Ozark's Brown Ale

5 Gallons; Starting Gravity  = 1.048; Final Gravity  = 1.013
    
Ingredients:

• 6.6 lbs. unhopped light malt extract syrup
• 4 oz. crystal malt (20° Lovibond), crushed
• 4 oz. black patent malt, crushed
• 2 oz. chocolate malt, crushed
• 1 1/2 oz. Willamette hop pellets (about 5.0% alpha) bittering
• 3/4 oz. Cascade hop pellets (about 4.5% alpha) flavoring
• 1/2 oz. Cascade hop pellets (about 4.5% alpha) finishing
• 1/2 tsp. Irish moss clarifier
• 2 packs dry ale yeast, or 1 liquid ale yeast starter
• 3/4 cup corn sugar (priming)

Step-by-Step:

Crush the specialty grains and tie them in a cheesecloth bag. Add five gallons of water to the brewpot, and put it on the stove to heat. While heating, add the grain bag. Stir it around and watch the temperature. Remove the grain at 170° F. Continue heating until a boil is reached. Kill the heat and stir in the malt extract syrup and the Willamette bittering hops.

Turn the heat back on, and stir periodically until a rolling boil is reached. Note the time it starts boiling. Thirty minutes after the start of the boil, add the Cascade hops for flavoring and stir them in. At 45 minutes after the start of the boil, add the Irish moss clarifier. At 60 minutes after the start of the boil, add the Cascade hops for finishing and stir them in. Cover the brewpot and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

Cool the wort as quickly as possible, preferably with a wort chiller. Toward the end of the cooling period, quit stirring the wort and let it settle. When the temperature is down to 75° F, carefully siphon from the top of the brewpot into a sanitized fermenter.

A  6 1/2 gallon glass carboy makes a good primary fermenter, but a plastic primary fermenter will work. During this transfer, keep the pick-up end of your siphon just under the surface of the wort in the brewpot, and let the wort splash into the fermenter. This introduces oxygen that is needed for early yeast development.

As the liquid level drops, keep the siphon just under the surface. As you get to the bottom, you will see all the protein trub and hop particles you are leaving behind. If you siphon off all the clear wort and leave this trub behind, you will prevent a lot of problems with protein chill haze in the finished beer. Pitch two packs of dry ale yeast right into the stream going into the fermenter.

Close the fermenter with an airlock and stopper. After the active primary fermentation is done, siphon the beer into a five-gallon glass carboy for a secondary fermenter. This time, don’t splash it. When all activity has stopped, prime the batch with 3/4 cup corn sugar and bottle.