The Frosted Brew: Homemade Beer Made Easy

When a lot of people get into this hobby they immediately start out throwing together recipes with five (sometimes more) ingredients. While these recipes sometimes produce a tasty beer it is very difficult to pinpoint minor tweaks or to even understand why the beer tastes the way it does.

I did this very same thing with my Cabin Ale. My goal was to make a dark, hearty beer that one could enjoy on a spring or autumn evening. At this point in time I was brewing with a Mr. Beer kit so I took a can of Vienna Lager mix and added molasses, brown sugar, white sugar, honey, and maple syrup to the wort.

The result was a dark beer that was full of body. Unfortunately because my recipe was so complicated (at least from a Mr. Beer perspective) that I doubt I could re-produce that exact same taste ever again. If you asked me what effect the molasses or the maple syrup had on the flavor I could only shrug and say that at least it added body.

As you design a recipe you should always start with what I call a basic recipe. This basic recipe has one kind of malt, one kind of hops, and one kind of yeast and no adjuncts. When this basic recipe is brewed and the base profile is established I slowly start adding ingredients, one at a time, to subsequent brewing sessions.

Since good recipes are made by adding to a base recipe each time a batch is brewed it could very well take a year or so to perfect a recipe. Patience is well rewarded however as by going through this exercise even just once will give you an in-depth understanding of how the ingredients work together that no amount of reading can give you.

Here is a basic recipe to get you started with. I call this my “Northern Wisconsin Light Ale” as it is designed for someone who is used to drinking one of the big beer brands.

Northern Wisconsin Light Ale Beer Recipe

For ingredients you will need six pounds of Pale malt extract, 1 ounce of Cascade hops, and 1 packet of dry Danstar Nottingham yeast. Dissolve the malt extract (if using dry malt extract) and bring to a boil. Add half of the hops now and add the other half of the hops at the 45 minute mark. Boil for 60 minutes.

After boiling for 60 minutes, coil to 70 degrees and add to a five gallon fermenter. Top off the fermenter to the five gallon mark with 70 degree tap water and pitch the yeast. Seal and let ferment for two weeks. Prime with the appropriate amount for your type of sugar and bottle. Let age for three weeks before consuming.

Ways to Improve

If you want a darker beer then either substitute half the pale malt for wheat malt or add a steeping of about a pound of black crystal grains. If you want a sweeter beer then cut back slightly on the hops. You can customize this recipe in about a hundred different ways.

As you work through recipe design I would love to read what you come up with. Post your recipes here in the comments for feedback.

Recipe Design