English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

[InspectorJon]

The mild is bottled and the barleywine is on the go with the Nottingham yeast from the mild. It took off in just a few hours.

 

[Halfakneecap]

Nice!

I'm on a bit of a British ale kick, even though this time of year ( Summer ) i usually brew pretty much only rice lagers to beat the heat. It has been a mild summer so far though.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Summer, what's that?

 

[Halfakneecap]

Summer, what's that?
View attachment 865518

Haha, we went swimming at the beach today. Only 24c, which is cool for this time of year, usually 30c


Once in my life, id love to experience a white christmas. Ive seen snow one day of my life haha

 

[Miraculix]

Haha, we went swimming at the beach today. Only 24c, which is cool for this time of year, usually 30c


Once in my life, id love to experience a white christmas. Ive seen snow one day of my life haha

Theres nothing magical about it. Icy and dangerous roads and it is cold. I prefer foggy and nearly freezing temperature Christmas, like this year.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

I take -20 and dry air and a meter of snow over just around 0 and high humidity any day of the week.

 

[Miraculix]

I take -20 and dry air and a meter of snow over just around 0 and high humidity any day of the week.

I agree if you take the requirement of having to drive on German roads out of the equation.

 

[Halfakneecap]

No chance of snow !

I agree with humidity, humidity sucks. 35c and low humidity is much more pleasant than 28c and 90% humidity, yuck!

 

[hungupdown]

IMO CaraGold is a great malt and somewhat underused, especially outside of the UK. I really like a British pale ale that's 90% MO and 10% CaraGold, it accentuates the nuttiness you can often get from a good quality MO (as I've waxed lyrical about on here before, Warminster's floor malted MO is the king of British base malts).

I Love M.O. but havn't tried floor malted yet.

Which Warminster M.O. malt do you use?
I can find Warminster Floor Malted Low Colour Maris Otter EBC 2.5, and Warminster Floor Malted Maris Otter Pale Ale EBC7.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Your beach is only about 2 miles long. Must really suffer on Christmas afternoon to get out there.

Snoqualmie is the closest ski area near seattle (under an hour's drive). Challenge is the base area is only about 1,000m/3,000ft elevation. Usually the temp is right around freezing at the base, so pretty wet and not @Erik the Anglophile's cup of tea. But I manage to snowboard between 35 - 50 times / season, including this afternoon.

 

[Halfakneecap]

Your beach is only about 2 miles long. Must really suffer on Christmas afternoon to get out there.

Snoqualmie is the closest ski area near seattle (under an hour's drive). Challenge is the base area is only about 1,000m/3,000ft elevation. Usually the temp is right around freezing at the base, so pretty wet and not @Erik the Anglophile's cup of tea. But I manage to snowboard between 35 - 50 times / season, including this afternoon.

If you’re willing to walk a few hundred meters, you can have it to yourself. Beaches are everywhere here.

Sydney beaches like Bondi, yuck, can’t move for people, but 99% of beaches here are empty 90% of the time ( an hour and a half away )

 

[HM-2]

I Love M.O. but havn't tried floor malted yet.

Which Warminster M.O. malt do you use?
I can find Warminster Floor Malted Low Colour Maris Otter EBC 2.5, and Warminster Floor Malted Maris Otter Pale Ale EBC7.

The standard 7 EBC one.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Your beach is only about 2 miles long. Must really suffer on Christmas afternoon to get out there.

Snoqualmie is the closest ski area near seattle (under an hour's drive).

To be fair you've some decent beaches nearby as well, even if you can only use them for two months a year... It was ~35C in Seattle when we escaped to Ruby Beach on 4 July weekend. Whereas this Christmas in the UK has been particularly dreich.

I really like just Maris Otter or similar for bitter. I have some on the way, im going to do just that. Maris Otter, Bramling Cross ( bittering and late ) and Verdant

Going vaguely back on topic, I love BX but would tend not to use it on its own in a bitter, it's better blended with some Goldings unless it's from a really hot vintage like 2018 (or probably 2022, although I've not brewed with any '22 BX) when its Goldings ancestry comes through more.

 

[kmarkstevens]

If you’re willing to walk a few hundred meters, you can have it to yourself. Beaches are everywhere here.

About 30 years ago, I drove from Bega back to Sydney. Not sure how many long white sand beaches we stopped at that were completely deserted. Well over a dozen and passed by a few dozen more. It was glorious.

Redback was the only microbrew I knew of at the time.

 

[Halfakneecap]

About 30 years ago, I drove from Bega back to Sydney. Not sure how many long white sand beaches we stopped at that were completely deserted. Well over a dozen and passed by a few dozen more. It was glorious.

Redback was the only microbrew I knew of at the time.

Redback! That was really popular before microbreweries took off here. Then they disappeared, not too long before craft beer started getting popular from memory. They had a really good lager too for a while

Yeah, they're everywhere here.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

For those near a QFC (and maybe elsewhere in the Kroger empire), this popped up in another group and may be of interest - not clear if it's out of date or they're just giving up on golden syrup in general, it's in the "world food" shelves :

Current status - eating 75%-off mince pies...

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Are they for brewing I use Golden Syrup in some Belgian beers.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Are they for brewing I use Golden Syrup in some Belgian beers.

Golden syrup is a common hack to replicate invert #1, but it can be difficult for our North American cousins to get hold of at sensible prices, so seeing it at UK-ish prices in a supermarket is kinda notable. Even if it can't be real golden syrup if it's not in a tin...

 

[InspectorJon]

There is a cane syrup made in Louisiana, Steen’s 100% Pure Cane Syrup. I wonder if it is a similar product to Lyle’s. I thought of it after reading the Lyle’s label. It is probably more widely distributed in the southern states.

 

[Colindo]

@InspectorJon The internet says it contains 31% Carbohydrates 29 of which are sugars, so I guess it is heavily diluted. Since it doesn't say anything about being inverted, it is probably quite far from Lyle's but you could always invert it yourself.

 

[InspectorJon]

It is made by squeezing juice from sugar cane and boiling it in an open kettle until it reaches the proper syrup consistency. So it is not diluted it is concentrated. It has a molasses kind of flavor. I don’t know what temperature they boil it to. I think the temperature would determine inversion?

 

[Colindo]

It contains no proteins, which is unusual for pure sugar cane juice and/or molasses. But yeah, if it is just boiled, it might be similar to raw cane sugar, just with lots of water still there.

For inversion you need acid, boiling alone does not suffice.

 

[balrog]

For those near a QFC (and maybe elsewhere in the Kroger empire), this popped up in another group and may be of interest - not clear if it's out of date or they're just giving up on golden syrup in general, it's in the "world food" shelves :
View attachment 866116

Current status - eating 75%-off mince pies...

My last AMZ order of 6-11oz bottles was about $28USD. AMZ has them at $36USD now so the price apparently did not make it across the Atlantic.

 

[shoreman]

Those of you in the US, where are you getting your UK hops? It’s fairly easy to get EKG & Fuggle, but looking for hops such as Challenger, Progress, Target, First Gold, Pilgrim, etc. in 1-2oz bags. thanks for any links.

 

[tracer bullet]

Northwest Hop Farms for me: https://northwesthopfarms.com/

 

[Brewskey]

Those of you in the US, where are you getting your UK hops? It’s fairly easy to get EKG & Fuggle, but looking for hops such as Challenger, Progress, Target, First Gold, Pilgrim, etc. in 1-2oz bags.

Farmhouse Brewing is a decent spot for hops, they have the more common ones like EKG, Fuggle, Challenger and Target. I ended up having to buy a pound of First Gold from Hop Alliance when I couldn't get it anywhere else.

 

[shoreman]

Thanks I’ll check them out.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Daleside Bitter on cask, in Stockholm of all places.
I don't complain though, it's a good beer served by a cellarmaster who knows what he's doing.

 

[balrog]

served by a cellarmaster who knows what he's doing.

A vanishing breed, that.

 

[bwible]

Those of you in the US, where are you getting your UK hops? It’s fairly easy to get EKG & Fuggle, but looking for hops such as Challenger, Progress, Target, First Gold, Pilgrim, etc. in 1-2oz bags. thanks for any links.

^^ This

Been going on for some time. I haven’t been able to find any for ages. Even at the big places. Some people buy them from Yskima hops or other growers directly. I’d like to find some myself.