English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

[rmyurick]

I don't know about quintessential-it's a big country-but at least in London & surrounding areas, they drink a lot of bitter in the pubs. So some variation of bitter-ordinary, special or strong (esb). Depends on what you like. Most pub bitters are pretty low alcohol (~3.5abv).

 

[lhommedieu]

I'm also weary of hop-forward IPA's. Lately I've been drinking German lagers with a nice balance of malt and hops, and will brew my first Pilsner in a couple of weeks. After some experimentation, my AG ESB recipe is as follows:

12 lbs Marris Otter (apx. 94%)
12 oz. Crystal 60 (apx. 6%)
.5 oz. Challenger or Northdown hops at 90 min.
1 oz. EKG at 60 minutes
1 oz. EKG at 10 minutes
.25 oz. EKG dry hop in secondary
Wyeast London Ale 1968 (Stir plate)
pinch of Irish Moss at 10 min.

I've taken several suggestions over the past couple of years from members of the board, and have found that they work for me:

Water/grain proportion in mash tun: 1 qt/pound
Boil for 90 minutes
Build yeast on stir plate for at least 24 hours
Aerate wort prior to adding yeast
Use a yeast nutrient
Put hops in a filter

I dough in with cold water and raise the temperature using direct heat to 154 before transferring the mash to the mash tun. I adjust the temperature to 152 and hold it for at least an hour, sometimes a little more. I mash out, and fly sparge at 168. For my last batch, my pre-boil gravity reading was 1.042.

Boil is 90 minutes or until I've hit my OG and volume. For my last batch, my OG was 1.053.

Generally I'll ferment at 67F for 7 - 10 days before taking SG readings. Then I transfer to the secondary.

I add .25 oz. EKG hops to the Secondary. Secondary is for about week and then I'll start taking SG readings. Once I've hit my number, I'll add a little gelatin and cold crash for 24 hours. Then I transfer to a keg.

I condition the beer for at least 3 weeks and carbonate at a low psi as per the style. I find the beer drinkable at this point but have noticed that it's at its optimum flavor a couple of weeks later - so I wait if I can.

The beer is nicely balanced with malt and caramel providing a background to the hops, at about 32 - 35 IBU. ABV is about 5.0. The color is a medium to dark copper. The result is an ESB with a slightly lower IBU but still within style guidelines.

 

[Puddlethumper]

The beer is nicely balanced with malt and caramel providing a background to the hops, at about 32 - 35 IBU. ABV is about 5.0. The color is a medium to dark copper. The result is an ESB with a slightly lower IBU but still within style guidelines.

Thank you for that recipe and the great instructions. It looks very do-able with supplies I have on hand right now. Do you have any thoughts on incorporating invert sugar into this recipe?

 

[JKaranka]

That recipe looks good, just replace some pale and reduce crystal to 2%, and chuck in the invert. The sources for Northdown and Challenger in White Shield are Michael Jackson and the WS ratebeer page. I'd still dry hop with Goldings. But yeah, remember that British beers constantly evolve, so recipes rarely stay 20 years the same without some changes in colour or hopping.

 

[Puddlethumper]

That recipe looks good, just replace some pale and reduce crystal to 2%, and chuck in the invert. The sources for Northdown and Challenger in White Shield are Michael Jackson and the WS ratebeer page. I'd still dry hop with Goldings. But yeah, remember that British beers constantly evolve, so recipes rarely stay 20 years the same without some changes in colour or hopping.

Thanks. This recipe may be exactly what I've been looking for. Will put it in the rotation and brew up a batch within the next week or so and report back here on the outcome.

Cheers!

 

[catdaddy66]

I love me some UK brews! Pale ales, browns, reds, porters, stouts, etc. don't know why but I do. Bitters, ESB's, Milds... I could drink them all day. I have a Pale ale and an Irish red fermenting now and recently finished 5 gal of the best British Brown ale that came out great.


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[Puddlethumper]

I dough in with cold water and raise the temperature using direct heat to 154 before transferring the mash to the mash tun. I adjust the temperature to 152 and hold it for at least an hour, sometimes a little more. I mash out, and fly sparge at 168. For my last batch, my pre-boil gravity reading was 1.042.

I haven't used this technique and may try it with this batch. What impact would you expect if a person were to go with a single infusion mash at 152 and then batch sparge? Would it make a significant difference in the finished product?

 

[slymaster]

Now that I have a pound or so of #2 Invert sugar I'm getting ready to make my first foray into traditional English brewing. I'm thinking a batch of Worthington's White Shield IPA (clone) might make a good choice because of our dry and hot weather here. I ran across the following recipe posted on HBT back in 2006 (not much else out there right now):

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/worthington-white-shield-copy-5416/

I understand that WLP013 and White Labs London Ale yeasts are very close to the original Worthington's strains. My remaining concern with this recipe is that I don't trust the OG values he is suggesting. I ran this through BrewTarget and got a very low 1.033 OG which is far below guidelines for the style. Boosting the pale malt to 9.5 lbs brings it up to 1.047 which is much closer to style but still short. Any ideas or suggestions on this issue?

I'm also looking to emulate the White Shield, so you might want to have a look at this thread I started last month:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/worthington-white-shield-clone-479109/

The ingredient list seems pretty accurate, based on the large research I have made but proportions, temp and technique might be adjusted. This beer is 13 SRM and 40 IBU, so it might help if you want to precisly clone it.

 

[Puddlethumper]

The ingredient list seems pretty accurate, based on the large research I have made but proportions, temp and technique might be adjusted. This beer is 13 SRM and 40 IBU, so it might help if you want to precisly clone it.

Great link and I appreciate the work you've done with this. I assume you've brewed up a batch according to this recipe? Were you happy with it?

 

[lhommedieu]

Thank you for that recipe and the great instructions. It looks very do-able with supplies I have on hand right now. Do you have any thoughts on incorporating invert sugar into this recipe?

No problem. There are plenty of brewers on the forum with more knowledge and experience making ales than me, and my directions are merely a compendium of what I learned from them. Look at posts by ajf, for example. He always has something valuable to say. Terry Foster's Pale Ale is a nice book about the history of the style. It also has some recipes in the back.

When I started to make ales I worried excessively about complexity and my first attempts at making English bitter often featured at least three different malts and hops. I've since learned that a simple recipe and clean technique will take me where I want to go.

Many agree that a malt bill that contains a British 2-row pale malt and one of British Crystal Malts makes a good bitter. You can play with the amount of grain to make a milder or stronger beer, but I've been advised not to let the percentage of Crystal Malt go above 7.5%. I use 94% Marris Otter because I think it creates a rich flavor, and 6% Crystal 60 because it gives my beer a lovely copper color, but others might like a paler beer. In that case, drop down to Crystal 40 or use less Crystal 60. As long as your malt and hops are balanced according to the style, you're golden. A SMaSH using just British 2-row pale malt and EKG would be a great summer beer, imho. To each his own.

If you're producing beers that seem to produce a heavier, sweeter flavor profile than you like, adding about 8 oz. of sugar will produce a drier beer. You can also used flaked corn for the same purpose. I don't do either, because I'm still learning the basics at this point and want to keep my additions to the minimum.

You can also play with lowering the mash time and extending it. I'll sometimes mash in at 152F and mash for 90 minutes if I have the time. If my mash temperature drops down to 150F. I don't worry about it.

I mash out by adding enough hot water to the mash and stirring until I hit 168F. I fly sparge but haven't invested in the equipment that I would like. I simply use a gravity system with a long piece of high-temperature silicon tube attached to the lauter tun above and coiled once abound the top of the grain bed, leaving about a inch of hot liquid above the grain bed throughout the sparge. I try to sparge for up to an hour, heating the sparge water as needed. I'll quit when my last runnings hit 1.010.

You can do something similar using a batch sparge and you'll produce great beer. I don't really think it makes much of a difference. Some may say that fly sparging produces more efficiency, but I don't worry about efficiency past a certain point - that's my wife's job.

With respect to doughing in with cold water and raising the temperature using direct heat: this is something that I learned from someone on the forum. He uses a tri-decoction method for German pilsners and bocks, and uses direct heat for both the mash tun and decoction pot. It's a great method that I plan to start using when I'm done travelling this month. Since I'm brand-new to the method, I thought I'd start by practicing the mash-tun skill set (i.e., bringing my mash to a certain temperature by direct heat and stirring - and without scorching it, lol). It worked great. I put a digital thermometer through a silicon stopper and attached it to a stainless steel rod, and stirred using a stainless steel spackle stirrer attached to a 1/2" drill. The next step was to pour the mash into the mash tun and adjust the final temperature with hot water (I didn't need to add hot water) - no problem. Hold the rod with one other hand while your stirring, and stir around it without hitting it (like I did) or you'll send your rod flying out of the tun like a missile. Now that I'm somewhat competent at this I'm going to try it using a mash tun and decoction pot as per the tri-decoction method for German beers.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t1.0-9/p403x403/10500463_609776609119494_685217336398662868_n.jpg

https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/t1.0-9/p403x403/10464228_609777692452719_2843150153800973145_n.jpg

I used a Blichmann tun with a bottom plate for sparging - but only because, after drilling a hole for a thermometer in a 10 gallon Rubbermaid water cooler, and attaching a ball valve on the bottom, I forgot get an adapter for the bazooka screen. A water cooler will work will for the simple infusion mashes that a bitter requires.

Search for Foster's water profile for pale ales; I have pretty soft water here in Long Island, so a Tbsp. of Gypsum is all that I need to bring my numbers in line.

 

[slymaster]

Great link and I appreciate the work you've done with this. I assume you've brewed up a batch according to this recipe? Were you happy with it?

Not Yet. It's planned to be brewed in a couple of batches (with minor adjustments). One thing I know about this beer is that it uses specifically Halcyon malt and equal amounts of Fuggles and Challenger for bittering. I've had this beer a few times when travelling but it's not available where I live. If I could get my hands on a bottle and check the final gravity with my hydrometer I think I could get closer to the real thing.

 

[dyqik]

I think my next brew will be a Summer Lightning clone recipe I found online. It's pale for an English bitter, but it's a pretty popular beer in the UK. It's also about as simple a recipe as you are likely to find - practically a SMaSH brew. The original beer is a pale, fairly light tasting but strong and hoppy summer ale.

Hopback Summer Lightning Clone
5.5 gallon batch
OG: 1.055
FG: 1.016
IBU: 44.0
SRM: 4.8

11 lb Maris Otter : mash at 152F for 60 minutes
1.6 oz Challenger : 60 minutes
0.5 oz Goldings : 10 minutes
0.5 oz Goldings : Steep/Whirlpool/Hopback
1.0 oz Goldings : Dry Hop

English ale yeast of your choice. Higher attenuating might be better. Adjust flavor and aroma hop additions to your taste - this is meant to be hop forward. Carb and serve as for cask ales, although it can stand to be a little colder than usual, as it's meant as a summer beer.

I guess this is also a good base for starting substitute in some US hop character, which some UK breweries are now doing to change things up - I had a Cascade pale ESB on cask last time I was in the UK!

 

[Hanglow]

Yeah summer lightning is considered to be the granddaddy of the current mass of golden ales we have in the uk, I think it dates from the mid to late 1980s.

It's quite reserved for golden ales now, although it's still better than quite a few of the ones that are marketed to entice lager drinkers - by lager drinkers I mean our carling/tennents/fosters etc drinkers who wouldn't touch anything dark. These tend to be rather bland

Most now use new world hops and I think are our equivalents of IPAs in the US - almost all breweries make them, often a number of them and they tend to be very hop forward

For the ones I make I tend to start around 1.042-1.044 or so and about 40IBUs, almost always use some wheat too and a clean yeast.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Yeah summer lightning is considered to be the granddaddy of the current mass of golden ales we have in the uk, I think it dates from the mid to late 1980s.

For the ones I make I tend to start around 1.042-1.044 or so and about 40IBUs, almost always use some wheat too and a clean yeast.

I make an APA that has about the same color, IBU's and wheat addition but based on American 2 row and strictly American hops (Horizon, Cascade, Mt. Hood & Willamette). This recipe looks interesting because, although the numbers are very similar, I would think the finished beer would showcase the difference between the UK ingredients vs the American. I may put a batch of this in the rotation here just to see how it turns out.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I think my next brew will be a Summer Lightning clone recipe I found online. It's pale for an English bitter, but it's a pretty popular beer in the UK. It's also about as simple a recipe as you are likely to find - practically a SMaSH brew. The original beer is a pale, fairly light tasting but strong and hoppy summer ale.

Hopback Summer Lightning Clone
5.5 gallon batch
OG: 1.055
FG: 1.016
IBU: 44.0
SRM: 4.8

11 lb Maris Otter : mash at 152F for 60 minutes
1.6 oz Challenger : 60 minutes
0.5 oz Goldings : 10 minutes
0.5 oz Goldings : Steep/Whirlpool/Hopback
1.0 oz Goldings : Dry Hop

English ale yeast of your choice. Higher attenuating might be better. Adjust flavor and aroma hop additions to your taste - this is meant to be hop forward. Carb and serve as for cask ales, although it can stand to be a little colder than usual, as it's meant as a summer beer.

I guess this is also a good base for starting substitute in some US hop character, which some UK breweries are now doing to change things up - I had a Cascade pale ESB on cask last time I was in the UK!

Yeah summer lightning is considered to be the granddaddy of the current mass of golden ales we have in the uk, I think it dates from the mid to late 1980s.

It's quite reserved for golden ales now, although it's still better than quite a few of the ones that are marketed to entice lager drinkers - by lager drinkers I mean our carling/tennents/fosters etc drinkers who wouldn't touch anything dark. These tend to be rather bland

Most now use new world hops and I think are our equivalents of IPAs in the US - almost all breweries make them, often a number of them and they tend to be very hop forward

For the ones I make I tend to start around 1.042-1.044 or so and about 40IBUs, almost always use some wheat too and a clean yeast.

I'd planned on doing a "Summer Ale" or "Golden Ale" or whatever you want to call it in a week or two. I'm going a little smaller and a little bigger on the late hops. Also tossing in some wheat. So it's good to know I'm on the right track.


6 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett) (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 80.0 %
1 lbs Wheat - White Malt (Briess) (2.3 SRM) Grain 2 13.3 %
8.0 oz Biscuit (Dingemans) (22.5 SRM) Grain 3 6.7 %
0.50 oz Challenger [8.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 19.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.20 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 9.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.20 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 6 3.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Challenger [8.90 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 7 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.20 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg West Yorkshire Ale (Wyeast Labs #1469) Yeast 9 -

Est Original Gravity: 1.045 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.4 %
Bitterness: 31.9 IBUs
Est Color: 5.3 SRM

I'll be using my house English yeast (1469), repitched. So it's not a clean yeast, nor a high attenuator. So I'll be mashing on the fairly low side and fermenting on the cool side (maybe 64). At 149, BeerSmith gives me 1.011, but it'll probably more like 1.009. I might up the IBUs by 10 or so, then.

Never done one before, so glad to know I'm in the right general vicinity. The Biscuit may not be traditional, but I love the character of that malt, and it goes oh so well with the MO in my opinion. I use it in most of my beers. Hah.

 

[JKaranka]

Golden ales are definitively modern (although they just bring the pale back into pale ales). As modern beers, most British golden ales also use American hops in good measure (I've had plenty of commercial ones with Cluster, Cascade, Willamette, Citra, Chinook, Columbus, etc.), although they often end up using some of the more exciting European hops instead (Styrian Goldings, Saaz, Brewer's Gold, etc.). When I've made them I've ended up with combinations of Pale Malt, Lager Malt, Wheat Malt, Munich Malt, Flaked Maize and Crystal. Some of the ones have been 40/40/20 Pale, Lager & Flaked Maize, 80/15/5 Pale, Wheat & Munich.

One of the nicest ones that I get around here often is Otley O2 Croeso. Straw in colour, very floral and citrusy. If I had to guess I'd say it has late additions and dry hopping with Cluster, Cascade and Styrian Goldings. Not very bitter for 4.2% abv, probably just around 30-35 IBU.

 

[JKaranka]

Btw, Puddlethumper, don't get distracted and aim at that White Shield-ish clone!

 

[Puddlethumper]

Btw, Puddlethumper, don't get distracted and aim at that White Shield-ish clone!

LOL, thanks! And I've already decided against it because of the high IBU. Some of the discussions about ESB recipes and this latest discussion about golden ales are more to my taste.

In fact that recipe for an ESB that Ihommedieu has worked on will probably be #2 in my plan for next beers. Will reduce the MO and crystal and add 1 lb. of invert #2 and still hit almost identical numbers. Will also go with a single infusion mash at 152F (90 min) and batch sparge for the sake of simplicity of execution. I'm looking forward to that brewday.

I appreciate your continued interest and support! Good luck with your next brew.

Cheers!

 

[Puddlethumper]

Just wanted to take a minute and post an update to this thread.

I brewed a batch of ESB following the recipe Ihommedieu suggested with a couple of minor changes to make it more authentic to recipes I suspect we would find in England/Wales. I dropped the MO to 10.5 lbs. and cut the medium crystal to 4 oz. In their place I added a pound of invert sugar #2 with 10 minutes left in the boil. The OG went through the roof at 1.068! Next time I'll cut way back on the MO. (I really do need to take the time to figure my brewhouse efficiency. )

Today I racked it over to secondary and SG was at 1.013 and the beer in the sample jar was delicious. I plan to let this one condition for a couple of weeks before kegging. But it's going to try my patience to wait on this one.

 

[unionrdr]

I love English hops & malts,but only dabbled in bitters. I liked the beer I made with the Cooper's English bitter the North American distributor gave me once. Trying to read my old notes;
1 can Cooper's English biter, International series
500g plain light Munton's DME
(I used .5oz Hallertauer hops @ 20 & 10 mins),but EKG would've been better
I was told by the same fella that 500g more DME & another ounce of the EKG @ 10 or so is supposed to make it similar to Fuller's if I remember the old E-Mail right. the recipe is dated 7/30/11. The ESB E/SG kit from Morebeer has a very nice balance between hop bitterness/flavor & malt flavors. Couldn't find a PM kit for ESB's to try more of'em. So I tried the Morebeer ESB kit first.
7 lbs ultra light malt extract
8 ozs crystal 40L
8 ozs honey malt
4 ozs special roast
1 oz northern brewer @ 60 mins
1 oz EKG @ 10 minutes
1 oz EKG @ 5 minutes
I rehydrated S-04 in 400mL warm water @ 89.3F for 30 minutes. Fermented & clearing in 10 days flat! Since i prefer PM, I was thinking of replacing about half the extract with some British base malt. Haven't decided on it yet. But this is an easy drinking, well balanced beer for a kit. Converting it to pb/pm biab will be great if I get it right. Here's a pic of it;

And the Cooper's EB;

I really need a better spot for beer porn...

 

[Puddlethumper]

Nice looking glass of beer! The color looks right for the bitters I've been making lately. I agree that if you can bring in some Maris Otter or Halcyon you should get a pretty authentic base going.

You didn't mention the ABV you are looking for. Ordinary bitters will want the IBU's that EKG, Northern Brewer, etc. can bring to to table. But if you've going for a higher ABV you might want to consider Challenger for bittering followed by EKG for flavor/aroma.

 

[unionrdr]

The ESB kit came out to 6.93% by Cooper's formula (OG-FG) / 7.46 + .5). My efficiency with the grains given & dunk sparge were through the roof! But 5-6% generally.

 

[lhommedieu]

Just wanted to take a minute and post an update to this thread.

I brewed a batch of ESB following the recipe Ihommedieu suggested with a couple of minor changes to make it more authentic to recipes I suspect we would find in England/Wales. I dropped the MO to 10.5 lbs. and cut the medium crystal to 4 oz. In their place I added a pound of invert sugar #2 with 10 minutes left in the boil. The OG went through the roof at 1.068! Next time I'll cut way back on the MO. (I really do need to take the time to figure my brewhouse efficiency. )

Today I racked it over to secondary and SG was at 1.013 and the beer in the sample jar was delicious. I plan to let this one condition for a couple of weeks before kegging. But it's going to try my patience to wait on this one.

lol - Good luck on that patience thing...

I brewed an ESB in early July and it's been in the keg for about two weeks. I plan to tap it August 23rd for a BBQ party, and I'll post the results.

My earlier ales were very sweet and full-bodied but I have successfully made them a bit drier to my taste by keeping my mash temperature @ 149 and making sure that I have an adequate amount of yeast to pitch. I always stir plate my yeast and have gotten into the habit of oxygenating the wort before pitching.

I have read that adding sugar to the wort just after the boil can increase attenuation but so far I have not needed to add it; as an experiment though, I think that the next time that I brew an ESB I may add 8 oz of cane sugar or invert sugar and see what results.

Good luck on your ESB and let us know how it turned out.

 

[Puddlethumper]

The ESB kit came out to 6.93% by Cooper's formula (OG-FG) / 7.46 + .5). My efficiency with the grains given & dunk sparge were through the roof! But 5-6% generally.

Was it pretty malty? Did you feel the Northern Brewer brought enough bitterness to the party?

 

[Puddlethumper]

lol - Good luck on that patience thing...

I brewed an ESB in early July and it's been in the keg for about two weeks. I plan to tap it August 23rd for a BBQ party, and I'll post the results.

My earlier ales were very sweet and full-bodied but I have successfully made them a bit drier to my taste by keeping my mash temperature @ 149 and making sure that I have an adequate amount of yeast to pitch. I always stir plate my yeast and have gotten into the habit of oxygenating the wort before pitching.

I have read that adding sugar to the wort just after the boil can increase attenuation but so far I have not needed to add it; as an experiment though, I think that the next time that I brew an ESB I may add 8 oz of cane sugar or invert sugar and see what results.

Good luck on your ESB and let us know how it turned out.

We're about on the same page and same time frame with these brews. I'm probably a week or so behind you and mine will spend the next 10-14 days in secondary before I keg it. Once my beers get kegged they go directly to the keezer and get cold for a week or two prior to serving.

Have you used invert sugar before? I was surprised at how high the OG ended up on this batch. I'm convinced that sugar addition threw my BrewTarget software a curve. It did attenuate very well. But will definitely need to make some adjustments to the grain bill before trying this recipe again.

Cheers!

 

[unionrdr]

Was it pretty malty? Did you feel the Northern Brewer brought enough bitterness to the party?

It has a great balance between malty & hop bittering. The hop flavors were just enough to add some complexity to it. I'll definitely brew it again!

 

[Qhrumphf]

I just tapped a Pale Mild I did. First time putting my own beer on "cask" via polypins (and poured via gravity). I'm loving the beer. And for you folks who want to do cask at home, but like me, you won't have the ability to mow through a whole batch before it goes stale without your wife divorcing you for being an alcoholic, check out the polypin route. I'm amazed how easy it is and how well it works. About 5.2 gallons into the fermenter, about 4.7 gallons after loss to yeast cake primed to about 1.2 volumes into 5 separate one gallon Cubitainers (Northern Brewer sells them, I bought mine from US Plastics) leaving just a little headspace in each one, and then compressed down to purge the oxygen and sealed up, allowed to balloon up fully, vented to keep em from bursting, let em settle for a bit, and pour. I'm not sure how long the shelf life will be, but given than I killed the first pin in 2 days (easy with a 2.9% Mild), I'm not too worried about the shelf life. They're all pretty much fully ballooned at this point. I tapped the first one after 5 days. I'm gonna give it another week or so before tapping the others.

Recipe for the Pale Mild I did:


5 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett) (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 81.6 %
8.0 oz Biscuit (Dingemans) (22.5 SRM) Grain 2 8.2 %
8.0 oz Crystal Light - 45L (Crisp) (45.0 SRM) Grain 3 8.2 %
2.0 oz Pale Chocolate (Thomas Fawcett) (215.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.0 %
0.50 oz Challenger [8.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 20.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg West Yorkshire Ale (Wyeast Labs #1469) Yeast 6 -


Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.036 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.0 %
Bitterness: 20.5 IBUs
Est Color: 9.6 SRM
Measured Original Gravity: 1.035 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 2.9 %
Calories: 116.3 kcal/12oz

Mashed at 158 and fermented at 68, with no yeast starter.

Out of one polypin, I got 6 full Imperial pints of clear beer, and about a half pint of yeasty dregs at the end.

Given that I mostly brew English beers, and I love cask beer, I may never end up switching to kegs. Hah.

 

[Piratwolf]

Northern brewer used to have a kit for AK47 Pale Mild. One of my favorite beers, hands down. I like to run off about 20% of the boiling sort and reduce it by half or more in another pot, then add it back. Really develops the flavor & a bit of mouthfeel!


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[Qhrumphf]

Northern brewer used to have a kit for AK47 Pale Mild. One of my favorite beers, hands down. I like to run off about 20% of the boiling sort and reduce it by half or more in another pot, then add it back. Really develops the flavor & a bit of mouthfeel!


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

I'd certainly heard others rant and rave about that kit. Never tried it myself.

Also, for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure that my LHBS misstated the Pale Chocolate. It's got the right character, but I'm guessing it's a different maltster than TF with a darker color, as every beer I've used it in has been darker than expected, so projected SRM is off. I've probably give this a 12-14, on the pale end of the style range, vs 20-22 for my normal Dark Mild (which is estimated closer to 18).

 

[Piratwolf]

I'd certainly heard others rant and rave about that kit. Never tried it myself.

Also, for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure that my LHBS misstated the Pale Chocolate. It's got the right character, but I'm guessing it's a different maltster than TF with a darker color, as every beer I've used it in has been darker than expected, so projected SRM is off. I've probably give this a 12-14, on the pale end of the style range, vs 20-22 for my normal Dark Mild (which is estimated closer to 18).

You make good points, as usual. My version was closer to 8 SRM the first time (non-reduction version). I want to say it was Crisp but that's just a guess. I think it was in the 200s LV


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[lowtones84]

Well, I've had a couple of my first Special Bitter recipe from a few pages back. Could use a bit more hop bitterness, but that might be because I never got a particularly vigorous boil as I did a larger batch size than usual. I would also cut back the amount of invert syrup next time, not because I don't enjoy the taste, but because I would prefer a slightly maltier beer. Also got the beginnings of some fruity esters from the S-04, but nothing crazy. Still a nice beer, just some things to improve on next time It's also only been in the bottle for four weeks, so perhaps a couple more weeks will treat it well.

Is WLP002 more forgiving of slightly higher temperatures? Less? About the same? I'm limited to a swamp cooler with ice bottles and a fan at the moment, but I'd like to try 002.

 

[passedpawn]

Orfy (ex mod here) posted a clone of Wychwood Hobgoblin that I've made several times. It's so danged tasty. I make it every fall. Wish I could find a link, but it seems to have disappeared.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Is WLP002 more forgiving of slightly higher temperatures? Less? About the same? I'm limited to a swamp cooler with ice bottles and a fan at the moment, but I'd like to try 002.

Thanks for the update on this one. I have kept a copy of your recipe as a future "possible" and appreciate the comments. It still sounds to me like a good recipe but may only need some tweaking.

I haven't used 002 much but have used S-04 a lot and it has been a pretty steady performer. I prefer WLP013 London Ale for bitters and make a point to wash it and keep some on hand at all times. Have also used their Burton Ale yeast. Both have performed pretty well for me in the mid - to - upper 60's.

 

[lhommedieu]

,,,

Have you used invert sugar before? I was surprised at how high the OG ended up on this batch. I'm convinced that sugar addition threw my BrewTarget software a curve. It did attenuate very well. But will definitely need to make some adjustments to the grain bill before trying this recipe again.

Cheers!

I've never used sugar before. I think that what I'll do is to compare a glass of this batch with a glass of Fuller's (my go-to beer). When I'm drinking my own beers I enjoy them for what they are but I'd like to compare the latest one to a benchmark (of sorts).

Beersmith says that the addition of 4 oz of sugar will bump up my OG by .002 points (from 1.053 to 1.055) and the ABV by .3% to 5.3. That's not a drastic change and I think it's worth trying out. I am just wondering, though, wouldn't I get the same results by merely aiming for a higher OG?

It is interesting to note that a sample of the beer that I just kegged tasted pretty dry. This is due, I think, to my ability to control mash temperature and pitch a sufficient quantity of yeast. If the addition of a small amount of sugar does not make an appreciable difference then I'll probably go back to my original, non-sugar, recipe.

One question: what is a reasonable amount of hops to add to a secondary fermenter, if I choose to dry-hop in the future?

 

[dyqik]

Beersmith says that the addition of 4 oz of sugar will bump up my OG by .002 points (from 1.053 to 1.055) and the ABV by .3% to 5.3. That's not a drastic change and I think it's worth trying out. I am just wondering, though, wouldn't I get the same results by merely aiming for a higher OG?

It is interesting to note that a sample of the beer that I just kegged tasted pretty dry. This is due, I think, to my ability to control mash temperature and pitch a sufficient quantity of yeast. If the addition of a small amount of sugar does not make an appreciable difference then I'll probably go back to my original, non-sugar, recipe.

One question: what is a reasonable amount of hops to add to a secondary fermenter, if I choose to dry-hop in the future?

Sugar fully attenuates and goes into the boil at 100% mash efficiency, so it raises the OG more than the equivalent mass of malt, and slightly lowers the FG (the alcohol from the sugar has an SG slightly lower than 1.000), while adding malt will raise both the OG and the FG. I think the extra alcohol from the sugar makes the remaining unfermentables from the malt seem drier. Half a lb of sugar in a 5 gallon batch is probably a good starting point for taste testing, but you could go with a whole lb. 4 oz probably would be lost. My favorite bitter recipe (Harvey's Sussex, recipe upthread or in the database) uses 8 oz of flaked corn rather than sugar for drying out the beer a little.

For dry hopping, it depends on the beer and your taste buds - 0.5 oz in a 5 gallon batch is enough to add the aroma back that you might have lost from your late addition hops, 1 oz of Goldings seems to be enough for me in a Best Bitter to give a definite dry hopped character. 2oz is still reasonable for an English style IPA or BB/ESB.

 

[lhommedieu]

Sugar fully attenuates and goes into the boil at 100% mash efficiency, so it raises the OG more than the equivalent mass of malt, and slightly lowers the FG (the alcohol from the sugar has an SG slightly lower than 1.000), while adding malt will raise both the OG and the FG. I think the extra alcohol from the sugar makes the remaining unfermentables from the malt seem drier. Half a lb of sugar in a 5 gallon batch is probably a good starting point for taste testing, but you could go with a whole lb. 4 oz probably would be lost. My favorite bitter recipe (Harvey's Sussex, recipe upthread or in the database) uses 8 oz of flaked corn rather than sugar for drying out the beer a little.

For dry hopping, it depends on the beer and your taste buds - 0.5 oz in a 5 gallon batch is enough to add the aroma back that you might have lost from your late addition hops, 1 oz of Goldings seems to be enough for me in a Best Bitter to give a definite dry hopped character. 2oz is still reasonable for an English style IPA or BB/ESB.

Thanks for your input. I just increased the amount of sugar to 8 oz. and you are correct - while OG and ABV go up, FG goes down. I did notice that I had to adjust my hop addition at 60 minutes to balance the IBU/SG ratio.

 

[JKaranka]

Invert sugar does not only contribute alcohol. Although it dries the finish you also get honey and pear notes from invert #2 and dark fruit and raisin notes from inverts #3 & #4.

 

[balrog]

Orfy (ex mod here) posted a clone of Wychwood Hobgoblin that I've made several times. It's so danged tasty. I make it every fall. Wish I could find a link, but it seems to have disappeared.

Is this what you mean?

 

[passedpawn]

Is this what you mean?

Yes, although I made the all-grain version of it that is on this site somewhere. There is a Hobgoblin II recipe here as well (I think that's what I made). I think at one time the forum somehow lost his original recipe and post, and the II version was the replacement.

 

[balrog]

Yes, although I made the all-grain version of it that is on this site somewhere. There is a Hobgoblin II recipe here as well (I think that's what I made). I think at one time the forum somehow lost his original recipe and post, and the II version was the replacement.

My Google-fu was weak. I ended up finding the restart and he posted on a site that Chrome complained was malware, but I did find:
Hob Goblin II, 23L, 4.8kg Marris Otter, .25kg Caramel/Crystal 60, 0.20kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine, 0.15kg Chocolate Malt, 15gm Styrian Goldings 5% 60m FWH, 15gm Fuggles 4.5% 60m, 15 gm Sytrian Goldings 5% 30m, 15gm Fuggles 4.5% 30m, 15 gm Fuggles 4.5% 5m aroma hop-steep, 15gm Styrian Golding 5% 5m aroma hop-steep, Nottingham yeast

Sorry for lousy formatting but does this look familiar?