour, reduce the size of the bubbles and make the yeast sediment more compacted aroma.

STEP 4: Enjoy!

While we recommend leaving your bottles to condition at or above 18C for at least 2 weeks - you may find that your brew benefits from further conditioning. Bitterness will soften with bottle age. Ales may be served cloudy or bright - depending on the style - and normally have less carbonation than Lagers.