English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

Yeah, carafa isn't happening at this point. I feel it's mostly for color adjustment as well, though that sharpness is certainly a part of it. I will most likely go with the chocolate as what I have is quite dark. Won't be the exact same recipe, but still accurate for a porter grist. With brown and amber malts in there as well I don't see a way that it won't be delicious

lowtones84 said:

Yeah, carafa isn't happening at this point. I feel it's mostly for color adjustment as well, though that sharpness is certainly a part of it. I will most likely go with the chocolate as what I have is quite dark. Won't be the exact same recipe, but still accurate for a porter grist. With brown and amber malts in there as well I don't see a way that it won't be delicious

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You have my guarantee that a porter where the main driver for flavour is Brown malt, complemented with a small bite of some type of very roast malt is absolutely the way to go! You'll get layers of complex flavour out of that one!

JKaranka said:

You have my guarantee that a porter where the main driver for flavour is Brown malt, complemented with a small bite of some type of very roast malt is absolutely the way to go! You'll get layers of complex flavour out of that one!

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Love using Brown malt. Like liquid toffee.

JKaranka said:

You have my guarantee that a porter where the main driver for flavour is Brown malt, complemented with a small bite of some type of very roast malt is absolutely the way to go! You'll get layers of complex flavour out of that one!

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Yeah, I've never used a full two pounds, but sounds good to me. Now the question is: WLP023 (Burton ale yeast) or WLP013 (London ale yeast)? The shop was having a sale on "expired" white labs vials and I couldn't help picking up a few I haven't tried before...

Thanks for all the input, gents

Lowtones, just for info, I've transcribed the recipe of my finest stout (London stout, OG 1.065), which has a very similar grist. I've converted from Imperial to US measures, so you get some 2.3lb type stuff. It would work well with a bigger 15/20m charge and dry hopping, but I really enjoy all the complex malt flavours coming out of the Brown / Amber malts.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=556059

Nice, that's very close to what I'm going with except for the black patent, and a little less percentage of amber malt. I'm also going big on the hops for the Export India Porter style Looks delicious though!

Yeah, it's very good. When I did export India I went for a lower OG (1.056 or such), less Patent Malt as well, higher IBU relative to strength and quite a hefty dry hop. I prefer this latest stout but I've had very good India Porters by commercial breweries.

Welp, ended up with an OG of 1.074 instead, but I suspect that it reads .002-4 high anyhow from before after measuring distilled water. Recipe ended up being:

5.5 lbs. MO
2 lb. Brown malt
.5 lb. Amber malt
4 oz. Chocolate malt
1 lb. invert #2
(Mash @ 152F for 60 min)

.5 oz. Centennial @ 90 minutes (A little non traditional perhaps...)
.5 oz. Challenger, .5 oz. EKG @ 60
.25 oz. Challenger, .25 oz. EKG @ 30
.38 oz. Bramling Cross, .2 oz. Challenger, .25 oz. EKG -Low Hopstand (110F whoops, cold ground water) for 45 mi.

Pitch 1L starter WLP023 (Burton) @ 70F

The Barclay Perkins article said shove hops in, so I did Sample wort was bitter of course, but also delicious.

Nice. Sampling my Pale Mild (think I sent @JKaranka the recipe via PM). It's tasty, but nowhere near as good as my normal Dark Mild, but allegedly they never are.

I picked up a boatload of hops I can't normally get from my LHBS. Freezer filled with Bramling Cross, Phoenix, Progress, WGV, and so on. Planning on making 16 lbs of invert during vacation in December (4 lbs each of #1-4) and then going crazy with the more traditional Bitters and Milds through the first half of next year, see how far I can take a pitch of 1469, planning to top crop quite a few and harvest yeast cake for the rest, maybe 20 total batches out of one pack. Bunch of Mild malt on hand, that my LHBS doesn't stock. Going to stock up on the Brown and Amber malts too (Brown for a few porters and stouts) that I actually CAN get from my LHBS. Should be fun.

That sounds like a great schedule. The mild that ended up being a little more like a brown ale from a few pages back turned out really nice. The 1 gallon poly at the party was great, but 3 more weeks of age has done it well. I have a mild/brown recipe I like, a house bitter that I like that I can tweak here and there, so I'm happy with my foray into English styles so far. Not that I've mastered anything, but I'm happy with the product and process.

So after all of those more sessionable beers I did a Barleywine and this Export Porter back to back. Whoops

lowtones84 said:

That sounds like a great schedule. The mild that ended up being a little more like a brown ale from a few pages back turned out really nice. The 1 gallon poly at the party was great, but 3 more weeks of age has done it well. I have a mild/brown recipe I like, a house bitter that I like that I can tweak here and there, so I'm happy with my foray into English styles so far. Not that I've mastered anything, but I'm happy with the product and process.

So after all of those more sessionable beers I did a Barleywine and this Export Porter back to back. Whoops

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I tend to start with a session beer, and then repitch into another session beer and a stronger beer, and then repeat from the session beer, and so on and so forth.

Yeah, I used a repitch of 007 from said brown ale for the barleywine. Considering the barleywine was 1.090, I think I'll probably just let that yeast go when it's done.

Looking forward to the results from WLP023. Anybody have much experience with it?

I used it a couple times while trying to nail down a Coniston clone (after reading from a few unverified sources that it might be the strain they use). It's close, but not as close as what I get out of a bottle, so I've since started culturing. It's a good strain, I liked it, but not as much as 1469, so I probably won't be using it again unless I have a specific purpose to. If I recall correctly, behavior is pretty typical, moderately low attenuating unless you mash low or use a bunch of sugar, and fermented fast and hard, and dropped bright pretty quickly.

I've used WPL023 for my last three brews, I found it takes a few weeks to drop bright. A bit too murky when bottled despite chilling for a day or two at the end of primary. Very large krausen and can be a bit sulphury during fermentation . Attenuation was 74% first generation bitter, 76% second generation stout, 79% second generation bitter (this was overpitched though I think).

It has a definate mineral quality to it, or it accentuates mineral quality more than other yeasts I've used. I prefer the other White Labs yeasts I've used more of , wlp002 and wlp013.

This is an amazing thread. Thanks to the op and all who have contributed. I have learned so much about making these beers from this thread!

John

I really like KingBrianI's Common Room ESB. It's been a while since I made a batch so on my way home from work this evening I stopped by the LHBS to get the ingredients. Brew day is tomorrow.

Planning on doing a WW2 air raid style porter. I've seen the recipe of a Whitbread porter from the early 1940s from the Porter! book. It had 5% Brown Malt, 5% Chocolate Malt and ~10% of a mix of sugars. I'm feeling I'm maybe over complicating the recipe but given my predilection for Brown Malt I've upped it a bit and added a tad of Patent Malt for colour.

For 5 US gallons
OG 1.037, 33IBU

5lb Maris Otter (74%)
1lb Brown Malt (15%)
6oz Chocolate Malt (5%)
4oz Dark Invert Sugar Syrup (4%)
2oz Black Patent Malt (2%)

45 minute boil
45 - 0.75oz Challenger (25IBU)
15 - 0.5oz Challenger (9IBU)

Brewers' Friend estimates the colour at 27SRM, and I'll up it to 32SRM using 1/2oz of Brewers' Caramel (3500L). I'll most likely use S04 as a yeast.

That was an easy brewday...

Easy to grind, easy to mash, quick boil. Fairly effective dark wort with a decent hop bite. Looks like it will be in the predicted colour range (30-35SRM).

Sounds delicious, let us know how it comes out!

Bottled up the Hellfire IIPA today, cleaned up, got some Thanksgiving supplies too. Then sat down with a couple bottles of the Cooper's English bitter I brewed more like a Fuller's. Perfectly clear, 3 finger head, nice light carbonation at 2.1 Vco2. I finally found a carbonation level that seems right for this ale. Plus switching to 3lbs of plain extra light Muntons DME. Kind of a ruddy amber this time. Even the malt flavor is better with the extra light DME. Tasty for a quicky. Here's a shot of the usual Cooper's English bitter with Munton's plain light DME & EKG. Dark & malty with less noticeable bittering & not much head;

Here's the newest batch with Munton's plain extra light DME & EKG. Lighter ruddy amber color & better head. Toasted bread with caramel & bittering shining through more;

This thread needs a bump! Not good being trampled under foot by the minions of commerce on turkey day!...

Puddlethumper said:

OK, so it seems almost everyone is into the make-your-nose-run hop forward double, triple and quaduruple IPA's with IBU's over 100. That's fine if you like it. But personally, I enjoy traditional English beers. I get a lot of enjoyment from a very good common bitters, porter, SB or ESB. English beers provide a comfortable easy drinking beer that I can enjoy through an entire evening. Perhaps there are others here who feel the same way.

Would you care to share your favorite recipe? And why do you like this beer?

Thanks to all who care to contribute their views and their recipes.

Cheers!

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We´re in the same boat!

I´m currently toying with Burton Ales (and Burton water!), trying to improve two similar recipes, a Strong Bitter and a Special Bitter.

I had good results using Sovereign Hops for the Strong Bitter and Fuggles for the Special, both single hops, both on the bitter side of the style.

For Malts, I still don´t have a final verdict on the base malt whether its Maris Otter PA or Maris Otter PA Blend. I liked the result I had on my last Bitter using about ~13% of Caramalt + 1% of Roasted Barley, tho I´m now inclined to try different less Caramel flavor secondary malts.

I brewed what was supposed to be a British-style IPA a while back. Bottled it 2 weeks ago and we're drinking it now. My efficiency (both the sparge and the hops utilization) was way off, because this is more of a ESB than an IPA, but I really like it. I'll brew it again; might try using UK crystal and biscuit malts next time.

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: English IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 4 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 4.5 gallons
Efficiency: 70% (no, it wasn't)

ABV (estimated): 6.37%
IBU (tinseth): 56.89
SRM (daniels): 11.91

FERMENTABLES:
9 lb - American - Pale Ale (91.7%)
8 oz - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (5.1%)
5 oz - American - Victory (3.2%)

HOPS:
20 g - Nugget, Type: Pellet, AA: 13, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 41.25
1 oz - Willamette, Type: Pellet, AA: 5, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 11.16
1 oz - Willamette, Type: Pellet, AA: 5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 4.48

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 151 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 4 gal

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04
Starter: No

z-bob. what kind of FG did you get with the s-04? I've never had much success with it.

Add some dry hop and a bit less speciality malt

S-04 rehydrated & pitched within 10 degrees of wort temp can be a beast for me. Finished & settles out clear in 10 days in another English bitter PM I do.

SixDemonBag said:

z-bob. what kind of FG did you get with the s-04? I've never had much success with it.

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I don't know. My hydrometer is old and it reads way off. I didn't even check it.

Saved the link just in case I don't have it already. I like Barclay Perkins pages! Some of the other old English beer lists can be hard to translate from old school measurments & the like. Besides, not listing the grains & hops used.

Anyone buy Pattinson's book on Mild? Would you recommend it?

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-pattinson/mild/paperback/product-12460681.html

jwalk4 said:

Anyone buy Pattinson's book on Mild? Would you recommend it?

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-pattinson/mild/paperback/product-12460681.html

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I have Mild, Porter and Bitter. Mild is the best one, but I'm very keen on the recipe section of Porter.

JKaranka said:

Planning on doing a WW2 air raid style porter. I've seen the recipe of a Whitbread porter from the early 1940s from the Porter! book. It had 5% Brown Malt, 5% Chocolate Malt and ~10% of a mix of sugars. I'm feeling I'm maybe over complicating the recipe but given my predilection for Brown Malt I've upped it a bit and added a tad of Patent Malt for colour.

For 5 US gallons
OG 1.037, 33IBU

5lb Maris Otter (74%)
1lb Brown Malt (15%)
6oz Chocolate Malt (5%)
4oz Dark Invert Sugar Syrup (4%)
2oz Black Patent Malt (2%)

45 minute boil
45 - 0.75oz Challenger (25IBU)
15 - 0.5oz Challenger (9IBU)

Brewers' Friend estimates the colour at 27SRM, and I'll up it to 32SRM using 1/2oz of Brewers' Caramel (3500L). I'll most likely use S04 as a yeast.

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As an update, I just kegged half (ironic, it's the first beer I keg) and bottled half of this one. I sampled two sherry glasses worth of it. Pours a comforting very dark brown, dark enough for me to think it will be near black on standard pint glass. Typical dirty beige head from brown malt & brewers' caramel. Aroma is the same as my other porters: coffee, cocoa, dark fruits. Fairly low body, less than most milds, and dry finish. It actually tastes like a weak porter; all the flavours are in there with a noticeable roast from the chocolate malt. It seems a bit more hop forwards than stronger versions (maybe there isn't much for the hops to hide?). Some typical esters of S04 but no sourness.

I'll wait to see what it's like when carbonated, but if doesn't change much with conditioning I think in a re-brew I would either mash higher to keep some body or add ~1/3lb of lactose.

Has anybody used amylase enzyme in the fermenter? Thinking of making a fairly dry EIPA: 1.055, MO and EKG. Maybe chuck in some Cascade onto the dry hop too.

Mash at 145, that will make more amylase and a dry beer. Maybe even mash 70 to 80 minutes.

^ I passed out during the boil & wound up doing this once. My hybrid lager actually came out a bit clearer, with more of a crisp finish.

I do already mash low and twice (e.g., 40m at 145 and 40m at 155). I want way drier: Brett type dry but without having to wait a year

Give the Dupont mash schedule a whirl? I'd have to pull out my Farmhouse Ales book to confirm the specifics, but I believe they dough in around 100F, and heat incredibly slowly (0.5 degree per minute or so) but continuously throughout the mash up to mashout temp.

Hah, that's cool. I do centigrade better. I used to do 15m at 55c and then two mashes at low and high 60s.

JKaranka said:

Hah, that's cool. I do centigrade better. I used to do 15m at 55c and then two mashes at low and high 60s.

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I would assume that Dupont does C as well, but was listed in F in the book (or maybe it listed both, I'd have to look, which I'll probably do here in a few minutes once it's half time.

Some sport on?