Red Tail Ale clone

5 gallons, extract with specialty grain; OG = 1.052 FG = 1.016; IBUs = 28 to 30

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. caramel malt (60° Lovibond)
• 0.5 lb. toasted pale malt (toast the malt on a cookie sheet for 30 min. at 350° F)
• 3 lbs. Briess unhopped amber dried malt extract (DME)
• 2 lbs. Briess unhopped light DME
• 4 AAU Cluster hop pellets (1/2 oz. of 8% alpha acid)
• 4 AAU Cascade hop pellet (1 oz. of 4% alpha acid)
• 1 oz. whole Cascade hops
• American ale yeast (Wyeast 1056 or White Labs WLP-001)
• 1 cup Briess unhopped light dried malt extract (DME)

Step by Step:

Steep caramel and toasted malts in 3 gallons water at 150° F for 30 minutes. Remove grains, add DME, bring to boil. Add Cluster hops, boil 30 minutes. Add Cascade pellets, boil 30 minutes. Turn off heat, add whole Cascade hops (in hop bag), steep 30 minutes and remove. Put wort into your primary fermenter along with enough chilled, pre-boiled water to make 5.25 gallons. When cooled to 70° F, pitch yeast. Ferment warm (68 to 70° F) for ten days, rack to secondary and condition cooler (64° F) for two weeks. Prime with 1 cup unhopped, light DME. Bottle and age two to three weeks.

Partial mash option: Mash 3 lbs. pale malt, plus the caramel and toasted malt as above, in 2 gallons water at 152° F for 90 minutes. Runoff and sparge with 2 gallons at 170° F. Decrease the DME to 2 pounds amber and 1 pound light. Proceed as above from boiling.

All-grain option: Mash 7.5 lbs. pale malt, plus the caramel and toasted malts as above, in 3 gallons water at 152° F for 90 minutes. Runoff and sparge with 4 gallons. Omit DME (except for priming) and proceed as above, from boiling. You should not need to top up the wort in the fermenter, but time your boil and hop additions to end up with 5.25 gallons in the kettle.