Green Leaf Brewing Co.: Replicator
Dear Replicator,
My wife and I made friends with a couple from Vancouver, B.C. on their vacation up here in Anchorage. Last January we visited them and they took us to a newly opened brewpub, Green Leaf Brewing co. All of the beers were excellent but my wife said they had the best stout ever. I would love to brew it in November and surprise my wife with a couple of cases for Christmas. Charles Ragnol Anchorage, Alaska
Green Leaf Brewing Owner Martin Ebadi’s father never imagined he would help his son run a brewery. After all, he was a soldier in the Air Force of Iran, a country where the production of alcohol is almost non-existent. Martin’s father decided to leave Iran in the mid ‘90s and brought Martin and the rest of the family to the welcoming country of Canada. There, in North Vancouver, British Columbia, he opened a very successful auto repair garage.
Working with his father, Martin became a skilled automotive technician and gradually took over more control of the business. About 10 years ago, Vancouver started to catch the microbrewery fever that had been sweeping the U.S. Pacific Northwest since the late ‘80s. Martin discovered how much better great craft beers were than the standard Canadian light lagers. Seeing this as a good opportunity and much more fun than working on cars, he became determined to open a brewery.
Since many Canadians were not familiar with craft beer at the time, Martin knew a location with plenty of pedestrian traffic would be a must. After months searching, he happened upon a vacant lower corner of The Quay Market shopping center. He took the space and placed an order for a new 10-barrel system. As he had no brewing experience, the next challenge became finding a brewer.
As luck would have it, one of the applicants was Bill Herdman, a longtime professional brewer who was bored working for a local company producing beer wort extract. Bill was a great fit and brought with him a world of beer knowledge. He began homebrewing with a friend in 1979. In the ‘90s he brought two British Columbia breweries up to speed and has been in the industry ever since.
Martin’s instinct proved to be correct with both the location and choice of a brewer as he managed to show a small profit after only a few months of operation. His next project will be an outdoor patio overlooking the bay.
This stout is one of his best sellers and is exactly what most consumers expect a stout to be. It is totally opaque with a dense tan head that holds to the bottom of the glass. The nose exhibits notes of chocolate, coffee and roast malt. Heavy bodied, the flavor is neither sweet nor bitter. Hopping levels are just enough to balance the sweetness.
Charles, you can cross the Green Leaf Stout off your Christmas list because now you can “Brew Your Own.” For more information about Green Leaf Brewing Co. visit www.greenleafbrew.com.
Green Leaf Brewing Company’s Green Leaf Stout clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.057 FG = 1.012 IBU = 36 SRM = 45 ABV = 5.9%
Ingredients
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Coopers light, unhopped, liquid malt extract
1.75 lbs. (0.79 kg) light dried malt extract
8 oz. (0.23 kg) crystal malt (60 °L)
8 oz. (0.23 kg) crystal malt (120 °L)
14 oz. (0.40 kg) chocolate malt (350 °L)
11 oz. (0.31 kg) roasted barley (450 °L)
10 oz. (0.28 kg) Carapils® (dextrin) malt
7 oz. (0.20 kg) flaked barley
10 oz. (0.28 kg) flaked oats
8.5 AAU Northern Brewer hop pellets (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 8.5% alpha acids)
4.25 AAU Northern Brewer hop pellets (30 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 8.5% alpha acids)
½ tsp. Irish moss (30 min.)
½ tsp. yeast nutrient (15 min.)
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Steep the crushed grains in 2.25 gallons (8.5 L) of water at 154 °F (68 ºC) for 30 minutes. Remove grains from the wort and rinse with 2 quarts (1.9 L) of hot water. Add the malt extracts and boil for 60 minutes. While boiling, add the hops, Irish moss and yeast nutrient as per the schedule. When done, add the wort to 2 gallons (7.6 L) of cold water in the sanitized fermenter and top off with cold water up to 5 gallons (19 L).
Cool the wort to 75 ºF (24 ºC). Pitch your yeast and aerate the wort heavily. Allow the beer to cool to 68 ºF (20 ºC). Hold at that temperature until fermentation is complete and then transfer to a carboy and allow the beer to condition for 1 week before bottling or kegging.
All-grain option:
This is a single step infusion mash using 8.5 lbs. (3.9 kg) of 2-row pale malt to replace the malt extracts. Mix all of the crushed grains with 4.75 gallons (18 L) of 171 °F (77 °C) water to stabilize at 154 ºF (68 ºC) for 60 minutes. Slowly sparge with 175 ºF (79 ºC) water. Collect approximately 6 gallons (23 L) of wort runoff to boil for 60 minutes. Reduce the 60-minute Northern Brewer hop addition to 6.8 AAU (0.8 oz./23 g) and the 30 minute Northern Brewer hop addition to 3.4 AAU (0.4 oz./11 g) to allow for the higher utilization factor of a full wort boil. The remainder of this recipe is the same as the extract with grains recipe.