Recipe

Oceanside Ale Works’ American Strong Ale clone

Oceanside Ale Works American Strong Ale clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.082 FG = 1.014
IBU = 83 SRM = 22 ABV = 9.2%

Ingredients
8 lbs. (3.6 kg) 2-row pale malt
4 lbs. (1.8 kg) Munich malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Briess caramel Munich (60 °L) (or Weyermann Caramunich® II)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Briess Victory® malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Belgian candi sugar
1 lb. (0.45 kg) corn sugar
9.75 AAU Nugget hops (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g of 13% alpha acids)
10.5 AAU Millennium hops (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g of 14% alpha acids)
10.5 AAU Columbus hops (15 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g of 14% alpha acids)
0.75 oz. (21 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
White Labs WLP007 (Dry English Ale) or Wyeast 1098 (British Ale) yeast (3.5 qt./3.5 L yeast starter)
3/4 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step
Two or three days before brewing, make a yeast starter. (OG 1.015 to 1.020, aerated thoroughly before pitching the yeast. Ferment yeast starter in the mid 70s °F/~24 °C.)

On brewday, mash in at 152 °F (67 °C) for 60 minutes in 18 qts. (17 L) of water. Recirculate until wort clears and then begin running off wort. Sparge with water hot enough to make the grain bed temperature rise to 170 °F (77 °C) by the end of wort collection. (Or, mash out to 170 °F/77 °C and sparge with water hot enough to keep the grain bed at that temperature.) Collect at least 7.0 gallons (26 L) of wort (or monitor runnings and stop collecting wort when the specific gravity drops below 1.010). Boil wort 90 minutes (or until wort volume is reduced to 5 gallons/19 L). Add hops at times indicated. Add sugars with 15 minutes left in the boil. Chill wort, transfer to fermenter, aerate and pitch yeast sediment from starter. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C). Dry hop beer in secondary for 7 days.

Oceanside Ale Works American Strong Ale clone

(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.082 FG = 1.014
IBU = 83 SRM = 22 ABV = 9.2%

Ingredients
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) Briess Light dried malt extract
3 lbs. (1.4 kg) Briess Light liquid malt extract (late addition)
4 lbs. (1.8 kg) Munich malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Briess caramel Munich (60 °L) (or Weyermann Caramunich® II)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Briess Victory® malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Belgian candi sugar
1 lb. (0.45 kg) corn sugar
9.75 AAU Nugget hops (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g of 13% alpha acids)
10.5 AAU Millennium hops (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g of 14% alpha acids)
10.5 AAU Columbus hops (15 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g of 14% alpha acids)
0.75 oz. (21 g) Cascade hops (dry hop)
White Labs WLP007 (Dry English Ale) or Wyeast 1098 (British Ale) yeast (3.5 qt./3.5 L yeast starter)
3/4 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step
To make this beer, you will need a partial mash vessel capable of holding 6 lbs. (2.7 kg) of grain — 3 gallons (11 L) or larger. Mash grains at 152 °F (67 °C) for 45 minutes. Recirculate and collect 3 gallons (11 L) of wort. Combine collected wort with dried malt extract in brewpot. (Boil a larger volume, if you can, and don’t let the volume of the boil drop below 3 gallons/11 L during the boil.) Boil wort 90 minutes, adding hops at times indicated. Add sugars and liquid malt extract with 15 minutes left in boil. Chill wort and transfer to fermenter. Top up to 5 gallons (19 L), aerate and pitch yeast sediment from starter. Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C). Dry hop beer in secondary for 7 days.

Issue: December 2012

Head Brewer Mark Purciel considers his beer a hybrid of all three styles. “It has the malt richness of the English without the high alpha acids from the hops in an American variety,” Purciel says. “It has the neutral yeast as an American, but candi sugar as an adjunct with a Belgian.”