The wife is off in Walla Walla for a five day holiday weekend of wine tasting with her gal pals, so I took advantage of her absence and brewed today.
As discussed in a recent thread, I made a split batch of dark ruby mild (nod to Sarah Hughes) and spruce beer.
10 gallons, OG 1.060
23.5 lbs. Fawcett Golden Promise
3.5 lbs. Briess 120°L crystal
Mash for 75 min at 156°F. Batch sparge to collect 12 gallons of pre-boil wort. Boil for 90 min.
2 oz. Challenger 90 min
2 oz. Fuggles 30 min
At this point, drain 2 gallons of wort to a smaller kettle and boil for 10 minutes with 1 lb. of Colorado blue spruce tips. The remainder of the wort:
2 oz. UK Goldings 20 min
Chill, draw off 5 gallons of wort, oxygenate, then add 1318 yeast slurry. Add remaining 2 gallons of spruce wort back to the kettle, run the chiller for 15 minutes, then draw off spruce beer wort into another bucket, oxygenate, and add 1469/1450 yeast slurry.
Going outside of my comfort zone, as I have never used this much crystal malt. Ever since I migrated into 10 gallon batches 12 years ago, I generally have stuck with tweaking tried and true beers I love recipes.
FWIW, spruce tips in boiling wort smell incredible.
![Grin ;D](http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/Smileys/default/grin.gif)