Dear Replicator: We have a top notch brewery in Belgrade, Montana called Big Hole Brewing. They make my favorite beer of all: "Wisdom" which is a cream ale. All the Big Hole beers take a Native American theme from this area in Montana, that could be a story in itself. I would sure be interested in a clone recipe for Wisdom, if you have time as I have had slim luck brewing cream ales, and Wisdom is nearly an art form. Kevin Brownlee Bozeman, Montana _______________________________________________________________________________________ Kevin, I talked to the head brewer at Big Hole, Doug Frey about “Wisdom”. Wisdom is a relatively new beer for them, with production starting last fall, so he was pleased to hear that you love it. This beer is a departure from their normal big Belgian beers that are the majority of what they produce. Doug said they produced this beer for the lighter crowd, and described this beer as an easy drinker. They use only 2-row pale malt in the grain bill, and keep the hopping level low to give the beer a balance more toward the malty side. If this were a lager beer, you would probably compare it to a German style Pilsner. This is a great beer to make for warm weather drinking. Doug suggested keeping a close eye on fermenting temperatures on this beer. You want to avoid temperatures above 70 degrees to keep the fruitiness down on this beer. Doug also mentioned that they have fairly hard water in Belgrade, so if you have fairly soft water you may want to add some “Burton Style” brewing salts that should be available from your local home brewing shop. I have suggested that you use Dry malt extract rather than syrup, since the dry malt extract tends to give you a slightly more pale color to your beer. You can get more information about Big Hole Brewing at 406-388-7953 . “Wisdom” Cream Ale (5 gallon, extract with grains) OG=1.053 FG=1.014 IBU’S = 14-16 Alcohol 5.1% by volume Ingredients 6.0 Lbs. Light Dry Malt Extract 4.0 AAU Tettnanger hops (bittering hop) (0.90 oz of 4.5% alpha acid) 7.4 AAU Saaz hops (aroma hop) (1.0 oz of 7.4% alpha acid) 1 tsp Irish moss for 60 min White Labs WLP002 English Ale yeast or Wyeast 1968 London Ale Yeast O.75 cup of corn sugar for priming. Step by step Since there are no grains in this recipe, it is a bit simpler to make. Add the malt extract to 3 gallons of hot water and bring to a boil. Add Tettnanger (bittering) hops, Irish moss and boil for 60 minutes. Add Saaz (aroma) hops for the last 2 minutes of the boil. When done boiling, strain out hops, add wort to 2 gallons cool water in a sanitary fermenter, and top off with cool water to 5.5 gallons. Cool the wort to 80º, aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. Allow the beer to cool over the next few hours to 68º-70º, and ferment for 10 to 14 days. Bottle your beer, age for a minimum 2-3 weeks and Enjoy! All grain option: Replace the Light Malt extract with 10 lbs. Pale malt. Mash all your grains at 155º for 45 minutes. Collect enough wort to boil for 90 minutes and have a 5.5-gallon yield. Decrease bittering hops to .75 oz. of Tettnanger to account for increased hop extraction efficiency in a full boil. The remainder of the recipe is the same as the extract. _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ Dear Replicator, I have now tasted the best Porter ever. This Porter alone has thrust my wife and me deep into the world of home brewing. I am hoping you can give me a hint as to the recipe used at The Fredericksburg Brewing Co. in Fredericksburg Texas. Thank you. Lonnie and Yvonne McAllister Highlands, Texas _______________________________________________________________________________________ Lonnie, Porter has always been my favorite style of beer, and this one sounds great! Every home brewer needs some inspiration, and it sounds like this beer is yours. Rick Green, the Head brewer at Fredericksburg Brewing co. told me it was one of their more popular beers. Rick was also generous enough to take some time during brew day to tell me how they make this Porter, including giving out the full recipe. This porter would fit into the “Brown Porter” style, which means it is more on the mellow side than the assertive side in comparison to a “Robust Porter” in alcohol content, maltiness (especially of the darker grains), and hop bitterness. The malt bill has 6 different grains in it, lending to some nice complex flavors. They hop to a low bitterness level, at about 15 IBU’s this beer is below the suggested minimum (20 IBU’s) for the style, which helps the maltiness come out even more. Like so many breweries, Rick limits the number of yeast strains used in the brewery, so he uses the White Labs California Ale yeast on this beer because it is able to make a large variety of beer styles. This yeast gives the beer a clean flavor that helps keep the beer well balanced. For more information on this beer and the Fredericksburg brewery, go to their web site at http://www.yourbrewery.com , or call them at 830-997-1646 Fredericksburg Porter (5 gallon, extract with grains) OG=1.054 FG=1.012 IBU’S = 14-16 Alcohol 5.5% by volume Ingredients 6.6 lbs. Northwestern Gold malt extract syrup 10 ounces Hugh Baird Carastan Malt 10 ounces Munich Malt 7 ounces Chocolate malt 5 ounces Crystal Malt 120L 1 ounce Roasted Black Barley 9 AAU Northern Brewer hops (bittering hop) (0.33 oz of 9.0% alpha acid) 2.5 AAU Willamette hops (flavor hop) (0.5 oz of 5.0% alpha acid) 2.4 AAU Goldings hops (aroma hop) (0.5oz of 4.8% alpha acid) 1 tsp Irish moss for 60 min White Labs WLP001 California Ale yeast or Wyeast 1056 American Ale O.75 cup of corn sugar for priming. Step by step Since there are no grains in this recipe, it is a bit simpler to make. Add the malt extract to 3 gallons of hot water and bring to a boil. Add Tettnanger (bittering) hops, Irish moss and boil for 60 minutes. Add Saaz (aroma) hops for the last 2 minutes of the boil. When done boiling, strain out hops, add wort to 2 gallons cool water in a sanitary fermenter, and top off with cool water to 5.5 gallons. Cool the wort to 80º, aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. Allow the beer to cool over the next few hours to 68º-70º, and ferment for 10 to 14 days. Bottle your beer, age for a minimum 2-3 weeks and Enjoy! All grain option: Replace the Light Malt extract with 10 lbs. Pale malt. Mash all your grains at 155º for 45 minutes. Collect enough wort to boil for 90 minutes and have a 5.5-gallon yield. Decrease bittering hops to .75 oz. of Tettnanger to account for increased hop extraction efficiency in a full boil. The remainder of the recipe is the same as the extract.
