First Attempt at an English-Style Pub Ale

[Upthewazzu]

I've never been a huge fan of British style ales, but thought I might as well give one a shot. I'll be brewing 7 gallons, and splitting it in half with two different yeast. One batch will get Wyeast 1099 (Whitbread) and the other will get 1332 (NW Ale). So far my grain/hop bill is as follows:

11lbs Palouse Pint English Pale Malt
3lbs Carared
6oz Crystal 80
4oz Simpsons DRC
60min: Willamette 1.5oz
15min: Hallertauer Mittelfrueh
02min: Hallertauer Mittelfrueh
Dry Hop: 1oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh (still on the fence about this one)

Mash @ 150°
IBU: 25
Color: 13.3
Est ABV: 5.7%

I realize this is a bit of a mishmash in styles, but I think it could work. FWIW, I really really dislike WY1098 (British Ale) yeast, is 1099 a little too similar? Any other suggestions or thoughts?

 

[ong]

That is an awful lot of crystal malt — way too much for my taste. And the Hallertauer seems like an odd choice if you’re trying for a British ale.

 

[ESBrewer]

1098 tends to attenuate more than 1099 (so the beers with 1098 tend to be drier) but other than that these yeasts should not be completely dissimilar. I agree with ong that you are all too high in crystal type malt with more than 20% of Carared. For typical British beer, just replace the Carared with pale ale malt (and maybe increase Crystal80 to 5% of the grain bill) so you will be fine. The hops are not very British either, but that doesn't necessarily mean that those would not make a great beer. Just depends on what you are looking for.

 

[MrPowers]

Try Wyeast 1469. It definitely has a lot of character and it’s my favorite British Yeast.

Also, I would go with East Kent Goldings, Willamette, or Fuggle as a single hop throughout (if you have them available). If not, bitter with mittelfruh and use the willamette for flavor/aroma.

I also agree that the is too much cara malt: you’re at almost 25% there. I’m not afraid of cara in British ales, but still limit it to about 10-15%. I’d drop the 80l and the DRC, cut the cara red down to two pounds. Make up the gravity difference with base malt and make up the color with black patent/chocolate malt.

 

[Queequeg]

Here is a good starting point

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/235532/everard-s-tiger-clone

 

[Upthewazzu]

All great responses, thank you. I do have some EKG on hand so I'll use that instead. I'll adjust the malt bill to bring down the Carared. I was aiming for a specific color and got a little carried away (that's why I love double checking on this forum).

 

[corax]

I'll adjust the malt bill to bring down the Carared. I was aiming for a specific color and got a little carried away (that's why I love double checking on this forum).

To get your desired color without a ton of crystal, try a few ounces of black malt or roasted barley. I.e., lots of color with little or no flavor contribution. Weyermann's de-husked Carafa series takes the same concept even further.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Invert sugar... learn about it, embrace it, love it, savor it! #tasty

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

 

[Upthewazzu]

OK gonna try this again, here's what I got (8.5gal batch):

14lb Palouse Pint English Pale Malt (85.5%)
1.5lb Carared (9.2%)
8oz Brown malt (3.1%)
5oz Simpsons DRC (1.9%)
1oz Chocolate (or blackprinz) (.4%)

60min: 1.75oz Willamette (19 ibu)
10min: 1oz EKG (5 ibu)
00min: 1oz EKG

Mash @ 150° for 60min

Beersmith tells me OG will be 1.051, IBU 24 and color 12.5srm with an estimated ABV of 5.2%.

The batch will be split into two, with half getting WY1335 British Ale II and the other half getting WY1332 Northwest Ale.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I love brown malt and I love EKG. I really can’t say if those components make a great British ale because honestly I’ve never had one, buy I can say that assuming your process is good, I think this recipe will make an excellent beer.

 

[Miraculix]

Ten percent Crystal sounds way too much for me. Also, there is no sugar in the recipe, a lot of the guys here in the UK use some type of non-grain sugar in their beer.

5.2% is also on the higher side, usually it is something between 4.0 to 4.6.

I would ditch the cara red completely and replace it with a 60ish type of Crystal and no more than 5%. I also would include some (invert?) sugar in the recipe and bring it down to 4.5% abv.

If the color really needs to be adjusted, use chocolate or black malt.

 

[corax]

A little brown malt goes a long way, and a half pound will make it taste very roasty and porter-like. Fine if that's what you want, but if I was aiming at something in the pale ale/bitter spectrum, I'd skip the brown malt entirely.

Also, I agree with Miraculix on the high amount of crystal.

 

[Miraculix]

A little brown malt goes a long way, and a half pound will make it taste very roasty and porter-like. Fine if that's what you want, but if I was aiming at something in the pale ale/bitter spectrum, I'd skip the brown malt entirely.

Also, I agree with Miraculix on the high amount of crystal.

I actually overlooked the brown malt. I would use this for a porter or dark mild, as you also suggested, but not for a bitter/pale ale. I would ditch the brown malt in this case completely.

Actually, a blonde ale would be a typical pub ale nowadays. Just Maris otter, an English yeast and a typical English hop. Around 4.5%, easy and very British.

 

[kevin58]

My personal preference for an English ale would be to ditch the cara completely and stick with pale malt, amber malt or brown malt, crystal 40 or 60. (not all of those necessarily in the same recipe) I also use invert sugars from #2 to #3 from time to time. My hops are mostly EKG and/or Fuggle and I like either Whitbread liquid yeast or S04 dry yeast.

 

[ong]

I commented on your first recipe. I think this is looking much better. I’m not a big fan of crystal malt, and most of my bitters don’t use any, or use under 5%, but I don’t think your 11% or so will be a problem with this style, which is meant to be pretty malt forward. I might mash a bit higher, but I don’t think it will mess anything up to go 150°. I’ve never used either of those yeasts, so I don’t have much to say about them (most all my bitters have been 1968, 1318, or 1469, which isn’t to say those are the *best* choices). Sounds like a good beer! I’d go ahead and give it a whirl.

Edit — I do have to say the brown malt stuck out for me as well. Maybe drop it for your first attempt and see if you want more roast. It does seem more like a mild than a bitter.

 

[Derp]

Invert sugar is easy to make. So is caramel coloring that will darken your beer with just a few drops without adding any flavor. I use both in my British bitters and they're always great.

Here's a thread with instructions:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/made-simple-invert-sugars-jeff-alworths-method.628857/

 

[Queequeg]

I highly recommend you make the everads tiger clone I posted. It pretty much matches most of the advice others have said in this thread. it's an award winning bitter, I am from the UK and you don't get a much better example of the style.

 

[DownHillonWater]

@Queequeg: very interested to try your everads tiger clone... Can't find it tho. Could you point us in the righr direction pls?

 

[Miraculix]

@Queequeg: very interested to try your everads tiger clone... Can't find it tho. Could you point us in the righr direction pls?

Fifth post in this thread!

 

[Matthew Nelson]

The keys to a english bitter are maris otter malt as base, burtonized water, english yeast (I use WY1318), and english hops (I use East Kent or Fuggle). I ferment in the low 60s, lager for two weeks and cask condition for 0.8 volume CO2. Best served at 50º.