Trying something different this time. Main differences are:

Vigorous boil and all sugar/malt in at the beginning – force caramelisation for a darker beer.
Boil all water (I would normally make up the 12 pints in the wort to 20/24 pints using cold water)
Use fuggles hops
Use a combination of sugars including treacle to give the beer a darker colour
Actually take the SG (I’ve forgotton to do this in the last few)

To make approx 20 pints

160g Cracked Malt
1.5 kg Pale Malt Extract (Brupaks – 1 tins)
50g Treacle
60g Golden Syrup
50g Dark Brown Sugar
5g Northern Brewer/10g Challenger (hops 1)
3g Cascade (hops 2)
10g Fuggles (hops 3)
Nottingham Brewers Yeast

Put malt in boil bag
Put bag in 12 pints of cold water
Bring to the boil. Move the boil bag up and down every 5 mins or so
Just before boiling remove boil bag. Don’t squeeze just let water drip from it
Add Malt Extract/Sugar off heat so it doesn’t burn
Add hops 1 when boiling
Add hops 2 after 30 mins
Add hops 3 after 60 mins
Stop at 70 mins

Strain out hops + add remaining water put in demijohns/bin to ferment
Add hops 4
bottle with 0.5 teaspoon of sugar
leave in warm for 14 days
more to cold and leave for 4 weeks

*SG before fermentation 1.048*
*SG after fermentation 1.011 (approx 4-5% alcohol)
Made – 23th November 2008
Bottled – 01st December 2008