More Beer

After my cider rounds I brewed the red ale (Red Ale Refill was the name of the recipe) that I got with my starter kit and was pleased with it. It was a red ale meaning it's always drinkable, but not the most exciting thing that ever happened. After that I tried a different red (Red Rabbit ale was the name of the recipe) that had more specialty grains in it and a different set of hops that in all was really unsatisfying. The most exciting thing I made however was a Mac & Jack's African Amber clone. I don't know how widely this beer is distributed, but it is a local favorite in the Pacific Northwest. Brewed in Redmond, it has a few unique things about it. First I have heard they have a very streamlined fermentation process that allows them to go from yeast pitch to keg in 8 days, and that inside of their kegs is a hop bag that allows them to dry hop in the keg. Dry hopping gives you really big nose on a beer, you get all of the floral notes that your hops have to offer and none of the bitter Alpha Acid. My clone was the most expensive beer I have brewed to date because my LBS didn't have the 6lb can of the Liquid Malt Extract I needed, so I had to buy two 3lb cans. The brew ran about $75 and included 1oz of hops in the secondary for dry hopping.

I cannot stress how great this beer was, out of a 5 gallon batch I have exactly 1 12oz bottle left as it was what everyone drank at my homebrew Dirty 30 birthday. I had cider and I had a batch of the Red Ale Refill, both of which I still had a decent amount left over. I have the recipe somewhere, I will be sure to post it. I did no substitutions, I didn't add the dry malt extract which gave me a somewhat low Starting Gravity and a paltry 5%ABV.