British Golden Ale Miraculix Best - Classic English Ale

[Northern_Brewer]

I’m gonna wait for yeast and brew your original recipe with one mod- first gold instead of cobbs. Never even seen those....

As I said above - they're just one of the clones that gets marketed as Goldings. Even here you'll only see Goldings sold by clone when buying direct from the farm. I assume these are the Brook House ones currently being sold through Malt Miller, in which case the "official" substitute would be Herefordshire Goldings - but the whole point of bitter is that it's a somewhat fluid style when it comes to hop varieties, any of the "good" British varieties will do, First Gold work just fine.

 

[SanPancho]

Sure. Kinda like “styrian” Goldings- now auroura, celiea, Stravinsky, etc

The first golds were described as having orange flavor though, so I’ll be doubling down on that you could say.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Not quite - the Styrians are not clones but varieties, they are the result of sex which can really jumble up DNA. That's the reason you're not meant to use the term Styrian Goldings any more, because you're only meant to use actual variety names like Savinjski, Celeia etc.

The (actual) Goldings are clones, which are the result of mutation - someone has planted the same Goldings variety on different farms and they have naturally mutated in a few genes which typically tweaks the harvest date forward or back a bit and maybe slightly alters the patterns on the bines. Perhaps the most obvious is Amos' Early Bird, which as the name suggests, is a particularly early-ripening variety that was found in a field of the Bramling clone of Goldings (perhaps best known as one of the parents of the Bramling Cross variety).

These things are important to farmers, but once the cones are off the bine, then they all look the same so the hop merchants just lump Early Bird, Bramling, Cobb's etc into a single bin called "Goldings". Merchants with any sense will split out the Goldings from East Kent as they have a protected designation like Champagne, Parma ham etc and get a premium, you'll seldom see Goldings from the rest of Kent these days but previously it was quite common, some merchants will specifically market Hereford or Worcester Goldings though.

It seems you're a bit limited on the UK hops you can get across the pond, First Gold are probably about as modern as you get. They're also notable for being the first commercial dwarf hops.

I've mentioned it on other threads but I'll throw in my favourite combo of hops for a best, namely about 60:40 EKG:Bramling Cross.

 

[Miraculix]

As I said above - they're just one of the clones that gets marketed as Goldings. Even here you'll only see Goldings sold by clone when buying direct from the farm. I assume these are the Brook House ones currently being sold through Malt Miller, in which case the "official" substitute would be Herefordshire Goldings - but the whole point of bitter is that it's a somewhat fluid style when it comes to hop varieties, any of the "good" British varieties will do, First Gold work just fine.

That is correct, I bought mine there. It's my go to shop, good prices and had some good email chat with the guy running it, seems to be a nice guy.

@SanPancho
Just use Goldings if you want to stay close to the recipe, but I am sure that the other main British hops would also work.

I will probably try the ekg bramling cross combination next, although I am really curious about the first gold marmalade flavour as well...

If you don't want to do a step mash, at least mash low and long and do the mashout step at the end, that's important for the attenuation and the foam. I would do about 62c for 90 minutes. Maybe 65 for one hour would work as well. 77c for mashout.

 

[Miraculix]

It's almost gone

That batch disappeared quickly! I will brew a simplified version soon. I don't want to order new stuff, so I'll use what I got on hand which is a few kg of chevallier malt and golden syrup. As chevallier itself has some caramellish Crystal type of flavour and I suspect also a higher protein content, I will use it on its own, only addition being ten percent golden syrup.

I use the hops I have which is the cobb goldings and the yeast will be the harvested pub which I have still from my last batch.

If I'll get similar results to the above recipe, it would be supporting the theory that Crystal was invented because of newer barley varieties which took over the market and made chevallier almost disappear.

 

[ba-brewer]

I like your recipe and the description seems like a great beer.

Curious about your setup and how you do your rest at 55C(protein rest). I have a RIMS setup and the couple times I have tried to do a protein rest the mash got very milky looking and I ended up scorching the wort.

The crystal malt is missing a unit, from the percentages I assume it to be Kg.​

 

[Miraculix]

I like your recipe and the description seems like a great beer.

Curious about your setup and how you do your rest at 55C(protein rest). I have a RIMS setup and the couple times I have tried to do a protein rest the mash got very milky looking and I ended up scorching the wort.

The crystal malt is missing a unit, from the percentages I assume it to be Kg.​

Oops, yes, it should be kg. Cannot edit the post anymore....

If it is too much of a hustle for you, just skip the protein rest. I BIAB, so I just infuse with a calculated amount of boiling water to reach the next temperature step. I use the following calculator, it is pretty much on point: https://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/

I have the suspicion that the protein rest causes chill haze. It does not bother me, but I am investigating now, if the protein rest does much for head retention. If not, I will just leave it out.

I brewed this beer again with the exception that the grain bill is all Chevallier malt with Golden Syrup this time. I skipped the Protein rest. If it works well, then I will skip it in the future.

 

[deere322]

Your recipe looks great but I have a couple questions...

Is a 30 minute boil correct?
What exactly does "moreish flavor" mean?

 

[Miraculix]

Your recipe looks great but I have a couple questions...

Is a 30 minute boil correct?
What exactly does "moreish flavor" mean?

Yes, 30min is correct.

Moerish means that after having one, you want more!

 

[deere322]

Yes, 30min is correct.

Moerish means that after having one, you want more!

well , duh..........


I have chevalier, first gold and Lyle's and may brew this once the weather warms!

 

[Miraculix]

well , duh..........


I have chevalier, first gold and Lyle's and may brew this once the weather warms!

I have not tried it with Chevallier, it just starts bubbeling atm. But my expectations are high, I really like this malt. I think with Chevallier, the spelt and the crystal can be skipped, as it is very flavourfull on its own and has a higher protein content. But I do not know for sure. I agree with your signature.

 

[ba-brewer]

Oops, yes, it should be kg. Cannot edit the post anymore....

If it is too much of a hustle for you, just skip the protein rest. I BIAB, so I just infuse with a calculated amount of boiling water to reach the next temperature step. I use the following calculator, it is pretty much on point: https://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/

I have the suspicion that the protein rest causes chill haze. It does not bother me, but I am investigating now, if the protein rest does much for head retention. If not, I will just leave it out.

I brewed this beer again with the exception that the grain bill is all Chevallier malt with Golden Syrup this time. I skipped the Protein rest. If it works well, then I will skip it in the future.

I have tried the protein rest to try and reduce the amount of chill haze. I used to add gelatin but have stopped doing that after smelling it. Haze does not really bother me too much but if I can reduce it with little effort I would like to do it. So far I have lost two batched trying protein rests so I wont chase that too far.

A short rest at 162/163F seem to help a bit with head retention and a boost to efficiency for me.

the Chevallier malt look interesting but I don't see it local to me.

 

[deere322]

the Chevallier malt look interesting but I don't see it local to me.

This is where I got it.....

https://www.hopcraftsupply.com/coll.../products/crisp-chevallier-heritage-malt-3-0l

 

[Miraculix]

I have tried the protein rest to try and reduce the amount of chill haze. I used to add gelatin but have stopped doing that after smelling it. Haze does not really bother me too much but if I can reduce it with little effort I would like to do it. So far I have lost two batched trying protein rests so I wont chase that too far.

A short rest at 162/163F seem to help a bit with head retention and a boost to efficiency for me.

the Chevallier malt look interesting but I don't see it local to me.

There are multiple versions of protein rests. Temperature too low and the body and head retention will suffer. Temperature high enough but rest for too long, same result as with the temperature being too low.

There are two enzymes active and you want the one that chops bigger proteins into medium sized fragments and not the once that chops it into tiny pieces.

At least this is the theory.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Chevallier has been revived by Crisp, so anywhere that stocks Crisp malts should be able to get hold of it if you ask them although it's only grown in tiny amounts and here in the UK works out at about double the price of eg Otter.

 

[Miraculix]

I just botteled the Chevallier version of this ale. The beer smelled amazing! It tasted also good, but was lacking a bit of the caramel flavour that the original version has due to the lack of crystal malt. Let's see how it is when it is carbed up. I pitched the yeast sunday evening, today is thursday evening, FG was aproximately reached yesterday (FG 1.012, slightly higehr than expexted but had also a slightly higher OG). Today the beer was still a little bit clowdy but this will settle in the bottle and speed up the carbonation .

 

[Miraculix]

So I am just having the first Chevallier only version of this Ale and compared to the original recipe, it is actually a bit disapointing. I mean overall it is a quaffable beer for sure, but it is lacking a bit of body and there is zero head on it. No foam at all, looks almost like a cider.

All the zeast attributes are there, marmelade etc. but the malt itself shows itself not that much.

I skipped the protein rest which was meant to increase head retention, on this one, but it also does not have any wheat or spelt in it, so we will not know which step actually resulted in the loss of head retention.

Actually, I think it would be nice to replace the MO from the original recipe with Chevallier malt, but keept everything, mash schedule included, the same. Maybe increase the total weight of Chevallier a bit, as it tends to not yield the same extract amount as MO does so it has to be compensated for this.

Now I got 26 bottles of a bitter without head but which tastes totally drinkable. Could be worse

 

[deere322]

From what I hear is that Chevalier changes over time when kegged or bottled.
You may have sampled a bit to early.
Give it time.

 

[Miraculix]

From what I hear is that Chevalier changes over time when kegged or bottled.
You may have sampled a bit to early.
Give it time.

Quick update on this one, had another one yesterday and this one was perfectly fine (except that it still doesn't have any head). It was probably just a bit green when I first tried it. Now everything is coming together and it actually had quite a nice mouthfeel for the fact that it is a sub 4 %abv beer. I guess with about ten percent wheat for the head it would be even better.

But taste wise it is very nice now. Let's say it has 90% of the niceness of the initial version.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Now everything is coming together and it actually had quite a nice mouthfeel for the fact that it is a sub 4 %abv beer. I guess with about ten percent wheat for the head it would be even better.

You could also use oat malt for good head.

Here's a Barclay Perkins link to what is probably the first commercial Oatmalt Stout: http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2012/06/lets-brew-wednesday-1909-maclays.html

Note: I have brewed it and a lower ABV version. Interesting. It's not in my regular rotation but I'll probably get to it again.

 

[Miraculix]

You could also use oat malt for good head.

Here's a Barclay Perkins link to what is probably the first commercial Oatmalt Stout: http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2012/06/lets-brew-wednesday-1909-maclays.html

Note: I have brewed it and a lower ABV version. Interesting. It's not in my regular rotation but I'll probably get to it again.

Oats don't increase head, that's a common misconception that I see quite often. They also do not increase mouthfeel, unless the amount used is ridiculously high. There is a nice article that sums it all up:

http://scottjanish.com/case-brewing-oats/

I really like the blog you linked to, I will probably brew one of the barley wines from there soon

 

[cyberbackpacker]

*Incredulous* Wow, that was the first time you've seen the barclayperkins blog? That is THE source for historic/traditional UK brewing info. It is amazing... careful as you go down that rabbit hole...

 

[Miraculix]

*Incredulous* Wow, that was the first time you've seen the barclayperkins blog? That is THE source for historic/traditional UK brewing info. It is amazing... careful as you go down that rabbit hole...

No no, I've already been reading there since ages, it's just one of my favorite blogs, together with Scott janish and larsblog.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Oats don't increase head, that's a common misconception that I see quite often. They also do not increase mouthfeel, unless the amount used is ridiculously high. There is a nice article that sums it all up:

http://scottjanish.com/case-brewing-oats/

I really like the blog you linked to, I will probably brew one of the barley wines from there soon

hmmm, interesting link. I'll take that Pepsi challenge and work on a side by side oat malt, flaked oats, no oats comparison. My impression was that oats added to mouth feel and head retention, but that might have all be confirmation bias.

My To Brew list from Shut Up is loooooooooong. And I've probably done two dozen so far, with a number of regular rotation keepers in the low gravity segment. Including a Whitbread 1930 AK with an IBU of 56 and ABV of just 2.4% (I can't find the link but have the recipe downloaded)

 

[kmarkstevens]

Found the link: this is pretty much one of the ultimate session beers of all time http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2011/08/lets-brew-wednesday-1930-whitbread-ak.html

 

[Miraculix]

Found the link: this is pretty much one of the ultimate session beers of all time http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2011/08/lets-brew-wednesday-1930-whitbread-ak.html

That surely looks really interesting. Does it have any head?

Please let me know how your experiments turn out. I did one a while ago with 3 beers, one all pale Maris otter, the same with 30% oats and then one with 30% flaked barley instead. In my experiments, none did anything to head retention and surprisingly also not to taste. The flaked barley one was cloudy, that was it.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

hmmm, interesting link. I'll take that Pepsi challenge and work on a side by side oat malt, flaked oats, no oats comparison. My impression was that oats added to mouth feel and head retention

The other thing is that aside from a very brief period when the government forced brewers to use oats in WWII, oats have never played a part in classic English bitters.

And to be honest, I think this whole race for "mouthfeel" is overdone. For one thing - making a bitter too "full" is missing the whole point, that it should slip down easily and not be too heavy. And also I'm quite sensitive to oats and I'm getting rather bored of "modern" beers that go heavy on oats and aren't given enough time before release to condition out the porridge flavour. It feels like oats are the new crystal, the thing that US brewers try to impose on British styles in place of just using a proper low-attenuation yeast, which is the main source of "mouthfeel" in British beers.

I'm not saying don't ever use oats, but I do feel they're being overdone right now.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

For software guided final beer color consideration, does anyone know the nominal EBC or Lovibond values that should be used in conjunction with Invert #1 and Lyle's Golden Syrup during recipe building? Or is there a color scale for all of the various numerical levels of Invert sugar?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

You can get an idea of the colour of golden syrup here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=golden+syrup&tbm=isch

Per http://www.unholymess.com/blog/beer-brewing-info/making-brewers-invert

• No1: 12-16 SRM, 25-35 EBC
• minimum 20min @ 240F, but not much longer and don’t want color to darken much. Time is merely to let inversion complete.
• No2: 30-35 SRM, 60-70 EBC
• total of 90-120 min @ 240F
• No3: 60-70 SRM, 120-140 EBC
• total of 150-210 min @ 240F.
  
  

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Many small (1 Pt. to 1 Qt.?) recipes for Invert Sugar call for adding a slice of lemon, but many claim that this imparts an odd flavor which is not present within commercial Invert Sugars. Would 1/2 gram of citric acid powder be the acid equivalent of a typical slice of lemon? And would this properly invert the sugar without adding any undesired lemon flavor?