Simple Pale Ale

Rusty after not brewing all summer...rusty in color because being rusty caused me to add crystal 40l that was slated for my common denominator by accident, giving me a slightly darker "pale" ale.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: S-05
Yeast Starter: Nope
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: Nope
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.051
Final Gravity: 1.011
IBU: 39
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 10 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 Days at 68 degrees

Grain Bill
8 lbs. 2-Row Pale Malt
2 lbs. Vienna Malt
0.5 lb. Crystal 20L Malt

Mash
Single Infusion mash for 60 minutes at 152 degrees.
Dough-in with 3.5 gallons of water. After 60 minutes, add 5 quarts of 175 degree water and begin vorlauf. My system only takes about 2 quarts before it clears up, then it's wide open to drain in the kettle. Have another 3.25 gallons of 175 degree water ready for the next batch sparge. You should then get 6.5 gallons to your kettle for the boil.

Boil & Hops
1.0 oz Cascade 6.6% at 60 min.
0.5 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 30 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 15 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 5 min.
0.25 oz Simcoe at 0 min
Chill to 70 to 75 degrees

Ferment at 60-64 ambient.

Brew Date 09.26.13

Bacon Fig Jam

Same basic recipe of the marmaljam, with a few tweaks. I was prepared for the amount of time it was going to take to reduce this go around and even made a pizza in the interim.
Ingredients:
12 or so figs cut into quarters
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon raw honey, cinnamon
1 teaspoon sweet orange peel
6-7 pieces cooked bacon
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 lemon

Bring water to just about boiling
add figs, simmer until tender
add sugar and honey
reduce by half
add orange peel and bacon (crumbled)
reduce until it begins to thicken
add juice of 1/2 lemon
stir and reduce until jam begins to adhere to spoon-reduce another 15 minutes
cool
chill

Orange Cinnamon Fig Marmaljam

I had a great fig harvest this year, over 100 and they are still coming. I decided to try my hand at a marmalade. Everything I read about a marmalade involves precise temps for setting the mush as well as copious amounts of pectin. Lots of trial and error on the marmalade boards and lots of disappointing, runny, end results. Since I'm not one to ever follow recipes to the "T", I adapted several recipes into a pseudo jam and utilized some left over brewing adjuncts from seasonal beers. I'm going to be honest, it took a while to render that sucker down, a lot longer than I thought it would (stupid me for starting at 9pm when I had to work at 5am the next day), but the end result was spot on. I'm going to use this in a bacon, fig, marmaljam grilled cheese tomorrow, but here's the recipe in the interim.

Marmaljam(not quite marmalade, not quite jam):

12 or so figs (some were very overripe(can you say shrinkage?), some were perfect) cut into quarters
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon raw honey (seriously, only because wanted to get rid of it, I scraped the jar)
1/4 oz sweet orange peel (leftover from brewing)This too can be potent and if you don't want the orange to co-star with the fig, taper it back to an 1/8oz.
1 cinnamon stick (left over from last year's christmas ale)
2 cups water
1 1/4 cup sugar in the raw
1/2 lemon

Bring water to just about boiling in a large NON-STICK saucepan (I used my scan pan wok, I love this utensil and cook everything in it. pasta never boils over, no matter how high, burgers, rice, veggies, you name it)
Add the fig quarters and turn down to medium
Stir and stir until tender, giving a slight mash with a wooden spoon
Add the sugar and stir some more, gently, until dissolved, bring to a simmer
Add the sweet orange peel
Add the raw honey
let it render down until it darkens and add the cinnamon stick
(I took the cinnamon stick out several times and tasted, my stick was old, but it's very powerful stuff, don't overdo it and remember that it's going to be concentrated)
Simmer and stir, and stir and stir, until midnight, even if you have to get up at 4am
As it begins to render down and thicken, add the juice of the 1/2 lemon, pick out any seeds)
Once you get to a consistency that holds a bit on the spoon, let it go 15 more minutes (seriously, this was a total guess)
Remove from heat and let cool (it will thicken even more) and put it into jars or a bowl with a lid (you aren't making enough to bother canning)
Go to bed at 12:30am
Get up at 4:00am and rejoice at the consistency, put it in the fridge and hope it doesn't harden like candy and go to work
Crazy good on bread with some peanut butter, can't wait for the grilled cheese!
Cheers!!