Old-Time Jaspers Gingered Ale

Classification: spiced ale, ginger beer, extract, honey

Source: Peter Glen Berger (pb1p+@andrew.cmu.edu) Issue #765, 11/21/91

This brew is just barely sweet, at the threshold of perception. A strong, heavy body follows, the ginger and orange blending together and taking you through from the middrink to the aftertaste. The finish is incredibly long, both the high alcohol content and the ginger-orange aftertaste lingering for a full 8 or 9 seconds after swallowing.

Note: In retrospect, this could have used a stronger bittering hop; after aging the ginger asserted itself more and drowned out what hops there were. It was still great, though.

Ingredients:

9 pounds, Pale dry malt extract (M&F)
3/4 pound, crystal malt, cracked
3 pounds, light clover honey
1 ounce, Hallertau hops (boil)
1/2 ounce, Hallertau hops (finish)
6 ounces, fresh ginger, peeled and grated
grated peels of 4 oranges
1--1/2 teaspoons, cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon, nutmeg
1--1/2 teaspoons, Irish moss
Whitbread Ale yeast

Procedure:

Add cracked crystal malt. Remove as water comes to a boil. Add all fermentable sugars. Add 1 ounce of Hallertau. Add half (3 ounces I think) of the ginger and half of the orange peel. Add spices. Boil for 60 minutes. In the last ten minutes of the boil, add the remaining ginger, orange peel, and Irish moss. Cool. Pitch yeast.

Specifics:

O.G.: 1.071
F.G.: 1.019
Primary Ferment: 6 days
Secondary Ferment: 6 days
Aged: 1 month