South Pole Haus

6 gallons, all-grain;

Ingredients:

• 15th-century ice water
• 9 lbs. domestic pale ale malt
• 1 lb. roasted barley
• 0.25 lb. chocolate malt
• 0.25 lb. black patent malt
• 0.5 lb. crystal malt, 40° Lovibond
• 1-1.5 oz. Liberty hops (4.5% alpha acid), for 70 min.
• 0.5 oz. Cascade hops (3.9% alpha acid), for 20 min.
• Whitbread ale yeast

Step by Step:

I've used two different mashing techniques for this stout. First I tried overnight mashing. I was graced with a 10-gallon stainless-steel water cooler. This turned out to be the perfect overnight masher. I mashed in 3 gals. of 160&3176; F water and the temperature dropped to 150° F. Twelve hours later the temperature had dropped to 120° F.

I've also tried infusion mashing. Mash in at 135° F for 20 minutes, raise the temperature to 145° F for 30 minutes, then raise to 155° F for 60 minutes. Mash out at 170° F for five minutes.

It's a little more trouble, but I have plenty of time! Sparge with 3 gals. of 180° F water. After boiling (length differs here becuase of our altitude) I use my unconventional method of cooling the wort with fresh snow blown in from 1,000 miles from nowhere to make 6 gallons.

Because of storage problems with liquid yeast -- in my case it's nearly a year old -- I have had to use dried yeast. My standard for dried yeast is Whitbread ale. At the beginning of the winter, I had Wyeast German Ale 1007 liquid yeast, which gave a nice rocky head. I enjoyed it very much.

I've tried several variations on this recipe, including using 10 lbs. pale ale instead of 9 lbs. and using German Spalt hop plugs (3.4% alpha acid) instead of Cascade hops. This was a nice beer, too.

I ferment in glass for about 14 days, depending on whether I have the energy or enthusiasm to bottle it during the middle of winter.