Dear Replicator: I used to live in Virginia and could always purchase Red Hook-Double black Stout and North Coast Brewing Co. - Old Rasputin. Since I have moved to SW Florida I cannot get these beers. I am an all grain brewer and would LOVE to try your all grain recipes for these two beers. George Hutton SW Florida
George, Old Rasputin from North Coast Brewing Company in Ft. Bragg, California, is a Russian Imperial Stout, and the Gold Medal winner at the World Beer Championships from 1996 to 1998! This beer will keep you warm on the coldest winter nights, with an alcohol content of 9% by volume! A beer this big is difficult to brew, so I went directly to the source at North Coast and talked to their founder and head brewer, Mark Ruedrich about making this beer. Mark started homebrewing after living in England for a few years in the mid 70’s and being influenced by the Campaign for Real Ales (CAMRA). Mark has homebrewed extensively and furthered his brewing education with seminars and short coursed at University of California Davis. Mark started North Coast Brewing Company in 1988. Old Rasputin was added to their lineup in 1995, and has been a big hit ever since. Old Rasputin is a giant beer, being true to style, with a beginning specific gravity of 1.090, and a huge hop bitterness of about 85 to 95 IBU’s. Old Rasputin also has a big aromatic hop profile. Mark has developed Old Rasputin to have a balanced malt profile, minimizing the harsh flavors by limiting the black malts to only .25 of a pound, and using other medium dark malts like chocolate and brown malt to obtain the dark color. As with any high gravity beer, it is critical that you use extra yeast (make about a quart starter or use 2 yeast packages), and aerate heavily to give the yeast the ability to ferment the maximum amount of malt sugars. You can get more information about North Coast Brewing at their web site, http://www.ncoast-brewing.com , or call them at 707-964-2739 .
Old Rasputin Imperial Stout
(5 gallon, extract with grains)
OG=1.090 FG=1.022 IBU’S = 85-95
Alcohol 9.0% by volume
Ingredients
9.9 lbs. Coopers Light malt extract syrup
1.0 lb. Hugh Baird Carastan Malt
0.5 lb. Hugh Baird Brown Malt
0.5 lb. Chocolate malt
1.0 lb. Crystal Malt 120L
0.25 lb. Roasted Black Barley
22.7 AAU Cluster hops (bittering hop) (2.75 oz of 7.0% alpha acid)
9.0 AAU Northern Brewer hops (aroma hop) (1.0 oz of 9.0% alpha acid)
8.8 AAU Centennial hops (aroma hop) (1.0 oz of 8.8% 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 Steep crushed malts in 3 gallons of water at 150º for 30 minutes. Remove grains from wort, add malt syrup and bring to a boil. Add Cluster (bittering) hops, Irish moss and boil for 60 minutes. Add aroma hops (Northern Brewer and Centennial) 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 2-3 weeks and Enjoy! Yes, that’s right, this beer so well balanced that North Coast releases it to the public in less than a month! All grain option: Replace Light syrup 14 lbs. Pale malt. Mash all your grains at 152º for 45 minutes. Collect enough wort to boil for 90 minutes and have a 5.5 gallon yield. Decrease bittering hops to 2.75 oz. of Cluster to account for increased hop extraction efficiency in a full boil. The remainder of the recipe is the same as the extract.
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Mac & Jack's African Amber Ale.
Dear Replicator: I travel around the country three or four days a week and thus get to sample some great (and not so great) brews. Last week, while in Seattle, I happened across wonderful nectar called "Mac and Jack's African Amber Ale". Seems it's only available in kegs. I would be forever grateful if you could help me clone this fine ale.
Craig Henrichsen, Houston, Texas
Craig,
Living in Washington State, I am fortunate to have access to this beer in many of the local pubs, and I too love this beer. True to the Northwest, this is a beer generously blessed with the flavor of the hop flower. The Yakima valley in Washington State is one of the largest hop growing regions in the entire world, (with about 70 percent of total hop production in the USA) so it seems like all beers in the Northwest really focus on the hop flavor in their beer. I spoke to Ken Nabors, the operations manager and head brewer for Mac & Jack’s. Ken says this beer is a “big, full bodied amber beer” that does not readily fit into any traditional beer style. Ken was a bit shy as to giving details about ingredients and other brewing specifics they use for this beer, but he did say Mac & Jack’s has a citrus hop flavor up front, followed by a floral hoppy finish, which they achieve by dry-hopping in each individual keg. Ken also suggested using a yeast that produces a malty flavor in the beer. Mac and Jack’s also ages their beer for a few weeks before sending them out to the local pubs, and they keep a close watch on the kegs they have out, to try to have only beer in its prime out in the pubs. You can get more information about Mac & Jacks by calling them at 425-558-9697 .
Mac & Jack’s African Amber
(5 gallon, extract with grains)
OG=1.060 FG=1.018 IBU’S = 38 Alcohol 5.5% by Volume.
Ingredients
6.6 lbs. Muntons Light malt extract syrup
0.5 lbs. Muntons light dry malt extract
1.0 lb. Munich malt
0.5 lb. Crystal Malt 80L
0.5 lb. Carapils (dextrin) Malt
9.3 AAU Centennial hops (bittering hop) (1.0 oz of 9.3% alpha acid)
6.2 AAU Cascade hops (aroma hop) (.75 oz of 8.3% alpha acid)
4.1 AAU Cascade hops (dry hop – pellets work best) (0.5 oz of 8.3% alpha acid)
1 tsp Irish moss for 60 min
White Labs WLP005 British Ale yeast or Wyeast 1098 British Ale yeast
O.75 cup of corn sugar for priming.
Step by step
Steep crushed malts in 3 gallons of water at 150º for 30 minutes. Remove grains from wort, add malt syrup, malt powder, and bring to a boil. Add Centennial (bittering) hops, Irish moss and boil for 60 minutes. Add aroma hops (Cascade) 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. Add the 0.5 oz of Cascade pellets to dry hop your beer for about 5 –7 days, then bottle your beer and enjoy! All grain option: Replace Light syrup and powder with 9 lbs. British 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 Centennial to account for increased hop extraction efficiency in a full boil. The remainder of the recipe is the same as the extract. Don’t forget to dry hop!