Liverpool Organic Brewery - Liverpool Pale Ale

[paint_it_black]

I'm living back in Portland again and wanted to brew up something akin to Liverpool Pale for a little touch of home. I'd like your guys' input on my recipe.
It's an English real ale, bitter, 4.0% ABV, light in colour, not all too hoppy.

The fella at the brewery wasn't all too forthcoming when I asked him about it -- best I could get out of him is "the grain bill is mostly pale malt (not Marris Otter, as it's not available organic); hops are Chinook".

I tried to think of more-well-known bitters that I could use clone recipes of as a base, and started with clone brews of Deuchars.


For a 5 gallon batch:

7lb Pale 2-row (~91%)
.5lb Crystal (30L) (~6%)
.25 lb Wheat malt (3%)

(60 min boil)
.5 oz Chinook - 60 min
.5 oz Chinook - 15 min
.25 oz Chinook - 0 min

This should yield the following results:
1.040 OG
37 IBU
5 SRM

________

Thoughts? I'm particularly uncertain as to the hop additions, and the adjunct grains in the grain bill.

 

[TimTrone]

They use chinook in a bitter? That's interesting

 

[paint_it_black]

They use chinook in a bitter? That's interesting

Yeah, I kinda thought so too. But I spose there's only so much you can do with Fuggles and Goldings before you start wanting to branch out a bit. And technically they don't use the term "bitter", they call it a "pale ale". I tend to use the terms "bitter" and "real ale" interchangeably, though I know that's not strictly speaking correct.

Anyway, it explains why I enjoyed the beer so much, since Chinooks are PNW!

 

[Bob]

Looks pretty good to me as is. I do recommend playing with your grist proportions. The ingredients themselves are perfectly acceptable in Bitter; I just think you need to jiggle the amounts.

Most credible sources recommend ~10% Crystal malt, for example. You need a bit of residual malt/sweet in a Bitter. Even though the style is intentionally one-dimensional, balance is still important. The wheat is a good touch. It keeps the color pale and increases foam stability.

I'd go 85% pale, 10% Crystal and 5% wheat malt, were it me.

I cannot abide Chinook, so you're on your own there. I think your BU:GU ratio is good for the style. Bitter, whether Ordinary or Special, should be first and foremost bitter. Hops bitterness should be the dominant characteristic. If it's not, there's something wrong with it.

What yeast are you planning? I think Cal V (WLP051) would be perfect for this, being either a restrained English or fruity American yeast; it is a great "bridge" yeast between English and American styles.

Bob

 

[paint_it_black]

Looks pretty good to me as is. I do recommend playing with your grist proportions. The ingredients themselves are perfectly acceptable in Bitter; I just think you need to jiggle the amounts.

Most credible sources recommend ~10% Crystal malt, for example. You need a bit of residual malt/sweet in a Bitter. Even though the style is intentionally one-dimensional, balance is still important. The wheat is a good touch. It keeps the color pale and increases foam stability.

I'd go 85% pale, 10% Crystal and 5% wheat malt, were it me.

I cannot abide Chinook, so you're on your own there. I think your BU:GU ratio is good for the style. Bitter, whether Ordinary or Special, should be first and foremost bitter. Hops bitterness should be the dominant characteristic. If it's not, there's something wrong with it.

What yeast are you planning? I think Cal V (WLP051) would be perfect for this, being either a restrained English or fruity American yeast; it is a great "bridge" yeast between English and American styles.

Bob

Hey Bob, thanks for the input! I think I might make those adjustments to the grain bill.
I was also thinking about adding a 15 min hop addition, between .25 and .5 oz, do you think that's necessary or beneficial in any way?

As to yeast, I was thinking probably just Safale-04. Or if I use a liquid yeast, I usually prefer Wyeast. to be honest, I don't play around with trying different yeasts too much so I'm not too sure. I see what you're going for with your yeast recommendation though, with it being essentially an English style beer but with American hops. Might give that a go if I can track it down.

 

[Bob]

Rather than 15-minute additions, lately I've been doing a lot of First Wort Hopping. Lots of flavor and IMO a smoother bitterness. Come to think of it, that may make a significant difference in this beer; my experience with Chinook has been negative because I find the bitterness harsh (I also find the flavor coarse, but that's probably just me).

S-04 is my go-to yeast for English ales these days; I keep a packet of it in the fridge for when I can't get Ringwood. In my pro days I used Cal V a lot as the house non-Belgian ale strain, because I found I could get both English and American characteristics out of it with a difference of a few degrees temperature and pitch rate.

Remember that American Amber Ale as a style came out of English Bitter and Pale Ale during Ye Olde Daies in the American craft-brewing movement. See the style writeup on the HBT Wiki.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[paint_it_black]

Rather than 15-minute additions, lately I've been doing a lot of First Wort Hopping. Lots of flavor and IMO a smoother bitterness. Come to think of it, that may make a significant difference in this beer; my experience with Chinook has been negative because I find the bitterness harsh (I also find the flavor coarse, but that's probably just me).

S-04 is my go-to yeast for English ales these days; I keep a packet of it in the fridge for when I can't get Ringwood. In my pro days I used Cal V a lot as the house non-Belgian ale strain, because I found I could get both English and American characteristics out of it with a difference of a few degrees temperature and pitch rate.

Remember that American Amber Ale as a style came out of English Bitter and Pale Ale during Ye Olde Daies in the American craft-brewing movement. See the style writeup on the HBT Wiki.

Cheers,

Bob

Hmm, I never knew that about amber ales! Reading that article now, interesting! Cheers!

 

[critch]

i should be able to help you as im the head brewer for liverpool organic
95% pale
5%wheat
1.042 sg 1.012fg mash at 66.5.c for 1 hr

30 ibus in total

14 ibu addition @90
5 ibu addition @15
11 ibu addition @10
1.5 x the 10 min addition at flame out, if using an immersion chiller steep for 20 mins before switching on

start ferment at 19.c let it get to 20.5 and keep it there till end of ferment
(s-04 yeast)

enjoy, when your back in the pool come round for a brew day if you fancy

critch the brewer

 

[Bob]

Thanks, Critch!

Recipe saved and noted.

Bob