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Recipe: Horus Aged Ales CrystAle
Rather than run away from crystal malt, Kyle Harrop of Horus Aged Ales in Oceanside, California, embraces it fully with this deviant barleywine-strength ale.
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Rather than run away from crystal malt, Kyle Harrop of Horus Aged Ales in Oceanside, California, embraces it fully with this deviant barleywine-strength ale. So far, he’s released two based on this recipe: Built Different at 14.4 percent ABV (aged in Old Forester Birthday Bourbon barrels), and My CrystAle Ball at 11.4 percent ABV (aged in Willett Experimental Wheated Whiskey barrels), with two more barrel-aged versions in the works for early 2024.
Harrop describes the base beer as a “liquid version of a Werther’s Original candy. It tastes like a cross between an English barleywine and a wee heavy that highlights caramel and toffee.”
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 53%
OG: 1.139
FG: 1.061
IBUs: 35
ABV: 10.2% (before barrel aging)
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Rather than run away from crystal malt, Kyle Harrop of Horus Aged Ales in Oceanside, California, embraces it fully with this deviant barleywine-strength ale. So far, he’s released two based on this recipe: Built Different at 14.4 percent ABV (aged in Old Forester Birthday Bourbon barrels), and My CrystAle Ball at 11.4 percent ABV (aged in Willett Experimental Wheated Whiskey barrels), with two more barrel-aged versions in the works for early 2024.
Harrop describes the base beer as a “liquid version of a Werther’s Original candy. It tastes like a cross between an English barleywine and a wee heavy that highlights caramel and toffee.”
ALL-GRAIN
Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 53%
OG: 1.139
FG: 1.061
IBUs: 35
ABV: 10.2% (before barrel aging)
[PAYWALL]
MALT/GRAIN BILL
28.2 lb (12.8 kg) Simpsons Crystal Light
1.75 lb (794 g) Simpsons Double Roasted Crystal (DRC)
1.1 lb (500 g) Simpsons Crystal T50
11 oz (312 g) Simpsons Crystal Medium
HOPS & ADDITIONS SCHEDULE
1.75 lb (794 g) brown or turbinado sugar at 240 minutes
1.25 oz (35 g) Nelson Sauvin at 90 minutes [35 IBUs]
1.75 lb (794 g) brown or turninado sugar at 15 minutes
YEAST
50/50 blend of Fermentis SafAle US-05 and White Labs WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast
DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 152°F (67°C) for 60 minutes. Recirculate until the runnings are clear, then run off into the kettle. Sparge and top up as necessary to get about 8 gallons (30 liters) of wort, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 240 minutes, adding hops and sugars according to the schedule. After the boil, chill the wort to about 68°F (20°C), aerate well, and pitch plenty of healthy yeast. Ferment at 70°F (21°C) until complete and gravity has stabilized. Package and carbonate to about 2.6 volumes of CO2—or, optionally, age in a spirits barrel.
BREWER’S NOTES
Hops: Use any variety you want to get the 35 IBUs.
Fermentation and Feeding: To give this a healthy start, oxygenate every 12 hours for the first 96 hours. Once fermentation begins to slow, patiently begin feeding the fermentor with clear or amber Belgian candi syrup to reach the numbers you’re looking for. (I treat these similarly to a melomel in the mead world.)
Variation: Replace the Crystal Medium with Crystal Extra Dark at the same quantity to make a “Dark CrystAle.”
