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Alright On With The Brews
As I mentioned previously not only do I brew these beers at home but I brewed them at my brew pub Boot Strap Brew Pub; so they are now not just Big Robb favorites but also many of the locals from around these parts love them as well and you are about to find out why…
A Couple of House Keeping Items to Start:
- 5 Gallon Batches: All of these home brew recipes produce 5 gallons of beer!
- A Word on Yeast: As for yeast you will see I am a huge dry yeast fan, Fermentis Safale – US-05 and US-04 are my go do yeasts.If I am brewing an american beer it is US-05 I use, if I am brewing a European beer for the most part it is US-04 I use, although I do enjoy Nottingham ale yeast also.Feel free to use what you like for yeast in these recipes, I have mixed and matched and the home brew has turned out good in all instances. Changing the yeast can be fun and can add a whole new element to the beer you brew.
NOTE: If you would be oh so kind to Big Robb and when you go to brew up any of my recipes below, if it is possible consider using my recommended vendors for ordering your ingredients (grains, hops, yeast, etc)… those fine lads toss me a few pennies if ya do! Cheer! 🙂 Check them out here!
Alright time to brew… enjoy and if I can be of help to you let me know in the comments below! Cheers
Ol’Durty (Golden Ale)
Oh ho man, one of my all time favorite recipes… the Ol’Durty! She is a golden ale, which in my opinion is just a Durty Blonde, so hence the name Ol’Durty!
Brewing Instructions:
Boil Time: 90 Minutes
Mash Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Temp: 151 fahrenheit
ABV: 5.25%
Grains:
6 lb Pilsner Malt
2 lb Munich Malt
2 lb Wheat Malt
10.5 oz CaraMunich I
Hops:
1 oz Amarillo (60 min)
1 oz Amarillo (20 min)
1 oz Amarillo (0 min)
Yeast – Fermentis Safale – US-05 (1 packet – 11.5g)
This home brew is delicious on a nice warm summer afternoon.
More Fun (Blonde Ale)
Well as the saying goes, blondes have more fun. And I can assure you that this beer lives up to her name.
This is a very nice light beer. For those of you who are new to homebrewing or who like lagers, this is the Ale that I recommend you try. Its a big hit in my brew pub, probably are biggest seller.
Brewing Instructions:
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Temp: 150 fahrenheit
ABV: 5.18 %
Grains:
8 lb Two Row (Pale Ale)
7 oz CaraRed
11 oz Wheat Malt
5 oz Dextrine (Carapils)
Hops:
0.3 oz (8.5 g) Galena (55 min)
0.3 oz (8.5 g) Cascade (25 min)
0.3 oz (8.5 g) Cascade (10 min)
0.3 oz (8.5 g) Columbus (10 min)
0.3 oz (8.5 g) Cascade (5 Min)
Yeast – Fermentis Safale – US-05 (1 packet – 11.5g)
Cousin Jimmy – IPA
Ole Cousin Jimmy… this is what I refer to as more of a traditional IPA. Meaning it is more what an IPA should be like in my personal humble opinion. It leans more towards how the British IPA’s originally were.
This IPA is very smooth and tastes great, it is not as hoppy or as bitter as many of the more modern IPA’s are. As far has home brews goes it is definitely one of my top 5 favorite that I brew and it has many raving fans at my pub.
Brewing Instructions:
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Temp: 150 – 152 fahrenheit
ABV: 6.5 %
Grains:
10 lb Two Row (Pale Ale)
1 lb Crystal / Caramel 40L
1lb Dextrine (Carapils)
Hops:
1 oz Columbus (60 min)
1 oz Columbus (5 min)
2 oz Cascade (5 min)
Yeast – Fermentis Safale – US-05 (1 packet – 11.5g)
As you can see for the hop additions, there are no where as many hops as you would think you need for an IPA. And no dry hopping required. Trust me it makes a great home brew! Enjoy the Cuz Jimmy, she is refreshing and smooth!
The G2 – Dry Irish Stout
This dry Irish stout is by far one of my favorite home brewing recipes. If I am honest I love a Guinness dry Irish stout and I tried for years to duplicate the recipe. This is as close as I came to duplicating it and I have stopped modifying the recipe. I like it as it is.
Its much higher in ABV then a Guinness coming in at 5.5% but you will not notice that in the taste, it is creamy and smooth.
Brewing Instructions:
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Temp: 148 – 150 fahrenheit
ABV: 5.5 %
Grains:
7 lb Two Row (Pale Ale)
3 lb Flaked Barley
1lb Roasted Barley
Hops:
2 oz East Kent Goldings (60 Min)
Yeast – Fermentis Safale – US-04 (1 packet – 11.5g)
Sister Sarah – Irish Red Ale
Coming in last BUT not least is my Irish Red Ale named after my younger sister… Aka Sister Sarah!
As far as favorite beers go in my pub… the more fun blonde maybe the best seller, but the Sister Sarah Irish Red Ale gets the highest ratings on untapped. It’s a excellent beer, and if you love red ales, you will love this home brew!
Brewing Instructions:
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Temp: 152 – 154 fahrenheit
ABV: 4.9%
Grains:
8 lb Marris Otter
4 oz CaraMunich II
4 oz Crystal / Caramel 120 L
4 oz Roasted Barley 300 L
7 oz Carapils / Dextrine
Hops:
1.5 oz East Kent Goldings (60 Min)
Yeast – Fermentis Safale – US-04 (1 packet – 11.5g) or Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast is very nice with this home brew also!
Time To Brew
There you have it my friend… I have given you my 5 all time favorite home brewing recipes. They are yours now. Enjoy them! And be sure to let me know in the comments section what you think of them. I always love to hear about people enjoying my recipes!
And remember when ordering your ingredients for these brews do Big Robb a favor and order from one of our recommended vendors on this site here.
Those kind fellows will then send ol”Big Robb a few pennies for sending you their way, which will then in turn allow me to keep making posts like this and perhaps buy myself the odd pour of beer! 🙂
Cheers Big Robb is out!
Thanks Sir! Keep up the great work…
Cheers Rob!
I’ve always had to go after home brews rather than something that is store-bought and factory brewed, as with a homebrew, you know exactly what you’re getting and there’s something special about it being your own creation, which is always a satisfying feeling. I wish we had more bars in the area in which I live that specializes in homebrews rather than offering the ordinary Bud Light or Millers; I always have to venture into Pittsburgh just to try things with recipes even close to what you’ve offered here on the site.
If you can find a craft brewery in your area, they are pretty much home brewers on a larger scale and their beer should be pretty fun to try! Cheers
Oh goody, my favorite subject…..beer.
I have to say that myself and a friend got into home brew a few years ago and although we mainly played with wines we were moving along nicely to beers.
Home brew was also one of the niche ideas I had back in the days of yor, but having seen your expertise and site, oh boy am I glad I steered away from it.
I would love to do this someday Brew my own Beer. This is so exciting, where do you buy the ingredients? How to figure out how much to use of each ingredient? When you first started out what did you purchase first?
You have inspired me I really want to learn how to Brew my own Beer. Thanks so much.
Best of Luck
Alex
Hey Alex, thanks for the message. Adventures in Homebrewing is where I recommend people get their ingredients and brewing equipment. Their beer kits actually come the recipe and ingredients. That link is to a review page I did on them. Cheers
I have been looking for a site to give me the best options for a beginner to start learning how to brew from home. I have a kit but I have been reluctant in beginning my first brew. I have tasted some brews that were homemade from my friend and only some of them did I enjoy. I am a beer drinker and buy American pilsner beer. I am looking for homebrew that will be close to the taste that I am accustomed to. Would the Blonde Ale be a close match to the kinds of taste that I enjoy? I also don’t quite understand the time on the Hops that are in these recipes. (I’m still a newbie) Can you provide me a little more detail of using the hops? Thank you.
Sure… the number next to the hops is the point at which you put the hop into the boil. If it has a 60 next to it and it is a 60 minute boil you would put the hop in at the start of the boil… if the hop has a 25 next to it you would put the hop in with 25 minutes left in the boil aka the 25 minute mark… etc etc… hope that makes it a bit clearer! Cheers
Hi Robb,
Been brewing for 2 years now. Started with Coopers extract stuff, and this year have been doing all grain with BIAB (7 batches of BIAB so far).
I did your G2 – Dry Irish Stout yesterday. With this recipe, I mashed with about 4 gallons of water at 60min (started at 170F and then of course temp. went down). I then sparged about 4 gallons of water (170F). Even did a mashout for 15 min @ 170F. Pre-boil was 6.85 gallons.
I got an OG of 1.043 (post boil) which I thought was low (Temp. was 20.5C, which is temp I pitched yeast – little high temp).
I was thinking maybe my hydrometer was off, as i did a hydrometer test in water at 60F, and it was 1.003.
What do you think? Do you think maybe my OG should be higher with ‘perhaps’ faulty hydrometer, and initial OG reading at 20.5C?
Love your videos!
Hey Duane! Thanks for the message and welcome to all grain! So BIAB, love it!
Tell me a bit about your system. What are you mashing in? How are you maintining the temperature during the mash.
I think your hydrometer is fine.
What was your FG?
In regards to the G2 I have modified it a few times. Where did you find the version of the recipe you are using? I now mash at about 150 F for the G2. So depending on how well your mash tun is holding its temp, you might want to next time start at 155F – 160F. If you mash to high which I have fears might be the problem then your OG can be off (lower).
Keep me posted on how it turns out, its a hard brew to mess up and my gut is it will turn out great.
Cheers!
Hi Robb,
Thanks for your reply! I used this recipe version:
Brewing Instructions:
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Time: 60 Minutes
Mash Temp: 148 – 150 fahrenheit
ABV: 5.5 %
Grains:
7 lb Two Row (Pale Ale)
3 lb Flaked Barley
1lb Roasted Barley
Hops:
2 oz East Kent Goldings (60 Min)
Yeast – Fermentis Safale – US-04 (1 packet – 11.5g)
I use my kettle as a mash tun. It isn’t the best, but I wanted to get into all grain, and trying to keep costs down initially (8 gallon SS kettle, SS immersion chiller, Propane burner). The year previous I bought fermenters, and other stuff for Coopers brewing.
So I’m not maintaining the temperature for that hour. Basically I mash in the bag at higher temp., and then after the hour it is at lower temp. I don’t bother running over to the propane burner to maintain temp. which is why my initial mash in is high at 165F-170F (keep in mind my temp. decreases rapidly when ‘doughing in’) and then goes down to 135F or so at the end of the hour.
My beers have been consistent though with higher OG (last 2 were your buddy Neubergers beers – Kolsch V3 & Pale Wheat at 1.06 and greater OG).
I just did a transfer from primary (bucket with loose lid) to secondary (plastic carboy) last night, and reading was 1.016. I’m kinda old school with that (primary to secondary).
I’ll eventually buy a better system, as my chiller is always leaking at clamp conn.
I bottle my beer as well. (Corn sugar for carbonation).
You’re right though, the beer should turn out fine as always.
Any tips in the future would be appreciated. Still learning.
Cheers
Duane from PEI
Hey Duane, sorry I missed your reply!
First off hello neighbor, PEI eh? I’m just outside of Saint John NB. 🙂
How did it turn out?
The recipe looks good. The only thing I can see is the 170 F strike temp. I hear you on the temp dropping to the mash temp over the course of the mash but two problems with that, first is that Most of the conversion happens within the first 2 minutes of the mash, I have seen trials where brewers have only mashed for 20 minutes and results were not far off. The other problem is that if the temp is to high you are risking stopping a lot of the enzymatic activity that converts the complex starches into fermentable sugars, which would account for why you did not reach FG (maybe).
I’ve been there and know exactly how tricky it is to maintain mash temp in a kettle. But I would rather have the temp close to the called for mash temp at the start of the mash verses it dropping to the appropriate temp towards the end and being to high at the start.
Couple things I use to do was wrap my kettle with a sleeping bag and pillow on top haha (obviously make sure it is not on a hot burner) and then eventually I moved to a Gatorade/water cooler for mashing which holds temps much better.
Hope this makes sense.
Keep me posted on how it turned out.
Cheers
I just want to say that Im enjoying this site. I am an experienced all grain craft brewer here on PEI. Being a retired electrical contractor I have an all electric brewing setup. I like red ales so I will be brewing the red ale recipe I saw on this site as it is a little different than the ones I have brewed. Thanks again
Hey Doug, good to hear from you man, I am just down the road from you in Saint John. Enjoy the red ale, I take it you are referring to Sister Sarah? It was always a big hit at my brew pub. Cheers man.
Big Robb,
Looking to do stove top partial mash, it’s what I got to work with at this point. I like your great memories of a blonde recipe. Could you help me with a smaller amount of grains and using some DME to to the same abv. Level of your blonde. Also will have to top up to 5 gallons with h2o.
Thanks and Get it in yaaaaaaa.
Matt
Hey Matt, sorry for the delay getting back to you, how did you make out? To convert recipes like you are suggesting the easy way to do it is with a software program like brewers friend. That will give you the more accurate calculations. If you don’t want to use a software like that these batches are 5 gallons so the quick and easy and why not give it a try method would be to simply reduce the amount of product by percentage. If you are doing 2.5 gallon batch, cut the ingredients in half (50%), etc. It won’t be perfect but close enough in Big Robb’s books. Cheers