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White Russian Imperial Pale Ale

5 Gallon, extract and specialty grain; OG: 1.070 to 1.075

Ingredients:

• 0.5 lb. cara-pils malt
• 0.5 lb. malted wheat
• 8 lbs. extra light unhopped dry malt extract
• 2 oz. Target hop pellets (8% alpha acid), for 45 min.
• 1 oz. Styrian Goldings hop pellets (4% alpha acid), 0.5 oz. for 15 min., 0.5 oz. after boil
• 10 to 14 g. dry ale yeast or liquid culture (Wyeast 1098)
• 5/8 cup corn sugar
• 0.5 lb. dark roast coffee beans
• 2 cups white creme de cacao

Step by Step:

In 3 gals. of cold water, steep malt and malted wheat. Heat to 170° F and remove grains. Sparge with 1 qt. or so hot water into kettle. Add malt extract. Bring to a boil. Add Target hop pellets, boil 30 minutes. Add 0.5 oz. Styrian Goldings pellets. Boil 15 more minutes, turn off the heat, and add the other 0.5 oz. Chill, top up in fermenter to 5.25 gals., and cool to 75° F. Pitch yeast at 70° F until active, then ferment cool (55° to 60° F) for eight to 10 days, rack to secondary, and condition cool for three weeks. A few days before bottling, coarsely crack coffee beans and steep in enough cold water to cover them completely in a covered jar. Add in a few Styrian Goldings pellets if you want to add a dry-hopped touch to the beer. Shake occasionally. At bottling, prime the beer with corn sugar and add the coffee extract, pouring it through a fine mesh strainer or several layers of cheesecloth. Add créme de cacao and gently stir in the flavorings. Bottle and age two to three weeks. Serve at cellar temperature (50° to 55° F).

All-grain recipe:

Mash 9 lbs. pale malt and 2 lbs. mild ale malt in 15 qts. water at 152° F for 90 minutes. Steep cara-pils and wheat (as above) in mash runnings. Sparge with 12 qts. water at 169° F. Proceed with boil and hopping schedule as above, reducing to 5.25 gals.

Notes:

The use of white creme de cacao, as well as the cold extraction of the coffee, is a means of getting that surprising coffee and chocolate flavor and aroma without darkening the beer. Obviously, if you want to make this a darker beer you can add crystal, chocolate, or black malt and use any means you can think of to get the chocolate and coffee into the beer. If you are not afraid of a bit more intensity, chop up a vanilla bean and steep it in hot water for a couple of hours before bottling. Add this vanilla tea with your priming sugar.

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