Sanitize all of your equipment
Bring 3 gallons of water to a boil. Put the malts and spices in a brew bag. Place in the water and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the malt satchel.
Whisk in the malt extracts and bring back to a boil. Stir well to prevent sticking. Boil for about a minute. Then add the UK First gold hops. Boil for 15 minutes, stirring as needed. It will want to boil over. But, keep that in check.
Add the Hallertau hops and boil for another 15 minutes. Then add the remaining hops and floc tab. Boil for another 15 minutes.
carefully strain out the wart into a 5 gallon bucket/ bottling barrel. I prefer to use a sparging bag and a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Try to get out as much sediment as possible.
Transfer the "wort" to a carboy. Add in cold water to bring the volume up to 5 gallons. You actually want more than 5 gallons since you will lose some during the fermentation process. Let this cool down to room temperature.
When the ale is cooled down enough, take your measurements to determine potential alcohol, sugar, and specific gravity (or skip if you don't need to know). Then add the yeast by pitching on top. Cap with a rubber stopper with a blow off tube. Place the other end of the tube in a container with a little water. Place it in a dark area where it won't be disturbed for a couple of weeks (a closet works best.
Leave the blow off tube on for 3 days. This will "blow off" sediment and the ale will be extremely active. After 3 days, it will be calm enough to put an airlock on. At this point, dry hop the ale by adding the Columbus hops. Then cap with the sir lock. Leave it for another 11 days, in darkness.
2 weeks after you brew, you can bottle the ale. Sanitize all of your equipment and bottles. Carefully siphon the ale from the carboy to a racking tub/ bottling barrel. I put a sparging bag in to catch any sediment. There will be about an inch or 2 of sediment in the bottom of the carboy. Make sure you keep your siphon above that level to avoid as much as possible. Take your measurements at this time to determine your final Alcohol, sugar, and specific gravity. Boil the corn sugar in about a cup of water. Stir this into the ale. Then you can begin filling your bottles. Make sure everything has been sanitized: equipment, bottles, and caps. Once filled and capped, place the bottles in a dark area for another 2 weeks to allow the secondary fermentation to do it's job: creating carbonation, and finishing the ale.
After 2 weeks in the bottle, it will mature, and be ready to drink. Salud!
