KingBrianI
Well-Known Member
I love British ales and a large portion of my time as a homebrewer has been dedicated to trying to recreate the beers I tasted in the UK. I've made great leaps in the right direction, but I'm still not 100% where I want to be. The biggest problem has been a lack of that really unique malt character many british ales seem to have. I've done all the right things (english malts, english yeasts, english water profiles, etc.) but have never been able to nail it. An interesting observation I've made though is that many times a hydrometer sample right at the end of fermentation has had that malt flavor and the esters I was looking for. Then I would let the beer sit for another couple of weeks to "clean up" and the beer would end up with a much flatter malt character and reduced esters.
Then I listened to the Fuller's brew and rebrew episodes on Can You Brew It? and learned that Fuller's (and perhaps other British brewers?) are using a very regulated fermentation temp profile that the CYBI? folks discovered makes a big difference in malt expression of the final beer. Essentially, you pitch on the cool side (I guess to reduce fusels and other bad stuff), allow the temp to rise slightly in the first 12 hours or so (to get some esters and possibly reduce some diacetyl), then when the beer is about halfway attenuated you cool it back down to about pitching temp (to somehow help the malt character?) and then when the beer is at 1/4 to 1/5 OG to rapidly chill it to a cold temperature (to prevent the beer from cleaning up all the nice flavors it has created I guess).
Could this be the way for me to achieve the malt character I'm looking for in my british-style homebrews? Possibly. The only concern I have is that the yeasts I would use for this (Fullers strain and Ringwood) have always had attenuation problems for me. I'm worried that while waiting for the beer to attenuate it will clean up the flavors I'm attempting to save. I could always pitch a huge starter, but wouldn't that also limit the yeast flavors? And the Fuller's strain will drop out of the beer so fast without help, that if I start chilling the beer it seems like it would only exacerbate the problem.
I'm going to give it a try though, and I have really high hopes for it. Has anyone else attempted anything like this or noticed the "british" flavors being cleaned up when you leave a beer on the yeast at ferment temps for longer than fermentation lasts? I'd like to hear opinions, experience and thoughts on the subject. I really feel like this could be the breakthrough I need to get these beers to turn out right.
Then I listened to the Fuller's brew and rebrew episodes on Can You Brew It? and learned that Fuller's (and perhaps other British brewers?) are using a very regulated fermentation temp profile that the CYBI? folks discovered makes a big difference in malt expression of the final beer. Essentially, you pitch on the cool side (I guess to reduce fusels and other bad stuff), allow the temp to rise slightly in the first 12 hours or so (to get some esters and possibly reduce some diacetyl), then when the beer is about halfway attenuated you cool it back down to about pitching temp (to somehow help the malt character?) and then when the beer is at 1/4 to 1/5 OG to rapidly chill it to a cold temperature (to prevent the beer from cleaning up all the nice flavors it has created I guess).
Could this be the way for me to achieve the malt character I'm looking for in my british-style homebrews? Possibly. The only concern I have is that the yeasts I would use for this (Fullers strain and Ringwood) have always had attenuation problems for me. I'm worried that while waiting for the beer to attenuate it will clean up the flavors I'm attempting to save. I could always pitch a huge starter, but wouldn't that also limit the yeast flavors? And the Fuller's strain will drop out of the beer so fast without help, that if I start chilling the beer it seems like it would only exacerbate the problem.
I'm going to give it a try though, and I have really high hopes for it. Has anyone else attempted anything like this or noticed the "british" flavors being cleaned up when you leave a beer on the yeast at ferment temps for longer than fermentation lasts? I'd like to hear opinions, experience and thoughts on the subject. I really feel like this could be the breakthrough I need to get these beers to turn out right.