English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

[An Ankoù]

I've thought the same but I've read other statements from people who've tried the yeasts. At least, I've read that for bond.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not convinced either, that's why I'm asking for more opinions.

It's all getting a bit confusing, especially when the likes of White Labs are now providing some of their classic liquid yeasts as dry yeasts. It makes you wonder if the liquid yeast thing wasn't just a marketing niche after all- apart from the greater variety, of course. I hear great things about Brewlabs' slopes, though and I must try and get hold of some.
As for dry yeast: I read somewhere that once a dry yeast is harvested and repitched it is effectively a liquid yeast anyway.

 

[Miraculix]

It's all getting a bit confusing, especially when the likes of White Labs are now providing some of their classic liquid yeasts as dry yeasts. It makes you wonder if the liquid yeast thing wasn't just a marketing niche after all- apart from the greater variety, of course. I hear great things about Brewlabs' slopes, though and I must try and get hold of some.
As for dry yeast: I read somewhere that once a dry yeast is harvested and repitched it is effectively a liquid yeast anyway.

Yes it kind of is. You can remove the drying effect by propagating a small portion of a pack, let's say a third, in a normal sized two litre starter. That way the majority of the cells pitched have never been subject to the drying stress. I've tried that with multiple yeasts with good success.

But I'm a bit lazy.... So I didn't do that with my recent brews.

I guess my question regarding whc was more about the origin of their yeasts and if they are unique.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Be careful what AA tells you what’s in a mild he has forgotten
1. Drip tray slops
2. Cigarette ash

I haven’t drank mild in 57 years horrible stuff.

 

[Miraculix]

Be careful what AA tells you what’s in a mild he has forgotten
1. Drip tray slops
2. Cigarette ash

I haven’t drank mild in 57 years horrible stuff.

I think milds have changed tad bit to better

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I think milds have changed tad bit to better

I think your right but I’ll stick with bitter, IPA etc

 

[An Ankoù]

Be careful what AA tells you what’s in a mild he has forgotten
1. Drip tray slops
2. Cigarette ash

I haven’t drank mild in 57 years horrible stuff.

You woke Real Ale types get your just desserts. You can't pour slops back into a good old, proper keg.

 

[InspectorJon]

I had thought that the abundance of recipes indicated a popular style. I think I'd prefer an American Brown to an English one, though.

When the craft brewery revolution began here in the US, brown ale was ubiquitous, everyone made one or more versions. I think it was a symbol of the rejection of macro lagers. There was a saying; Friends don’t let friends drink yellow beer. I would guess the large number of recipes out there are a hold over from that tradition. They are quite rare in the breweries and tap rooms today.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

You woke Real Ale types get your just desserts. You can't pour slops back into a good old, proper keg.


View attachment 882680

No you’re wrong. When I worked for Leyland Bus in Bristol the landlord of the pub we frequented at lunchtime got us to made a tool to open those kegs and pour slops back. Worked a treat.

 

[An Ankoù]

No you’re wrong. When I worked for Leyland Bus in Bristol the landlord of the pub we frequented at lunchtime got us to made a tool to open those kegs and pour slops back. Worked a treat.

... and we've had nothing but trouble and strife from toolmakers and their lily-livered progeny ever since.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Keir’s father had nothing to do with it. Just us at Bristol Commercial Vehicles.

 

[kmarkstevens]

@worlddivides You of course do know that homebrewing in Japan is illegal, right? At least above 0.5% ABV

https://www.explore.com/1782814/une...efore-visiting-japan-homemade-drinks-illegal/

FYI, Chris Colby, on Basic Brewing Radio, critiquing Brown Ales. Starts 10:00 minutes in, rants starts about 10:15.

 

[worlddivides]

Thank you. I had thought that the abundance of recipes indicated a popular style. I think I'd prefer an American Brown to an English one, though.
I've just remembered Mann's Brown, 2.8% abv, I think. Horrible stuff.

EDIT:
I see Mann's has just been delisted / retired. Good riddance.

They're a lot more popular among homebrewers than they are among craft breweries. I've never had Mann's before, but I have heard a lot about it since it seems to have been a pretty big deal when it came out around the turn of the century. Apparently a style that was popular at the time but quickly faded in popularity until it's pretty much a dead style by now.

 

[worlddivides]

@worlddivides You of course do know that homebrewing in Japan is illegal, right? At least above 0.5% ABV

Kind of hard not to know that (although it's 1.0% and not 0.5%), considering how every single homebrew shop in Japan (of which there are very few) has "It is illegal in Japan to produce alcoholic beverages exceeding 1% according to Tax Law whatever-the-tax-law-number-is!" written all over their site. It's also the main reason why yeasts, malts, hops, and homebrewing supplies in general are so limited here. Amazake is an example of a traditional non-alcoholic beverage that would be considered alcoholic in countries where 0.5% ABV is considered alcoholic since Amazake is usually around 0.5% to 0.9% ABV.

 

[Colindo]

@An Ankoù Mann's was made with stopped fermentation. It basically tasted like unfermented wort, plus the off-flavours from pasteurisation. I tried it in March and it was indeed revolting. Not even that sweet, which would have been what I had expected.

@Miraculix Ulrich Peise from the Weihenstephan yeast bank recommends a multiplication of 1000 to get rid of the dry yeast effect. Create a 1L starter, chuck 90% of it to make a new 1L starter and repeat a third time. Only then is the residual number of previously dried cells insignificant.

 

[Miraculix]

@An Ankoù Mann's was made with stopped fermentation. It basically tasted like unfermented wort, plus the off-flavours from pasteurisation. I tried it in March and it was indeed revolting. Not even that sweet, which would have been what I had expected.

@Miraculix Ulrich Peise from the Weihenstephan yeast bank recommends a multiplication of 1000 to get rid of the dry yeast effect. Create a 1L starter, chuck 90% of it to make a new 1L starter and repeat a third time. Only then is the residual number of previously dried cells insignificant.

Interesting information, thanks. That might explain why some yeasts did show a big effect and some none.

Interesting topic for sure!

 

[An Ankoù]

Mann's was made with stopped fermentation. It basically tasted like unfermented wort, plus the off-flavours from pasteurisation. I tried it in March and it was indeed revolting. Not even that sweet, which would have been what I had expected.

Mann's was used middle of last century as a mixer to take the edge of the horrors of the bitter being served in those days. I don't recall seeing Mann's and bitter, but I recall many an old codger asking for A Mann's Boiler (-maker) which was a half of mild in a pint glass topped up with a bottle of Mann's.
No doubt to imorove the mixture of slops and *** (cigarette) butts that CC remembers so well.

 

[Miraculix]

No wonder that British beer has such a bad reputation in Germany.

Times and experiences like this take a looooong time to fade from collective memory.

 

[Colindo]

No wonder that British beer has such a bad reputation in Germany.

Times and experiences like this take a looooong time to fade from collective memory.

The bad reputation is almost entirely from the bad macro-lagers in the 70s. Especially since some of them had the same name as continental lagers, but only 1.030 OG.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

No kegged bitter was the reason for our bad reputation. This like Watneys Red Barrel and Double Diamond and McEwans Tartan were absolutely awful. But we drank them as we had little choice. Many pubs gave up on cask because of a short shelf life and inexperienced publicans.

 

[An Ankoù]

No wonder that British beer has such a bad reputation in Germany.

Times and experiences like this take a looooong time to fade from collective memory.

No problem. We don't like sharing.

 

[An Ankoù]

No kegged bitter was the reason for our bad reputation. This like Watneys Red Barrel and Double Diamond and McEwans Tartan were absolutely awful. But we drank them as we had little choice. Many pubs gave up on cask because of a short shelf life and inexperienced publicans.

@Cheshire Cat is right. As bad as the lager was, it was often preferable to the goblin-puke churned out by the mega-keggeries. There were some islands of good cask beer, but they kept quiet as they couldn't compete with the advertising budgets of the big boys.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Do you remember horizontal beer piston pumps? I can’t find a picture.​

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Found it.

 

[An Ankoù]

View attachment 882733
Found it.

I remember those mutha's. Where your beer can hang around for hours in the pump since the last pour, getting warm and light struck Sorry, they didn't use hops in those days. Just getting warm.

 

[Colindo]

No kegged bitter was the reason for our bad reputation. This like Watneys Red Barrel and Double Diamond and McEwans Tartan were absolutely awful. But we drank them as we had little choice. Many pubs gave up on cask because of a short shelf life and inexperienced publicans.

I can assure you nobody in Germany cared for bad Ales when they visited the UK. Checkout this newspaper excerpt that Roger Protz quoted in 1978

 

[Wildmild]

Double Diamond was a wonderful beer when I first had it around 1980. It had a creaminess that American light lagers of the time couldn't touch.

When I had it again years later I didn't like it. I learned later that another brewery was producing swill and just slapped the old label on it.

If you look at the original OG FG and IBU statistics the original Double Diamonds were respectable beers.

 

[Miraculix]

So I have tried the first WHC Mango Madness bitter, only 3 days after bottling. I have kept the bottle relatively warm and it is about 90% carbed if not 100%. Lots of yeast in suspension still, but that was expected.

First impression, turns probably into a decent bitter once the yeast has settled out. I have mashed at 70° C and did not use any fully fermentable adjuncts, but the beer is pretty dry. I like that, but some folks might find a bit thin tasting maybe. It is more of a northern bitter. About 40 Ibus and 1.007 fg, down from 1.04. Hops do not come through much, I was expecting a bit more from the late addition with about 1.5 g/l. It is malty in a good way, no oxidation detectable and, what's most important @Bassman2003 , theres no sulphur detectable atm. Also the foam seems to be quite stable, given that this beer is only three days in the bottle. If head retention is going to stabilise as usual during the next few weeks, this beer will have great foam.

But where is the mango hiding? This yeast is called mango MADNESS. I detect exactly 0 Mango.

 

[An Ankoù]

Double Diamond was a wonderful beer when I first had it around 1980. It had a creaminess that American light lagers of the time couldn't touch.

When I had it again years later I didn't like it. I learned later that another brewery was producing swill and just slapped the old label on it.

If you look at the original OG FG and IBU statistics the original Double Diamonds were respectable beers.

Double Diamond Burton Pale Ale was first brewed in 1876. It went through all sorts of modifications and changes so it's not surprising you got a decent one before it went horrible. It had been brewed by all sorts of breweries and is even being relaunched in 2025!

 

[warx]

So I’m brewing two batches of my Crouch Vale Brewers Gold this week. Essex yeast version will have to wait to if it’s ever made again.

I’m doing 26L with 1469 and another 26L with either 1099 or S-04. Strangely, my opinion on S-04 has changed for the worse lately. I guess I was getting lazy with the dry packets. My beers got better with much longer conditioning but the liquid stuff is up and running quicker. I really want to side-by-side how the dry yeast tastes and whether I can be lazy with certain beer styles.

I made a 1469 starter with some “pale” LME I had left over that looks pretty dark! going to decant it anyways but hope it does not impart any flavors.

BTW Two (yes TWO) real ale tap rooms opening near me in Marin County, California. pretty amazing news. Hidden Splendor and Freewheel Brewing.

 

[HM-2]

But where is the mango hiding? This yeast is called mango MADNESS. I detect exactly 0 Mango.

How warm did you ferment it? Normal ale temperatures or 30°C+?

 

[Miraculix]

How warm did you ferment it? Normal ale temperatures or 30°C+?

I started at about 30° C because my chiller was a bit more effective than I thought, but it was ambient temperature above 30 C and the yeast was surely also heating it up a bit. My guess is, it was fermenting around 34 °C. It was done in less than two days.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I started at about 30° C because my chiller was a bit more effective than I thought, but it was ambient temperature above 30 C and the yeast was surely also heating it up a bit. My guess is, it was fermenting around 34 °C. It was done in less than two days.

Owe to understand temperature again after 158 and all that. I’m 73 and don’t relate to 32-212.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

is even being relaunched in 2025!

has been - I've seen it in Tesco.

Latest version is 3.8% brewed by Kirkstall, using the traditional English hops Columbus, Citra & Mosaic...

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Owe to understand temperature again after 158 and all that. I’m 73 and don’t relate to 32-212.

Just punch convert 30C into F into Google and it does the sum for you - 30°C is 86°F, 34°C is 93.2°F

 

[An Ankoù]

has been - I've seen it in Tesco.

Latest version is 3.8% brewed by Kirkstall, using the traditional English hops Columbus, Citra & Mosaic...

Can't get more traditional than that, guv!

 

[Zadkiel]

I have nothing to add here, just felt I needed to join in all the UK posters

 

[An Ankoù]

I have nothing to add here, just felt I needed to join in all the UK posters

Nice one, Zad. What matters is presence, not blah, blah blah.
Mind you, it is a British ale thread. What's this new London stout everyone's talking about that's supposed to be like Guinness only better. Not likely to get it in France, I'm sure.

 

[balrog]

Nice one, Zad. What matters is presence, not blah, blah blah.
Mind you, it is a British ale thread. What's this new London stout everyone's talking about that's supposed to be like Guinness only better. Not likely to get it in France, I'm sure.

Say what? I’m intrigued.

 

[Colindo]

Maybe this, launched in 2021? https://www.anspachandhobday.com/london-black

 

[DuncB]

That's the one, not tried it but praised on a YouTube video by craft beer channel. Last year I think.