English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

[GuldTuborg]

Wow... 1.159!

Sounds about right for a session beer.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Sounds about right for a session beer.

If it was 1.059!

 

[JKaranka]

Homed in what type of EIPA I'm making tomorrow (just under 6% abv, around 50IBU). Aiming at floral and drinkable. Just about nudging into trans-Atlantic.

For 6 US gallons

11lb Maris Otter
1lb Flaked Maize

60m - 1oz Challenger
15m - 2oz EKG, 1oz Cascade
Hopstand - 1oz EKG, 1oz Cascade
Dry hop - 2oz EKG, 1oz Cascade

Current yeast choice is the MJ West Coast (could say it's second generation migrant British yeast).

Just kegged this one. Solid recipe from the sample (slightly carbonated actually). Ended up with OG 1.055 and FG 1.008. Good attenuation just over 80% with the nice fermentable wort and simple sugars. Moderate floral hop aroma. The beer is dry and balanced, with a long lasting bitterness (doubled my gypsum for this one) and plenty of spice and orange rind flavours. Sort of christmasy hop profile within a light and drinkable beer. Good hint of alcohol too :rockin:

 

[JKaranka]

Didn't know whether to brew a Weiss or a mild for a party (for less avid beer drinkers). Ended up half way house. Dunkel-wheat ale, I guess. Aiming at 4.8% and numbers that sort of match a dunkel Weiss.

5.5 gallons
4lb Maris Otter
4lb Wheat Malt
1lb Brown Malt
5oz Cara Malt
3oz Chocolate Malt

30 minute boil with 2/3oz of Challenger. Got some German wheat beer yeast hanging around.

 

[Hanglow]

That does indeed look tasty

 

[JKaranka]

That does indeed look tasty

Very short brewday! Ended up digging what frozen hops I had left and went with 40g H. Mittlefruh and 5g Cascade for 14 estimated IBU.

 

[JKaranka]

Hah, the wort tastes between breakfast cereals and a light brown porter. Hit 1.042 which is fine for novices anyway.

 

[WhoDatDad78]

Hey folks, I want to do a Northern English Brown Ale. Here is the recipe I came up with, so please give me some suggestions. I love a good malty yet balanced ale.

5 gallon batch
PM/BIAB
60 min mash @153
60 min boil

3 lb pale 2 Row
1 lb MO
8 oz caramel /crystal 60L
8 oz torrified wheat
8 oz amber Malt
2 oz aromatic Malt
8 oz biscuit Malt
8 oz Caraamber malt
4 0z hocolate malt

1/4 tsp CaCl ( R/O water)

2 lbs amber LME

.5 oz fuggles @ 15
1 oz EKG @ 60

1 Pkgs British ale II

Estate OG 1.050
IBU 29.2
SRM 16
ABV 4.9

 

[lowtones84]

I would probably cut the biscuit down to 4 oz. and possibly cut back on the crystal malts just a bit. Given the torrefied wheat, amber, and aromatic malts I think 8 oz. of biscuit might be a little overboard, and I love malty/bready myself. Even at 4 oz. in a recipe of similar OG I find it to be a strong flavor. If possible perhaps try to simplify the grain bill a bit, take out 2 or more of those. You probably also aren't going to need the amber lme for color with all of the color malts you have going on in there, so if you have light that may be a better option. Good luck no matter what you do!

 

[Qhrumphf]

I would probably cut the biscuit down to 4 oz. and possibly cut back on the crystal malts just a bit. Given the torrefied wheat, amber, and aromatic malts I think 8 oz. of biscuit might be a little overboard, and I love malty/bready myself. Even at 4 oz. in a recipe of similar OG I find it to be a strong flavor. If possible perhaps try to simplify the grain bill a bit, take out 2 or more of those. You probably also aren't going to need the amber lme for color with all of the color malts you have going on in there, so if you have light that may be a better option. Good luck no matter what you do!

Agree about simplifying the grain bill, unless you're just trying to use up bits and bobs (which there's nothing wrong with that, but seldom does it a great classic beer make)

 

[zchwlsn]

I have been wanting to do a English mild. Anyone have some awesome recipes?

 

[Qhrumphf]

This thread is loaded with them. I have two in my dropdown that I love, one that's my house Mild, very small and not horrendously traditional but I love it (and quite a few folks have brewed it and loved it too), and an Oat Mild (where the oats aren't particularly noticeable as such) that is a little more traditional and I love just as much.

There's also this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=556527

I know that Reaper's Mild is very popular (easy to find in the recipe section), but I haven't brewed it personally.

 

[JKaranka]

I have been wanting to do a English mild. Anyone have some awesome recipes?

Welcome! There are lots of recipes in the thread. If you want to go authentic you can pretty much ditch the dark malts and use just pale malt, dark invert sugar syrup (up to 10%) and maybe a dash of crystal malt (up to 5%). Most milds used to be darkened with brewer's caramel, but if you can't get that you could try Sinamar. You are trying to get something that has complex, dark, fruity flavours that are not toasty or roasty. A bit like a Belgian Dubbel. A hint of almost roast chocolate is ok but lots of milds don't go that roasty.

Many modern milds, however, use roast malts and are closer to a weak porter (you'll find plenty of these in HBT where US brewers like to go 'all malt' ). If you use this looser style you can chuck in things like patent malt, brown malt, chocolate malt, etc. These would feature in near negligible amounts in some traditional milds but make a bigger proportion of the modern milds.

My 2p on this one: a) use some form of simple sugar (invert syrup or flaked maize preferably), even if it's just 5% of the fermentables, b) really restrain the use of dark malts (e.g., 4oz Chocolate Malt), c) once you get to a dark amber / mid brown SRM, use caramel to darken it to near black, d) don't worry about your choice of hops - you are looking at 15-20 IBU anyway.

 

[Hanglow]

This is quite a good blog about milds, mainly Ridleys ones but others too
https://theessexbrewer.wordpress.com

 

[JKaranka]

Plenty available in SUABP when you dig a little bit:

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/lets-brew-wednesday-1945-tetleys-mild.html

 

[WhoDatDad78]

5 gallon batch
PM/BIAB
60 min mash @153
60 min boil

3 lb pale 2 Row
1 lb MO
4 oz caramel /crystal 60L
8 oz torrified wheat
8 oz flaked maize
4 oz biscuit Malt
8 oz brewers Caramel

1/4 tsp CaCl ( R/O water)

1 lb amber LME

Use brewers caramel to darken to prefererence...

.5 oz fuggles @ 15
1 oz EKG @ 60

1 Pkgs British ale II

Something closer to this?

 

[Qhrumphf]

8 oz brewers caramel is a lot. It's a coloring agent, not a malt. Unless you live in the UK you'll have a very hard time getting it. Use Weyermann Sinamar instead.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I often use 3 oz of Sinamar in my Milds and it turns reddish brown into almost black. Adds 10 SRM or so.

 

[Hanglow]

Has anyone done bitters/strong bitters with all german malts? I've got some weyerman munich and was thinking of using standard english ale yeast+hops with 95% munich and 5% cara red. ESB sort of strength. Just to change it up a bit

I guess it would be pretty much an alt but with a bit more english yeast flavour

 

[Qhrumphf]

Has anyone done bitters/strong bitters with all german malts? I've got some weyerman munich and was thinking of using standard english ale yeast+hops with 95% munich and 5% cara red. ESB sort of strength. Just to change it up a bit

I guess it would be pretty much an alt but with a bit more english yeast flavour

I might think of that is a Belgian Pale Ale with a slightly different yeast character

 

[GuldTuborg]

What's with the 3 hour boil in that Tetley's recipe linked to above? Kettle caramelization? I would have thought the high % of invert would have had that flavor covered.

 

[JKaranka]

What's with the 3 hour boil in that Tetley's recipe linked to above? Kettle caramelization? I would have thought the high % of invert would have had that flavor covered.

They are probably making decent beer out of weak runnings or something. Imagine boiling 3 hours and having an OG barely above 1.030!

 

[Hanglow]

Yeah I guess their energy source was very cheap compared to today and their malt much more expensive, so they wanted to extract as much as possible

 

[GuldTuborg]

So no need for me to model this, then. Good to know. I'd be much more inclined to try a quick 45 min boil and call that good enough.

While I'm thinking about invert sugar in recipes, has anyone tried the Dilution Method described here? I'm hoping to get some #2 or #3 to use without minding a pot for hours. If you've tried this, how did it work out?

 

[Qhrumphf]

So no need for me to model this, then. Good to know. I'd be much more inclined to try a quick 45 min boil and call that good enough.

While I'm thinking about invert sugar in recipes, has anyone tried the Dilution Method described here? I'm hoping to get some #2 or #3 to use without minding a pot for hours. If you've tried this, how did it work out?

Given the shelf life, I found it worth my while to A) make a bunch of it at once, and B) simple enough to mind two separate batches at the same time. So I made 4 lbs of each, and while I did #1 and #4 separately, I did #2 and #3 at the same time.

I haven't tried the Golden Syrup plus Blackstrap method, but I know that @JKaranka has referenced it a few times. I've been meaning to pick up some black treacle anyway, I might grab some extra along with some Lyles, and do some experimenting try them side by side with the pure invert and see what I think, since I already have an abundance of each of #1-4.

 

[GuldTuborg]

Given the shelf life, I found it worth my while to A) make a bunch of it at once, and B) simple enough to mind two separate batches at the same time. So I made 4 lbs of each, and while I did #1 and #4 separately, I did #2 and #3 at the same time.

I haven't tried the Golden Syrup plus Blackstrap method, but I know that @JKaranka has referenced it a few times. I've been meaning to pick up some black treacle anyway, I might grab some extra along with some Lyles, and do some experimenting try them side by side with the pure invert and see what I think, since I already have an abundance of each of #1-4.

Thanks for the reply. I may give the dilution method a try, and see how it works. If you're interested in a trade (so we can each try some side-by-side from each method), let me know.

 

[jwalk4]

Thanks for the reply. I may give the dilution method a try, and see how it works. If you're interested in a trade (so we can each try some side-by-side from each method), let me know.

Is couldn't quite follow the dilution method instructions. What do they mean by "blend it"? At room temp? In a sauce pan? In the bk?

Can someone clarify?

 

[JKaranka]

Is couldn't quite follow the dilution method instructions. What do they mean by "blend it"? At room temp? In a sauce pan? In the bk?

Can someone clarify?

Golden syrup is not fully inverted. I make invert 1 from scratch and when still hot add blackstrap to a portion.

 

[GuldTuborg]

Is couldn't quite follow the dilution method instructions. What do they mean by "blend it"? At room temp? In a sauce pan? In the bk?

Can someone clarify?

Yeah, it's not real clear, but Kristin clarifies it in the comments below. Make #1 invert, add molasses, then continue to boil for 10-20 min, then cool. Sounds easy enough.

 

[jwalk4]

Thanks, mates.