Acid Sky Oatmeal Pale

Greetings again fellow wanderers. As many of you know I have been brewing the perfect stout to drink and reminisce about better times. I am of course talking about Dinty Moore Wasteland Stout. I'll admit it's a very bold beer and not really something you can drink a lot of. With that in mind I set about brewing a beer that was a little more lite and had somewhat more drinkability.

That beer is Acid Sky Oatmeal Pale.

The first attempt at the brew looked like what I wanted ... very much like the yellowish, thick scudding clouds that blanket our ruined world. But on sampling, it turned out that it was lacking in the proper amount of hop bitterness and that 'extra something special' to set it apart from the rest of the swill that gets foisted upon us.

The second attempt with more of a hop punch, the addition of a couple extra pounds of 2 row, Victory malt, and Serrano peppers, proved to be the exact thing to both separate it from the pack and to live up to the name Acid Sky. 

Not wanting to be greedy and withhold this glorious beverage from Wastelanders who are distant I am once more providing a very simple step-by-step guide so that you too might enjoy the lighter side of the apocalypse.

Grain Bill  (10 gallons):

16 Lbs. 2 row 
2 Lbs Crystal 20
2 Lbs Victory Malt
1 Lb CaraPils malt
1 ½ Lbs Rolled Oats
2 Lbs Naked Golden Oats

Hopping Schedule (90 Minute boil):

2 ½ oz Newport ... 90 minutes
½ oz Chinook ...  30 minutes
½ oz Cascades ... 30 minutes
½ oz Chinook ...  15 minutes
½ oz Cascades ... 15 minutes
½ oz Bravo ... 5 minutes
½ oz Chinook ... 0 minutes
½ oz Newport (per 5 gallons) ... Dry Hop

Other Ingredients: 

Serranno Peppers: 14

Step by step:

Coarely crush all grains.

Heat  7 ½ gallons of water to 165 degrees. Mash in and stabalise the temperature at 154 degrees. Hold the temperature there for 60 minutes. Raise temperature to 168 degrees and mash out. Sparge to collect 14 gallons.

Start the boil.

Follow hopping schedule above.

Cut six of the Serrano peppers in half length wise and then twice across (give them a very rough chop).  Put the chunks into into a mesh bag seeds and all (dry hop bag works well). Tie it off and, during the last 10 minutes of the boil, drop it into the kettle. When you stop the boil pull the bag of peppers out ... then add the flame out hops.

Cover and rest for 10 minutes. Chill and ferment. Primary ferment one week. Secondary for two weeks (Dry hop with ½ oz. Newports per five gallons).

NOTE: This beer will need to be kegged. When you keg it, drop four whole Serrano peppers into each keg. I sampled the brew every week or so until it had reached the heat I was after. At five weeks it was hot without being way too hot. In other words, you knew there were peppers in it and and could feel them ... but it wasn't painful. At that point I opened the keg and removed the peppers. The aroma of the pepper from the ten minute boil gives the impression that it will be face melting ... but the heat is very mild after five weeks. However if a more flavorful experience is something you want, add more peppers to the keg and let them soak longer. A word of warning here though, the longer it soaks the hotter it will get.

So there you have it Wastelanders,  a very simple recipe that will give you very tasty beer that both looks and tastes like an acid sky. Enjoy!