Apple Ale

Based on Charlie P's excelent "Elbro Nerkte Brown Ale" (Also, my first brew "Embiggining Brown Ale") this is an excelent first experimental brew. I have several friends who have had great succes with this as their first attempt at homebrewing.

The hardest part of this recipe is finding the "Apple Syrup". I will be adding information on it here as soon as I can find my last bottle of it. Basically it's a syrup made from Brown Syrup and Apples, I found it at a local health food store. Next fall I plan on experimenting with using fresh apples instead, for anyone interested I plan on starting with 4-5 pounds of smashed apple added after the boil but before the wort cools.

The Recipe:

Recipe name: Apple Ale
Level of Difficulty: Intermediate
Style of Recipe: Ale

Recipe Ingredients:
7 Lbs. Dark Plain malt extract Syrup
1/2 Lb. Crystal malt
1/4 Lb. Black Patent malt
2 oz. Fuggles hops (Boiling)
12 Oz. Apple Syrup
1/2 oz. Cascade hops (finishing)
4 tsp. gypsum (optional)
Ale Yeast
3/4 cup Corn Sugar (Priming)

METHOD: Crack the malts and add them to 2 gallons of cold water. Heat the water and malts to boiling, removing the malts when the water starts to boil. Add malt extract and boiling hops and boil for 45 minutes to an hour. Add finishing hops and apple syrup during last 10 minutes of the boil. Sparge into fermenter and cold water. Add additional water to reach 5 gallons total. Pitch yeast as soon as temperature will allow. When fermentation is complete boil Corn Sugar in 1 pint of water and add to wort before bottling. This recipe ferments very quickly and is normally drinkable 2 weeks after boiling, though it will improve with age.

MODIFICATIONS: My second batch I made a few small modifications to the recipe and method. I was more carefull about how I steeped the grains, my normal method now is to add the grains to 2 gallons of 150-degree F (66 C) water and hold for 30 minutes. I also used 24 oz. of Apple Syrup and added approximately 1/4-1/2 tsp. of Cinnamon to the end of the boil.

Batch Notes

Batch 1

My first batch of this beer was brewed around the begining of June 1996. Being in a hurry to get back to brewing after a month off I didn't even bother with liquid yeast. I did howerver pitch my yeast the same night I brewed which is something I don't normally do unless I use my wort chiller. Because of this the entire batch literally fermented overnight! Even so I let it sit for almost a week before bottling. Since this recipe matures in the bottle so quickly two weeks later we enjoyed it for the 4th of July.

It was very good, and I got a lot of compliments from people because of it. However, it did not age well at all. By the begining of Augest when I decided to brew another batch to take back to college with me the first batch had lost all apple taste, and instead just tasted watery.

Batch 2

The second batch included the changes mentioned in modifications above. After about two to three weeks in the bottle I took my first taste. And was tempted to throw the entire batch out. Luckily I kept it around "just in case" and about a month and a half later with no other beer in the house gave it another try. Wow! Those slight modifications changed it from a quick but short lived beer into a slow great beer. I have received more compliments on this brew than all of my others put together. If you do try the modifications please let it sit for over a month in the bottles before serving!

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