Recipes From the Maltose Falcons: America’s Oldest Homebrew Club
If you’ve been immersed in American beer for a while, you’ll know the tales of long misty days of yore when there were but a few breweries left and then a rebirth — Anchor, New Albion, and on and on to these days of a brewery on every corner.
And part of that lore is the role of homebrewing — after all, interview professional brewers and an overwhelming number will say “I started as a homebrewer” and half the plaudits about homebrewing praise it as a source of innovation. But . . . 50 years ago, in a corner of the Valley (San Fernando, that is), in Southern California, just off the world-famous Ventura Boulevard, the homebrewers that would become the Maltose Falcons really just wanted a good beer.
The club was a mixture of science nerds, Mother Earth rock and roll hippies, and ex-military guys. They all knew that beer could be good from time spent overseas or people’s smuggled suitcase beers, but at the time Anchor was still a San Francisco treat and not even New Albion Brewing had been founded (that was a few years off). It was a decade before the first brewpub opened in Los Angeles and the best-known local beer was the horrendous “Brew 102,” which had just stopped pouring. (It is not greatly missed except as nostalgia fodder.)
In other words, L.A. was as much of a beer desert as the not too far off Death Valley is an actual desert. In order to survive it with a good pint, you had to make it yourself.
And did they!
They first came together in 1974 in the ironically named Garden of Olives — a messy jumbled storage yard behind L.A.’s oldest homebrew store and our still current HQ, the Home Beer Wine Cheesemaking Shop (although it moved across Ventura back in the 1980s) — and then eventually in 1976 became organized enough to have an actual newsletter and a set of officers. This was mostly the fault of the man we consider our founder, Merlin Elhardt, who just wanted to make some good German beer, and the owner of our host shop, John Daume, who always acted as an instigator of shenanigans, sowing chaos between both the Cellar Masters (winemaking) and the Maltose Falcons (brewers), who happened to be his best customers.
Original dues were $10 per year — roughly $55 today — and garnered you a 10% discount at the Shop (still does today!). By the end of 1976 there were 48 members.
Right from the jump you can see the club’s silly attitude mixed with a love of learning — the first single-page newsletter had a reminder that yeast should be pitched near 70 °F (21 °C), but they had accidentally pitched around 105 °F (41 °C) and the beer still worked. One other factor, in those early days of the club, the monthly meeting always involved a brew session for education.
By the second newsletter in our archive (August 1976), the full nerdery that still is exhibited today was present in the form of a full three pages being devoted to yeast culturing on slants and making starters (a radical idea at the time!). Some of the chemistry has changed from those early lessons of Dr. Michael Lewis, but the general dance steps are the same. (In later years you also see microbial analysis of commercial dried yeasts demonstrating the amount of contamination in the product at that time. Thank Ninkasi that dried yeast
rocks today!)
With time rolling on, the club quickly got involved with exchanging newsletters and efforts with other clubs around the state and the nation. They worked with the San Andreas Malts and others to push for state and federal legalization of the hobby. What we believe to be the nation’s oldest ongoing homebrew competition was started in 1979 (The Mayfaire, formerly the Springfest) – with the
styles of:
• Ale – Extract
• Ale – Grain
• Ale – Extract – Dark
• Ale – Grain – Dark
• Lager – Extract
• Lager – Grain
• Lager – Extract – Dark
• Lager – Grain – Dark
• Stout or Bock
• “Unusual”
The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) Guidelines, these were not.
We’ve had brewers big and small in our membership — cultivating relationships with Tecate and Anheuser-Busch (whose Van Nuys plant looms over the Valley), helping establish craft brewers big (Rogue – John Maier, Sierra Nevada – Steve Grossman) and small (too many to list).
Talking with folks across our history, you can see the intention of the club changing — from hard working geeks, to fiercely competitive brewers, helping set up the actual BJCP Guidelines and the American Homebrewers Association Governing Committee, to hard thinking partiers with our own band (The Maltose Falcons Brews Band, rocking since 1990), co-founders of festivals with a life beyond us (The Southern California Homebrewers Festival), and people who’ve had to listen to me talk way, way, way too much since I started brewing in 1999.
Over time, the club developed a number of annual traditions — three festivals/parties, chili cookoffs, bus trips, monthly brew sessions, mead tastings, holiday tastings, etc. And it was a great time trolling through our newsletter archives to suss out all of these details. Last year, I read through more than 15,000 pages of newsletters and emails to get a better history of
the club.
Wait . . . why did I do that?
As part of the 50th Anniversary celebration, Jamie Crawford and I began a project of collecting everyone’s favorite recipes from various brewers — “What beer makes you think of the Falcons or a Festival? What beer has a good story” — and then it spiraled from there. What we originally pictured as a collection of our anniversary collabs and a few well-known recipes quickly became a “community cookbook” with 129 recipes, history, and significant artwork from the club’s history.
Taking inspiration from those really goofy first Mayfaire guidelines, we organized the book into the categories of:
• Anniversary
• Belgiany
• Dark Colored Ale
• Dark Colored Lager
• Hoppy
• Light Colored Ale
• Light Colored Lager
• Mead
• Stout, Porter, Bock
• Unusual
After a few months of furious work, cajoling, and editing, the book is now available via Amazon in both physical and e-book formats (www.maltosefalcons.com/50thBook). All proceeds from the book go to the club.
We wanted to share some of the highlights with you, too. Without further ado, following are some significant recipes from Falcons’ history (adjusted to BYO’s recipe specs).
Boulton’s Stout
by Dr. John Boulton
(12.5 gallons/47 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.055
This is the first homebrew recipe presented in the newsletter archive from January 1978 and it was an award-winning recipe from Dr. John Boulton of the San Andreas Malts. The quote from longtime beer author and owner of The Beverage People in Santa Rosa, Byron Burch: “An excellent, very rich stout made by Dr. John Boulton of the Malts. After sufficient lip-smacking on my part, he was good enough to send me his recipe and allow me to make it public. This is a true stout lovers (sic) stout.”
Note from BYO: This recipe is reproduced as it was first published to offer a snapshot in time from nearly 50 years ago when published recipes clearly where not what they are today. The OG doesn’t quite line up to what we calculate it as (1.064), there is no stated FG, color, IBUs, or even ABV. “Ale yeast” would likely have been similar to US-05 or Nottingham, though we can’t say for sure. While John Bull hopped malt extract is no longer available, you can still buy hopped malt extract from some suppliers.
Ingredients
18 lbs. (8.2 kg) John Bull hopped dark liquid malt extract
2.5 lbs. (1.1 kg) plain light liquid malt extract
2 lbs. (0.9 kg) crystal malt, mashed
1 lb. (0.45 kg) black patent malt (cracked)
2 tsp. salt
4 oz. (113 g) Cluster hops (20 min.)
3 oz. (85 g) Bullion or Brewers Gold hops (20 min.)
4.5 oz. (128 g) Cascade hops (5 min.)
Ale yeast
Note:
John Boulton included a kicker at the bottom of the page. After preparing the wort he separated out 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) to which he added 2 lbs. (0.9 kg) corn sugar, bringing the starting gravity up to 1.090. This batch he fermented down to approximately 1.015 using Champagne yeast. The resulting brew falls into roughly the same class of carrying a concealed weapon. The rich stout character is excellent, but probably a Surgeon General’s warning is in order.
Dougweiser
by Doug King
(5.75 gallons/22 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.047 FG = 1.013
IBU = 15 SRM = 3 ABV = 4.7%
You cannot tell the story of the Falcons without having Doug King in the middle of it. In Doug’s years in the club, the legend of Dougweiser and his habit of throwing anything into the mash tun (with consideration) became the stuff of legends. This is the last batch of Doug’s eponymous beer he brewed before his death driving to the Northern California Homebrewers Fest. It was brewed on July 4, 1999 and was kegged on August 10. (For readers obsessed with gear in pursuit of perfection, Doug brewed world class lagers on his kitchen stove and used a ZapPap bucket setup for lautering.)
Ingredients
11 lbs. (5 kg) Briess Pilsner malt
5.5 lbs. (2.5 kg) Arkansas short grain rice
1 AAU Ultra hops (70 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 2.1% alpha acids)
1.3 AAU Galena hops (70 min.) (0.1 oz./3 g at 12.5% alpha acids)
0.8 AAU Perle hops (70 min.) (0.1 oz./3 g at 8.2% alpha acids)
1 AAU Ultra hops (18 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 2.1% alpha acids)
2.3 AAU Saaz hops (18 min.) (0.65 oz./18 g at 3.6% alpha acids)
1 tsp. Irish moss (10 min.)
3 Tbsp. Polyclar (secondary)
Wyeast 2007 (Pilsen Lager) yeast (2-quart/2-L starter)
Step by step
Make a 2-quart (2-L) yeast starter a day or two in advance.
This recipe requires a cereal mash: Heat 6 quarts (6 L) water to boiling in a 4-gallon (15-L) pot. Add rice, cook until very sticky. Add 36 fl. oz. (1,064 mL) ice water, bring temperature down to 160 °F (71 °C). Rest for 30 minutes while cooking rice. Start your primary mash, adding the cereal mash at 152 °F (67 °C). Mash at this temperature for 50 minutes.
Collect 3.75 gallons (14 L) at 1.099 gravity wort. Add water to kettle until you reach a gravity of 1.055 (should be about 6 gallons/23 L). Boil for 70 minutes, adding hops at times specified.
Chill to about 68 °F (20 °C) at the end of the boil. The volume should be 4.7 gallons (19 L) with a gravity of 1.058. Dilute with filtered tap water to 5.75 gallons (22 L), bringing the gravity to 1.047. Pitch yeast from the starter and allow to stand at room temperature for three hours. Then reduce the temperature via ice water bath to 60 °F 16 °C) over 1–2 hours. Ferment between 60–62 °F (16–17 °C).
When fermentation is complete, rack to a separate carboy. Three days later bring the temperature down to 33 °F (1 °C). After a couple weeks of lagering, rack again, adding a pint of water to top off. A week later, add 3 Tbsp. Polyclar.
One week later, rack for a final time to a keg and force carbonate or bottle condition as usual.
Dougweiser
(5.75 gallons/22 L, extract only)
OG = 1.047 FG = 1.013
IBU = 15 SRM = 3 ABV = 4.7%
Ingredients
6 lbs. (2.7 kg) Pilsner dried malt extract
4.25 lbs. (1.9 kg) rice syrup solids
1 AAU Ultra hops (70 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 2.1% alpha acids)
1.3 AAU Galena hops (70 min.) (0.1 oz./3 g at 12.5% alpha acids)
0.8 AAU Perle hops (70 min.) (0.1 oz./3 g at 8.2% alpha acids)
1 AAU Ultra hops (18 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 2.1% alpha acids)
2.3 AAU Saaz hops (18 min.) (0.65 oz./18 g at 3.6% alpha acids)
1 tsp. Irish moss (10 min.)
3 Tbsp. Polyclar (secondary)
Wyeast 2007 (Pilsen Lager) yeast (2-quart/2-L starter)
Step by step
Bring 5 gallons (19 L) of water to a boil and then remove from heat and stir in the malt extract and rice syrup solids. Return to heat and boil 70 minutes, adding hops as indicated.
Chill wort to about 68 °F (20 °C) at the end of the boil and top up with filtered tap water to 5.75 gallons (22 L) or until the gravity measures 1.047. Follow the remainder of the all-grain instructions.
Note:
Extract brewers have the option of using rice syrup solids, as called for in this recipe, or they may use liquid rice syrup, in which case they should use 5.5 lbs. (2.5 kg).
20th Anniversary Old Survivor Old Ale
by Bruce Brode, Brian Vessa, Jerry Macala, Dave Janss
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.070 FG = 1.015
IBU = 25 SRM = 28 ABV = 7.2%
As near as we can tell, this is the earliest anniversary beer created by the club. It was brewed in December 1993 by a shop brew crew based on a recipe by Bruce and Brian. It was intended to be served at the Mayfaire as an anniversary celebration. (We didn’t do “big” anniversary parties until the 25th in 1999.)
The beer was named “Old Survivor” when the Northridge earthquake struck. During the quake, the beer was being cared for by Bruce Brode over on the Westside and unfortunately one carboy broke. The other carboy survived and made it into the celebrations for the year.
Ingredients
10.5 lbs. (4.8 kg) North American 2-row malt
2.2 lbs. (1 kg) Scottish caramel malt (80 °L)
1.1 lbs. (0.5 kg) British caramel malt (40 °L)
8 oz. (223 g) wheat malt
4 oz. (110 g) Scottish chocolate malt
19 AAU Fuggle hops (60 min.) (1.5 oz./42 g at 4.9% alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) East Kent Goldings hops (0 min.)
LalBrew Windsor yeast
Step by step
This recipe uses a step mash. Begin by mashing in all of the grains at 124 °F (51 °C) and rest there for 30 minutes for a protein rest. Raise the temperature to 162 °F (72 °C) for a 90-minute high-saccharification rest. Mash out and slowly sparge with 170 °F (77 °C) water. Lauter until runnings are clear and collect enough wort to result in 5.5 gallons (21 L) to be transferred into the fermenter after a 90-minute boil.
Boil wort 90 minutes, adding the Fuggle hop addition with 60 minutes remaining and the EKG hops at the end of the boil. Chill the wort to 62 °F (17 °C) and pitch dry yeast. When fermentation is complete, transfer to a keg and force carbonate or bottle condition as usual.
20th Anniversary Old Survivor Old Ale
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.070 FG = 1.015
IBU = 25 SRM = 28 ABV = 7.2%
Ingredients
7.2 lbs. (3.3 kg) light liquid malt extract
2.2 lbs. (1 kg) Scottish caramel malt (80 °L)
1.1 lbs. (0.5 kg) British caramel malt (40 °L)
8 oz. (223 g) flaked wheat
4 oz. (110 g) Scottish chocolate malt
19 AAU Fuggle hops (60 min.) (1.5 oz./42 g at 4.9% alpha acids)
1 oz. (28 g) East Kent Goldings hops (0 min.)
LalBrew Windsor yeast
Step by step
Add all of the grains to a steeping bag and add it to 6.25 gallons (24 L) of water as it heats to 170 °F (77 °C). Remove grains and turn off heat. Carefully stir in the malt extract. Once dissolved, return to heat and bring to a boil.
Boil wort 60 minutes, adding the Fuggle hop addition at the start and the EKG hops at the end of the boil. Chill the wort to 62 °F (17 °C) and pitch dry yeast. When fermentation is complete, transfer to a keg and force carbonate or bottle condition as usual.
Recipe note:
The original recipe called for Lallemand’s Doric yeast, a strain that is not available to homebrewers anymore. We’d recommend using another English ale strain like Windsor.
Browniewine
(40th Anniversary Collaboration with Firestone Walker Brewing Co.)
by Firestone Walker Brewing Co. and Steve Cook
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.120 FG = 1.019
IBU = 68 SRM = 40 ABV = 13.6%
Volume-wise, booze-wise, and holy crap-wise, this still remains our “biggest” collaboration to date (only Sierra Nevada brews more beer per year in terms of our collabs). This one all happened on a whim as Allen Tracy, a member with family in the Paso Robles area, stopped in at the brewery and had a palaver with Brewmaster Matt Brynildson about brewing a special beer. Matt said, “whatever you want to make” and this crazy thing came about from two suggestions “a really big brown ale” and “rum barrels.” The recipe design was created by Steve Cook and then brewed by a large crowd of Falcons. (We say brewed, but really the whole place is computer-controlled so they mostly ran around like barely trained monkeys after eating partially fermented bananas.)
This beer went on to be a surprising hit with the beer ticket crowd who would clamber for a chance to get a taste whenever Firestone rolled it out for things like their Firestone Walker Invitational.
Ingredients
10 lbs. (4.5 kg) domestic 2-row malt
3.25 lbs. (1.5 kg) Crisp brown malt
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Simpsons crystal malt (30/37 °L)
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) Great Western crystal malt (75 °L)
4 oz. (113 g) wheat malt
2 oz. (54 g) Briess chocolate malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) brown sugar
1 lb. (0.45 kg) buckwheat honey
4 lbs. (1.8 kg) light liquid malt extract (or as needed, to reach gravity)
10 AAU Columbus hops (90 min.) (0.67 oz./19 g at 15% alpha acids)
11 AAU (Centennial hops) (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 11.1% alpha acids)
1.25 oz. (35 g) Cascade hops (whirlpool)
2 oz. (57 g) French oak cubes, soaked in rum for 1 month
White Labs WLP005 (British Ale), Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood Ale), or SafAle S-33 yeast
Step by step
One month prior to brew day add oak cubes and just enough rum to cover them to a Mason jar and store in a cabinet.
This recipe uses a balanced water profile with equal parts chloride-to-sulfate. Mash all of the grains at 155 °F (68 °C) for 60 minutes. Increase the temperature to 169 °F (76 °C) for 5 minutes and then begin lautering. Collect enough wort to finish with 5.5 gallons (21 L) in the fermenter following a two-hour boil.
Boil for two hours, adding the hops as indicated. Add the brown sugar and buckwheat honey in the last 15 minutes. Take a gravity sample and add enough malt extract to bring the gravity up to 1.120. Add the whirlpool hop addition at the end of the boil, give the kettle a vigorous swirl to form a whirlpool, then cover and let sit for 20 minutes.
Chill the wort to 62 °F (17 °C), aerate if using liquid yeast, and pitch yeast. When fermentation is complete, add the rum-infused oak cubes during secondary and age to taste.
Bottle or keg and force carbonate as usual.
Browniewine
(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.120 FG = 1.019
IBU = 68 SRM = 40 ABV = 13.6%
Ingredients
8.4 lbs. (3.8 kg) light liquid malt extract
3.5 lbs. (1.6 kg) domestic 2-row malt
3.25 lbs. (1.5 kg) Crisp brown malt
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Simpsons crystal malt (30/37 °L)
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) Great Western crystal malt (75 °L)
4 oz. (113 g) wheat malt
2 oz. (54 g) Briess chocolate malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) brown sugar
1 lb. (0.45 kg) buckwheat honey
10 AAU Columbus hops (60 min.) 0.67 oz./19 g at 15% alpha acids)
11 AAU (Centennial hops) (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 11.1% alpha acids)
1.25 oz. (35 g) Cascade hops (whirlpool)
2 oz. (57 g) French oak cubes, soaked in rum for 1 month
White Labs WLP005 (British Ale), Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood Ale), or SafAle S-33 yeast
Step by step
One month prior to brew day add oak cubes and just enough rum to cover them to a Mason jar and store in a cabinet.
Add the 2-row, brown, and wheat malts to a steeping bag (or two, you want them loosely packed after tying off the bag) and mash in 3 gallons (11.5 L) of water at 155 °F (68 °C) for 45 minutes. Pull the grains and top off kettle to 6 gallons (23 L). In a separate bag, add the crystal and chocolate malts and steep about 15 minutes as the temperature is brought up to 170 °F (77 °C). Remove grains and turn off heat. Carefully stir in the malt extract. Once dissolved, return to heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes. Follow the remainder of the all-grain recipe.
The Maltose Falcons 50th Anniversary Festbier
(Collaboration with Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.)
by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Marty Velas (Falcon/Fanatic Brewing), The Falcons
(5 gallons/19-L, all-grain)
OG = 1.054 FG = 1.010
IBU = 25 SRM = 5.5 ABV = 5.8%
The Falcons and Sierra Nevada have had a long history and close relationship over the years. Something about members of the Grossman clan and others learning how to brew while in high school here in Los Angeles with supplies from John Daume. (Things are foggy and who knows about statute of limitations!) But seriously, both the Falcons and Sierra Nevada have been around since the start of this crazy “good beer” thing we all enjoy, so it’s only right that we joined forces with them for our 50th anniversary beer. Also, this brew session came about after a number of discussions and one really big kick in the pants by Marty Velas, “youngest President in club history” and Owner/Brewer of Fanatic Brewing Company in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Marty convinced Sierra Nevada to brew a festbier because we’re celebrating 50 years, it’s our Oktoberfest, and the club really was founded with a deep and abiding love of lagers as demonstrated by Merlin Elhardt and Cal Moeller’s obsession with them.
Ingredients
6.5 lbs. (3 kg) Pilsner malt
2.3 lbs. (1 kg) Briess Bonlander® Munich malt
11 oz. (312 g) Carapils® malt
9 oz. (255 g) Vienna malt
6 oz. (170 g) honey malt
6 oz. (170 g) Briess Victory® malt
6 oz. (170 g) melanoidin malt
5.8 AAU Hallertau Blanc whole hops (first wort hop) (0.5 oz./14 g at 10.5% alpha acids)
1.5 AAU Hallertau Tradition whole hops (25 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g at 6% alpha acids)
2 AAU Hersbrucker whole hops (5 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4% alpha acids)
2.3 AAU Saaz whole hops (5 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
SafLager W-34/70, Omega Yeast OYL-107 (Oktoberfest), or White labs WLP820 (Oktoberfest/Märzen Lager) yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by step
This recipe uses reverse osmosis (RO) water. At the start of the mash, add 0.8 g calcium sulfate and 3 g calcium chloride. Mash in all of the grains at 120 °F (49 °C) and rest there for 15 minutes for a protein rest. Raise the temperature of the mash to 149 °F (65 °C) for a 30-minute low saccharification rest. Raise the temperature to 162 °F (72 °C) for a 30-minute high-saccharification rest. Mash out and slowly sparge with 170 °F (77 °C) water. Lauter until runnings are clear and collect enough wort to result in 5.5 gallons (21 L) into the fermenter after an 80-minute boil.
Boil 80 minutes, adding hops as per the schedule. At the end of the boil add 1.6 g calcium sulfate and 2.1 g calcium chloride. Chill to 48 °F (9 °C) and pitch yeast. Ferment at 52 °F (11 °C). When fermentation is complete, reduce temperature to 40 °F (4 °C) and lager for two weeks. Bottle or keg and force carbonate as usual.
The Maltose Falcons 50th Anniversary Festbier
(5 gallons/19-L, partial mash)
OG = 1.054 FG = 1.010
IBU = 25 SRM = 5.5 ABV = 5.8%
Ingredients
3.5 lbs. (1.5 kg) Pilsner dried malt extract
2.3 lbs. (1 kg) Briess Bonlander® Munich malt
11 oz. (312 g) Carapils® malt
9 oz. (255 g) Vienna malt
6 oz. (170 g) honey malt
6 oz. (170 g) Briess Victory® malt
6 oz. (170 g) melanoidin malt
5.8 AAU Hallertau Blanc whole hops (first wort hop) (0.5 oz./14 g at 10.5% alpha acids)
1.5 AAU Hallertau Tradition whole hops (25 min.) (0.25 oz./7 g at 6% alpha acids)
2 AAU Hersbrucker whole hops (5 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4% alpha acids)
2.3 AAU Saaz whole hops (5 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
SafLager W-34/70, Omega Yeast OYL-107 (Oktoberfest), or White labs WLP820 (Oktoberfest/Märzen Lager) yeast
¾ cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by step
Mash the Munich, Vienna, honey, Victory®, and melanoidin malts in a steeping bag in 2 gallons (8 L) of water for 45 minutes at 149 °F (65 °C). Remove grains and top kettle to 6.25 gallons (24 L). In another bag steep the Carapils® malt for 15 minutes as you bring the temperature up to 170 °F (77 °C). Remove grains and turn off heat. Carefully stir in the malt extract. Once dissolved, return to heat and boil for 60 minutes.
Follow the remainder of the all-grain recipe.
