Mountain Brew

5 gallons/19 L, extract with soda pop; OG = 1.046; FG = 1.006; IBU = 19; SRM = 4; ABV = 5.2%

Ingredients:

• 4.0 lbs. (1.8 kg) Muntons Extra Light dried malt extract
• 2.3 gallons (8.7 L) Mountain Dew (24 12-oz. cans of the soda)
• 4.5 AAU Northern Brewer hops (45 mins) (0.5 oz./14 g of 9% alpha acids)
• 2.25 AAU Northern Brewer hops (15 mins) (0.25 oz./7 g of 9% alpha acids)
• 1/2 tsp Irish moss
• 1/4 tsp yeast nutrients
• Danstar Manchester yeast
• 1.0 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by step:

Pour Mountain Dew into a clean, sanitized brew bucket. (The soda should not have anything growing in it, so there’s no need to boil. You may want to wipe the lips of the cans with a paper towel soaked in sanitizing solution, though. Let it sit in the bucket (covered) as you boil the wort so the level of carbonation will decrease.) Bring 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) of water to a boil and stir in malt extract. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops at the times indicated in the recipe. Add Irish moss with 15 minutes left in the boil. Cool wort and pour into Mountain Brew. (Watch for excessive foaming.) Top up to 5 gallons (19 L) with water. Aerate (again, watching for excessive foaming) and pitch yeast. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) for 1 week. Rack to secondary and age for 2 weeks, Bottle with corn sugar.

All-grain option:

Next time you make a light all-grain beer, such as a Kölsch, cream ale or light pale ale, make an extra 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) of wort. Combine 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) cooled wort with Mt. Dew and water to make 5 gallons (19 L).

(Adapted from Reader Recipe by Jason Pavento, found in Homebrew Nation, March-April 2002, p. 8.)