Hunter's Moon Old Ale -- All Grain

BIG BREW 2002

Hunter's Moon Old Ale-All Grain

By Steve Jones

INGREDIENTS For 5.5 Gallons:

27.5 lbs. Maris Otter Pale Malt

1.0 lbs. English Crystal 55L   

2.00 oz. East Kent Goldings Whole Hops, 6.60% AA 90 min.

1.00 oz. East Kent Goldings Whole Hops, 6.60% AA 30 min.

1.00 oz. East Kent Goldings Whole Hops, 6.60% AA 0 min.

Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast

OG: 1.118

FG: 1.035

50 IBU

Mash Efficiency: 65% (adjust recipe to your system, but you should expect a drop in efficiency when brewing high gravity beers)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mash at 150^o F for 90 minutes

Mash out at 170^o F and sparge

Collect 9 Gallons of runoff and begin boil.  Boil for 4 ½ hours and top up to 7 ½ gallons with boiling water.  Add bittering hops and boil for another hour.  Add second hop addition, boil another half-hour then add finishing hops and chill the wort.  Aerate well and pitch a large starter of yeast or rack onto a yeast cake from a previous batch.  You may need to add additional yeast to secondary fermenter to finish this beer out.  Steve recommends slurry or a large starter of Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale Yeast for finishing.

NOTE: This recipe calls for a 6 hour boil to get the caramelization and the resulting flavor complexity Steve wanted, but if you wish to shorten the brew time, simply collect 7 ½ gallons of runoff from the mash and boil for 90 minutes.