British Golden Ale Miraculix Best - Classic English Ale

[Miraculix]

I bottle-condition all of them and don't keg, so I'll rack carefully at bottling time. I don't want cheese curd beer, no matter how much fun it would be to watch.

It's really not bad at all if you get some yeast into the bottle. I mean, less is obviously still desirable, but you don't have to be overcautios with this one. Even fill that naughty last bottle to the rim which already looks like almost 50% slurry. That one will be carbed within 3 days and will be your experimental-yeast-flocculation-observation bottle! And also the first to drink

 

[kmarkstevens]

I made three pounds of invert last night. Started it on the stove, then poured into mason jars with the lids very loose. My oven at 265F had the invert in the jars around 250F. Took forever, as in several hours, but very hands off.

Came out very syrupy and not as "barely able to pour" thick that I've made in the past. I think next time will cut down the water from 1 pint water to 1# sugar and 1/4 teas citric acid, and not put the lid on. still had some nice caramel tastes. I used in in a 1933 Kidd AK

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Came out very syrupy and not as "barely able to pour" thick that I've made in the past. I think next time will cut down the water from 1 pint water to 1# sugar and 1/4 teas citric acid, and not put the lid on. still had some nice caramel tastes. I used in in a 1933 Kidd AK

Would you say it was in the over for 3 hours? What is your SRM (or EBC) color guess for it?

 

[kmarkstevens]

The last one removed was probably around 4 hours. Not sure. I did several canning jars. The first ones were about 90 minutes, and kinda like Lyles but a bit runnier. The final one wasn't a dark as black treacle, but getting there (maybe 24 SRM).

Not overly scientific, I'm afraid. I set the timer when I went to sleep for 60 minutes. Then when I woke up this morning, the last two didn't seem all that dark. So I set the timer again for 60 minutes. I found for my oven, need 270 for the solution to be in the 250 range. The bigger jars were darker than the smaller jars even though were in the oven the same amount of time. Effort was minimal - mix it up, in the oven, then check and reset the oven timer a few times.

If I added 10-20F, it would have gone faster but not sure how that might affect the flavor...

I eyeballed the SRM vs a color chart as ranging from 12 to 24

 

[z-bob]

I want to brew this--or something as close as I can get to it. I have no idea where I would get 10% golden syrup around here, so I'd like to sub some other sugar. How would turbinado sugar work for this? And what proportions of tubinado to golden?

Do you ever get down to Rochester? I'd give you a pint of my homemade kinda-dark invert. Made it in a pressure-canner. (and ruined the canner's rubber seal doing it, but the seal was over 30 years old and they are not supposed to last that long...)

 

[MaxStout]

Do you ever get down to Rochester? I'd give you a pint of my homemade kinda-dark invert. Made it in a pressure-canner. (and ruined the canner's rubber seal doing it, but the seal was over 30 years old and they are not supposed to last that long...)

Thanks for your generous offer, but I did make a batch of invert and will use it when I brew later this week.

I don't get to Rochester very often, but next time I do I'll give you a shout and we could grab a beer.

If you are ever up this way, let me know as well.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Lyle's golden and Black Treacle are available on Amazon, and maybe cheaper than local grocery stores. YMMV. That said, I still want to find someone that's knows their stuff about honey. Pure Honey is somewhere between 80-90% invert. Bring honey to a boil, and I am guessing it boils out any non invert flavor. Should be a good hack for invert 1 or invert 2.

Sheesh, I might be getting old. I have done honey in the oven, and maybe that was what was so thick compared with the 1 pint/1#/quarter teas citric acid that I did last night. (I have a big bag of organic cane sugar to use up).

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

The bigger jars were darker than the smaller jars even though were in the oven the same amount of time. Effort was minimal - mix it up, in the oven, then check and reset the oven timer a few times.

Thanks!!! Making it directly in the jars via the oven method seems to be quite convenient.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Yep, just fill a bunch of jars and check it every once in a while. If you look at the above photo, I've got four different colors and the taste changes. I haven't even tried to dial this in yet though.

 

[Miraculix]

Yep, just fill a bunch of jars and check it every once in a while. If you look at the above photo, I've got four different colors and the taste changes. I haven't even tried to dial this in yet though.

Hopefully the jars are heat resistant, I don't want just even to imagine the mess if one breaks in the oven

Pretty neat idea!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

From the Ball website:

The glass used for Ball and Kerr canning jars is not tempered for oven use and is not meant to be used as bakeware.

 

[kmarkstevens]

250F has been fine for me so far. These are canning jars meant to be in pressure cookers in a range of 180-250F or something along those lines.

I do put the jars on a deep dish baking sheet so if one were to crack, it won't be overly messy.

 

[Miraculix]

250F has been fine for me so far. These are canning jars meant to be in pressure cookers in a range of 180-250F or something along those lines.

I do put the jars on a deep dish baking sheet so if one were to crack, it won't be overly messy.

That's probably the best way to go.

Dry heat and wet heat are different, I assume that is why they are ok for pressure canning but cannot be guaranted for when used in the oven.

 

[MaxStout]

It's really not bad at all if you get some yeast into the bottle. I mean, less is obviously still desirable, but you don't have to be overcautios with this one. Even fill that naughty last bottle to the rim which already looks like almost 50% slurry. That one will be carbed within 3 days and will be your experimental-yeast-flocculation-observation bottle! And also the first to drink

You weren't kidding about the chunky wlp002. My first time using that strain. I made a starter Tues afternoon and put it on the stir plate. Yesterday, after 24 hours, no krausen, just a tan-colored liquid spinning around. Then later in the evening it came alive. It looked like egg drop soup, with clods of yeast whirlpooling around the flask. It let it go overnight, then cold-crashed this morning. I'll be brewing tomorrow.

 

[Miraculix]

You weren't kidding about the chunky wlp002. My first time using that strain. I made a starter Tues afternoon and put it on the stir plate. Yesterday, after 24 hours, no krausen, just a tan-colored liquid spinning around. Then later in the evening it came alive. It looked like egg drop soup, with clods of yeast whirlpooling around the flask. It let it go overnight, then cold-crashed this morning. I'll be brewing tomorrow.

We are having around 35C here in Uk atm, no chance of brewing... except for the naughty belgian session beer which I set up yesterday to reach peak fermentation (first day) on the hottest day of the year, hopefully I will be in esterheaven and not in fuselhell

 

[MaxStout]

They are forecasting 88F and humid tomorrow. Won't be fun in the garage with a propane burner. But with a ferm chamber I'll have the fermenter at 64F.

Good luck with the naughty Belgian!

 

[Miraculix]

They are forecasting 88F and humid tomorrow. Won't be fun in the garage with a propane burner. But with a ferm chamber I'll have the fermenter at 64F.

Good luck with the naughty Belgian!

Thanks!

Smells and looks good so far... I used a Lallemand Abbey that expired 2 years ago..... all good

 

[MaxStout]

I cold-crashed the starter and decanted most of the spent wort, leaving a few hundred ml. Brew day today so I took the starter out of the fridge to warm up. The 002 is in a solid layer on the bottom. I swirled the flask, the yeast broke up into pieces--looks like crushed crackers floating around. I'll try to agitate it some more to get more of a slurry, otherwise I hope it breaks up in the fermenter and disperses to do its job.

Crazy yeast.

 

[balrog]

Some of those English yeasts are VERY much like egg drop soup
Or crackers
Or largish cheese chunks
Or pieces of brain

 

[MaxStout]

Brew day went well. Did BIAB, mashed in at 152, no sparge. Added the 12oz invert syrup near the end of the boil, had to heat up the jar to get it to pour out. Got 6 gallons into the Brew Bucket, OG was 1.036, just where I wanted it (I was shooting for a lower ABV). Pitched the starter--was able to swirl it enough to get the chunks down to cottage cheese consistency (@balrog, there's another comparison to add to the list)

One minor fark-up. After sanitizing my Brew Bucket with Starsan, I turned it upside-down to drain. Apparently the rotating racking tube came loose and I didn't check it before racking. When I aerated I bumped it with the wand and heard a "clink." Uh-oh. I was not about to reach into my cooled wort to grab the thing, and it's sitting at the bottom. Hopefully the drain valve won't plug up on bottling day. Better have a piece of wire on hand to shove in there if it does. And I'll lose a bit of beer from the conical bottom. Oh well.

It's in the ferm chamber at 64F, with a blowoff tube into a CO2 Harvester.

 

[MaxStout]

Just bottled the batch today. OG 1.007 (3.8% ABV), hydro sample tasted good--no detectable off-flavors. Carbed to 2.2 vols. Will report back in a few weeks.

 

[z-bob]

Did you find your lost racking cane, or whatever it was?

 

[balrog]

Just bottled the batch today. OG 1.007 (3.8% ABV), hydro sample tasted good--no detectable off-flavors. Carbed to 2.2 vols. Will report back in a few weeks.

OG 1.007 ?

 

[MaxStout]

FG

 

[balrog]

I mean, I gathered, but if you'd found a way to have OG 1.007 and get 3.8% out of it, I wanted to *KNOW* !!

 

[MaxStout]

I mean, I gathered, but if you'd found a way to have OG 1.007 and get 3.8% out of it, I wanted to *KNOW* !!

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[Miraculix]

Brew day went well. Did BIAB, mashed in at 152, no sparge. Added the 12oz invert syrup near the end of the boil, had to heat up the jar to get it to pour out. Got 6 gallons into the Brew Bucket, OG was 1.036, just where I wanted it (I was shooting for a lower ABV). Pitched the starter--was able to swirl it enough to get the chunks down to cottage cheese consistency (@balrog, there's another comparison to add to the list)

One minor fark-up. After sanitizing my Brew Bucket with Starsan, I turned it upside-down to drain. Apparently the rotating racking tube came loose and I didn't check it before racking. When I aerated I bumped it with the wand and heard a "clink." Uh-oh. I was not about to reach into my cooled wort to grab the thing, and it's sitting at the bottom. Hopefully the drain valve won't plug up on bottling day. Better have a piece of wire on hand to shove in there if it does. And I'll lose a bit of beer from the conical bottom. Oh well.

It's in the ferm chamber at 64F, with a blowoff tube into a CO2 Harvester.

Sorry mate, I completely missed your post. How did it turn out?

 

[MaxStout]

Sorry mate, I completely missed your post. How did it turn out?

I'm going to let it bottle-condition a few more days (been less than 2 weeks so far). Will report on it next week. The hydrometer sample tasted good.

 

[Miraculix]

I'm going to let it bottle-condition a few more days (been less than 2 weeks so far). Will report on it next week. The hydrometer sample tasted good.

I think mine was best after a month or so two, if I remember correctly. Although also good when young. It just takes a bit longer to carb as there is so little yeast cells suspension with the pub flocculation champion.

 

[MaxStout]

I chilled one and am trying it right now. Bottle-conditioned 15 days at 70-72F. Very nice maltiness and just a little hops tang (which might mellow in a week or two). Head was a bit more than I expected from 2.2 vols of bottle-carbing. I'm very pleased with it. Thanks, @Miraculix for the recipe!

 

[Miraculix]

I chilled one and am trying it right now. Bottle-conditioned 15 days at 70-72F. Very nice maltiness and just a little hops tang (which might mellow in a week or two). Head was a bit more than I expected from 2.2 vols of bottle-carbing. I'm very pleased with it. Thanks, @Miraculix for the recipe!

View attachment 641479

That looks lovely! The mashout step plus the wheat gives the head, I was also positively surprised!

Glad you like it! Which yeast did you finally use?

 

[MaxStout]

I used wlp002.

Yeah, the pound of torrified wheat sure made for a nice head. Going to let them bottle-age another week and try a few more.

 

[Miraculix]

I used wlp002.

Yeah, the pound of torrified wheat sure made for a nice head. Going to let them bottle-age another week and try a few more.

I actually don't remember 100% when it tasted best, but I think it wasn't that fresh. Probably something like one or two months in. We'll, find out for yourself, you used a different yeast anyway so results might differ.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

General thinking is that bests peak after 1-3 months, depending a bit on style - but aren't "bad" before that.

 

[MaxStout]

I've had a few more and they do taste a little "young," but still quite good. Will let the rest of the bottles age a few more weeks. Plenty of cabonation now, so moved them to the basement where it's cooler--about 65F.

 

[Miraculix]

I've had a few more and they do taste a little "young," but still quite good. Will let the rest of the bottles age a few more weeks. Plenty of cabonation now, so moved them to the basement where it's cooler--about 65F.

Yes, give them some time, they really start shining after a few weeks!

 

[Miraculix]

@Northern_Brewer and everybody else who'd like to chime in,

I need yeast suggestions for pub 09 alternatives.

I had a chat with the maltmiller HBS and they said that Imperial have problems shipping outside of the US, so they don't know when they will be able to stock the yeast again.

I know there are the other Fuller's strains, but maybe it's time to try another yeast.

English and lots of character. That's what I'm aiming for. Would be good if it wouldn't be too finicky with half way uncontrolled fermentation temperature, in other words to be able to cope with my fermenter in sink with water and frozen pet bottles approach.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Ps: something exotic would be also fine, but would be best if maltmiller would have it in stock.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Can you get white labs yeast? WLP02 is an option. When I do side by side compairisions between Pub and 02, I prefer Pub even though supposedly the same strain.
I like WLP85 which is a blend of WLP02 and WLP07(?).

 

[kmarkstevens]

Can you get white labs yeast? WLP02 is an option. When I do side by side compairisions between Pub and 02, I prefer Pub even though supposedly the same strain.
I like WLP85 which is a blend of WLP02 and WLP07(?).

 

[Miraculix]

Can you get white labs yeast? WLP02 is an option. When I do side by side compairisions between Pub and 02, I prefer Pub even though supposedly the same strain.
I like WLP85 which is a blend of WLP02 and WLP07(?).

Yes, white labs is accessible for me.

I read multiple times that 002 lacks esters compared to pub, so I'm not going to use it. 085 sounds interesting but I am not sure if I like "mineraly", I honestly have no idea to which type of taste this refers.

I checked the available yeasts at maltmiller and they also got some vault strains.

Wlp037 Yorkshire ale sounds really interesting.

041 Pacific ale sounds also good.

I am in between those three, tending to 037 but not completely sure.