British Golden Ale Miraculix Best - Classic English Ale

[Miraculix]

I brewed this one with dextrose instead of the syrup using 002. Best english beer I ever brewed. 74% attenuation.
Simple. Thick. Tasty.
I can only imagine how good it would be with the proper syrup.

Thanks! I'm glad that everybody likes this beer

I think using the pub yeast instead of 002 would have had even more impact than using the right syrup.

For the next time, one quick and dirty Jack that gets somehow closer to the syrup taste but does not get to complicated is the following:

Calculate the amount of sugar you need and use raw cane sugar (not the really dark one, only slightly brown-ish). Take that, some water to dissolve it and a slice of lemon without skin or pith, throw it all in a pot and Bill that add long as you mash plus boil the wort. Keep adding a bit of water of it gets too thick and don't burn it. You can also place it in the oven, once it's boiling. Remove the lemon after about one hour.

The liquid will darken in colour after some time and will develop interesting tastes. Throw it in at the end of the boil.

Not very scientific, not fancy-shmancy, but also no additional time needed and it gets you there

 

[kmarkstevens]

Miraculix, that's a pretty interesting hack for invert. Not sure what the color will be like, but the side by side simmering will result in some kind of invert...

The other hack is to put honey in the boil. Honey is 80-90 invert, and if it's in the boil, then any honey aromatics should boil off.

 

[Miraculix]

Miraculix, that's a pretty interesting hack for invert. Not sure what the color will be like, but the side by side simmering will result in some kind of invert...

The other hack is to put honey in the boil. Honey is 80-90 invert, and if it's in the boil, then any honey aromatics should boil off.

That's true, but the honey won't provide the flavour of the slightly caramelised sugars that the simmering method does. Try it and start tasting the syrup every now and then after half an hour of boiling, you will see that there are significant flavor changes happening (but be careful, it is hoooooot!!!).

 

[DBhomebrew]

I've had this recipe on my list for a while now. LHBS just restarted their quarterly Imperial group buy. One packet of 43 day old Pub is now in hand. Collecting water, weighing out grain, etc for tomorrow's brewing.

 

[Miraculix]

I've had this recipe on my list for a while now. LHBS just restarted their quarterly Imperial group buy. One packet of 43 day old Pub is now in hand. Collecting water, weighing out grain, etc for tomorrow's brewing.

Great! Let me know how it goes!

 

[DBhomebrew]

Great! Let me know how it goes!

Woke up this morning to my little assistant brewer* who's not feeling very well. Brew day postponed until Monday.

*See avatar.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Ok, another brew day in the books.

75% Crisp #19 floor-malted MO
5% Fawcett Crystal 65L
10% Torrified Wheat
10% Homemade Invert #2, pure cane, but not quite as dark as In The Raw

30m Challenger 6.3% 26IBU
10m EKG 4.7% 4IBU
0m EKG .5oz
0m Challenger .035oz, bottom of the bag, why not

This being my first time using wheat and wondering what it might do to help my beers' usual lack of foam, I chose to keep my usual process.

60m @ 153° then a room temp batch sparge

Strike/sparge volumes figured for equal runoffs. For this batch, mash thickness was 2.2qt/lb

I can already tell this is going to delicious. By the time it ferments out and bottle conditions our weather will be warming up and this is going to be perfect!

My assistant brewer also took a taste of the post-boil gravity sample and his eyes lit up. I warned him it was going to be bitter, but he didn't care. Crazy kid's favorite vegetables are roasted turnips.

After a cold water bath to bring it down to about 100°, it's now in the fermentation freezer to chill the rest of the way. Should be ready to pitch by the time assistant brewer's put to bed.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Ok, another brew day in the books.

75% Crisp #19 floor-malted MO
5% Fawcett Crystal 65L
10% Torrified Wheat
10% Homemade Invert #2, pure cane, but not quite as dark as In The Raw

30m Challenger 6.3% 26IBU
10m EKG 4.7% 4IBU
0m EKG .5oz
0m Challenger .035oz, bottom of the bag, why not

Looks like it should be a tasty bitter... what yeast did you go with?

 

[DBhomebrew]

Looks like it should be a tasty bitter... what yeast did you go with?

Well, it ain't Miraculix Best if it ain't Imperial Pub.

 

[DBhomebrew]

3.6 US gallons into the fermenter @ 1.040

Pitched at 62°F, low wattage heat will bring it up to 68 overnight.

They are not kidding about 'very high' flocc. I'd knead and shake it up and a moment later it was a big ol' glob again.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Straight from the package, very active fermentation with a full krausen within eight hours. I'm not sure how quick it was, I was sleeping. You gotta love Imperial's cell count.

 

[Miraculix]

Straight from the package, very active fermentation with a full krausen within eight hours. I'm not sure how quick it was, I was sleeping. You gotta love Imperial's cell count.

It is the best. I love that manufacturer to pieces!

You gonna love that wheat influence on the head

But you might run into some chill haze because of it. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't... It's a mystery!

 

[Miraculix]

Straight from the package, very active fermentation with a full krausen within eight hours. I'm not sure how quick it was, I was sleeping. You gotta love Imperial's cell count.

Oh, and you might want to consider a 20 minute mashout step at 77c. This one enhances head through the development of glycoproteins. Same with the 30min 72c step in a hochkurz mash.

This high temperature step in a mash is great for the head.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Oh, and you might want to consider a 20 minute mashout step at 77c. This one enhances head through the development of glycoproteins. Same with the 30min 72c step in a hochkurz mash.

This high temperature step in a mash is great for the head.

I'm sure I'll consider a more complex mash in the future, but for now I'm focusing on ingredients. This recipe doubles the invert and adds a healthy dose of wheat to my thus far typical bitter.

I mention my assistant brewer, but other than keeping my grain hopper full while milling, he's really less than helpful. I brew while taking care of him and the less attention the beer needs, the better.

 

[DBhomebrew]

40 hours post-pitch, krausen's dropped. Surface and airlock still a bubble bubble. I'll probably take a sample tomorrow morning.

Hmm... what to brew next? Maybe a KKKK.

 

[DBhomebrew]

60hrs post-pitch.

Visible fermentation has seriously slowed down. S-style airlock is at an absolute crawl.

Beer is very hazy throughout. Sparse, but regular CO2 bubbles rising to surface.

Yeast cake is pretty entertaining. Little stalagmites grow to about an inch high then throw a ball a few inches upwards into the beer before they fall back and rejoin the gelatinous cake.

Pulled a sample. 1.040--->1.013 I'm still hoping to get another 3-5 points.

It's tasting great. As expected, the rough bitterness straight from the kettle has smoothed out leaving balanced flavors from the late EKG and the MO shining through. Subtle fruit layered on top (dare I say a schmear of marmalade?), I'm excited to see how this develops.

Active fermentation was held at 68°, raised to 70° yesterday when the krausen dropped. Raised it again to 72°, will leave it here until it's done.

I should expect Pub to drop crystal clear like WY1968 when it's done, yes?

 

[Miraculix]

60hrs post-pitch.

Visible fermentation has seriously slowed down. S-style airlock is at an absolute crawl.

Beer is very hazy throughout. Sparse, but regular CO2 bubbles rising to surface.

Yeast cake is pretty entertaining. Little stalagmites grow to about an inch high then throw a ball a few inches upwards into the beer before they fall back and rejoin the gelatinous cake.

Pulled a sample. 1.040--->1.013 I'm still hoping to get another 3-5 points.

It's tasting great. As expected, the rough bitterness straight from the kettle has smoothed out leaving balanced flavors from the late EKG and the MO shining through. Subtle fruit layered on top (dare I say a schmear of marmalade?), I'm excited to see how this develops.

Active fermentation was held at 68°, raised to 70° yesterday when the krausen dropped. Raised it again to 72°, will leave it here until it's done.

I should expect Pub to drop crystal clear like WY1968 when it's done, yes?

Sounds good!

Yes, this one will be all clear. Five to ten days after pitching.

If you shake a bottle of the finished beer and then pour a glass with the yeast in suspension, it will settle in the glass within one or two minutes. This yeast flocculates extremely well.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Seven days post-pitch. Another sample.

Seems like we're bottoming out at about 1.012, definitely higher than I was expecting/hoping for. Every so often the cake will throw a ball up, so there's some activity, but with only a 0.2Bx drop over the last four days I'm not expecting much more at all. 70% attenuation with 10% sugar, wierd. Usually my attenuation is very close to BrewCipher prediction.

Taste-wise, I'm very happy. Very smooth, very subtle. I'm really looking forward to drinking a mug of this.

I'll probably get this bottled late this week, maybe early next. Either way, I should have a chilled bottle ready to go for May Day.

 

[Miraculix]

Seven days post-pitch. Another sample.

Seems like we're bottoming out at about 1.012, definitely higher than I was expecting/hoping for. Every so often the cake will throw a ball up, so there's some activity, but with only a 0.2Bx drop over the last four days I'm not expecting much more at all. 70% attenuation with 10% sugar, wierd. Usually my attenuation is very close to BrewCipher prediction.

Taste-wise, I'm very happy. Very smooth, very subtle. I'm really looking forward to drinking a mug of this.

I'll probably get this bottled late this week, maybe early next. Either way, I should have a chilled bottle ready to go for May Day.

This is a British yeast with a low attenuation, 70% is already at the higher end. Don't get hooked on the numbers, the taste is what counts.

Did you ever hear somebody say "wow, this beer tastes sooooo good, but unfortunately the final gravity ended up a few points higher then your calculator was expecting it to be so I really think this beer is actually not as good as it tastes."?

 

[DBhomebrew]

Oh, don't get me wrong. This beer's turning out just fine, I'm really looking forward to pulling a bottle from the fridge. Chasing predictability is just a secondary part of the hobby to keep me busy while the yeast do their work.

 

[Miraculix]

Oh, don't get me wrong. This beer's turning out just fine, I'm really looking forward to pulling a bottle from the fridge. Chasing predictability is just a secondary part of the hobby to keep me busy while the yeast do their work.

That's ok. I mean at the end, if you brew it again and get the same numbers, it'll be the calculator's fault .

 

[DBhomebrew]

That's ok. I mean at the end, if you brew it again and get the same numbers, it'll be the calculator's fault .

That's my approach, exactly.

 

[Miraculix]

That's my approach, exactly.

Btw. Speaking of brewing it again, I just brewed a beer with the verdant IPA dry yeast from lallemand and I can totally imagine this yeast with this beer. The verdant IPA is really good, much better then any English dry yeast I used before.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Btw. Speaking of brewing it again, I just brewed a beer with the verdant IPA dry yeast from lallemand and I can totally imagine this yeast with this beer. The verdant IPA is really good, much better then any English dry yeast I used before.

It's been on my radar. The first dozen or so beers I brewed were with LA3, everything from mild, bitter, brown, porter, strong, old...

No disappointment with it, I just wanted to try new things. From what I understand, Verdant is LA3 plus a little something extra. Kind of like Pub being 1968/02 with a little something extra.

So many yeasts, so many grains, so many hops. Too many permutations!!!

 

[DBhomebrew]

I just brewed a beer with the verdant IPA dry yeast

I'm following your AK thread. I'll likely brew it up in a couple of months for when the weather turns unbearably hot and humid.

 

[DBhomebrew]

All bottled up. Another update in a couple weeks.

Harvested two 1/2 pints of slurry. Time to make more wort.

 

[Miraculix]

All bottled up. Another update in a couple weeks.

Harvested two 1/2 pints of slurry. Time to make more wort.

Don't keep the slurry for too long. My past experience showed that pub does not keep that well over time. I had one batch that never started to ferment with just a few months old slurry. However, a few weeks to two months shouldn't be a problem. Or maybe just feeding it from time to time would also do the trick.

 

[DBhomebrew]

2-1/2 weeks at 70°F then a week in the fridge.

I hadn't heard the term "moreish" before seeing it in the OP of this thread. Must be a UK thing, because I subsequently saw Ron use it in a Shut Up post and then a gal on her baking blog describing her Nova Scotian oatcakes. Well, yeah, the 12oz bottle I chilled for this first sample went down right quick and I most definitely wanted...more.

Flavor, mouthfeel, sweet/dry exactly how Miraculix described it in the recipe post. I'm extremely pleased with the Pub, just a touch of something better than the 1968 in my previous bitter. I like the 10% wheat, I think it mellows out the floor malted MO I've got on hand. Nice and light yet still full-flavored, it's going to do really well as we head into summer.

Two things for me to look at.

1- The lower than expected attenuation. This one didn't quite hit 70% even with 10% invert. Yeah, I know, British yeast and all that. Except, after bottling this Miraculix Best, I brewed up a strong bitter and pitched a 1/3 of the Mx Best's slurry. That one, with only 5% invert, hit my software's expected 76%. I'm thinking before I brew again I'll check my thermometer. I mashed the Mx Best at 153°, the strong at 148°. A few degrees hotter on the strong's 148° wouldn't be big deal, but a few extra degrees on the Best's 153° would definitely push it into non-fermentable territory. [ETA: My thermometer proved to be reading about 1°F low raising mash temps ever so much.]

2- Head formation/retention or more accurately lack thereof. The 10% wheat helped, but the foam still isn't much to speak of. Maybe an 1/8" across the top that immediately withdrew to a slight ring around the edge. As I drank through the glass over maybe 15 minutes, an inch or so of light lacing followed the surface level on its way down. My usual process is a single infusion mash then a room temp dunk sparge. In practice, the first runnings typically get up to about 170 then it all drops down to 150 or so when I pour the seconds in. Next brew day I'll plan to add a mash out infusion before pulling the bag and heat up the sparge water to 170 as well.

So a couple process tweaks to figure out, but the recipe is undoubtedly tasty. Moreish, indeed.

 

[kmarkstevens]

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 want to know how this turns out. I've got 6 precious pounds of Chevalier, and want the "right" recipe for it to shine. I bought 10 pounds at a reasonable price, and then doubled the cost with shipping. Used 4# in a SMASH that is currently bottle conditioning. I'm about halfway thru a SMASH experiment with Chevalier, GP, MO, Pearl, Irish malt, and some kind of N American 2 row.

 

[Miraculix]

2-1/2 weeks at 70°F then a week in the fridge.

I hadn't heard the term "moreish" before seeing it in the OP of this thread. Must be a UK thing, because I subsequently saw Ron use it in a Shut Up post and then a gal on her baking blog describing her Nova Scotian oatcakes. Well, yeah, the 12oz bottle I chilled for this first sample went down right quick and I most definitely wanted...more.

Flavor, mouthfeel, sweet/dry exactly how Miraculix described it in the recipe post. I'm extremely pleased with the Pub, just a touch of something better than the 1968 in my previous bitter. I like the 10% wheat, I think it mellows out the floor malted MO I've got on hand. Nice and light yet still full-flavored, it's going to do really well as we head into summer.

Two things for me to look at.

1- The lower than expected attenuation. This one didn't quite hit 70% even with 10% invert. Yeah, I know, British yeast and all that. Except, after bottling this Miraculix Best, I brewed up a strong bitter and pitched a 1/3 of the Mx Best's slurry. That one, with only 5% invert, hit my software's expected 76%. I'm thinking before I brew again I'll check my thermometer. I mashed the Mx Best at 153°, the strong at 148°. A few degrees hotter on the strong's 148° wouldn't be big deal, but a few extra degrees on the Best's 153° would definitely push it into non-fermentable territory. [ETA: My thermometer proved to be reading about 1°F low raising mash temps ever so much.]

2- Head formation/retention or more accurately lack thereof. The 10% wheat helped, but the foam still isn't much to speak of. Maybe an 1/8" across the top that immediately withdrew to a slight ring around the edge. As I drank through the glass over maybe 15 minutes, an inch or so of light lacing followed the surface level on its way down. My usual process is a single infusion mash then a room temp dunk sparge. In practice, the first runnings typically get up to about 170 then it all drops down to 150 or so when I pour the seconds in. Next brew day I'll plan to add a mash out infusion before pulling the bag and heat up the sparge water to 170 as well.

So a couple process tweaks to figure out, but the recipe is undoubtedly tasty. Moreish, indeed.

The secret for good head lies in the step mash (also for attenuation). Best is 62/72/77c for 30/30/15 minutes. Still good is 65/77c for 60/20 minutes.

I want to know how this turns out. I've got 6 precious pounds of Chevalier, and want the "right" recipe for it to shine. I bought 10 pounds at a reasonable price, and then doubled the cost with shipping. Used 4# in a SMASH that is currently bottle conditioning. I'm about halfway thru a SMASH experiment with Chevalier, GP, MO, Pearl, Irish malt, and some kind of N American 2 row.

Wasn't as good as expected. There was something missing regarding flavour and also head retention wasn't at good as the other version. Maybe this works better with the 10% wheat.

 

[kmarkstevens]

I ended up going with 6# Chavallier, 1# invert, first gold/BX hops, Pub yeast and clarity ferm. Fermenting away nicely. Hydrometer sample is nice and seeing how the flavors develop

 

[DBhomebrew]

The secret for good head lies in the step mash (also for attenuation). Best is 62/72/77c for 30/30/15 minutes. Still good

Well, today I gave it a go. My very first multi-step mash.

I do BIAB in a simple pot so I attempted to hit each new step with infusions of a calculated volume of boiling water. My realized temps were 62/70/74. Not too bad for a first attempt.

I did notice an increase in efficiency. 82-->89%, putting my OG at 1.044 instead of 1.040.

The real assessment will be when I pour that first glass. Hopefully a nice layer of foam will assure me a more complicated brew day is worth it.

 

[Miraculix]

Well, today I gave it a go. My very first multi-step mash.

I do BIAB in a simple pot so I attempted to hit each new step with infusions of a calculated volume of boiling water. My realized temps were 62/70/74. Not too bad for a first attempt.

I did notice an increase in efficiency. 82-->89%, putting my OG at 1.044 instead of 1.040.

The real assessment will be when I pour that first glass. Hopefully a nice layer of foam will assure me a more complicated brew day is worth it.

It takes a few times to really dial it in, yours should be good!

 

[Miraculix]

Soooooo, next iteration of Miraculix' best is about to happen tonight.

I have a pack of pub in the fridge that got stuck in transit for over 1.5 months and all the rest is there as well. I might try using chevallier as the base malt while upping the mash temp to create less alcohol in the final beer while maintaining the taste.

Anyway, there's a chance that the yeast is dead. I will do a vitality starter over night, to see if I get activity. I do no chill anyway, so no additional time required for this.

If the yeast is not showing activity, I might get freaky and throw in lallemand abbaye instead. I have only kind of boring yeast alternatives flying around, so the choice is made based on the fact that this beer needs an expressive yeast. The obvious dry alternative would be verdant IPA, but I do not have any of it left.

So let's see what we will get here! Belgian Patersbeer or English bitter.

 

[corcis]

Nice!

The yeast is acually THE key ingredient in this recipe. So if you change the yeast, you'll get a completely different beer. Of course, your beer might also end up being a nice one. As long as the yeast produces loads of aromas it should be fine, just different obviously.


Let me know how it turns out please!

This was my return to homebrewing after a couple years, for the AHA Big Brew Day, and it was a fabulous one! I managed to pull off most of the brewing stuff without too many issues, except being without a hop spider or hop bags.

Wellllllllll... I should've gotten a packet of A09, dangit. A coworker offered up some A01, which was an easy decision, but I could've used a sachet of A09.

14lb Crisp Marris Otter
2lb Crisp C45L
1lb Torrified Wheat
1.25lb (two Squeezy bottles) Lyles Golden Syrup

Single-infusion mash. Thermometer was probably problematic, but it ranged from 145-149 in different zones, for 60 minutes.

@30 1oz Magnums with 12.5%AA
@30 1.5oz Goldings (region unspecified) with 5.6%AA
@10 1oz Goldings (region unspecified) with 5.6%AA
@0 1.5oz Goldings (region unspecified) with 5.6%AA

Grind was on the LHBS mill, single pass, so I figured it would be low-efficiency and was kinda wrong? I think I came out with 75% or 86% efficiency from my mash. I need to invest in software at some point, if I have that big a spread in numbers... that or a scale.

Diluted from 1.047 (including the invert) to 1.040 pre-boil and it wound up at 1.043 post-boil. I'm pretty happy I killed it with a by-eye dilution.

Produced around 11-12gal. Should probably throw the fermenters on the scale to get an idea. I'll probably rack it off, keg it up, carb it, and can it in the next Friday.

 

[Miraculix]

Soooooo, next iteration of Miraculix' best is about to happen tonight.

I have a pack of pub in the fridge that got stuck in transit for over 1.5 months and all the rest is there as well. I might try using chevallier as the base malt while upping the mash temp to create less alcohol in the final beer while maintaining the taste.

Anyway, there's a chance that the yeast is dead. I will do a vitality starter over night, to see if I get activity. I do no chill anyway, so no additional time required for this.

If the yeast is not showing activity, I might get freaky and throw in lallemand abbaye instead. I have only kind of boring yeast alternatives flying around, so the choice is made based on the fact that this beer needs an expressive yeast. The obvious dry alternative would be verdant IPA, but I do not have any of it left.

So let's see what we will get here! Belgian Patersbeer or English bitter.

It is in the fermenter. The pub woke up in the vitality starter after two hours and I didn't change the recipe much.

I just used bittering hops and one five minute Golding's addition. I also mashed higher with only two steps, first one around 68-69c, second one around 77c for mashout.

Og was a bit lower, 1.038. The wort tasted as expected. I used Simpsons heritage crystal with 180ebc, so the beer got a bit darker then the previous versions. Hopefully it will finish a bit higher, I try to limit the alcohol a bit.

Let's see!

 

[Miraculix]

I am drinking it now, two weeks after bottling. I now realised, I actually forgot to throw in the wheat... and I am not impressed. Head retention could be better and there is something missing regarding mouthfeel&creaminess. Otherwise, spot on!

It is the second time I am brewing it without the wheat, and each time I regreted it. Folks, do not leave the wheat out when brewing this!!

Edit: according to my notes, I used 7 % Spelt malt. Looks like that does not do the trick. Simple Spelt/Wheat flour is better.... I have to check the package, if I actually opened it or not. I cannot remember throwing it in. If I did, it did not do the job it was supposed to do..... I'll have a look.

Double edit: The Spelt bag is open, so I used it. Ok, spelt malt is officially not the thing for this beer! Use spelt flour instead!

 

[DBhomebrew]

You're a few hours ahead of me. I'll be opening the first bottle of my most recent best bitter bottled two weeks ago.

This one is the batch on which I attempted a multi-step mash for the first time. To isolate the major process change, I went back to my typical bitter grist. 85/5/10 MO/C65/invert.

Loving the Pub. I've got a 1845ish strong ale finishing up on a 3rd generation pitch. 7days into fermentation it's already delicious. Getting ready to brew an Optic/EKG/Pub AK next. Thanks for turning me on to this yeast.

 

[Miraculix]

You're a few hours ahead of me. I'll be opening the first bottle of my most recent best bitter bottled two weeks ago.

This one is the batch on which I attempted a multi-step mash for the first time. To isolate the major process change, I went back to my typical bitter grist. 85/5/10 MO/C65/invert.

Loving the Pub. I've got a 1845ish strong ale finishing up on a 3rd generation pitch. 7days into fermentation it's already delicious. Getting ready to brew an Optic/EKG/Pub AK next. Thanks for turning me on to this yeast.

That sounds like a solid base recipe! Basically identical to mine, except for the adittional 5% unmalted wheat or spelt (spelt flour would do). Try it, it adds something to the creaminess and head.

If you like pub, try also Verdant IPA, that dry yeast is the bomb. First dry yeast that actually tastes like a good British strain. Stays cloudy a bit longer, but once settled, it sits at the bottom of the bottle like a rock. Next time I am brewing this recipe here, I am going to try it with Verdant IPA instead of Pub.

 

[Miraculix]

Update 2:

My previous bottle must have been infected. This one is totally different, tastes much better and the head stays. So spelt malt is ok at last . Not perfect, but ok. Next time I'll be using good old spelt or wheat flour again.