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English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?

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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.

No, I live in Dallas. Where do you get Weyermann Sinamar? Can't seem to find it at the usual suspects.
 
There we go. Ron has published the recipe of a quintessential mild: Whitbread Best. I'd add a pound of pale malt as 2.8% abv is just too low for me to handle. Grist, use of caramel and sugar, hopping,etc. it all fits the archetype

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/lets-brew-wednesday-1954-whitbread-best.html

Dark, a bit watery, a bit sweet and overall rather dull.

That's not exactly a glowing review by the guy remembering this beer. I might try another one of these recipes first.

Since I have a little #2 now, I'm thinking of shooting down the middle of the two approaches we have here. Instead of the "pale malt + invert" on the one hand and "pale + crystal + roast" approach on the other, using the #2 invert I have along with a small amount of chocolate malt, maybe some flaked barley. Thoughts? Good idea, or should I just stick with one of the established approaches instead?
 
I think half way is a good idea. Just restrain yourself to not make it too roasty. If you want roasty check my recipe for wartime porter :D 3.5% abv of brown malt driven goodness. Plus more bitter than a mild.
 
Sounds good. Yeah, I was thinking just 4-6oz of chocolate (pale or regular), a bit of flaked barley, the invert, and enough base malt to get to the 1.036 neighborhood. That ought to be a decent starting point.

Wartime porter? Is that what you're titled "Austerity Porter" in your recipes? I don't see a "Wartime." Looks good, regardless.
 
Yeah, austerity. Forgot I changed to catchier title. It's based on records from 1944 or so. Slightly maltier than the real deal.
 
With the mild I'd stick closer to 4oz chocolate and darken the rest with Sinamar.

I'll do that. I don't have any Sinamar, but maybe using the "dilution method" to get my #2 to #3 color would be sufficient. I'll think about it.

Anyway, thanks for the help! With a little luck, I'll be brewing this within a week or two.
 
Dark wheat ale ended up a tad light (4.2%). The wort tasted like porter but during bottling it's more like a light dunkel weisse. Mainly clove / wheat, followed by a hint of banana and chocolate. Some hops. The colour ended up amber to red so I added brewers' to bring it up to light brown. Very light considering it has a pound of brown malt in it.
 
Missed it. Would have loved to ask why did mild turn dark and what is the history of brewers' caramel.
 
Brewed this today
Wanted to build up the WY1332 for another couple of brews so thought I'd use up my mild malt and oat malt that I had left. I wanted a bit more oat malt but I only had 250g. Pitched a 1.5l active shaken starter I made using frozen wort of my last brown ale, so it should have more than plenty of yeast to get going

Hoping it will turn out ok

water was
Ca 101, Mg 14, Na 4, Cl 104, SO4 155, HCO3 20

upwlEV2.png
 
5.2 gal batch into fermentor
75% eff

10 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Oats
.5 lb Crystal 80
.25 lb chocolate malt.
(1l b. Victory Malt Optional depending on my mood on brew day)

2 oz EKG whole leaf 60 min
1 oz EKG whole leaf 5 min

Nottingham Ale yeast fermented at 61 F for 4 weeks no secondary.
Burton water profile
Tastes great I love it. I suppose it's very English although not modeled after any particular style. Brown Ale perhaps?
I recommend it to anyone who likes good/great beer.
 
Here it is, however this version had .5 lbs of chocolate malt instead of the usual .25lbs

image.jpg
 
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I brewed a bitter today using some homemade invert #2. The recipe was:

5.5 lbs maris otter
0.5 lbs dark Crystal
0.5 lbs invert #2 (end of the boil)

0.5 oz EKG and 0.33 oz challenger at 60 min
0.66 oz EKG at 10 min
0.33 oz challenger at 5 min
0.67 oz EKG at flameout
0.67 oz EKG and 0.34 oz challenger for a 4 day dry hop.

OG was 1.035, with an estimated 31 IBUs. I used wyeast 1469.
 
English Pale Ale (Bitter) -- Pretty close to a SMaSH. Very tasty.

Ingredients
Maris Otter 95%
Simpsons Heritage (Maris Otter Crystal Malt) 5%
Mash 152°F

Boil 75 min
2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent 60 min hop
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent 7 min hop

1.0 pkg Nottingham Yeast @ 63°F
 
Also just as stoked that my Dry Stout took first in the largest category in one of the bigger regional comps (won another gold at a smaller regional two weeks ago too, but didn't place at NHC, got my low fluke sheet for it, figures). My first time qualifying for MCAB too.
 
Also the oats are subtle at best. Can pick em out if you know they're there, but can't definitively identify them otherwise (as I said when posted here I would increase the oats if you want them distinct). I entered as a regular Dark Mild. As we all know oats aren't out of place anyway but BJCP guidelines don't allow for them.
 
I brewed a bitter today using some homemade invert #2. The recipe was:

5.5 lbs maris otter
0.5 lbs dark Crystal
0.5 lbs invert #2 (end of the boil)

0.5 oz EKG and 0.33 oz challenger at 60 min
0.66 oz EKG at 10 min
0.33 oz challenger at 5 min
0.67 oz EKG at flameout
0.67 oz EKG and 0.34 oz challenger for a 4 day dry hop.

OG was 1.035, with an estimated 31 IBUs. I used wyeast 1469.

That sounds pretty good to me, I've definitely brewed similar but just a touch higher OG. EKG + Challenger is a great combo in my experience.
 
Also the oats are subtle at best. Can pick em out if you know they're there, but can't definitively identify them otherwise (as I said when posted here I would increase the oats if you want them distinct). I entered as a regular Dark Mild. As we all know oats aren't out of place anyway but BJCP guidelines don't allow for them.

Yeah, I think you are right. Milds are quite unamerican. Rather than showcasing or making the most of particular ingredients, you should pretty much not realise they are there at all.
 
The EIPA from a few pages back turned out great. Unexpectedly good feedback. Half way through the session the keg started leaking (why are kegs so difficult?!) so I syphoned the beer into an fv with tap and we poured the rest on gravity. All 5 US gallons gone in one sitting. A friend mentioned it was like pales from the Midlands from years gone. Had a mineral / chalk aftertaste so I'll hold on gypsum a tad next time. I'll post it on recipes.
 

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