Beer recipes

I am still learning how to brew my own beer, but I am getting better and figured I would share some recipes that have worked well for me and/or might interest someone else. I brew like I cook, a minimal amount of exact measuring and temperature control, and a lot of 'wonder what this will do?'. I generally start with a malt kit, add some extra grain and hops, and whatever else catches my fancy. I am starting to pay more attention to the SG recently, because I am trying to figure out how accurate the brew calculator on the Brew Craft website is.

"Pucker Up" - Heavy Hop Porter
I brewed this one back in December '05, and am just drinking the last of the bottles now (April '06). It is a fairly complex beer, but the taste has remained consistent. I had a bunch of grains left over from a stout, and some Saaz hops from a pilsner, and I decided to just used them all up. It turned out to be extremely dry (hence the 'pucker up') from the hops, though not overly burnt tasting. According to the 'beer calculator', the Orig. SG should have been 1.077 and the Final SG 1.023, giving it an alcohol content of 8%, but I am fairly sure it isn't much above 6%.

Ingredients:
- 2.5kg equal parts of Black Patent Porter Malt, Roasted Barley, and Chocolate Malt
- 2x 1.7kg Mac's Triple Malt Dark beer kits
- 50grams Brewer's Choice Czech Saaz hop pellets

Steps:
1) Boil all grains with 4 litres water slowly for 1/2 hour, while warming the malt kits.
2) Remove some of the grain from the pot, add the hop pellets, and continue boiling for 15 minutes, while priming the yeast (included with the malt kits).
3) Filter the grains and hops, add remaining water, malt kits, and yeast to the fermenter along with enough cold water to fill it to 20 litres.
4) After 8 days, switch the beer to a glass carboy for secondary fermentation.
5) Few days later (I left it for 3), mix with 120grams of sugar, and bottle.

"Wild Bromb-Ale" - Mac's Pale Ale II (blackberry style)
I brewed this one in February, and the taste never quite matured, even though I am almost through drinking it (April '06). I still had some Saaz hops left, so I decided to just make a hopped Mac's Pale Ale. When I bottled it, it had a distinct wild blackberry aroma and flavour, probably from the hops. It still has quite a fruity flavour, but it isn't quite as blackberry like as before. It has never tasted 'finished' though. Supposedly this should have been OSG=1.057 and FSG=1.015, and 6.3%ABV, but I kinda doubt it.

Ingredients:
- 2x 1.7kg Mac's Pale Ale beer kits
- 30grams Brewer's Choice Czech Saaz hop pellets

Steps:
1) Boil the hops with 3 litres water slowly for 1/2 hour, while warming the malt kits.
2) Filter the hops, add remaining water, malt kits, and yeast to the fermenter along with enough cold water to fill it to 20 litres.
3) After 6 days, switch the beer to a glass carboy for secondary fermentation.
5) Few days later (I left it for 4), mix with 120grams of sugar, and bottle.