English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

[JKaranka]

If anybody has good arguments not to pitch S33 with M07 I'm starting the boil in about an hour

 

[JKaranka]

Overshot the volume but figured out what the issue with that is! Ending up with 7 US gallons of 1.064 wort. After brett it should still end up in the 7.5-8.0% ABV range. Should be more drinkable, though. As a side effect it might be within BJCP old ale guidelines...

 

[JKaranka]

Just drinking a bottle of St Peters Christmas ale. Smelled exactly like my wort (sugars + goldings) up to the point that I checked the glass and my hands. The wort was a fair deal more bitter, though!

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/st-peters-christmas-ale/193801/

 

[JKaranka]

Btw, do you guys get Lees Star Ale, Robinsons Old Tom or Fullers 1845 over there?

 

[Qhrumphf]

No, no, and yes. 1845 is quite tasty.

 

[lowtones84]

I don't get any of that stuff. To be honest, English beers are severely lacking everywhere I've ever lived. Newcastle, Boddington's, Fuller's ESB and maybe porter, maybe Trooper, and that's just about it.

Gonna crack the first of my Export India Porters later today. Had one in a Newcastle bottle and I noticed something a little funky on top, but didn't really look like a pellicle. I did a healthy dryhop with whole leaf EKG, could it just be some residue/oils?

 

[JKaranka]

I don't get any of that stuff. To be honest, English beers are severely lacking everywhere I've ever lived. Newcastle, Boddington's, Fuller's ESB and maybe porter, maybe Trooper, and that's just about it.

Gonna crack the first of my Export India Porters later today. Had one in a Newcastle bottle and I noticed something a little funky on top, but didn't really look like a pellicle. I did a healthy dryhop with whole leaf EKG, could it just be some residue/oils?

Enjoy!

 

[lowtones84]

Well, it's either slightly oxidized or needs more than 2 weeks in the bottle to come together. Considering it's 7% and has plenty of brown, amber, and chocolate malt I'm going to go with the latter. Even if a little green, it's pretty tasty and I agree with JKaranka that something along these lines is a great baseline porter grist.

 

[JKaranka]

Well, it's either slightly oxidized or needs more than 2 weeks in the bottle to come together. Considering it's 7% and has plenty of brown, amber, and chocolate malt I'm going to go with the latter. Even if a little green, it's pretty tasty and I agree with JKaranka that something along these lines is a great baseline porter grist.

Wait a couple more weeks. The hops will subside a bit but the brown malt will become very complex. Then you'll be regretting all the bottles you drunk before week 6!

Update on the old ale: after 12 hours the airlock was going like crazy. After 18 hours it was something like 2 or 3 times per second. Hasn't blown. The smell is the best fermentation smell I've ever smelled (which does worry me a bit). It's like pear drops or a lemon juice spiked with very sweet pear juice. I'll pitch Brett C in a week and give it three months before bottling with half the sugar I normally use.

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

I love redhook ESB and will be brewing one in the near future.

Just got done with a new castle clone tonight. Hoping it turns out awesome!

 

[JKaranka]

Last year's resolution was to brew all my own beer and not to buy any. Made research quite difficult but I got through the year ok. Now I've bought a bottle of Holt's Sixex to carry on with my research into strong ales, winter warmers and old ales.

 

[beersk]

Last year's resolution was to brew all my own beer and not to buy any. Made research quite difficult but I got through the year ok. Now I've bought a bottle of Holt's Sixex to carry on with my research into strong ales, winter warmers and old ales.

I used to feel this way, but there are beers that I want to buy and not brew. I'm scaling back my batch sizes so I can supplement my beer with some top notch commercial beer, mostly German and British (Samuel Smith's being top of that list). Mainly because those beers are almost impossible to replicate. Doesn't hurt to keep trying though!

@lowtones84 - you don't even get Sam Smith's? That's basically the best we get in the states from the UK. My opinion, of course.

 

[lowtones84]

We do, I don't buy it though. Have heard too many horror stories from employees and former employees.

I wouldn't mind doing some research on old ales

 

[JKaranka]

I used to feel this way, but there are beers that I want to buy and not brew. I'm scaling back my batch sizes so I can supplement my beer with some top notch commercial beer, mostly German and British (Samuel Smith's being top of that list). Mainly because those beers are almost impossible to replicate. Doesn't hurt to keep trying though!

@lowtones84 - you don't even get Sam Smith's? That's basically the best we get in the states from the UK. My opinion, of course.

I saved hundreds of pounds, though, and had enough beer to supply parties without worry! The only difficult bit was being without sours or lambics for a long time (but I had plenty of saison).

 

[beersk]

I saved hundreds of pounds, though, and had enough beer to supply parties without worry! The only difficult bit was being without sours or lambics for a long time (but I had plenty of saison).

Oh, I could EASILY go with out sours and lambics! Haha. I know what you mean by saving a ton of cash. I stopped going out to bars for that very reason. I don't mind paying a little bit for a 6 pack or a single bottle every now and again. The real money drainer is going out for pints on a regular basis.

 

[JKaranka]

Oh, I could EASILY go with out sours and lambics! Haha. I know what you mean by saving a ton of cash. I stopped going out to bars for that very reason. I don't mind paying a little bit for a 6 pack or a single bottle every now and again. The real money drainer is going out for pints on a regular basis.

I do still go for pints most weeks, but I drink session beers. In the supermarket it's 4 500ml bottles (or 330ml cans) for £6, but in the pub it's a 568ml pint for £2.05 on Mondays or just over that other days. For craft beers rather than cask ale it's more expensive (for example, in a craft pub a pint of cask ale might be £3.50, but a pint of the same beer on keg will be £4.50). Buying bottles of craft to drink at home is quite expensive, and often more expensive than drinking out. I like the Kernel's porters and stouts but they work for over £3 a small bottle (330ml), but brewing the same stuff at home is waaay cheaper, maybe a tenth of the price.

 

[Hanglow]

It's a good resolution that. I think I could go a year without buying beer to take home, but I'll be buggered if I'm not going to drink in pubs

 

[JKaranka]

It's a good resolution that. I think I could go a year without buying beer to take home, but I'll be buggered if I'm not going to drink in pubs

Yeah, you just go hoping that some bar will stock a decent pile of Belgians and that one day your local would have a Kernel takeover! (Brewdog had a Kernel takeover, so got lucky there.)

 

[Qhrumphf]

Here drinking out is so expensive that I all but never do it. Pro brewer friends always ask why they never see me in the tap room. I don't buy much commercial beer as it is, but it's so expensive. Most of what I drink is homebrew.

 

[lowtones84]

I do still go for pints most weeks, but I drink session beers. In the supermarket it's 4 500ml bottles (or 330ml cans) for £6, but in the pub it's a 568ml pint for £2.05 on Mondays or just over that other days. For craft beers rather than cask ale it's more expensive (for example, in a craft pub a pint of cask ale might be £3.50, but a pint of the same beer on keg will be £4.50).

See, you guys can go out and drink good beer for cheap. I wish I could just drop by my local and have a cask ale! If we want to drink cheap beer at a bar, it's Miller lite

 

[Qhrumphf]

See, you guys can go out and drink good beer for cheap. I wish I could just drop by my local and have a cask ale! If we want to drink cheap beer at a bar, it's Miller lite

Even then. Around here even during happy hour even Miller Lite is still more than £2/$3 (off the top of my head conversion, whatever it is at the current exchange)

 

[lowtones84]

I can get $2 PBR or $3 Yuengling at two fine establishments that I know of. But probably the only place more expensive than NYC in America is your area, so I get it. I'm gonna be down in Fairfax visiting the girlfriend's family for a couple of days actually. No going out, because I'm broke

 

[Hanglow]

Here a normal pub will be £3-£3.50 or so for a pint of typical bitter/golden ale/stout etc, nothing much stronger than 5.2% say. That's more than 10x what it would cost me in terms of ingredients to make, but it's still ok as I like drinking in a good pub,

A cheap chain like Wetherspoons is between about £2 to £3 for cask and I don't mind them either but there's a lot of snobbyness about them


It's when you start drinking the crafty stuff that it gets expensive, usually £4 a schooner for the basic stuff and it only goes up from there

 

[Tactical-Brewer]

That is my goal very, very soon

 

[beersk]

It's a good resolution that. I think I could go a year without buying beer to take home, but I'll be buggered if I'm not going to drink in pubs

It's true, I really do enjoy going out for pints. But anymore it's a special occasion. Six months ago I was going out multiple days a week for pints. Man, how that gets pricey when beers are regularly $5+ per pint.

 

[JKaranka]

Here a normal pub will be £3-£3.50 or so for a pint of typical bitter/golden ale/stout etc, nothing much stronger than 5.2% say. That's more than 10x what it would cost me in terms of ingredients to make, but it's still ok as I like drinking in a good pub,

A cheap chain like Wetherspoons is between about £2 to £3 for cask and I don't mind them either but there's a lot of snobbyness about them


It's when you start drinking the crafty stuff that it gets expensive, usually £4 a schooner for the basic stuff and it only goes up from there

In Wales we love Wetherspoons It's actually considered a middle of the road establishment with a decent selection of beers. People who think otherwise haven't seen a proper sh*thole (only nitro bitter, lager and horses on the box!).

 

[JKaranka]

Has anyone tried brewing one of these old British dark lagers? Looks tasty

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/lets-brew-wednesday-1925-barclay.html

 

[Hanglow]

Oh we have some fine ****holes in Glasgow as you can imagine It's certainly a step up from them . There are six 'spoons in the centre for an easy crawl and they were a godsend for real ale drinkers as Glasgow (whole of scotland really, apart from Edinburgh)is badly served by and large for that type of beer. That's changed over the last fifteen years but it's still no where near as good a beer pub city as Edinburgh for example.

It's great if you like getting smashed on Tennents still though

 

[Qhrumphf]

Has anyone tried brewing one of these old British dark lagers? Looks tasty

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/lets-brew-wednesday-1925-barclay.html

Saw you start another thread, figured I'd hold my cheeky two word response of "why bother?"

But since you posted it again here...

 

[JKaranka]

I've been thinking about giving lager a go for next summer. A 1.055with 40+ IBU and patent malt in the grist sounds like something I'd like. But might defeat the purpose of having an easy drinking lager for BBQs.