My Adaptation of Kentucky Common Ale

Note - This recipe is "in development," so there will be a lot of brain-storming, back-and-forth discussion and mind-changing. Because of that, this post will be modified from time to time, until the final version is settled upon.

Any and all input is welcome, as I am flying a little bit blind, here.

A truly home-grown variety, this beer was intensely popular in Kentucky from the post-Civil-War period until Prohibition. Based on that little there is available (sources below), and extrapolating from the known to the vague, I've developed what I think is a reasonably-plausible adaptation.

This 1-gallon adaptation bypasses the corn-grit cereal mash with flaked corn and employs a 60-minute boil, rather than 120 minutes. The caramel malt that I chose was due to its middle-of-the-road quality, while the hops and yeast seem to be the best compromise between what was described and what is available. Northern Brewer is probably not exactly the right bittering hop, but it seems to be the closest that I can find to "California Gray." I chose Hallertau rather than Saaz as an aroma hop because I believe that the Germans who were doing the brewing would have used this Bavarian variety.

Based on the statistics, this adaptation seems to fit the BJCP guidelines fairly well; not perfectly, by any means, but to the point where the average home-brewer in 2016 can give it a go.

Kentucky Common Ale
TasunkaWitko's Adaptation

1 Gallon, All-Grain

ABV - 5.07%
IBUs - 25.30
SRM 11.42

OG - 1.050
FG - 1.012

Grain percentages:

60% 6-Row Pale Malt
37% Corn Grits
1.75% Black Malt
1.25% Caramel Malt

Based on 10-gallon adaptation, 1 gallon contains 1.825 pounds total grains = 29.2 ounces

Available information converted to 1 gallon:

17.52 ounces = 1.095 pounds 6-Row Pale Malt
10.8 ounces = 0.675 pounds Flaked Corn
0.5 ounces = 0.031 pounds Black Malt
0.4 ounces = 0.025 pounds Caramel/Crystal 60L Malt

Mash - 156 to 158 degrees

60-minute boil

Hops:
Cluster - 1.4 grams = 0.05 ounces @ 60 minutes
Cluster - 2.8 grams = 0.1 ounces @ 45 minutes
Cluster - 2.1 grams = 0.075 ounces @ 15 minutes
Hallertau - 1.4 grams = 0.05 ounces @ Flameout

Irish Moss - 2.5 grams = 0.09 ounces = 1/2 teaspoon @ 15 minutes

Yeast - Safale US-05 - 1/2 package = 5.5g

Sources:

http://www.bjcp.org/docs/NHC2014-kycommon-handout.pdf
http://bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf - pg 55
http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/hop-of-the-month-ahtanum/
http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/hop-of-the-month-cluster-hop/
http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/hop-of-the-month-saaz/

Nice! I've enjoyed a couple of Kentucky Commons and intellectually like that, with Cream Ale and California Common, it is an historic North American beer.

I like your recipe and think think the hop choices are good. Have you brewed it yet? How did it turn out? Also, in the HBT recipe database, in the specialty/historical/etc forum, there are two recipes for Kentucky Common. You can find them by using the pull down menu for Historical Beer: Kentucky Common. If this is a tried and true recipe, or after you have brewed it a few times, you should add it.

Let us know how it turns out!

Looks good! I want to try the style as well. Bama BBQ from Smoked-Meat

Hi, Pappers, and thanks for the feedback. I'll be sure to check out the other recipes and will see if there's anything in them to help me tweak this a bit.

I have not made it yet due to other projects that are ahead in the line, but plan to get it brewed later this summer, possibly early fall, when temperatures cool down a bit. I did plug all of this into Brewers Friend, and the program seemed to like it; also, the bit of reading on the BJCP guidelines seems to agree with what I've come up with as far as the characteristics.

But, all of that is simply theoretical, until I actually try it. In the meantime, if anyone does feel like giving this a try, I'd be grateful if they posted any feedback, thoughts or impressions.

Ron

brewbama said:

Looks good! I want to try the style as well. Bama BBQ from Smoked-Meat

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Hey - good to see ya!

If you do give it a go, let me know what you think about it. I'm eager to try it, but it will be a little while before I can.

Following a discussion on another thread, I am tossing in these notes as part of the "record" -

The suggestion of lower mash temperatures makes sense; the temperatures that I used were just a guess based on the sources I had. One thing that I tried to keep in mind is that tastes back then are were almost certainly different than taste preferences now. I have no way of proving it, but I am sure that in those days before Budweiser, Coors, Miller etc., I am certain that a more full-bodied, robust beer would have been the norm, especially for working men at the end of the day.

I really probably should give it the full 10-ish days of fermentation. Between my reading of the articles and the recent reading I've been doing on Edelweiss beer, I just sort of went along with the 3- to 4-day concept. Going with the more "normal" schedule would not significantly change the beer, and might possibly avoid some pitfalls. I will modify my original post to remove the suggestion of the short fermentation.

On that note, I did not put the OG and FG in my "recipe" above, mainly because I simply don't use them in my brewing. I have edited my OP in order to provide those statistics.

As for hops, I was just throwing in some "best educated guesses," so I am certainly open to suggestions. The sources I had definitely mention a noble hop at the end for aroma, but for the bittering hops, it is pretty vague. The only clue I have is something described as "Western Hops (probably California Gray or a variant)" used for bittering with "New York Hops (almost assuredly Cluster)" in the middle for flavor, with an "imported" noble hop at "knockout" for aroma. It seems that there were often substitutions due to availability, as well. I'm reasonably confident about the Cluster and Hallertau usage, but the Northern Brewer was just a guess, following my reading of a few articles dealing with Western/California-style brewing. If I could find something that points to a definite available example of "Western" or "California Gray" hops, that would be awesome.

Hey, guys -

I'll say at the outset that I KNOW I am over-thinking this - however....

Regarding those "Western Hops" that are referred to in the sources as "probably California Gray," I've been trying to do a little research in order to see if I can find any modern, available substitute for what is evidently an extinct or defunct hop.

Here are some varieties that I have come up with in my research:

Northern Brewer (which is the one I am currently considering but losing enthusiasm for)
California Cluster (Extinct or defunct)
Ivanhoe (Child of California Cluster)
Gargoyle (Child of California Cluster)
Galena (Mentioned as a substitute for some of the other varieties)
Eroica (Mentioned as a substitute for some of the other varieties)
Brewers Gold (Possibly the oldest of the available substitutes)

I'm including all of the ones in the list so that if anyone is familiar with them, they might be able to help with a similar hop. I was wondering if anyone might have any impressions on where I could go from here as far as this research goes. My current choices seem to be:

1. Stick with the Northern Brewer, which I decided on originally (before I knew of these others)
2. Simply use Cluster as both the "Western" and "New York" hop
3. Try one of the alternatives in the list.

If using an alternative from the list, it seems that California Cluster appears to be defunct or extinct. Ivanhoe (or perhaps Gargoyle) "might" be the best choice, as they are direct descendants of the California Cluster; however, I can't seem to find it. Galena and Eroica seem to be the most commonly-named alternatives, but Northern Brewer and Brewers Gold were also mentioned as being common in California varieties, and Brewers Gold seems to have a long history. I'm currently leaning toward replacing the Northern Brewer with Brewers Gold, unless someone has a better idea.

Any guidance in selecting one that might be closest in characteristics to the idea of the original "Western Hops" would be appreciated.

Ron

After a lot of unnecessary agonizing over this business of the "Western" hops, I finally caught the key word - that they were native to America. Since Cluster hops are the only Native American hops that I have available to me, I'll go with those as a substitute for the "Western" hops, and of course also use them as the "New York" hops.

I had nearly settled on Brewers Gold, but to me, using Cluster hops, even if it is not a perfect choice, makes more sense than trying to piece together a bunch of vague (and possibly inaccurate) clues and coming up with a non-native substitute that is probably nothing at all like the original.

This is my plan, unless a better suggestion comes up.

Thanks for bearing with my over-thinking of the project!

I wouldn't worry too much about the bittering addition, it adds almost no flavor. I think northern brewer would be fine.

I've recently had my first taste of Kentucky Common at a local brewery and must say I loved it. I think I described it as a festival of flavors. I got some caramel goodness right up front and was then left with a delicious creamy feeling twang from the corn (not sour but twang is the best word I have right now...It's morning time).

Can't wait to hear how all your agony come out I'd love to give it a shot. :rockin:

G'morning guys, and many thanks for the feedback.

I think I'm pretty well settled in where this recipe is concerned; just for the heck of it, I plugged Brewers hops into the recipe, and assuming I did everything right, it brought the IBUs up just enough to take it "out of style," so I went back to the Cluster, and will call it good.

I think everything else is ready to go - the malts seem good; I settled on Caramel 60 because it is "middle of the road," and based on jerbrew's description it sounds about right. The hops are finally settled, after much unnecessary over-thinking. As far as I can tell, the yeast is a good choice based on what I've read in the sources.

With that, I'll be making this when I can, but if anyone does want to give it a try in the meantime, I will certainly be most appreciative of any reports and feedback.

And...just when I thought I had my mind made up, I came across this.

I am posting this so I dig a little deeper later. It's American, it's "Western," and it is possibly wrong, but then again, maybe not....

Charles Carpenter didn’t know the legacy he was to create when he planted his first rootstock in 1869 in Yakima County, Washington (now home to the American Hop Museum!). The Ahtanum hop is full of just as much history as it is flavor. The Ahtanum hop is an American hop born and raised, it is commonly seen in American ales, pale ales and lagers.

Due to its low to moderate alpha acid content, the Ahtanum has moderate bittering qualities and is primarily used for its aromatic properties and addition of flavor. It has strong notes of grapefruit and other citrus, as well as floral aromas and tones of pine and earth....

1. Origin

Ahtanum Creek Valley in Yakima County, Washington. Cultivated first by Charles Carpenter who started the first hop farm in the United States in 1869.

2. Characteristics

Strong grapefruit aroma, along with floral, piney and earth tones. Not as bitter as other hops, and used primarily for its aromatic properties.

3. Vital Statistics

Typical Use: Aroma
Alpha Acid: 5.7%-6.3%
Country: United States
Styles: Pale Ales, American Ales, Lagers
Flavors: Grapefruit, citrus, pine, earthy and floral
Similar Hops: Cascade, Amarillo, Centennial, Simcoe

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This appeals to me, because it is an "historic" hop, which could be fitting for an "historic" beer. I'm liking it....

TasunkaWitko said:

And...just when I thought I had my mind made up, I came across this.



I am posting this so I dig a little deeper later. It's American, it's "Western," and it is possibly wrong, but then again, maybe not....







This appeals to me, because it is an "historic" hop, which could be fitting for an "historic" beer. I'm liking it....

Click to expand...

I've thought about using that hop a few times. Sounds interesting

TasunkaWitko said:

And...just when I thought I had my mind made up, I came across this.

I am posting this so I dig a little deeper later. It's American, it's "Western," and it is possibly wrong, but then again, maybe not....



This appeals to me, because it is an "historic" hop, which could be fitting for an "historic" beer. I'm liking it....

Click to expand...

Great info. I have half a pound of these in my freezer. I was going to go for it and use all 8 oz in an IPA Friday but I think i'll save an ounce just in case this turns out good for you.

Hey, guys -

I think this will be the hop I am looking for. I will do a little more research, but unless something changes drastically, I plan on using this hop.

More later!.

Alrighty - my OP has been edited to reflect my thinking so far on this project I think it is pretty well set the way I want it to be, and it looks like I will be putting out a nice beer when I am finally able to brew this.


Note - The AA for the Ahtanum hops are just a "guesstimate" until I am able to actually have some in my possession.


The only thing I haven't looked deeply into is the yeast. It was suggested that I use SA05, and I am liking it as it seems to me to be a good, all-around American yeast that, if I am reading correctly, has the medium-low flocculation that seems to be described in the source material. I could be wrong about this, as it might simply be that the "slightly-cloudy beer" I read about is simply due to being a young beer; however, this seems like a good choice, so far, and unless I hear anything to the contrary, I'll go with it.

Sorry to jump back in if you have already made the decision. I haven't used Ahtanum before but based on the description I would not use it in this beer. Even if it is an old hop, "Grapefruit" is not the first flavor I would want in Kentucky Common.

Check out this guy's hop calculator. At the bottom you can see a chart with the main hop varieties laid out according to their dominant hop oils. As you can see, Ahtanum (consistent with the description) looks like a more extreme version of Cascade, Citra, etc.

http://scottjanish.com/hop-replacement-calculator/

I say don't overthink this and go with Cluster...or if not Cluster, something in the same family--Galena, Columbus etc. Otherwise what you end up may be good but I don't think it will be Kentucky Common. Literally every recipe I have seen for this beer uses Cluster.

Hi, Aristotelian - thanks for weighing in on this. Since you've brewed this beer before, I am definitely interested in your judgment, and appreciate it.

I'd settled on Ahtanum mostly because it was native, Western and "old; but hadn't considered the implications that you mention. If I am reading the chart from your link correctly, it also looks like Brewers Gold (another one that I had been considering), would be off, as well.

Ultimately, I want to get as close a representation of Kentucky Common as possible.. If those won't fit with the intended flavor profile, then I agree that they shouldn't be used.

I considered Galena for a while - I don't know much about that hops, except that if I remember correctly, it came along much later that the time period we're working with here.

Every turn since the beginning has led me to Cluster, in spite of my attempts at finding something different. It'skind of like the old song, "Lookin' for Love, in all the Wrong Places." I need to stop looking! Unless some old-timer comes up to me and says, "Here's some California Gray Hops, Give them a try," I'd better stick with Cluster.

Thanks for steering me straight on this - sometimes it is easy to get bogged down in the details, especially when a person is trying to fill in holes with hundred-year-old clues. It's easy to go off to the side and forget the goal.

How much grapefruit would it really provide as a bittering hop?

My $0.02, since I love to see this style gaining traction.
I brewed a similiar recipe (60% 2 Row, 34% Flaked Corn, 4% Caramel Rye, 2% Black Patent (for color). Bittered with Cascade (16 IBU's), Cluster @15 (12 IBU's), Saaz at Flameout. Next time I plan to bump the Cluster back to bittering and axe the Cascade entirely- the kiss of rye + strong bittering = more of a bite than is appropriate for the style (and my palate ). I also messed up in the Beersmith config and wound up with 1.060 OG, finished at 6.1%...oops!

All that said, it won a ribbon at the state fair, so I can't complain (the keg also emptied extremely fast). Should be spot on when I re-brew for lighter body (mash stabilized at 153 F) and the intended 1.050 OG. I used WLP090, very happy with that yeast for 'normal' American ales, and it worked fast on this one.

I made one last year and won gold in the historical beer category. I was easy, fun and super tasty. You grist looks just like mine, I used Patagonia Black Malt and Briess crystal 120. Turned out great.

Hey, guys - thanks for the feedback - it is much appreciated. I really like reading about this particular style, and it is interesting to see the little tweaks here and there that people use to make it their own.

Note - Please disregard my ADD-inspired ramblings above re: the hops!

After some tiny little tweaks, I am ordering the ingredients today so that I can brew this in the near future.

Here is my "final" recipe for this attempt, which does match the reading I've done whilst also conforming to the 2015 BCJP Guidelines:

Kentucky Common Ale
TasunkaWitko's Adaptation

All-Grain
1 Gallon


OG - 1.051
FG - 1.010
ABV - 5.44%
IBUs - 21.74
SRM - 11.58


Fermentables:

19.22 ounces American 6-Row Pale Malt (60%)
11.84 ounces American Flaked Corn (37%)
0.5 ounces American Black Malt (1.6%)
0.45 ounces American Caramel/Crystal 60L Malt (1.4%)


60-Minute Mash @ 154 degrees

60-minute boil


Hops:

1.7 grams Cluster (7% AA) @ 60 minutes
1.7 grams Cluster (7% AA) @ 45 minutes
3.4 grams Cluster (7% AA) @ 15 minutes
2 grams Hallertau Mittelfrüh (3.75% AA) @ Knock-out

Other Ingredients:

Irish Moss - 0.4 grams @ 15 minutes


Yeast

Safale US-05

Click to expand...

With luck, I'll brew this sometime in mid-April or early May.

More as it happens, etc. &c....

Ron

I placed my order for the ingredients to brew this beer on Friday - I am expecting to brew this sometime during the week of 19-25 March.

Now, time to choose an image for the label!

Well, better late than never; I checked my ingredients that I have left after #2 son has been brewing all summer, and found that I should have everything I need to brew this one. With that in mind, it is on deck to be brewed tomorrow evening, if all goes well.

If there are any last-minute tweaks to the recipe, I will post them; however, I believe the recipe a couple of posts above this one is the way to go, based on my reading and research. My goal is to get as reasonably close as possible to a true, historic Kentucky Common Ale, scaled down to a 1-gallon, all-grain, non-complicated stovetop system.

I took a look at the final rendition, and the only change is a slight rise in IBUs due to the actual versus estimated) AA% of my hops. The higher number is probably more "true" to the original, so I am leaving everything as-is, and ready to brew.

Today is my planned Brew Day; however - as always - there's at least a 50/50 chance that something will get in the way, and delay it until tomorrow. We'll see how it goes....

One note: After re-reading the source material for this beer, and noting the emphasis on the fact that it is a malt-forward beer, I backed off on the hops just a bit, in order to bring the IBU's down to 24.08.

With that, I think I am finished, until I have an opportunity to try the finished product.

Here is the label that I put together for this beer:

I brewed this last night, and I think it's going to be a good one ~

The brew went off with no significant hitches that I can recall; my #2 son, Mike (known here as @mtbrewer403) gave me a hand, and we had a pretty good time, I think. He's an IPA guy, so he was pretty amused by my modest use of hops, but it's all good. He showed me a couple of things that he does when he's brewing, and they looked like pretty good tips to me, so I will be using them in the future.

Mash - I was able to keep the temperatures fairly close to where I wanted them - and it smelled great! The flaked corn added a nice touch, I think.

Sparge - No sticking issues, no spills - everything went fine.

Boil - I went with the slightly-modified hop schedule (below) for lower IBUs as the maltiness (bordering on sweetness) was mentioned prominently in the research; everything went fine and on schedule. The Cluster hops smelled really good with this, and the Hallertau Mittelfrüh added a nice touch, as well. I was actually tempted to add a little more hops at all stages, but for this first one, I left things alone.

Chill-down - once again, no hitches. I have never used Irish moss before, but I definitely plan to use it more often, after this experience; it really pulls the crud down, it seems.

Transfer to fermenter and pitching the yeast - no troubles at all; I only had to top off with a very small amount of water - I'd say less than a quarter-cup.

The only irregularity of note was that the wort/beer was slightly darker than expected, in spite of the very, very small amount of black malt and C60. Where these dark malts are concerned, it doesn't take much! The darker colour could also have something to do with my water; I've noticed that all my brews, no matter what style and no matter what conditions, are always just a bit darker than I expect them to be. No big deal, as they all taste great.

I checked in on my beer this morning, and the S05 is definitely doing it's thing; slow and steady, which matches my experience with it so far. There is a nice cap of krausen developing, and I am sure that by the time I get home from work, it will be churning up for a good, solid fermentation and the blow-off tube will be getting busy. The ambient temperatures are just a few degrees higher than I would prefer, but we still seem to be well within the tolerance of this yeast. The next few days will be cooler, and this will help. Considering that we have been consistently above 90 since the end of June and are finally seeing some relief, I am not going to complain.

That's what I have for now; I will post more as it happens, etc. &c....

Ron

Here is the final recipe that was actually brewed; if anyone is following my brain-storming, ADD-infested, rambling development, please disregard all others, for now:

Kentucky Common Ale
TasunkaWitko's Adaptation

All-Grain
1 Gallon

OG - 1.051
FG - 1.010
ABV - 5.44%
IBUs - 24.08
SRM - 11.58


Fermentables:

19.22 ounces American 6-Row Pale Malt (60%)
11.84 ounces American Flaked Corn (37%)
0.5 ounces American Black Malt (1.6%)
0.45 ounces American Caramel/Crystal 60L Malt (1.4%)


60-Minute Mash @ 154 degrees


60-minute boil

Hops:

1.5 grams Cluster (7.6% AA) @ 60 minutes
1.5 grams Cluster (7.6% AA) @ 45 minutes
3.0 grams Cluster (7.6% AA) @ 15 minutes
1.5 grams Hallertau Mittelfrüh (3.75%) @ Knock-out

Other Ingredients:

Irish Moss - 0.4 grams @ 15 minutes


Yeast

Safale US-05

Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, I did some Googling and looked at some photos; based on what I found, I think that my colour for this beer (which I originally thought was too dark) might be pretty close, after all. I found a few that were a little lighter, and a few that were a little darker; I also found quite a few that were nearly identical.

While it might still be a little darker than it "should" be, it evidently isn't out of the ordinary....

Doing a little more research, I found an old advertisement for this beer, from a Louisville brewery:



If you look at this and the advertisement above (which is somewhat cut off), it is plain to see that "back in the day," this beer was referred to as a cream ale.

Based on that, I modified my label a bit:

I checked on my beer when I got home from work last yesterday; ambient temperatures were still just a hair higher than I would prefer, but were within stated tolerances and moving down to something more reasonable. My experience tells me that 65-ish seems to be just about right, and I am guessing we will be there, soon. Usually, my problem is the opposite, and I am trying to bring temperatures up.

Anyway, fermentation still seemed to be starting slowly, but this seems to be the norm, considering the other couple of times that I have used S-05 yeast. Sure enough, when I checked on it this morning, the beer had that churned up, cloudy look that comes with full-blown fermentation, and the blow-off tube was happily blip-blip-blipping away.

Tonight or tomorrow, I will replace the blow-off tube with an air-lock, and we will let it ride for a while, until it is time to cold-crash and bottle.

If anything comes up in the interim, I will post about it.

Ron

I checked on my beer again last evening and this morning; I am happy to report that all is well. My ambient temperatures are sitting right at 65 degrees, which is where I want them, and fermentation is in definite full swing. I switched out the blow-off tube for an air-lock, and plan to leave the beer alone to do its thing until it is time to bottle.

More as it happens, etc. &c....

Ron

I've been refining some notes on this subject, and am posting them here, so I have everything in one place. Some of it is duplicate information to what is above, but no matter.....

Here are the links to the most useful research that I found:

http://www.bjcp.org/docs/NHC2014-kycommon-handout.pdf

http://bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf - pg 55

A lot of the other stuff that can be Googled seems to be mostly unreliable, as far as reliable historical research goes. Most of it is either for marketing commercial "revivals" of this beer, or from homebrewers who did not take the time to read the research carefully. For instance, some used rye, even though it was never used, and others employed a sour mash, even though the overwhelming research supports that this was not intended to be a sour mash beer. For these and other reasons, I mostly stuck to the article above, which led directly to the BJCP guidelines that are also cited above.

I struggled quite a bit with the "Western" or California Gray" hops mentioned in the article for bittering. I found a couple that are descended from California Gray, but was unsure as to whether they would actually be similar or not. In the end, I simply went with Cluster Hops for bittering, which seem to be the most commonly-used bittering hop by people who recreate this beer; also, Cluster hops are already used for aroma, making it a convenient choice. I chose Hallertau Mittelfrüh as the German aroma hop rather than Saaz because I believe that the Germans who were doing the brewing in Louisville would certainly have known of and used this Bavarian variety.

I brewed this last week and it's still fermenting, so I am not (yet) sure how it is going to turn out. It seems to be darker in colour than I expected (possibly because of my water), but smells and looks great, so far. The IBUs might need to be bumped up to around 27; but then again, the research specifically mentioned that the bitterness is low, and the beer is malt-forward and almost sweet.

The Irish moss may not really be necessary to the beer or the recipe, especially since it was historically served much "younger" than anyone nowadays would be tasting it, and the beer would probably clear on its own just fine - but still, it certainly can't hurt.

I put this beer in the refrigerator to cold-crash on the evening of Monday, 2 October 2017. The next two days, we had a power outage due to a freak snow storm, so I will probably bottle this over the weekend.

I am expecting (and hoping for) good things!

I bottled this beer last night and I'm pretty sure that this beer is going to end up being just about the way that it is supposed to be.

The beer looked great, in my opinion. In the fermenter, it seemed very dark, as I've described above; however, as I transferred it to the bottling bucket, I noticed that is much lighter than I thought, somewhere in the realm of amber and copper. I'll eventually get a photo, but for now, I am going to "borrow" this photo from the InterWebs, which shows just about how it seemed to look to me:



It might possibly end up looking a little darker, once it is in the glass, but this is the very close to the colour that I saw in the siphoning tube, and it looks beautiful, to me.

For this beer, I elected to use Brewer's Best Carbonation Tablets:

http://a.co/hSS8gHo

I like them because they are versatile (low-to-high carbonation, depending on how many you use), consistent, convenient and fool-proof. For this beer, I chose a "medium" carbonation, which is 4 tablets per bottle.

Due to a glitch on my part I was about 3 ounces shy of 9 bottles for this batch, so my #2 son Mike and I split the extra for a sample, leaving 8 bottles that will be carbonated in 2 weeks. The sample was very good, and very tasty, keeping in mind that this is not the finished beer, yet.

I was again impressed with the colour of the beer and liked that it was a bit on the darker side; that tiny, tiny bit of black malt worked really well! The aroma was malty and had a unique character that I assume comes from the corn and caramel; I don't remember anything relating to the hop aromas, but I wasn't really thinking about it at the time. My over-all impression is that they blended in well and complimented the profile as a whole, without asserting themselves or becoming dominant. I'll try to report more on that with future tastings.

The descriptions that I have read of Kentucky Common Ale include words and phrases such as "mild in character," "malty" and "slightly sweet," and those descriptions certainly seem accurate after trying this. It tasted the way you would expect with 6-row, corn and caramel malt, and had just enough bitterness to keep it from being too sweet. I am rather inexperienced with these types of beers, but over-all, I think I hit pretty darn close to the intended mark with this. So far, it seems like a very drinkable, very tasty beer, and it is funny that Mike and I both looked at each other and said at the same time, "Grandpa (meaning my dad) would love this."

Of course, the beer isn't finished yet, as some conditioning still needs to happen; I expect these initial characteristics to change a bit and will report on the results.

Ron

I was finally able to sample this on Friday, and it was excellent - simply excellent! I am calling this research project and recipe experiment a complete success. Granted, given the available information, it wasn't too difficult, but my primary goal was to stick as closely to the original as I was able to, and I believe I did do that.

As is usually the case with my first sampling of a beer, I was too busy enjoying it and evaluating it to give any meaningful "tasting notes." It also was the first of several different beers and half a bottle of mead, so there is an added layer of faulty memory involved; however, here are some (very) preliminary impressions:



Appearance: I had jostled the bottles around the night before, putting on labels, so there was just a little bit of haze there. Before putting on the labels, the beer appeared very, very clear in the bottle. The colour was a beautiful amber/copper, just as I was hoping. The head was just a tiny bit off-white and had a very nice texture to it. I couldn't have asked for much better.

Aroma: I remember enjoying it very much, but not any specifics. I do remember getting the over-all vibe that it smelled like good, fresh beer, with a nice balance to it. I don't remember anything specific in regards to the aroma of the malts, but the Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops provided a very typical and expected ambience.

Taste: I remember that I liked it, very much! It had a good, maltiness to it and had a little something extra that was really nice...I don't know the best term, but maybe "graininess" covers it, from other descriptions I have heard. There was just a bit of sweetness in there that was surprisingly well balanced by the bitterness from the cluster hops, which provided a strong counter that had its own character. The finish as I remember it was clean and refreshing, leaving me wanting more. The bottle didn't last too long!

Those are the main things that I remember about it: fresh, refreshing, drinkable and addictive. I can see how this became so popular in Louisville! My father also enjoyed it very much, as did my #2 son, Mike, so I figure that I've done well with this.

Considering that this recipe was a success, and that it is, as far as I know, true to the original with no added distractions, embellishments or historical errors (such as sour mash), I submitted this to the recipe section of the forum:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=638251

If you try it, let me know what yu think, and enjoy!

Ron

Well done!

My recipe for Ky. Common took BJCP silver this year. Yours looks good. A touch of molasses would be true to style. Get it as dry as you can, don't overdo the hops, this beer was "designed" to be consumed in large quantities on a hot Kentucky summer day by someone who has worked very hard all day. And good luck with it.

My recipe won 1st place at a recent broad-area/local-ish BJCP competition. I used a grist bill very similar to the original posted recipe, using corn flakes in place of grits, bypassing cereal mash. Historically, the German immigrants were very knowledgeable about how darker malts helped acidify the Kentucky alkaline water profile to boost efficiency. Today's grains are incredibly efficient and even more so if you treat your water. I use caramel/black malt now only as a coloring agent. Caramel will go in the mash but I add my midnight wheat during the recirculation stage to eliminate the tannic/bitter extraction as well as eliminate charred barrel/smoky perception. The ale with US-05 is nice but I also lagered a batch and, OMG it is VERY delicious. So much so I am only lagering it going forward. I used the Saflager 23. The 6-row has a high diastatic conversion power so I have full conversion at only 30 minutes in. Typical 60 minute boil. Longer if you filled kettle to 70% but you will get more caramelization. Two weeks lagering then rather than bump temp up slightly for diacetyl rest then drop to 44 for another 2 weeks, I actually pull it out of the fermentation chamber and let it free rise until final gravity, fine with gelatin and crash for a week then keg. Carb stone is ready in 24 hours.

Cheers m8s