Monday, October 24, 2005

Aunt Mabel

I was just about weaned on red wine during my childhood in Spain, but since moving from Newtown to the mountains the best part of four years ago, I've gone all bucolic and taken to growing my own vegetables and brewing my own beer. By the time the bird flu hits I'll be just about sorted! Anyway, here's a particularly delicious brew I downloaded off the net some time ago (the link appears to be dead now, sadly). More of a winter beer, but the longer it is stored the better it will be.

1. Aunt Mabel's Blueberry Ale
A fresh amber ale with an unquestionable blueberry flavour.

Beer Category: NOVELTY
OG: 1048 FG: 1018

Ingredients:
1.5kg Morgan's Pale Unhopped Extract
1kg Morgan's Caramalt Master Blend
1kg Morgan's Beer Enhancer Master Blend
40g Northern Brewer Hops (hops1)
15g Fuggles Hops (hops 2)
1kg Fresh Frozen Blueberries or
60ml Blueberry Fruit Extract
1 Sachet Morgan's ale yeast
Sugar for bottling


Method:
Add around 500g of Pale Unhopped Extract to 4 litres of boiling water. Boil with hops 1 in a bag for 45 minutes. Switch off heat, add hops 2 and frozen blueberries or fruit extract and allow to stand for 10 minutes.Note, if using frozen fruit it is wise to neutralize fruit pectins by preheating mashed berries with a pectic enzyme to prevent a possible haze.

Strain off fruit and hops and add remaining malt and stir to dissolve. Pour into fermenter and make up to 23 litres with cold water. once temperature is below 30C, add yeast and allow to ferment between 22 and 30C.

Bottle as normal once fully fermented after first priming bottles with sugar.
WARNING - Do not bottle until fermentation is complete ( SG 1005 or below) adding only the correct amount of sugar to bottles otherwise, over gassed bottles could explode.

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