Red White and Blue Ale - Barley The Brew Pup May Recipe
The smell of charcoal and roasted hot dogs is in the air. The clanging of neighbors bottles as they set aside their differences to celebrate. The sound of children laughing while having an epic water balloon fight. That's right... it's almost that time of year again - time for Americans to celebrate their independence by proudly flying the flag high, barbecuing and lighting fireworks; the Fourth of July! Now you might be thinking "isn't it a bit early... it's only May!" However, if you want to have this patriotic brew ready in time for the 4th of July, you need to start brewing it today! 
This 4th of July, there will be block parties from coast to coast, filled with hot dogs, cold watermelon, and warm apple pie. But this year will be different... Mrs. Jones award-winning pie won't be the talk of the town. This year, it will be all about your delicious Red, Pale, and Blue Ale. That's right; nothing says America more than a cold, crisp, clean, patriotic-themed homebrew on a warm summer night. So come along on our brew adventure as we prepare for this wonderful holiday.
The Recipe:
- 1 can of Mr. Beer Classic American Light Brewing Extract
- 1 pack Mr. Beer Booster
- 1 pack Mr. Beer LME Pale
- 1/2 oz U.S. Golding Hops
- 1 Hop Sack
- 1 Packet No Rinse Cleanser
- 1 bottle Red Food Color
- 1 bottle Blue Food Color
Before we get started, I recommend finding a brewing assistant. An assistant isn't completely necessary for humans, but I hear it makes the process more enjoyable. I like to keep my paws off the hot pots and make this guy do the heavy lifting. I fondly refer to him as the upright, the big guy, or the human. He will pretty much answer to anything. I have him pretty well trained.
Now that I have the big guy to do the work, I'm going to assemble all the ingredients. I like to take this time and read through the instructions (two or three times doesn't hurt) and make sure I have all the equipment and ingredients I need BEFORE we get started. Well, ok... maybe I can't technically read, but the upright has that part figured out, so he reads and collects everything while I watch. It's a pretty good system that we've worked out!
To get started, I had my brewing assistant bring 6 cups of fresh water in our brew pot to a near boil. He then took it off the heat and added the Booster and Pale LME. Note: Place the pouch of Liquid Malt Extract in a bowl of warm water during sanitization to make it easier to pour. This ooey-gooey deliciousness has a mind of its own and likes to drip everywhere, but that's ok, it's my job to clean it up! 
Next, he put the brew pot back on the stove and brought the wort up to a boil. You will want to stir constantly to keep the foam in check. During this time, we prepared the hop addition by putting the 1/2oz U.S. Golding hops in the hop sack. I kept trying to sneak a hop pellet, but the big guy says hops are VERY poisonous to dogs, so that was a no-go. I thought I was the boss around here, but oh well… 
After the wort has come to a rolling boil, my assistant turned the heat to low and added the hop sack to the brew pot (we either tie it to the handle or clip it to an edge to eliminate scorching the hop sack). The lack of opposable thumbs made it difficult to set a timer, so I instructed the big guy to set a timer for 15 minutes. Remember, you want to simmer for 15 minutes, NOT boil. After 15 minutes, we removed the brew pot from the heat and added the remaining ingredient: One can of Mr.Beer American Classic American Light Brewing Extract.
The wonderful wafts of malted barley and hops will drive your puppy nose crazy, but trust me, you should refrain from charging the brew pot at all cost!
After we thoroughly mixed in the brewing extract, the big guy filled our sanitized fermenter with refrigerated tap water up to the 4-quart mark on the back, added our wort, and then topped off with more cold water to bring it to the 8.5 liter mark. Remember to mix thoroughly with a sanitized brew spoon!
Once we ensured our cooled wort was between 66-68 degrees Fahrenheit, we took a hydrometer sample (using a sanitized hydrometer sample tube) and pitched our pack of Mr. Beer Brewers yeast.
Special Instruction
After your beer has ?nished fermenting, add 12 drops of food coloring to each Mr. Beer 740mL PET bottle AFTER adding priming sugar and before adding beer. You will want to do 3 RED bottles, 3 BLUE bottles, and 5 PALE bottles.
Lastly, and quite possibly the most important step in the entire brewing process, is once you have tucked your fermenter away in a cool, dark, dry location, and washed all of your brewing equipment, you need to sit down and crack open a nice cold homebrew. Get yourself a brewing journal and jot down any memorable notes from your brew day as every brew is unique and a great learning experience. Also, while enjoying your homebrew, take a look on MrBeer.Com and start planning your next brew. You have to keep the pipeline going!
Disclaimer:
- Don't give your pups beer…WE DON'T! Everything you see here is staged for entertainment purposes.
- Sanitization is very important to us and we recommend following all of Mr.Beer's recommended sanitization process. A much more thorough write up, including sanitization practices, can be found online on the Smoked Stout recipe page.
If you have enjoyed this homebrew write up, please check me out @BarleyTheBrewPup on Instagram. We update daily - follow me to see what the uprights have in store for me next!
