Generic Ale

Classification: pale ale, all-grain

Source: Jack Schmidling, (arf@ddsw1.mcs.com) Issue #908, 6/23/92

As a born-again brewer, with a scientific bent and perhaps a wooden tongue, I decided that the best way to learn brewing was to start with the most basic recipe and process and find out just what basic beer, i.e. Generic Ale should taste like. Once I had that firmly established, I could then venture into other "flavor elements" using Generic Ale as a standard.
If that recipe produces a "not tasty, thin, flavorless" beer on the tongue of an expert, I certainly will not argue nor try to defend it other than to say that, that is what one gets when one uses those ingredients. That IS Generic Ale and it is my starting point for new adventures. Everytime I try something new, I have some GA as a standard to compare it with.

I might also add that I am glad that I am not expert enough to find it boring and tasteless.

Ingredients:

9 pounds, 2--row Harrington malt
Edme ale yeast
1 ounce, Chinook hops

Procedure:

Use standard mashing procedure. I always add 1/4 of the hops after the boil so a nominal attempt at aroma is SOP.