Honey Basil Ale

Classification: spiced ale, basil, honey, partial-mash

Source: Bryan Gros (bgros@sensitivity.berkeley.edu) Issue #825, 2/17/92

The basil I added may be a lot; it was about 1/3-1/2 of the "bunch" I bought at the grocery store. I talked to the brewmaster at the pub where I had the original Honey Basil and he said they used four "bunches" in 800 gallons. So we'll see.
Now it is fermenting, and is a pretty murky brown color. I didn't think that much 40L Crystal would make it this dark; much darker than I wanted. We'll see what happens when it is done---looks like I'll need to add the gelatin this time (I've had good luck with this in the past). I'll let you know what it tastes like.

And I hope the hops are light enough to let the basil and honey through. I think I have a pretty heavy hand with hops usually.

Ingredients:

2--1/2 pounds, barley malt
1/2 pound, wheat malt
1/2 pound, 40L Crystal malt
2 pounds, honey
1 pound, dried malt extract (pale)
2--1/4 ounces, Mt. Hood hops (3.3%, bittering)
1/2 ounce, Cascade hops (5.9%)
1 ounce, Basil leaves
Whitbred dry yeast

Procedure:

I did my partial mash, then boiled the wort with the honey and DME and the Mt Hood for 70 min. I then turned the heat off, added the Cascade and Basil, and covered and let sit for 30 min.