British Strong Ale Recipe

[rthiessen]

Hello
I was in Williamsburg, VA over Thanksgiving and had Alewerks Wetherburns Bristol Ale. It’s basically the precursor to IPA which IMO is a moderately hoppy brown ale in the 7% ABV range. I really liked it since everything out there now is so West Coast style from a hops perspective.

So I want to brew something similar and the brewer gave me some basics for the recipe, mainly Fuggles for bittering and late additions and EKG for dry hops. If anyone has had this beer, would love to now your thoughts. But if you haven’t, please take a look at my recipe anyway to see if it makes sense:

12lbs Maris Otter
2lbs English Brown
1lb Belgian Biscuit
1.5 oz Fuggle@ 60min
.5 oz Fuggle@ 30min
1 oz Fuggle @ 0min
1.5 oz EKG dry hop
British Ale Yeast 1098

1.25qt per lb and Mash for 60min at 151 with a batch sparge. I will spilt the batch in secondary so I can add some cocoa beans to add a slight chocolate flavor/aroma for a homebrew competition.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[Bierkrug]

I'm not sure if you want to make a hoppy beer with some body/maltiness or something in the direction of historic pale ales, so please forgive any useless advice.

To me it's too much brown and biscuit malt, maybe reduce the percentages to around 5% each?. Rest looks fine, just depends what you're aiming at.

For something more historic, I'd drop them both. Maybe add some invert sugar. The yeast should give you enough body to make a tasty brew.
Hops look alright, maybe drop the one @0min. Not that it's bad, just not common in historic recipes.

You could look at http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/ for recipes, brewed by brewers back then.

Here's two to give you an idea:
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2010/06/lets-brew-wednesday-fullers-obe.html
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2016/03/lets-brew-wednesday-saturday-edition_26.html

 

[Northern_Brewer]

This sounds like a version of a Burton ale (nothing to do with pale ales), which seem to have been quite a big thing in Bristol but typically with the addition of gentian or camomile as a unique local twist.

Not sure 1098 would be my first choice of yeast, unless it was the one that they specified.

 

[rthiessen]

Yes, this beer was created to be similar to the ale in Bristol during this period. The brewery did not share the yeast that they use nor did they recommend one. So I just went with 1098. I appreciate the responses back and hope this beer turns out similar to what I was trying to copy. Regardless it will be way different from the style of beers I brew and consume. And adding the cacao beans for some chocolate notes will be interesting for sure.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[kevin58]

For most of my English beers I like to use Whitbread 1099.