For the rest of 2025, BYO+ Gift Subscriptions are 50% off! Click here to order.

recipe

Valley Forge Winter Spruce Ale

(5 gallon/19 L, extract only)

OG = 1.072  FG = 1.017 IBU = 35  SRM =  25  ABV = 7.2%

Ingredients

10 lbs. dark malt extract
4.4 AAU Chinook hops (60 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 8.7% alpha acid)
6.9 AAU Centennial hops (30 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 6.9% alpha acids)
5.2 AAU Kent Goldings hops (15 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 5.2% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1056 (American ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
1-2 oz. (28-57 g) spruce essence (to taste)
2/3 cup corn sugar for priming

Step by Step

Heat 5 gal. (19 L) water and stir in malt extract just before boil. Total boil is 60 min. Add Chinook hops and boil 30 min. Add Centennial hops, boil 15 min. Add Kent Goldings hops, boil 15 min. more. Kill heat, cool to 70 °F (21 °C), and pitch yeast. Ferment at 65 to 70 °F (18 to 21 °C) for seven days. Rack to secondary and allow to condition for an additional seven days. At bottling time prime with corn sugar and add spruce essence to your own taste (amount varies depending on type of essence). Bottle and age for three weeks.

You might also like…

recipe

BJ’s Millennium Ale clone

A big Belgian tripel from a California brewpub originally brewed for Y2K.

recipe

Spent Hop ESB

This ESB is brewed using 100% second-use fresh hops for a mellow bitterness.

recipe

Deviant Wolfe Brewing Co.’s Norwegian Wizard Crisis Clone

This hazy IPA is a staple in Deviant Wolfe’s lineup that relies on kveik yeast for a quick, warm fermentation. There are significant hops

recipe

Easy Tesgüino

This recipe is easy to reproduce in a modern homebrewery. In the recipe for easy tesgüino, the fermentable sugars are derived from sugar ra