English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

[Miraculix]

I reject your systems of volumetrics and substitute my own.
Henceforth all malt beverages in my humbleabode shall be served in an "Erik", the volume of said unit will be whatever i feel for at the moment, but most often corresponding to an Imperial Pint.

That is the most logical thing to do right now.

 

[An Ankoù]

Like @Brewskey , relegated to 12 oz. pours for now though I plan on using 22 oz. "bombers" for the long-aged 1848 RIS and vintage IPA I'm doing coming up. As lame as it is....just can't bring myself to pour an English bitter in a standard, insipid, straight-walled 12 oz. glass.

You do know, of course that the standard measure for beer in the UK is the PINT, and that there are 20 fluid ounces in a pint rather than 16. Your bomber glasses sound perfect for getting a full pint with a head on top.
(1 pint is 568 ml)

 

[An Ankoù]

I reject your systems of volumetrics and substitute my own.
Henceforth all malt beverages in my humbleabode shall be served in an "Erik", the volume of said unit will be whatever i feel for at the moment, but most often corresponding to an Imperial Pint.

A missed opportunity, Erik.
This soon to be legendary measure should be the minimum volume of beer that requires two hands to lift it ie, it can't be lifted with only one hand. Thus you could have the "regulars'" Erik, the "wife and girlfriend's" Erik, the "boy's" Erik etc.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

An Eric equals 1 groat plus 2 bushels and one and a half rods, poles or perches and six gills.
Plus the UK must go back to pre Norman Conquest units of measure. Bloody French Vikings coming here with their new ways, stealing our birth right and bringing French cuisine.

 

[An Ankoù]

Bloody French Vikings coming here with their new ways, stealing our birth right and bringing French cuisine.

You say that, CC, but what would young boys be playing with today if William hadn't brought them conkers?.

(Worthy of Philomena Cunk, wise woman of Mercia, that one, I thought).

I wonder how well this "banter" works on the international stage. I was astonished to find that my kiné, who's never crossed the parish borders of Brittany, knew of and loved Monty Python, so probably better than one might imagine).

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Before the Normans came here the next king would have to be elected by the Witan. Since then any idiot can be crowned as the monarch. I.e.
John
Edward 2
Richard 2
Henry 6
Bloody Mary
Charles 1
Charles 2
James 2
George 3
Gearge 4
Edward 7
Edward 8
Charles 3

 

[DuncB]

So you buy your beer in 568mls then....

I don't add a unit of time to my volume purchases.
Just 568 ml for me.

 

[An Ankoù]

So you buy your beer in 568mls then....

Nope. In pints. But there are pints and there are pints and that can be confusing. I'm thinking of moving over to Eriks!

 

[Miraculix]

Nope. In pints. But there are pints and there are pints and that can be confusing. I'm thinking of moving over to Eriks!

#metoo

 

[Gadjobrinus]

You do know, of course that the standard measure for beer in the UK is the PINT, and that there are 20 fluid ounces in a pint rather than 16. Your bomber glasses sound perfect for getting a full pint with a head on top.
(1 pint is 568 ml)

The bomber is a bottle, not a glass. We typically have 12 oz bottles, or these 22 oz'ers. We just can't get our crap together.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Are the “pint” glasses in the US the same size as in the UK? Ours are 20 fluid oz (568 ml).

Here's our pints.

Here's yours.

 

[InspectorJon]

Not sure if it was imperial measure or not but all the bars in Alberta in the 1970s sold beer in 10 oz glasses. I haven’t been there since then. There was a line on the glass to allow for foam. I particularly liked that they were only 25 cents. Ordered by the dozen. I don’t know if this applied in the rest of Canada. I was given to believe the glasses were government regulated. Canada is part of the Commonwealth so maybe this fits in this thread.

 

[balrog]

Ordered by the dozen

and in French.

 

[Colindo]

Hi everyone,
for some reason I did not get notification regarding this thread for a few months. What a quiet time! I returned to give you this paper of the origin of Guinness yeast that I got via Facebook yesterday: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-05587-3.pdf

Regarding glasses and pints, when I studied in the UK, they still had the very confusion double system for milk. You would get both 1 litre and 2 pints, as well as 2 litres and 4 pints etc. Since Brexit this has reduced to only pint measures, as far as I can tell.

Anybody have experience with Maris Otter Extra Pale Ale?

I made a very nice Munich Hell with that malt including decoction. Tastes much nicer than those ghastly German pilsen malts that everyone is using.

 

[balrog]

those ghastly German pilsen malts that everyone is using

wha?

 

[Colindo]

I mean everyone here in Germany. I really can't stand the flavour of Pilsen malt, and it spoils most commercial beers for me. An many homebrewed ones as well.
Can't count the amount of times that people gave me a homebrewed English Ale and were surprised I could tell that they used Pilsen malt.

 

[tracer bullet]

I really can't stand the flavour of Pilsen malt

I actually wondered if I'm the same. I've only used it a few times and just don't seem to like any beer it goes in. I figured it was my imagination, it couldn't be that distinct. But, maybe it is?

 

[Colindo]

But, maybe it is?

I did some A-B tests to make sure. It might also not be the Pilsen malts from every German maltster, but definitely the Weyermann one.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

I actually wondered if I'm the same. I've only used it a few times and just don't seem to like any beer it goes in. I figured it was my imagination, it couldn't be that distinct. But, maybe it is?

You guys are speaking of pilsen malts generally, and not just their use in a British ale? You don't like them as a malt, wherever used?

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Hi everyone,
for some reason I did not get notification regarding this thread for a few months.

Happens to me too. When I asked about it a member suggested I un- then re-subscribe. I don't always get the e-mail, but I do always get the notification here, doing that.

 

[An Ankoù]

I did some A-B tests to make sure. It might also not be the Pilsen malts from every German maltster, but definitely the Weyermann one.

I've never used Weyermann base malts, but I quite like Bestmalz, pilsner, heidelburg and Red-x. Never really tried to use a pilsner in an English style beer. Irish malt is OK and HBC have 25% off all their malts at the moment. Xx

 

[DBhomebrew]

If you get a notification and then don't check it, the subsequent new posts on the watched/subscribed thread don't get notified. Checking the thread resets the notifications.

It's the software saying "Oh, you're not interested in that anymore? Ok, I won't waste my bytes."

 

[Colindo]

You don't like them as a malt, wherever used?

Never ever like them.

Red-x

Red X is great, not sure about the pale Bestmalz products. But I know their caramel malts are much closer to British ones than Weyermann.

It's the software saying "Oh, you're not interested in that anymore? Ok, I won't waste my bytes."

It could be that this happens especially if I don't notice that there is one more page with new posts. Because then I'd never reset it.

 

[tracer bullet]

You guys are speaking of pilsen malts generally, and not just their use in a British ale? You don't like them as a malt, wherever used?

Correct, for me anyhow. I'd never, ever put it in an English ale, maybe any ale aside from possibly a Cold IPA. In lagers I've used it but constantly skeptical if I made the right choice. I don't make many of them but I've moved to using more typical 1.8L 2-Row from Briess for example. I think I like that better, but having not brewed many lagers and constantly farting with other aspects of the recipes including yeast choice I know not to say for sure.

Happens to me too. When I asked about it a member suggested I un- then re-subscribe. I don't always get the e-mail, but I do always get the notification here, doing that.

It's a forum thing, after a certain number of notifications given to you, it stops. But if you manually click on the thread to read it, that number is reset.

If you get a notification and then don't check it, the subsequent new posts on the watched/subscribed thread don't get notified. Checking the thread resets the notifications.

It's the software saying "Oh, you're not interested in that anymore? Ok, I won't waste my bytes."

This as well. But even if you do always check it, there is still a max hit where it just quits, regardless.

(Some time ago I asked about it in the forum help section and this is how it was explained)

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Interesting on the pilsner malt. I've not brewed a lager in forever, and can't recall using Pilsner specifically - more munich light and dark than anything, maybe some vienna, if memory serves. But would have thought pilsner malt is incomparable, in its usual applications.

 

[Shenanigans]

I havent bought German pilsner malt in years as it's too expensive and i dont brew any beers that specify its use.
I have been using Belgian (Dingemans/Castle) or Dutch (Swaen) and am quit happy with all but wouldn't use them in an English beer.
That's why I have been using Lager malt and now Extra Pale MO.
Can't say I have done any taste tests but it just feels right
BTW Swaen have both Lager and Pilsner malt so they must be somehow different.
Again I have both here but have never compared; unfortuately I don't have (or want to spend) the time to brew the same beer twice at the same time.
Minch call their malt Lager/Pilsner but I'm sure it must be different from a typical continental pilsner.
I brewed a Brett pale ale and a WCIPA this weekend with it so lets see; but difficult to tell any subtile difference with these beer styles.

 

[Shenanigans]

Hi everyone,
for some reason I did not get notification regarding this thread for a few months. What a quiet time! I returned to give you this paper of the origin of Guinness yeast that I got

I had that a few time too but no chance of that happening at the moment with all the activity going on here.
At least we have move away from all that sugar **** since you were last here

 

[Gadjobrinus]

I havent bought German pilsner malt in years as it's too expensive and i dont brew any beers that specify its use.
I have been using Belgian (Dingemans/Castle) or Dutch (Swaen) and am quit happy with all but wouldn't use them in an English beer.
That's why I have been using Lager malt and now Extra Pale MO.
Can't say I have done any taste tests but it just feels right
BTW Swaen have both Lager and Pilsner malt so they must be somehow different.
Again I have both here but have never compared; unfortuately I don't have (or want to spend) the time to brew the same beer twice at the same time.
Minch call their malt Lager/Pilsner but I'm sure it must be different from a typical continental pilsner.
I brewed a Brett pale ale and a WCIPA this weekend with it so lets see; but difficult to tell any subtile difference with these beer styles.

We sell Swaen, but not their pilsner. The usual suspects in Dingemann's, but again not the pilsner. I'll have to try them.

 

[Colindo]

At least we have move away from all that sugar **** since you were last here

Right, I saw the discussion. There is actually something I can contribute to the topic which puzzled me recently. After the discussion where I participated on whether or not there are Maillard reactions during the boil time, I remarked that without protein (amino acids) that is not possible. I checked several sugars since, and while Billington's demerara as well as many German demerara sugars I can buy in the organic store contain 0g per 100g, the Tate and Lyle sugar that my wife bought two days ago actually contained 0.5g per 100g of proteins. So it might be important for anyone counting on Maillard reactions to make sure they check the protein content of their sugar, otherwise the results won't be reproducible.

 

[An Ankoù]

Here's our pints.

View attachment 839002

Here's yours.

View attachment 839003

No. That's an Erik!

 

[balrog]

No. That's an Erik!

and nobody needs two straws

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

One party bucket Erik=one straw.
This is the way.

 

[orgenomescii]

Northern British drinkers demand a decent head, the only limitation is getting full measure. That's not a problem when it is your own beer and you don't have to pay full price for the head.

This is giving me awful flashbacks to when I was a bartender in Ireland and having lads send back pints of Heineken on a busy Friday night because they only had ONE AND A HALF fingers of head in a nonic pint glass and not TWO fingers as they were accustomed to in Heineken brand pint glasses!
"I ordered an Irish pint, not an English pint!!" they'd say, even though they'd been given a full pint measure.

 

[Miraculix]

This is giving me awful flashbacks to when I was a bartender in Ireland and having lads send back pints of Heineken on a busy Friday night because they only had ONE AND A HALF fingers of head in a nonic pint glass and not TWO fingers as they were accustomed to in Heineken brand pint glasses!
"I ordered an Irish pint, not an English pint!!" they'd say, even though they'd been given a full pint measure.

Easy fix, take a tablespoon, stir the beer, give it back to the now surely fully satisfied customer.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Isn't a pint equivalent to an ox horn? Or have I been lied too (again)???

 

[McMullan]

Isn't a pint equivalent to an ox horn? Or have I been lied too (again)???

It’s quite possible that introduction of the ‘standardised’ pint had something to do with inequitable measures associated with genetically determined horn sizes and the squabbles it caused, including the first known incidences of bar brawling.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Watch the Vikings with Kirk Douglas he was drinking from a horn. Probably unscrewed it from his helmet. I’m assuming he was drinking Carlsberg Special.

 

[McMullan]

Watch the Vikings with Kirk Douglas

That was actually in the late 1950s. A common mistake. The British pint dates back over 100 years before that. A volume equal to 1/8 of an imperial gallon (10lbs distilled water at 62*F).

 

[Cheshire Cat]

The Vikings were 9th century not the 19th.

 

[McMullan]

Kirk Douglas wasn't. He was born in the 20th century. An American actor born in 1916.