Ballantine XXX from the 60s

[rayg]

Resurrecting an old thread here - but out of curiosity, has anyone tried this kit? http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=2133. They aren't using Brewer's Gold or Willamette hops in their recipe (both of which were used in Ballantine's XXX, but AHS usually produces some pretty good stuff so I was wondering if this might be the right approach for a first attempt at reproducing the original, or if it would indeed be better to try out one of the recipes mentioned on HBT, including the ones at the start of this thread...

Any thoughts?

That ahs recipe doesn't make sense. The modern Ballantine is a malt
liquor (at least in this state) with an alcohol content of about 6%. That
recipe is going to give about 4.3% alcohol assuming 75% conversion of
the all grain version. The adjunct can't be fermentable because it's included
in the extract version, and I can't imagine what adjunct you'd need
for a light ale like that unless it's just crystal for some body.

Ray

 

[Smokeater233]

So that was ultimately my question...my interest isn't in making the modern version of Ballentine's - but the formula that existed 50+ years ago. I wasn't around then, so I haven't a clue if their kit remotely resembles what was around then...but I'd presume it wasn't a malt then... My father was around then, but he's not a brewer and so he won't be any help until the beer comes out of the bottles. We could naturally do a lot of trial and error, but I'd like to get as close as possible on the first shot...

Any other thoughts? I want to put an order in today or tomorrow - still not sure if I want to buy the ingredients separately and use one of the recipes from earlier in this thread, use the May BYO recipe, or go for the kit. Any recommendations would be appreciated and I'd be happy to post my father's review of whatever I brew versus his recollection from drinking his favorite beer in the 60's.

 

[AiredAle]

Smokeater,

Try the recipe I posted earlier it this thread. I've made it 5 or 6 times and believe the resulting beer is pretty close to the '70s XXX, minus the distilled hop oil. If anyone else has a recipe they think is closer than the one I posted, I'd like to see it and brew it.

 

[ryanhope]

Has anyone tried using any of ECY's Ballantine yeasts yet? I just picked up the lager/beer yeast ECY12. I am thinking about using it for a clone. Supposedly the ECY12 is not a true lager yeast but it should be fermented at lager temps.

 

[JKaranka]

Quite interested in this beer. Do you know when did Ballantine start to brew XXX? It's a common appelation for a strong mild ale since the 1840s or so. It could be a direct descendent of the mild ales that were brewed back in the 1890s (pale malt, maybe some adjunct or invert sugar, medium to high bitterness, moderate hop flavour, dry hopping). None of these beers really survived in the UK, with the gravities dropping to session strenght during the Great War.

 

[Revvy]

Actually there's a discussion on the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins blog. good info in the comments section of the blog.

 

[JKaranka]

Yeah, seen that one. I just want more! Looks a bit like a completely unchanged XX from the turn of the century still being brewed by WW2. Could have been an XXX that dropped a few gravity points by then. A bit of a fossil!