Old Speckled Hen. - Page 4

**Dude** · 01-31-2007, 04:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beer4breakfast

I really do like those Whirlfloc tabs, I must say. All my brews that I've used them in seem so clean and clear looking right from the start.

I agree. I think they work better than irish moss. Part of that might be because one tablet is good for 10 gallons, so I'm adding twice as much irish moss as I used to.

Blender · 02-15-2007, 05:38 AM

Orfy
I had one of these Speckled Hens last weekend and enjoyed it a lot. I love the story on how the name came to be. What exactly is Lyle's Golden Syrup? What would be a good substitute? I might try to make this in the near future.

disaffected · 02-16-2007, 04:55 AM

Blender, orfy posted about Lyle's Golden Syrup in this Invert Sugar thread.

I also explained how I brewed orfy's recipe for OSH using American measurements and substituting Karo and molasses for Lyle's Golden Syrup and substituting Turbinado sugar for Demerara. See post number 26 in orfy's previous Old Speckled Hen thread.

I'm about to rack it to secondary, probably this coming Saturday.

**Orfy** · 02-16-2007, 09:05 AM

How's this coming along?

I am definitely going to make his one of my regulars along with my Boddington's and Hobgoblin.
They make up a good threesome.

disaffected · 02-16-2007, 01:50 PM

I'm a lazy brewer, orfy, but I think it improves the quality of my beer anyway. I haven't racked to secondary yet, but I will later tonight. That'll be 19 days in primary, which isn't unusual for me.

Then I always go a minimum of three weeks in secondary before bottling. That's the two week rule plus a week of sloth.

Three weeks bottle conditioning, though, that's it. Once it's in the bottles I start getting impatient!

**Orfy** · 02-16-2007, 02:25 PM

Yeh, If I'm on a mission I'll go 3-5 in primary 7 in secondary, 14 to condition and I'm in and can demolish it in 2 weeks.
Thats Born and Died in around 6 weeks.

If I'm busy, am enjoy in what I have then it can easily be 3 months before I look at it. My hob goblin is in secondary and I brewed before Christmas.
I will keg it this weekend and drink it in around 3 weeks time.

**RichBrewer** · 02-16-2007, 03:12 PM

My local liquor store had some Old Speckled Hen for sale. I almost bought some but it was $9 a six pack.

**Orfy** · 02-16-2007, 03:24 PM

That's a lot cheaper than here.
It's around £1.50 a bottle, $18 for six.

**RichBrewer** · 02-16-2007, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orfy

That's a lot cheaper than here.
It's around £1.50 a bottle, $18 for six.

Oh my... I might have to just try a sixer. Half the price here in the States? What's up with that? Something to do with British taxation on alcohol?

disaffected · 02-17-2007, 04:49 PM

I racked to secondary today. My OG was 1.057 and my FG was a surprisingly high 1.020. I wonder what would cause that? Target was 1.013. One of my other recent brews dropped another .003 in secondary, so maybe this one will drop a bit more too.

Anyway, it looks good and it tastes excellent, and I think it's going to be a really good brew. That little bit of harsh bitterness that I reported on brew day is already gone.

I'll taste it again when I bottle in about three weeks, but I'll wait until it has bottle conditioned for three weeks before I compare it to Moreland's OSH.