English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

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As it turns out, making #3 invert sugar at 60-70 SRM isn't too much fun. lol But, it is as dark as a stout and delicious. I see why you use turbinado sugar.

At least now, after nearly three hours, I made enough for two batches of vintage ale.
So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
 
Brewhemoth said:
oh, and the hallertauer was used because it's what I had on hand. It's still a clean and simple bittering hop, but feel free to substitute to English hops according to you preference
Click to expand...
Just been looking at the records of a small Yorkshire brewery from the 1890's. They used Hallertau hops both for bittering and dry hops.
 
bucfan1234 said:
As it turns out, making #3 invert sugar at 60-70 SRM isn't too much fun. lol But, it is as dark as a stout and delicious. I see why you use turbinado sugar.

At least now, after nearly three hours, I made enough for two batches of vintage ale.
So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
Click to expand...

You might be more tempted by the invert + molasses method next time
 
bucfan1234 said:
As it turns out, making #3 invert sugar at 60-70 SRM isn't too much fun. lol But, it is as dark as a stout and delicious. I see why you use turbinado sugar.

At least now, after nearly three hours, I made enough for two batches of vintage ale.
So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
Click to expand...

'Gunga, alunga-gunga'

I made some #2 a while back and still haven't had the gumption to use it.

What's the shelf life of something like #2 at room temp anyway?
 
JKaranka said:
I wonder if you measure the shelf life in years or decades.

Good instructions usually here:

http://www.unholymess.com/blog/beer-brewing-info/making-brewers-invert

The amounts of molasses to add are minuscule.
Click to expand...

I've read that page before, certainly one of the ones I used when I went to make my #2, but now it seems to be having tech difficulties because that link doesn't seem to bring up anything useful ("Fatal error: Call-time pass-by-reference has been removed; If you would like to pass argument by reference, modify the declaration of _e(). in /home/henken/unholymess.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/google-adsense-dashboard/google_adsense_dashboard.php on line 235")
 
It's like there's an echo in here :)
I have a doc where I basically screen scraped that, and other, articles if you want it but there are plenty other Google-able instructables

(ed: there is also the wayback machine, which has a snapshot of the site from May here)
 
Wayback machine ... Awesome. Thanks! I had no idea such a thing existed.

I will try the blending method next time.
 
Just drunk 3 gallons of Austerity Porter between six people on a 1940s themed Xmas meal. Everyone merry and walking ok back to buses and taxis. Mix included BMC, ale and craft beer drinkers so I can confirm it's a sound beer. Sort of hits a common ground between Guinness, Brains Dark and Kernel porters that seems to satisfy most people. Bitter and dry enough to be refreshing but not acrid or roasty as to turn people off. Complemented the ox heart stew and the mock duck very nicely.
 
Oh yeah, absolutely. And from what I remember it's fairly low gravity. Glad that it went over well!
 
My first barleywine got down to an FG of 1.012, whoops! I was looking for a bit more sweetness, but the hydro sample was very promising for a beer with an 1.092 OG and less than two months since brew day. Bottled my export porter as well, also promising! Except the autosiphon was getting plugged with leaf EKG bits from the dryhopping...
 
JKaranka said:
Just drunk 3 gallons of Austerity Porter between six people on a 1940s themed Xmas meal. Everyone merry and walking ok back to buses and taxis. Mix included BMC, ale and craft beer drinkers so I can confirm it's a sound beer. Sort of hits a common ground between Guinness, Brains Dark and Kernel porters that seems to satisfy most people. Bitter and dry enough to be refreshing but not acrid or roasty as to turn people off. Complemented the ox heart stew and the mock duck very nicely.
Click to expand...

That beer sounds excellent. Great idea for a Christmas dinner party. Are those vintage or traditional dishes in your neck of the woods?

I am still looking forward to brewing my 1940 porter. I had to order the malts, LHBS didn't have them, so it looks like a boxing day brew for that one.
 
I was in Conniston today and sampled some of the local modern classic bitter Bluebird

Makes me want to brew an all challenger bitter again! The Old Man Ale was excellent too. I preferred them to the HAwkshead beers I had yesterday, although they were very good too, just a bit more modern.


Here are some crappy pics.
Round the back, it's in a nice picturesque place
YwnL2Ru.jpg


Front
VuQ1Wej.jpg


brewing area
QqNgPJB.jpg

bar
Cdv8i7M.jpg

bluebird
7dvkGQ0.jpg


oldman ale
jNom5Ul.jpg



Looks a bit of a squeeze in the brewing shed, you can see why they have to contract out the bottled ales
 
The Lake district is great for pubs, although there are a lot of tied houses from the likes of Jennings (who are Marstons owned) and Robbinsons . So the beers can get a bit similar if you just wander into random pubs. I'm not the biggest fan of those regional brewers but there are a fair number of independent micros throughout the area too
 
I do like a bottle of Old Tom, though! Every regional brewery seems to have one beer I like. Jennings I know less of. St Austell's I like a fresh pint of Tribute. Brains I like Dark.
 
Sneck Lifter from Jennings is my favourite beer of theirs, at least of the ones I've tried. It's an interesting strongish, dark bitter. I can take or leave the rest of them .And yes Old Tom is great but I'm not a fan of their other beers, and being let down by the Trooper beer annoyed me :) . I really like some of the other regionals, St Austell, Harveys, Adnams, Hook Norton, Lees, Holts etc . Others I really can't get on with, such as Shepherd Neame
 
Adnams bitter is nice, so much Fuggles resin!. Not a fan of Sneck Lifter. With Sheperd Neame, I think I liked one of their porters or stouts and I'm just about ok with an occasional Bishops' Finger if nothing else is available.
 
I had Adnams Extra Ale last month and really liked it

"This is a 4.3% abv copper-coloured ale with gloriously hoppy, floral and herbal aromas which follow through on the palate, where it’s balanced by the biscuity fullness of the malts and a dry tart bitterness. It is brewed with Pale Ale and Crystal malts and Fuggle hops which are added at several different stages of the brewing process "

Just been to the pub and had a Robbinsons Unicorn - definitely lacking in flavour, especially compared to the Bluebird earlier, despite being 0.6% stronger
 
I used to think I disliked Fuggles till I had more Adnams. I still don't like Broadside which is the only one of their beers that makes it to Wales.
 
Hanglow said:
I was in Conniston today and sampled some of the local modern classic bitter Bluebird

Makes me want to brew an all challenger bitter again! The Old Man Ale was excellent too. I preferred them to the HAwkshead beers I had yesterday, although they were very good too, just a bit more modern.


Here are some crappy pics.
Round the back, it's in a nice picturesque place
YwnL2Ru.jpg


Front
VuQ1Wej.jpg


brewing area
QqNgPJB.jpg

bar
Cdv8i7M.jpg

bluebird
7dvkGQ0.jpg


oldman ale
jNom5Ul.jpg



Looks a bit of a squeeze in the brewing shed, you can see why they have to contract out the bottled ales
Click to expand...

I f***ing love Coniston (as many are already aware). I'd love to get Bluebird on cask. And unfortunately even the bottled version is on a dry spell around here. Need to rebrew my clone. But need to find a bottle for the yeast.

Funny part is, half my mother's family is from the Lake District. I believe I have a great aunt something times removed or however it is that literally live(d?) the next town over from Coniston. Of course last I was there I was 6 or 7 years old.

I've only seen Bluebird, Bluebird XB, and Old Man available here. I wish we got more English exports. Half the stuff we used to be able to get (Cains, Adnams, Cotleigh, Coniston, etc) aren't around any more.

Also I enjoy The Trooper if I get a fresher can (it's a coin toss). Not perfect, but better than some of the other options available here.
 
Trooper is not half bad if you approach it with low expectations. Pretty solid typical British hop character with a malty background. Nothing special but not bad if it's all you get.
 
My two recent Bitters:

Premium Bitter

9lb TF Marris Otter (95%)
.5lb TF Crystal 45 (5%)

Mash at 150

1oz First Gold at FWH
.5oz EKG at 15 min
.5oz First Gold at 15 min
.5oz EKG at Hop Stand (15min)
1oz First Gold at Hop Stand (15min)

London Ale III (WY1318)


Strong Bitter

5lb TF Marris Otter (45%)
5lb TF Golden Promise (45%)
.5lb TF Crystal 45 (5%)
.5lb Torrified Wheat (5%)

Mash at 152

1oz First Gold at FWH
.5oz Styrian Goldings at 15 min
.5oz First Gold at 15 min
1oz Styrian Goldings at Hop Stand (15min)
1oz First Gold at Hop Stand (15min)

London ESB (WY1968)

Both turned out very tasty. I do prefer the yeast character of the 1318 however. That beer was a bit too light in body, hence the increase in mash temp and torrified wheat. The torrified wheat caused a chill haze however that lasted almost 2 weeks before dropping out. Both final beers came out brilliantly clear.
 
Qhrumphf said:
I f***ing love Coniston (as many are already aware). I'd love to get Bluebird on cask. And unfortunately even the bottled version is on a dry spell around here. Need to rebrew my clone. But need to find a bottle for the yeast.

Funny part is, half my mother's family is from the Lake District. I believe I have a great aunt something times removed or however it is that literally live(d?) the next town over from Coniston. Of course last I was there I was 6 or 7 years old.

I've only seen Bluebird, Bluebird XB, and Old Man available here. I wish we got more English exports. Half the stuff we used to be able to get (Cains, Adnams, Cotleigh, Coniston, etc) aren't around any more.

Also I enjoy The Trooper if I get a fresher can (it's a coin toss). Not perfect, but better than some of the other options available here.
Click to expand...

I never see cask Coniston beers up in Glasgow, or if they make it up I always seem to miss them. The bottles I'd have to order online too as scottish supermarkets don't stock them.

Hawkshead sell to wetherspoons quite a lot so I can their beers on draught fairly easily, they are almost always very good
 
I like Trooper, partially because I'm an Iron Maiden fan, but mostly because I have a hell of a time finding any English beers other than Boddington's, Fullers, or Newcastle. Sure, it won't floor you but I think it's solid.
 
lowtones84 said:
I like Trooper, partially because I'm an Iron Maiden fan, but mostly because I have a hell of a time finding any English beers other than Boddington's, Fullers, or Newcastle. Sure, it won't floor you but I think it's solid.
Click to expand...


Fair enough. I've only tried it twice to be honest, once from cask and once in the bottle. It was the cask one that clouded my judgement as I asked how old it was and it was only a couple of weeks out of the brewery and I had the third pint or so from the cask. I've not tried the canned variety or the stronger one they have just produced

I'm a massive maiden fan too and really wanted the beer to be good but it just didn't do it for me. The lower strength Robbies beers I have tried are all a bit lacking compared to their contemporaries (IMO of course :) ) A bit less malt, a bit less hop, no real yeast flavours etc . And the bottled/canned ones are worse as they are all pasteurised too which don't help lower strength british beers at all. This is a common problem though, mainly due to the general contempt the off trade has for the way they sell beer in the uk - not temperature controlled, must have really long Best Before dates etc. I could rant for a long time about british supermarkets/ major retailers and beer but I won't bore you :)

I'm just back from mid-west wales and didn't drink any draught beer due to circumstances but did drink a good few bottled beers - Tomos Watkins, Conwy Brewery and some canned Rev James plus a bunch of Fullers as they were on offer and really fresh.
 

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