Thomas Hardy's Ale

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Beau815

Beau815

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Being that THA may be gone for good unless its picked up by a new brewer, I purchased my 1st bottle of it. Its a 2007 vintage that I will crack open in 2017. I have never tasted a THA, but judging by its following I would like to brew a batch of it to age for 20 years and have one each Christmas, or my birthday etc. Will give me something to really look forward to each year. Also I will be able to taste it each year of aging.... So has anyone tried this recipe:

http://pages.ripco.net/~mws/recipe.txt

If anyone has, did you get good results?
 
Chinook hops in a Thomas Hardy recipe? Rip that one up and keep searching.

BTW if you have not tasted TH do yourself and favor and try it. Laying some down for aging is all well and good but if the big asteroid hits in the next twenty years and all of your TH is still in the basement you will be very sorry. ;)
 
There is a clone recipe in Clone Brews that I can look up and post here if you don't mind waiting a day. Not sure how accurate it is, and I have not brewed any of their clones yet, but others may be able to attest to the validity...
 
Sounds GREAT lorax, ill gladly wait! And BigEd, I wud try the 2007 i have but it was the last THA the local store had. Its also a bit early to drink I think.
 
Lorax, are you going to post it? Just waitin on the recipe before I buy ingredients.
 
Info from the Real Ale Almanac, circa 1997:

Thomas Hardy's Ale:

OG 1125
ABV 12%

100% Pipkin Pale Malt

Challenger and Northdown hops for bittering.
Challenger and Goldings for aroma.
Dry hopped.

50-70 IBUs.

Notice NO specialty malts of any kind.

White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity is evidently the yeast.
 
BTW, every recipe I have seen is completely wrong if you look at the facts of what the beer is.

And yeah, you should drink at least one before you age it.
 
Yea, sorry it took me so long to get the recipe up, I have been busy as all hell lately. I think that Matt's recipe is going to be the most accurate version based purely on the simplicity
 
thelorax121 said:
Yea, sorry it took me so long to get the recipe up, I have been busy as all hell lately. I think that Matt's recipe is going to be the most accurate version based purely on the simplicity
Click to expand...

Wasn't trying to diss anyone's recipes, so sorry for that. Mine's not an actual recipe. It's just what's quoted in the Real Ale Almanac. And their info comes from surveying the brewers themselves, so it's likely to be accurate. It seems to be a good way to start a formulation of the recipe. I think all that malt complexity that's perceived, and which causes everyone to add lots of specialty malts, is just because it's a nice base malt and because there's SO MUCH of it in that huge beer.

Anyway, hope it helps and no offense intended to anyone.
 
I've seen talk of other TH all malt clones and a key part in the recipe is collecting runnings to do AT LEAST a two-hour boil to concentrate the wort and bring out even more flavor & color.
 
Here's what I came up with. I couldn't do an infusion mash with my equipment. You need at least a 48qt MLT.
Thomas Hardy Clone
English Barleywine

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.96 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 120 min Equipment: 15 Gal Megapot and 10 Gal Rubbermaid Cooler
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
27 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 100.00 %
1.00 oz Northdown [8.50 %] (120 min) Hops 19.2 IBU
1.00 oz Challenger [7.50 %] (120 min) Hops 17.0 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (20 min) Hops 6.3 IBU
1.00 oz Challenger [7.50 %] (20 min) Hops 9.4 IBU
1.00 oz Challenger [7.50 %] (5 min) Hops 3.1 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.1 IBU

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.121 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.030 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 12.01 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 57.0 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 9.4 SRM Color: Color

Mash Profile

Mash Name: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 27.00 lb
Sparge Water: 3.90 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Saccharification Add 32.40 qt of water at 166.4 F 154.0 F
10 min Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F
Click to expand...
 
wow thanks all for the help! I thought it was considered an english strong ale not barleywine. I guess theres a thin line. Or are all strong ales essentially barleywines?
 
It's an Old Ale, actually.

The recipe above looks to me to have too much in the way of aroma hops, but I can't offer real insight as I haven't had one in maybe 4 or 5 years. I don't remember hops being very dominant. A presence, yes, but not a large one. But memory is just that, memory. Drink one and see what you think.
 
I was just going off your IBU and Hop Profile.

Take off a 1/2 ounce of the 2 Challenger Aroma additions and add it to the 120 addition. It still falls in the IBU range.
 
Considering this is going to be aged for so long, most of the hop flavor will dissapate by the time it is hitting it prime. The only thing I might change on slimer's recipe would be to lower the mash temp, as with a beer this big, the yeast is going to have a hard enough time attenuating enough
 

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