Griswold Mountain Brewing Company BrewNews April 2007 Newsletter

Recipe for Imperial Stout Beer
by Frank Holes, Sr.

St. Patrick's day gives us another great reason to enjoy our deep, dark Imperial Stout. This is an intermediate level brew, and a good one for the beginner who has a few batches under his / her belt to attempt with the introduction of the steeping and sparging process. The Imperial Stout produces a black, rich beer with a fine white foamy head when poured correctly. Mmm, good brew!

Recipe for Imperial Stout Beer

4 gallons of good water

9 lbs of Pale Ale Malt Syrup

3 lbs Roasted Barley, crushed

1/2 lb Black Patent Malt, crushed

1/2 lb Crystal Malt, crushed

Steeping Sock

A good cooking thermometer

3 lbs Dried Malt Extract (DME) Plain Light

2 oz Nugget Hops

1 oz Fuggles Hops

1 oz East Kent Goldings Hops

1 oz Irish Moss

1 package of liquid American Ale yeast (or a packet of dry yeast if it's all you have)

Degree of Difficulty: Intermediate

Imperial Stout Beer Recipe Directions:

In your large brew kettle, bring 4 gallons of water to approximately 160 degrees. Steep the crushed grains in a steep sock in 155 - 160 degree water for 60 minutes. Strain carefully (or sparge if you prefer) and remove the steep sock. For beginners, you can pour off a bit of your hot water from the brew kettle and use it to strain through the sock, acting like a sparge.

Place the malt syrup (still in its container) in a large bowl of warm water to make it easier to work with.

Bring the kettle with sparged water to a boil. Then slowly add the liquid malt syrup, stirring constantly. Add the dry malt extract (I like to pour off a bit of the wort and whisk in the DME in a large bowl, then pour everything back in to the kettle). Boil for 30 minutes.

Add the Nugget hops and continue to boil for a 45 minutes. Stir often.

With 15 minutes left in the boil, add in the Fuggles and East Kent Goldings hops, and the Irish Moss.

Once the boil time is over, remove the kettle from heat (I like to pour the wort off into another large pot I can cool in the sink - or use a wort chiller if you have one). Reduce the temperature to around 75 degrees F.

Pour your wort into your primary fermentor, being sure to leave the bottom dregs in the pot. Fill up to the 5 gallon line with room temperature water, being careful to stay between 68 and 76 degrees F (don't kill the yeast).

Stir in the yeast (pop your liquid yeast several hours or even a day earlier if necessary) well, and seal the fermentor with an airlock. Store in a room temperature place out of the way for 7-14 days. You can re-rack into a secondary fermentor after 7 days if you wish.

Bottle and store for three more weeks (taste and carbonation both improve in my opinion). This beer will keep in bottles for up to 4 months (but they probably will disappear well before then). This makes 5 gallons.

This is a good recipe to try out if you're a beginner because of the principles of steeping and sparging. Eventually you'll want to try your hand at a true mash and sparge system, though this will take a bit of more specialized equipment.

Recipe of the Month:

Pasta with Asparagus and Shrimp

Pasta with Asparagus and Shrimp
Yield: 4 servings

This is an excellent Friday evening dinner recipe for Lent. Pair with white wine or a cold, light lager.

Ingredients:

1 cup white wine
1 pound pasta (linguini)
1 1/2 pound fresh asparagus
16 each jumbo shrimps with shells
4 tablespoons cooking oil (best olive oil)
1 cup heavy cream
4 each bacon strips cut into 2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons fresh chives

Cooking Directions:

1. Cook bacon until half crispy. Set aside and drain the fat out of pan.

2. Add cream and cook over medium high heat until it's reduced by half. Add bacon. When done, set pan aside.

3. In a frypan, use enough oil to cover the surface. Heat until a few drops start to spit. Add shrimp and cook until shells turn pink and shrimp just begin to lose their transparency. Turn once and remove to plate to cool.

4. Peel off shrimp shells. Place shrimp back in pan, add the wine and cook on low
heat; simmer.

5. Simmer until there is just 1/4 cup of liquid remaining. Add the cream and set aside.

6. Peel asparagus and cut into 1/2 inch size pieces. Steam or blanch until tender. Drain and rinse with very cold water and wrap in towel to dry.

7. In a large pot bring water to boil and add pasta and a dash of salt and oil. Cook until done or to your taste. Drain and toss in a little butter.

8. Reheat cream with shrimp. Add the asparagus. season to taste. Mix pasta and sauce together. Sprinkle with chives and serve with warm crusty bread.

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		Volume 2, Issue 3 March 2007