1 lb Crystal 40L
4 oz chocolate
8lbs ultralight malt extract
4 oz maltodextrin
.5 oz Northern Brewer hops (60 min)
1 oz Northern Brewer hops (15 min)
1 oz Cascade (10 min)
1 oz Cascade (10-14 days dry-hopped in secondary)
This is the first time that I have tried "dry hopping", which is the process of putting hops into the secondary fermentation stage. I think that, normally, a fine mesh bag is used to contain the hops while they soak, but I didn't have one so I just dumped the pellets right into the beer. Almost all of the hops settled to the bottom after 12 days, but I racked the beer through a crude filter, which very effectively removed the remaining floating bits of hops.
Overall, I think the dry hopping process preserves more hop aroma than would be possible with even just 5 minutes of boiling. 12 days should be the maximum length of time for dry hopping. This recipe is supposed to be an amber, but it tastes much more like a pale ale. It's quite good, and I have very few complaints about it. I would have liked a little more malt flavor and a little less hop, but it's still very tasty, and will be especially good on hot days.
I would make this recipe again and probably shorten the secondary time to 7 days.
