Christmas Present Olde Ale

5 gallons, partial mash; OG=1065, FG=1020, 5.8 percent ABV, 40 IBUs

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs. pale malt
• 1 lb. medium crystal malt (40° to 50° Lovibond)
• 0.25 lb. chocolate malt
• 0.5 lb. malted wheat
• 10 oz. black treacle
• 3 lbs. unhopped amber dry malt extract
• 1.5 oz. Kent Goldings hops (4% alpha acid) for 60 min. (6 AAUs)
• 1 oz. Fuggle hops (4% alpha acid) for 60 min. (4 AAUs)
• 1 quart slurry of English Ale yeast (Wyeast 1098 or other)
• 2/3 cup brown sugar for priming
• 1 tsp. gypsum
• 1 tsp. calcium carbonate

Step by Step:

Crack the grains. Treat 2 gal. water with one teaspoon each of gypsum and calcium carbonate. Heat to 164° F. Add grains, gently mix in. Mash should settle at 152° F or so. Hold for 75 min. Run off and sparge with 4 gal. water at 168° F.

Collect all runnings (hopefully 5 gal.), add treacle and dry malt extract, and bring to a boil. Total boil is 90 min. Boil 30 min., then add both the Goldings and the Fuggle hops. Boil 60 min. more.

Remove from heat, chill, and add to primary fermenter with enough chilled pre-boiled water to make 5.25 gal. When cooled to 70° F, pitch yeast.

Ferment warm (68° F) for three or four days, then move to a cooler place (60° F) for a week to 10 days. Rack to secondary and age cool (55° F) for three to four weeks. Prime with brown sugar, bottle, and age for months!

This beer will be drinkable in three months but will be better in six. You may find (if it lasts) that a two-year-old bottle will be wonderful.

All extract version:

Omit the pale malt. Start by steeping the crystal, chocolate, and wheat malt in 2 gal. of water, gradually raising the temperature to 170° F. Remove the grains and add the treacle and 6 lbs. (instead of 3) dry malt extract. Hop and boil as above. It will be good, but not quite as rich as the partial-mash.

All-grain:

Increase the pale malt to 10 lbs., mash with crystal, chocolate, and wheat in 3.5 gal. of water; sparge with 5 gal. Collect 6.5 or 7 gal. of wort, then boil long enough to reduce to 5.25 gallons with hop schedule as above.

Treacle: Treacle is, of course, a variant of molasses. Many homebrew shops now carry it regularly. If yours doesn’t, ask them to. Otherwise, in a pinch you might get away with dark (unsulphured) molasses, but use a couple ounces more as it is not as rich as the treacle.

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