schmurf
Well-Known Member
I've been using the one from brouwland and I can't say I've noticed any flavour contribution from it.
English Ales - What's your favorite recipe?
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I guess I will have to try it out then
The Germans also say it doesn't really leave a taste. Anyway, let us know what you think!
I am about to order a new 25kg sack of basemalt, and thought to try Golden Promise instead of Maris Otter.
Looked around a little and my choices are either Simpsons or Fawcett, Fawcett are ~ 160 SEK(~16 Euro) more expensive but you know, floor malted.
Are the extra bucks for floor malted worth it since I brew mostly English styles where the malt character noticed more? The Fawcett is not THAT much more expensive so if it is a significant increase in quality/flavour it is IMO worth the little extra money, anyone who has any experience using Fawcett who could chime in?
Looked around a little and my choices are either Simpsons or Fawcett, Fawcett are ~ 160 SEK(~16 Euro) more expensive but you know, floor malted.
Are the extra bucks for floor malted worth it since I brew mostly English styles where the malt character noticed more? The Fawcett is not THAT much more expensive so if it is a significant increase in quality/flavour it is IMO worth the little extra money, anyone who has any experience using Fawcett who could chime in?
So usual YMMV caveats apply but I've never really noticed a perceptible difference between floor malted and non-floor malted English malts, though the depth of my experience is limited to Warminster Maris Otter.
My view is that with a much more flavoursome malt like MO or GP compared to say pilsner the flavour contributions of floor malting, such as they are, are effectively drowned out, whereas with something like pilsner which is much less bold in flavour the subtleties are easier to detect.
Just a general thought about malt, the difference in flavour from maltster to maltster is definitely there within crystal malt at the same colour. My guess is, same applies to base malts. That's why I think that floor malted or not is not so important, as you are comparing different maltsters anyway. The malts will differ, which you like best, I have no idea.
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
Can't speak to Fawcett's GP, but I'm very much enjoying my sack of Simpson's. Clean, bready, slightly sweet. I find MO to be much more agressive in its flavor, very nutty. Simpson's Best Pale Ale is also very nice. More dry malty than GP, but none of MO's nuts.
I currently have a rather fresh grisette made with Simpsons GP. At about 75/20/5% GP/wheat/demerara, it's absolutely delicious. Pleasant sweet* grainy-ness.
*Sweet in flavor, FG is down around 1.006.
Used both and never noticed a difference.FWIW, I believe Timothy Taylor uses Simpsons
Simpson it is then.
Northern_Brewer
British - apparently some US company stole my name
I've never done the comparison between floor-malted and not from the same maltster, but I have compared between malts from maltsters like Warminster that only floor malt and those that don't, and definitely preferred the floor-malted ones in that comparison.
But it's the sort of thing where the difference fades away as the malt ages, so if people are buying it outside the UK they may have to deal with old stock.
As for Simpsons or Fawcett, they're both good just different, it's kind of like having to choose between Porsche and Ferrari. I'd prefer either over the big East Anglian maltsters.
Yes Taylors get a lot of their malt from Simpsons, but a lot of the other Yorkshire breweries use Fawcett - it's just a proximity thing to a large extent.
But it's the sort of thing where the difference fades away as the malt ages, so if people are buying it outside the UK they may have to deal with old stock.
As for Simpsons or Fawcett, they're both good just different, it's kind of like having to choose between Porsche and Ferrari. I'd prefer either over the big East Anglian maltsters.
Yes Taylors get a lot of their malt from Simpsons, but a lot of the other Yorkshire breweries use Fawcett - it's just a proximity thing to a large extent.
I oredered some yeast aswell, still going on my quest to find a 2 yeast blend I am happy with as my "house yeast" intended for Brittish ales (wich I almost exclusively brew).
So my coming tests will be MJ Liberty Bell /Lallemand Verdant.
First up is a brown ale with 5/4% Amber/Brown malt, 6% Medium crystal and about 7% Demerara as an invert 2 approximation. A bit of the Brouwland brewers Caramel aswell for a more appropriate brown ale color without using any dark roasted malts.1.045 OG.
I know @Miraculix has used both, what were your experiences regarding attenuation?
I suppose a 67c mash should land me about low to mid 70's in AA for darker beers with a bit of darker malts and some sugar, and 65c should be good for Bitters/Pales that I prefer on the drier side, uptowards 80% AA, correct?
So my coming tests will be MJ Liberty Bell /Lallemand Verdant.
First up is a brown ale with 5/4% Amber/Brown malt, 6% Medium crystal and about 7% Demerara as an invert 2 approximation. A bit of the Brouwland brewers Caramel aswell for a more appropriate brown ale color without using any dark roasted malts.1.045 OG.
I know @Miraculix has used both, what were your experiences regarding attenuation?
I suppose a 67c mash should land me about low to mid 70's in AA for darker beers with a bit of darker malts and some sugar, and 65c should be good for Bitters/Pales that I prefer on the drier side, uptowards 80% AA, correct?
I think that's probably correct. My current house yeast is a mix of verdant and Nottingham. Ferments fast, drops like a stone, good attenuation and the verdant brings in some flavour. Nottingham controls verdants excessive fruitiness so for me best combination so far.
I have to try liberty bell again, it has been a long time but attenuation wise of was in the same ballpark as verdant, of I remember correctly.
At the moment I'm looking for an expressive non-fruity English dry strain. I've had a bit too much of the specific verdant flavour the last months. It's great when controlled by Nottingham, but it's still also pretty distinctive and sometimes I just want something English without fruit.
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Does the Verdant give you apricot? That's what I was hoping to get since I usually pick up a little apricot backgrounds flavour in TT's ales. And if this blends gives me something in the same vein as their brewey strain I think bob's my uncle.
Hmmm... I don't know. It's this type of fruitiness that wlp 002 can also deliver when fermented at the upper end of its range. I don't know how to describe it otherwise.
I get apricot/nectarine from Verdant, it's my go-to for US style IPAs though I've not tried it in a Brit.
Currently my go-to is WLP007 for anything over 6%, and a mixture of S-04 and Lallemand London ESB for anything lower or which requires a bit less attenuation. The S-04 does a pretty decent job of resolving the propensity of London ESB to crap out at around 1.020-1.025 without throwing too many of its own esters or pushing stuff down drier than about 75%.
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And an extra plus is that 04 is the best dry yeast I've ever used in terms of flocculation which should compensate for London esbs rather poor flocculation. I like London esbs flavour...
The more I think about it, the better I find this combination. I will try this one in my next bitter. Thanks for sharing!
We may be thinking of different yeasts of course, but the Wyeast 1968 London ESB, for me, is a crazy flocculant yeast. The first time I made a starter with it, it looked like cottage cheese after 24 hours and I thought I'd ruined it. From what I gather reading, I'd go so far as to say most people would have the opposite experience of it being a poor flocculator. I'm interested in what you are using as an ESB yeast (other than the Verdant / Nottingham mentioned - unless that was actually what you meant).
He is talking about the Lallemand dry London ESB
Exactly, sorry I did not know that there is another manufacturer who was using the same name for one of their strains. I would have mentioned Lallemand otherwise.
Which I think, confusingly, these days might just be called "London".
And that my friend, is equally true
I wonder when we are gonna see yeasts advertised with as witty names as all the trendy craft beers?
Come to think about, Omega have some rather cringey strain names intended for multivitamin juice masquerading as beer...
Plus the graphic design...... Reminds me of Beavertown London.
@Erik the Anglophile
Regarding colouring I have a recipe that suggests to use Sinamar, it's not something I can get here. But I did recall I think from Dave Lines books that he used gravy browning, I haven't got my copies of those books here ( lent and not returned about 10 years ago to a new brewer, note must get them back and wheelers books) .
It's definitely mentioned in Ken Shales Brewing Better Beers ( 1st edition 1967) and the brown ale recipe shows how homebrewing has changed in all those years.
https://www.sarsons.co.uk/range/browning-sauce
I want to check the salt content of this, possible other manufacturers of this stuff as well.
I didn't bother with colouring the beer as the recipe said it was a lo calorie hazy and colour was fine.
Regarding colouring I have a recipe that suggests to use Sinamar, it's not something I can get here. But I did recall I think from Dave Lines books that he used gravy browning, I haven't got my copies of those books here ( lent and not returned about 10 years ago to a new brewer, note must get them back and wheelers books) .
It's definitely mentioned in Ken Shales Brewing Better Beers ( 1st edition 1967) and the brown ale recipe shows how homebrewing has changed in all those years.
https://www.sarsons.co.uk/range/browning-sauce
I want to check the salt content of this, possible other manufacturers of this stuff as well.
I didn't bother with colouring the beer as the recipe said it was a lo calorie hazy and colour was fine.
I have already ordered the Caramel Color from brouwland. Turns out that even when shipped from NL the freight was not any cost to argue about.
Northern_Brewer
British - apparently some US company stole my name
I've used their variant of WLP644 (Funky Pineapple) and their Ebbegarden Kveik isolate (Valkyrie) before. I didn't think either was especially good if I'm honest. But they've certainly got their marketing niche nailed.
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You might want to try the combos with different beers so you may have different results. For example, a bitter vs porter. WLP085 (WLP002 + WLP007) strips out chocolate malt flavor. Never noticed until I did a yeast off on a porter, and the WLP0085 was a totally different beer and not in a good way.
Should have been clearer- this is my default combo for best bitters and ESBs, and one I'm trialling on a lower-ABV British Strong either later today or tomorrow. I don't know how it would fare with a Porter or other darker ale, but I would say in respect of your blend example above with WLP085, I've noticed a tendency for 007 to do a bit of a number on the darker end of malt-derived fruit flavours and roastiness myself- though I tend to use it in Strong Ales or Barleywines where I don't have that much roasty-toasty to begin with.
