English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

[Miraculix]

It isn't in its timing sure; it's my West Coast hopping regime dialled back a bit (well, a lot, as I often dry hop north of 12g/L).

Hahaha and I'm being here more like ... "Woooo dude... 5g per litre, better turn it down a notch and not overdo it..."



I guess habits can differ quite a bit.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Thanks for the heads-up. Is it any good?

Yeah - well, it's kinda what you expect from a Harlequin and/or Ernest-heavy beer.

Hahaha and I'm being here more like ... "Woooo dude... 5g per litre, better turn it down a notch and not overdo it..."

I must admit, I don't think too much about my g/l rates, my ordinary beers are just bittering plus a 100g pack of hops, into somewhere between 12-20 litres.

Works for me

 

[Miraculix]

Yeah - well, it's kinda what you expect from a Harlequin and/or Ernest-heavy beer.

I must admit, I don't think too much about my g/l rates, my ordinary beers are just bittering plus a 100g pack of hops, into somewhere between 12-20 litres.

Works for me

Uff, that's a lot. Maybe I should start trying that at least once. I brew usually at least two batches with one 100g pack. But I'm doing 17 l batches.

Btw. Update on the mango madness, I got the kveik twang now from it. It's also a bit too thin and there's no mango. Is a kveik. Not 100% clear yet, but I think this is not one of my favourites. Nottingham on it's own would have been much better. Even us05 world be better I think.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Not anything brewed but I harvested my hops yesterday. Only one plant actually produced cones this year. One barely grew and the other one got so stressed it became a hermaphrodite.

This dry, cold spring and really dry July was a catastrophe for commercial hop growing I can imagine...

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Not anything brewed but I harvested my hops yesterday. Only one plant actually produced cones this year. One barely grew and the other one got so stressed it became a hermaphrodite.

This dry, cold spring and really dry July was a catastrophe for commercial hop growing I can imagine...

I get the impression that Kent was rescued in the nick of time by the bit of rain in late July, but I've seen reports out of Herefordshire talking about 50% loss of yield. August has been really sunny which should help flavour development.

I was away from home for much of the drought and my plant was really badly hit by aphids at the same time, so I'm not going to get much of a crop.

Sounds like it's not been easy on the Continent, their irrigation has worked quite well but pest problems, particularly aphids and spider mite, have been bad if the growers didn't catch them in time.

 

[An Ankoù]

Only one plant actually produced cones this year. One barely grew and the other one got so stressed it became a hermaphrodite.

There are times I've been really stressed. I mean really, climbing-up-the-walls-and-running-across-the-ceiling stressed. Biting the head off a chicken stressed.
But I don't think I've ever become a hermaphrodite!

 

[elproducto]

I've been reading through this thread (it's awesome). Trying to land on a dry yeast for English Styles as I don't have a homebrew shop near me and buying liquid is expensive and inconvenient.

I really don't like S04, it has a twang to it that I find off-putting.

I see lots of talk about Nottingham. I haven't used it in ages, but I feel like I remember it being pretty clean. Does it really produce English character?

Any other suggestions?

Cheers , and thanks for the discussion.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Nottingham will give you a good beer or look at WHC dry yeasts like Bond or Old English.

 

[HM-2]

I've just done an English IPA with British Pub Ale (what they have recently renamed Bond) and it's done a stellar job.

 

[Pennine]

I've been reading through this thread (it's awesome). Trying to land on a dry yeast for English Styles as I don't have a homebrew shop near me and buying liquid is expensive and inconvenient.

I really don't like S04, it has a twang to it that I find off-putting.

I see lots of talk about Nottingham. I haven't used it in ages, but I feel like I remember it being pretty clean. Does it really produce English character?

Any other suggestions?

Cheers , and thanks for the discussion.

Windsor is a great yeast too.

 

[corncob]

I've been warming up to the Nottingham/Windsor co-pitch. It produces an ale with a solidly English character, but less overtly estery than the standard liquid stains. BUT, it doesn't act like any English yeast I'm used to. It finishes on time, but then takes forever to clear. I'm doing a batch right now without finings just to see how long it will take. Also no yeast head during fermentation, so no top cropping.

I find the flavor head and shoulders above any other dry option available to me, other than verdant, which I don't like for pale ales.

 

[elproducto]

Nottingham will give you a good beer or look at WHC dry yeasts like Bond or Old English.

Don't have access to WHC here in Canada unfortunately.

 

[Zadkiel]

Don't have access to WHC here in Canada unfortunately.

Dry Yeast option could be MJ M42 - even though it doesn't seems like it, based on what MJ write on the packet, it's supposedly Nottingham or as close as to be indistinguishable. DTaylor's yeast spreadsheet lists M42 as a Nottingham clone.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Dry Yeast option could be MJ M42 - even though it doesn't seems like it, based on what MJ write on the packet, it's supposedly Nottingham or as close as to be indistinguishable. DTaylor's yeast spreadsheet lists M42 as a Nottingham clone.

I find it really close to Notty. A bit more character and I perceive it to be slightly more responsive to mash temperature.
I've been meaning to try a mix of MJ m42 and Fermentis t58 for English Ales.

 

[balrog]

I find it really close to Notty. A bit more character and I perceive it to be slightly more responsive to mash temperature.
I've been meaning to try a mix of MJ m42 and Fermentis t58 for English Ales.

t58 is phenolic though; do you consider the clove flavor as typical english ale flavor?

 

[HM-2]

IME T58 doesn't throw much in way of esters or phenols at normal ale temperatures (e.g, sub 20°C).

I've had a bit of isoamyl acetate from it in the mid 20s (which I've also found several other English yeasts, including Whitbread Dry variants, will also do) but I've never got it to produce much clove or pepper even when I'm stressing it.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

t58 is phenolic though; do you consider the clove flavor as typical english ale flavor?

Well for one thing T-58 is phenolic but not clovey, it's phenols present more as a mild black pepper.

And secondly - yes, it's not at all uncommon for traditional British breweries to have some phenolic yeast in the mix, you can definitely taste the phenolics in a good pint of Harveys for instance. It's not strong, but it's definitely there as an undercurrent adding to the overall complexity. So don't believe the propaganda from US yeast labs that British yeasts are always POF-, even if the phenolics don't dominate like in Belgium. For a more balanced view, see the Brewlab yeast list and do a search on "phenol" - 5 have it in some form, 6 don't.

https://brewlab.co.uk/services/yeast-list/

I think T-58 definitely has a role to play in a mix of dry yeasts for English beers - it's essentially Windsor with a bit of phenolics so it's a straight swap. Another contender for the mix is BE-256 which is a British yeast that has been on holiday in Belgium, and is like a more flavourful Nottingham. Also Belle Saison/M29 fermented cool can go in the mix, if you're comfortable with diastatic yeast in your brewery.

I've been reading through this thread (it's awesome). Trying to land on a dry yeast for English Styles as I don't have a homebrew shop near me and buying liquid is expensive and inconvenient....I see lots of talk about Nottingham. I haven't used it in ages, but I feel like I remember it being pretty clean. Does it really produce English character?

Well define "English character" - English breweries use a range of yeasts from the relatively bland to the highly flavourful. People love Notty for its flocculation and good attenuation, but it's pretty dull flavourwise - which is why traditional British breweries use multistrains, because no one strain could deliver brewing performance and flavour.

You're never going to get the best flavour from dried yeast due to the drying process - the same yeast will give you more once repitched (making it a "liquid" yeast), and the commercially available strains were selected on the basis of ease of drying rather than flavour. So the safe answer to your question is M36 Liberty Bell, which is probably a mix of Windsor and Notty, but the more adventurous may want to experiment with throwing some T-58, BE-256 or Belle/M29 into the mix. An alternative is to harvest the Fuller's production yeast from bottles of 1845 if you can get them in good condition,