5 gallons, partial mash

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. two-row pale malt
• 1 lb. amber malt (or brown malt)
• 1 lb. medium crystal malt, 40° to 60° Lovibond
• 4 lbs. unhopped amber dry malt extract
• 1 oz. Willamette hop pellets (5% alpha acid), for 60 min.
• 2 small cloves (not whole heads, please!) fresh minced garlic
• 1 very small dried chili pepper (ancho, habañero, tabasco)
• 20 or 30 fresh whole fennel seeds
• A pinch each of dried (not ground) oregano, basil, thyme. Other favorite pizza spices may be added.
• 10 to 14 g. dry ale yeast or a liquid such as Wyeast 1056 (American ale)
• 7/8 cup corn sugar for priming

Step by Step:

In 1.5 gal. of water heated to 164° F, mix crushed pale, amber, and crystal malts. The mash should stabilize near 151° F. Hold 90 min., sparge with 2 gal. of water at 168° F, and collect the runoff in your boiling kettle. Add the dry malt to the kettle and bring to a boil. Add the Willamette hop pellets, boil 60 min., remove from the heat, and add the garlic and spices. Let sit for 30 min. covered. Chill, aerate, and top off in your fermenter to 5.25 gal. with preboiled, chilled water. Pitch yeast when wort cools to 70° F, seal, and ferment at 65° to 70° F for 10 days. Rack to secondary and condition at 60° F for two weeks or more. Prime and bottle. Age three weeks in the cellar.

Alternatives:

My original recipe would have used 6 lbs. of amber unhopped dry malt with 1/2 lb. medium crystal and 1/2 lb. amber malt steeped in the brewing water beforehand. An all-grain formulation would increase the pale malt to 8.5 lbs. in 3 gal. of mash water and 15 quarts of sparge water. In either case the rest of the recipe would remain the same. If you use a different combination of spices in your pizza sauce, by all means try it. I can't see how to do it, but somewhere in here there's room for sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, maybe green pepper, or even (dare I say it) pineapple.

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