The Homebrewer’s Almanac: A Seasonal Guide to Making Your Own Beer from Scratch offers a month-by-month primer on making your own beer from the ingredients all around you, and the beer recipes are perfect for those brewers interested in creative ways to use these culinary ingredients in their brewing.
Many brewers have put basil into beer, probably because of basil’s kinship with hops. Not only is basil extremely aromatic, it lends both a spicy edge and a sweet finish—hops-like without the extra bitterness.
Batch Size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.010
ABV: 5.7%
IBUs: 25
GRAINS
8 lb (3.6 kg) Maris Otter
1 lb (454 g) rye
1 lb (454 g) flaked wheat
6 oz (170 g) crystal 60°L
MASH
Mash in with 4 gallons (15 l) water to hit 150°F (65°C). Sparge with 6½ gallons (24.6 l) water at 168°F (75°C).
HOPS
½ oz (14 g) Nugget at 60 minutes
1 oz (28 g) East Kent Goldings at 10 minutes
1 oz (28 g) East Kent Goldings at flameout
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS
1 (12"/30 cm) fresh Genovese basil plant at 60 minutes
1 (12"/30 cm) fresh Genovese basil plant at 30 minutes
1 (12"/30 cm) fresh Genovese basil plant at 10 minutes
1 (12"/30 cm) fresh Genovese basil plant at flameout
or
¼ cup dried basil at 30 minutes
¼ cup dried basil at flameout/whirlpool
LENGTH OF BOIL
60 minutes with 15-minute whirlpool at flameout
YEAST
American Ale
FERMENTATION
Start at 67°F (19°C) until fermentation is almost complete, then raise to 70°F (21°C) until complete.
This recipe was featured in an excerpt from The Homebrewer's Almanac: A Seasonal Guide To Making Your Own Beer From Scratch, by Marika Josephson, Aaron Kleindon, and Ryan Tockstein, published by The Countryman Press, and reprinted in our Cooking with Beer 2016 special issue with permission from the publisher. Buy your copy of The Homebrewer's Almanac at better bookstores, homebrew shops, craft-beer stores, or your favorite online retailer.
For more information about Scratch Brewing, see this Breakout Brewer profile from the August/September 2015 issue of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®.