.25 cup roast barley
3.5 kilograms pale 2 row malt
.5 kilogram crystal malt
1 oz Northern Brewer Hops
1 pound light brown sugar
.5 oz Cascade Hops
1 oz Cascade Hops
1 vial Canadian Ale Yeast (starter)
1 pinch Irish Moss

 Combine roast barley, pale malt, and crystal in 2.2 gallons water. Mash temperature should be slightly high at about 154 degrees.
Mash for 90 minutes.
Sparge with 1 gallon of water to collect 3.2 gallons of wort.
Add the Northern Brewer hops when boiling starts.
Total boiling time should be 90 minutes.
At 30 minutes before end of boil, add .5 oz Cascade hops.
At 10 minutes before end of boil, add a pinch of Irish Moss.
Cool quickly, and when wort is room temperature, add final 1 oz Cascade hops and Canadian Ale Yeast starter.
Ferment and bottle when complete.

Makes about 36 bottles. Beer is 7.5% alcohol by volume. - perfect for cold winter days!

Ingredients

1 full bodied red wine kit - any make(I use the least expensive one I can get)
corn sugar (dextrose)
6 ounces of brandy

Make your wine kit using ¾ the normal amount of water you normally would for that kit. About 15 litres.
Brew it right in your carboy. Do NOT use a plastic bucket. Make sure the carboy has a fermentation lock attached.
#1. Once fermentation is really going, take a funnel and place it in the top of the carboy. Add about 1 large cup full of dextrose to the wine. Re attach fermentation lock. The wine should foam up right away and then after about one minute, the foam will subside.
Leave the wine for a week (keep the fermentation lock on)
Repeat the above step #1 again.
Wait a week.
Repeat #1.
Continue this process until fermentation ceases. Eventually, no foaming will occur when adding the sugar.
When this happens, the last cup of sugar you have added will actually sweeten the wine because the alcohol level at this time is so high that the yeast cannot ferment it. It should be about 14-17%.
Let the wine sit for about two more weeks to settle out. Do not rack it off the sediment because the cushion of carbon dioxide above the wine acts as a barrier against germs and racking the wine will disturb it.
Before bottling, rack the wine off the sediment into another carboy or bucket. Add the brandy to the wine.
Filter and bottle.

Let this one age, age, age. This simple recipe goes down warm and smooth and is a perfect drink after coming in out of the cold of winter.
Let me know what you think!

NOTE: Read section on yeast starter first.

If making beer from extract use...

1 can light malt extract
1 can amber malt extract

If making beer from all grain use...

10.5 pounds of english 2 row pale malt
1.1 lb of crystal malt
.25 cup roast barley

Also needed (either grain or extract)

3 cups dark brown sugar 2 oz Cascade hop pellets
1 dash irish moss (optional)
125 grams crushed crystal malt 125 grams crushed pale malt OR flaked barley
1 yeast starter using ONLY Irish Ale yeast OR Canadian Ale yeast

1. Bring to a boil as much water as you can
2a. If brewing with extract add the two cans of Malt extract and brown sugar to water
2b. If brewing with grain, mash pale,crystal and roast barley at 154 degrees for about 1 to 1.5 hours, then sparge into brewpot
3. Add 1 oz of Hops (½ package) to water as well.
4. Vigorously boil for 1 hr.
5. Turn down heat to simmer wort.
6. Add crystal malt and pale malt/flaked barley, irish moss and simmer for exactly 8 minutes.
7. Add 1 oz other ½ of package of hops and simmer for exactly 2 minutes.
8. Pour wort into primary and top up to 5 gallons.
9. When temperature of wort is between 70-75 degrees pitch your active yeast starter
10. Ferment until ready, racking after vigorous activity subsides.

This step to be done 1-3 days prior to brewing beer

Let yeast starter vial warm naturally to room temperature
boil 1 ½ cups water and add 3 heaping teaspoons of dry malt extract
add 2 or 3 hop pellets to wort.
Boil about 5 minutes.
Cool covered. This can be done quickly by placing pot in another larger pot filled with very cold water.
When the bottom of the pot with the wort feels neither hot or cold (about room temperature), pour it into a large beer bottle OR wine bottle.
KEEP BEER/WINE BOTTLE, FERMENTATION LOCK, AND FUNNEL VERY CLEAN BY PREVIOUSLY SOAKING IN BLEACH AND RINSING WITH VERY HOT WATER. DO NOT BREATH ON ANYTHING, BUT DON’T WORRY!
Bottle should be about 2/3 full (no more!). Open Yeast vial and quickly pour contents into starter bottle. Quickly place clean fermentation lock, ½ filled with water, onto bottle.
There should be substantial airspace above liquid in bottle as vigorous fermentation will result and could overflow.
Keep bottle away from light and at about 70-75 degrees. Fermentation should be apparent anywhere from 1 to 3 days after yeast has been added. If ½ or more inches of foam reside on top of liquid, then starter is ready to pitch.