Search results

Bitter has always been my go to beer too. Just hits the spot.

Low ABV beers have been the norm in the UK for a very long time. The first world war brought beers down to around 3% more than 100 years ago and we now have alcohol tax tiers that have caused a lot of breweries to adjust beers under 4% to 3.4%. While I think a lot of these beers are/were better...

That was my thought too.

I'll have a go.... English pale English extra pale Wheat malt Crystal wheat Crystal 80 ebc Crystal 145 ebc Carabohemian Pale choc Brown malt Black malt

I've not come across this idea of adding acid in this way before. Is there stuff written about this?

You might invent a homeopathic remedy to help people stop smoking. 😉

I like your descriptions, thanks. I've been using Crisp and Baird amber malt recently though, and they seem to have a stronger and more distinct flavour than those digestive biscuits. I'm going to have to make some grain teas. I need to get hold of a brown malt that's not Simpson's to compare...

Cheers I'll have a look and see where i get to! All the other brown malts are quite close in colour to amber malt. So it's like an amber/brown continuum that only spreads from about 50 ebc to about 170 ebc, and then Simpson's brown is 400 - 500 ebc. So surely amber malt and brown are pretty...

Search me! https://www.simpsonsmalt.co.uk/our-malts/brown-malt/

The oddest one, to me, is Simpson's brown malt, which is significantly darker than other brown malts. 400 - 500 ebc. What's that all about?

I like the suggestion made above of adding some crystal malt to compensate for the difference in pale malt and Chevallier malt. I once drank a beer made from 100% Chevallier and Goldings hops and I had to check with the brewer that he didn't add crystal malt, as it looked and tasted like it...

First Gold is a very English hop, well suited to English ales. I've drunk a lot of American hopped stuff since the late 90s but I've reverted to drinking mostly English stuff now. I'm finding English hopped ales harder to find here in England. And I'm wondering how the growers are getting on...

The Guinness tang is a product of the addition of lactic acid, and perhaps the roast barley. Guinness used to contain a portion of soured beer but they just add acid now. It's also easy to sour a bit of wort to get that tang.

I vary the crystal type. All good. Maybe go down the middle first time. I use English crystal cos I'm English and I live in England! I can't vouch for US crystal, never used it. But I like Carabohemian too.

I've got to 3 or 4 generations and for me the attenuation has remained steady in the mid 70s % wise. Verdant is a form of 1318 that was being pitched in a brewery, do people experience increasing attenuation with 1318? I don't know. Could your yeast have picked up a STA1 strain from a Saison batch?

I'm not a fan of smoked malt or of vanilla in beers myself, but many are. I'm struggling to imagine that both things together is a good idea though. Perhaps I am wrong. I would be putting some crystal malt in a porter myself. And I would lose the Tettnang and use a different yeast. Lalbrew...

Nottingham is an English ale yeast and I would say the best suited for an ESB, of your options. Better suited than US05 too. But you may prefer US05, there are no rules. I've tried US05 in English pales and it's not quite right to me, too clean. Nottingham is very clean for an English yeast...

Speed is probably very useful, so you want more yeast rather than less. I'd rather more yeast in my bottles than oxidised beer.

I think any yeast scavenges oxygen, no? Doesn't need to be Philly Sour. Can be the primary yeast in suspension. What do you mean by patience with the retained yeast?

That's great info, and it sits well with what I know already. Thank you. 👍🏻