Last year, I volunteered for the Cincy Beer Fest, not really knowing what I was going to do. I knew I would no longer be doing photographs, but I figured I could help out with beer, setup, etc. I showed up on Friday night and helped out quite a bit: set out several tables full of tasting cups, checked ids at the door, gave out beer at the Kentucky Ale booth and even snapped off a few photos.
I didn’t like it.
Afterward, I realized how much I had come to like taking pictures at the fest. Being able to walk anywhere and interacting with the people was a great draw for me. Not doing that drained me and I didn’t like it. What now?
Until a few weeks ago, I figured I would not attend. Then I was asked to do a brewing demonstration for the Cincinnati Malt Infusers, the homebrew club I joined last year. Not fully knowing what it would entail, I said yes.
The last several days have been quite hectic coming up with all the equipment required. The convention center requires the use of electrical elements to heat the water and running a 220 volt line is too expensive. Fortunately, a member of CMI has a system we can use. Nice.
Recipe time. To draw people to the table, a high aroma beer was chosen. Starting with a pale ale, a few ounces of black patent malt were added to give the beer a reddish color. Ok, a red ale. What about rye malt? Yes, aroma and spiciness. Cool. A red rye ale. As there isn’t enough time to do a full mash, this is a specialty grain steep with extracts. It is a demonstration recipe too. That makes the name Demonstration Red Rye Ale – 2014. Let’s get to the details.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs light dry extract
- 3.33 lbs can of amber liquid extract
- 2 ounces Ahtanum hop pellets (5.20% alpha)
- 1 ounce Mt. Hood hop pellets (6.10% alpha)
- 1 lbs Crystal Malt (10L)
- 1 lbs Rye Malt
- 4 ounces Black Patent malt
- 1 package American Ale II yeast (Wyeast #1272)
- 1 teaspoon Irish Moss
Procedures
- Crack the grains and place into a grain bag large enough to hold them. Remember they will expand when wet.
- Heat 2.5 gallons of water to 150 degrees. Place the grains in the water and steep for 20 minutes. After time, remove grain bag, allow to drain and discard.
- Fill kettle to 6 gallons of water and turn heat to full.
- Once wort starts to boil, place the Mt. Hood hops in. Total boil time is 60 minutes.
- When 20 minutes to go in the boil, place 1 ounce of Ahtanum into kettle.
- At 15 minutes to go, place 1 teaspoon of Irish Moss into kettle.
- After 60 minutes of boil, turn heat off and allow wort to settle. Place the remaining ounce of hops into kettle.
- Cool wort to 70 degrees and take specific gravity reading. It should be around 1.044. Rack to fermentor, aerate for 10 minutes and pitch years. Cover and place airlock. Ferment for 2 weeks and bottle or keg, as desired.
It is recommended that the boil hops are placed in a bag. Try and enjoy. See you there.
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