Black Sheep Ale

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Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!
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I've never had this beer, but my husband read about it and thought it sounded good. He looked around online and found this:

OG 1044
Pale malt 90%
Crystal malt 6%
Torrified wheat 4%

Hops:-
Goldings start of boil aim for 36 EBU
Goldings last 15 mins 20g
Goldings dry hop or soak for 1/2 hour after turning boil off 8g.

Use a good top fermenting yeast. (wyeast 1028 or WLP 005)

There are a few other "clone" recipes online, too, like this one:

2 lbs. Maris Otter Pale info
.875 lbs. Crystal Malt 40°L info
1 lbs. English Wheat Malt info
.5 lbs. Dextrine Malt info
.25 lbs. Belgian Aromatic info
.03 lbs. Roasted Barley info
4 lbs. Liquid Light Extract info
.50 oz. Columbus (Pellets, 15.40 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
.50 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.75 %AA) boiled 15 min. info
.25 oz. Fuggle (Pellets, 4.75 %AA) boiled 10 min. info
.25 oz. Target (Pellets, 8.5 %AA) boiled 10 min. info
.50 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 4.75 %AA) boiled 1 min. info
Yeast : White Labs WLP005 British Ale info

Since I've never even had this beer, I'm wondered what you guys think! I might use the malt bill from this second recipe (converting it to all-grain) but use only EKG hops. The Black Sheep website says they use only the EKG hops.

Anybody have any input?
Thanks!
 
I'd go with the first one with Maris Otter cause it is nice and simple and will highlight the British Pale malt and then play around with future batches.
 
I drink it all the time, bottled and on draft.
It's made about 90 miles from here.

Most UK bitters use simple recipes. I'd go for the top one and use a dried danstar yeast.
Mash at the top of the range and up the IBU to balance.
 
Good advice, guys! Thanks. I'll make the first one then (using marris otter malt) soon. I think I have a dried Windsor yeast around here in the fridge. Again, thanks!
 
Just played around with recipator....does this sound about right?

Brewer: - Email: -
Beer: - Style: English Ordinary Bitter
Type: All grain Size: 5.5 gallons
Color: 9 HCU (~7 SRM)
Bitterness: 28 IBU
OG: 1.037 FG: 1.009
Alcohol: 3.6% v/v (2.8% w/w)
Grain: 8 lb. British pale
.5 lb. British crystal 50-60L
.5 lb. Flaked wheat
Mash: 60% efficiency
Boil: minutes SG 1.031 6.5 gallons
Hops: 1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 min.)
1 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 15 min.)
1 oz. Kent Goldings (aroma)
 
That's pretty much what I was thinking, too! I thought about 1.5 ounces bittering hops, though, since my EKG hops are around 5% or so, for IBUs of 36. (My efficiency is around 75-78%, so that would give me an og of around 1.054 or so, so I think I'd need the slightly higher IBUs to balance it.)

I think I'll use that recipe, thanks!
 
Cool, what temp would you mash at? Like 155 or higher maybe?

Also, would you dry hop this?

Seem's like a pretty easy AG. I've vowed i won't brew again until I get all of my AG stuff together....just got a nice raise at work so it shouldn't be too much longer!

This might be my first batch I brew with my new stuff...

Good luck!
 
Yep, I'll mash at 156 or 158 or so. I'm not going to dry hop it, but I'll do the last hops addition at flameout. I read about the beer (I don't have Orfy's hands-on experience with this beer!) and it talks about the body and maltiness with just a hint of hops. So, that's my goal.

I think it will be easy- just one step mash and batch sparge. Not too many grains to mess with, either.

Thanks for the input!
 
orfy said:
I drink it all the time, bottled and on draft.
It's made about 90 miles from here.

Most UK bitters use simple recipes. I'd go for the top one and use a dried danstar yeast.
Mash at the top of the range and up the IBU to balance.

I thought I recognised the name! Yeup, nice beer.
 
Isn't Black Sheep the same beer as the Monty Python's Holy Gr-Ale?

The samples I've had have been skunked, so I can't give any great feedback, but I agree that a bitter recipe should be simple and use earthy hops.
 
Funny this topic should come up today...I just tried my first Black Sheep Ale last night! A few of our guys just got back from England, and they brought a few back with them. What a great beer! I was very impressed, and I think I may need to try brewing something like it sometime soon! My first lager attempt seems to be failing me, so a simpler English Ale is quite appealing at the moment!

By the way...if you buy Guinness Draught in a can in the UK...it tastes EXACTLY the same as the stuff you can get here in the US. Guinness on tap in Ireland may be different (I haven't tried it yet), but the distributor seems not to matter if the product is canned or bottled.
 
I just brewed it yesterday, so we'll see in a few weeks how it worked out. I bought a single bottle of it recently, so I'll have something to compare my batch to. I'll let you guys know how it came out!
 
YooperBrew said:
I just brewed it yesterday, so we'll see in a few weeks how it worked out. I bought a single bottle of it recently, so I'll have something to compare my batch to. I'll let you guys know how it came out!
How did your Black Sheep Ale come out? I am going to brew this using your recipe.
 
What does torrified wheat contribute to the recipe ? I ask because I found an extract reciped for "Black Dog" Ale, and it also had wheat. What is the wheat for ?
 
I found this online at Midwest Brewing:

Torrified Wheat: This whole-kernel version of flaked wheat will improve body and head retention. Use in British ales to add a crisp finish.
 
YooperBrew said:
I've never had this beer, but my husband read about it and thought it sounded good. He looked around online and found this:

OG 1044
Pale malt 90%
Crystal malt 6%
Torrified wheat 4%

Hops:-
Goldings start of boil aim for 36 EBU
Goldings last 15 mins 20g
Goldings dry hop or soak for 1/2 hour after turning boil off 8g.

Use a good top fermenting yeast. (wyeast 1028 or WLP 005)
It would appear you have confused a Black Sheep Ale recipe with this guys house bitter recipe posted here in http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1775 in Oct 06 and Here in June of this year http://uk-homebrew.tripod.com/id26.html ;)

I believe the Black Sheep add a touch of roast malt for colour in some of their beers.
 
Any correlation to Okkervil River? Black Sheep Boy is one of their best albums (I guess they're all good)
 
As a side note..

Black sheep is lovely! I liked their riggwelter a lot. Went to the brewery in Masham and it was good stuff. :tank:
 
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