British Golden Ale Miraculix Best - Classic English Ale

[Miraculix]

I don't think you'll find them today, unless it's from a small grower or unless you grow your own. They used to be common, but that was a long time ago. The variety was derived from another hop, Canterbury Whitebine, you won't find that easily, either, if at all. It was quite susceptible to a whole array of common diseases and lost acreage to ore resistant varieties. The online substitution sites recommend EKG as the closest you'll get.
But if you find a supplier, let me know.

You're sure about that? My last info was that it's basically goldings from a specific grower.

 

[cire]

Any sugar addition, either solid or syrup, can be placed in a jug and dissolved in hot wort from the boiler before the end of the boil. It may take several additions of boiling wort to fully dissolve the sugars, but allows chance for temperature rise to the higher boiling point without danger of scorching the additions.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

You're sure about that? My last info was that it's basically goldings from a specific grower.

No - Cobbs is one of several named clones of Goldings that were selected in the late 19th century. Bramling, Rodmersham/Mercers, Petham, Amos' Early Bird and Eastwell are others examples.

Brook House happened to grow the Cobbs clone and so they included it in the description when they were selling "Goldings", but it wasn't their trademark or anything like that. Quite a bit still gets grown but it's always sold as simply "Goldings", mixed in with other clones - Brook House were unusual in separating out a single clone like that.

So Cobbs is just a kind of Goldings, and can be substituted by any other (true) Goldings.

RDWHAHB

 

[wsmith1625]

Cobb is just a brand name for a regular goldings from a specific farm. I didn't know that when I wrote this thread. So your are good with any Goldings available. I've also had great success with replacing it with Mittelfrüh. Any noble hop that you personally like will result in a nice beer with this recipe.

Invert can best be added at flame out. Sometimes I also add it before, as long as it doesn't scorch, it doesn't really matter.

Thanks! I was thinking flameout, but wanted to try and stay true to your recipe.

 

[jdubdvdt]

No - Cobbs is one of several named clones of Goldings that were selected in the late 19th century. Bramling, Rodmersham/Mercers, Petham, Amos' Early Bird and Eastwell are others examples.

Brook House happened to grow the Cobbs clone and so they included it in the description when they were selling "Goldings", but it wasn't their trademark or anything like that. Quite a bit still gets grown but it's always sold as simply "Goldings", mixed in with other clones - Brook House were unusual in separating out a single clone like that.

So Cobbs is just a kind of Goldings, and can be substituted by any other (true) Goldings.

RDWHAHB

What would you consider a true goldings? I can follow a lot of heritage but this Cobbs stuff has me wondering.

 

[An Ankoù]

What would you consider a true goldings? I can follow a lot of heritage but this Cobbs stuff has me wondering.

If you stick with East Kent Goldings, you won't go wrong. That's not to say that hops grown elsewhere are not as "true" , but they may have slightly different characteristics. Terroir and climate play a role. Hops from the same garden are slightly different in different years. I use French-grown goldings and they have a slightly different character.

Some varieties are not goldings at all: Styrian or Savinjski Goldings and Whitbread Goldings Variety - WGV, come from a different lineage.

 

[Miraculix]

I think even the year's climate might have a bigger influence on the character than the differences between all the real Goldings. I would just buy from a high quality source and be good with it.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

What would you consider a true goldings? I can follow a lot of heritage but this Cobbs stuff has me wondering.

Any of the "classic" clones like Cobbs, Bramling, Rodmersham/Mercers, Petham, Amos' Early Bird, Eastwell (and Mathon, which is the main clone in Herefordshire). But it's the sort of thing that's important to growers as they eg have slightly different harvest times but you'll never hear about them as a brewer*, they're all just sold as Goldings.

But yeah, I was trying to differentiate the "true" Goldings family from the ones that hijacked the name as a symbol of quality even though they are genetically distant - like WGV and Styrian "Goldings".

*not quite true - the brewers in Kent with close ties to growers will specify different clones for different additions, but that's a) because they can and b) is getting super, super picky.

 

[balrog]

Made another batch today. Might be heretical but no Goldings on hand and used Mittelfruh. Apologies to @Miraculix .
I'll work on my hop inventory for next time.

 

[An Ankoù]

Made another batch today. Might be heretical but no Goldings on hand and used Mittelfruh. Apologies to @Miraculix .
I'll work on my hop inventory for next time.

Mittelfrüh is a great hop and will work very nicely with the style.
Back in the day (19th 20th C) when hops were primarily for bittering, it wasn't unusual to use European or even American hops. Of course, English Golden Ale hadn't been invented then.

 

[Miraculix]

Made another batch today. Might be heretical but no Goldings on hand and used Mittelfruh. Apologies to @Miraculix .
I'll work on my hop inventory for next time.

I've brewed this one with Mittelfrüh myself several times, works great!

 

[kmarkstevens]

Made my first bitter/homebrew in more than 2 years, which is now spunding away with 20 gr EKG dry hop. I'm rusty, and unintentionally thin. Didn't take good notes either. Prolly 1032 OG and 1008 FG with old leftover hops, old LME, torrified wheat and a fresh pitch of Pub. Expecting watery goodness in a couple of days.