Shorelunch Campfire Red (left) with Shorelunch Extra Premium
on-set for episode shoot somewhere in Northern Wisconsin
Shorelunch Campfire Red drinks malty smooth with big smoky notes of campfire and smoke-dried meat. It’s truly a bonfire in a glass. It was brewed in collaboration with Nate P. and Errrk from the epic fishing and cooking webshow, Shorelunch with Nate P. for a fun mash-up episode that you need to watch! See us drink the beer and give some tasting notes alongside a two-course meal of delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and gazpacho that Nate prepared for the episode.
The star of this homebrew recipe is Sugar Creek Malting Sainnhus Alderwood Smoked Malt, a unique 2-Row malt that is smoked-dried in Indiana with techniques learned in and inspired by alderwood-dried malt in the Northern Norway town of Stjordal. Having enjoyed a homebrew sent to me from fans in Illinois brewed with 100% of this malt, I knew how intense it can be. So, for this recipe I brought it down to about 15-20% of the grist and filled the rest out with the unique Best Red X malt, which is a base malt in nature but also provides this beautiful red color (even when not blended with other malts) and just a small bump of malt sweetness, nothing like a crystal/caramel malt as far as body and richness. It’s a really cool base malt.
Our beer was fermented with Bootleg Biology’s Regal Lager Blend (not currently available), which is a blend of 34/70 lager dry yeast and Oslo kveik strain. Oslo is, of course, popular among some homebrewers for producing clean, crisp pseudo-lagers without the need for cold temperature control and the time a real lager would require. This beer fermented in the lower 70s and finished in about three days. That yeast blend is a beast! I saved 1800 mL of the slurry to pitch into something else — perhaps a bock- or doppelbock-style brew.
Also see our recipe for Shorelunch Extra Premium!
Shorelunch Campfire Red (Alderwood-Smoked Red Ale)
For 5 gallons Brew in a Bag (BIAB)
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.014
IBU: 20
ABV: 5.6%
Malt
- 9 lbs Best Maltz Red X
- 2 lbs Sugar Creek Malting Sainnhus Alderwood Smoked Malt
Hops
- 0.5 oz German Ariana (10%aa) @ 60 min
Yeast
- Bootleg Biology Regal Lager Blend – 1L starter
Method
Heat 5 gallons of water to 162F. Kill flame and line brew kettle with Brew Bag.
Mash malt Brew Bag to achieve mash temperature of 152F. Rest covered for 60 minutes.
After mash rest, lift the Brew Bag out of the kettle to drain the wort.
Hand sparge with two gallons of 170F water and squeeze bag with heat-resistant gloves.
Aim to collect about 6.5 gallons of wort. Top off with water if necessary.
Bring kettle to a boil. Add Ariana hops and boil for 60 minutes.
Cool wort to 70F and pitch starter of Regal Lager Blend.
Ferment in lower 70s.
My brew reached final gravity in about five days and surprisingly clear in the primary fermenter after one week.