Home Brewers Ultimate Recipe Book

Clara Bell

So, I was scrolling through my copy of the Home Brewers Ultimate Recipe Book (also known as the Best Cookbook Ever) looking for a nice refreshing summery beer when I came across the recipe for Clara Bell. I decided to make it mainly because I noticed it called for citric acid and I thought it might give the beer a nice refreshing tang, but having all the ingredients on hand didn’t hurt my decision making process either.

Making this one was tough and I am still not sure I did it right. The ingredient list is not complete. The instructions call for ingredients which are not listed and I am not sure that the call for 2 tablespoons of Irish Moss isn’t a typo. Because of the extremely poor directions, I had to make some judgment calls when brewing this one up.

I was absolutely astounded when this one came out so well. It’s a medium gold with a thick white head of dense bubbles. It’s very slightly cloudy but that could be due to the nonstandard boil time of the Irish Moss. The initial taste on the tongue is somewhat sharp easing into a full flavored beer with a crisp clean taste. It is light in the mouth with a tangy lingering aftertaste. As a bonus, this beer matured quickly and only required about 8 days of bottle conditioning for its full flavor character. During my official “tasting” of this beer, 9 out of 10 tasters raved about it. The tenth person liked it a lot and drank several glasses, but indicated that he preferred darker beers.

This was an outstanding beer. The only problem with it is that I am not certain I made the beer the author intended due to the extremely poorly written recipe. If you are interested in making my version of Clara Bell, I have listed the modifications I made below.

MODIFICATIONS:

½ lb Cara-Pils

½ lb Crystal

1 T. Irish Moss

¾ tsp yeast nutrient

SG 1.052

FG 1.016

ABV 5%

Fermenting Temp 68º -74º F

1 week primary

2 weeks secondary

14 days bottled (very good at