Old Speckled Hen.

[Diablo]

Message deleted

 

[Palefire]

Apologies for bumping up a year-old thread, but I've got a little hop question on this one...

I'm really interested in making this, and while I have a bunch of hops in the freezer, I have neither Northern Brewer nor EKG. So how do people think this recipe would come out if I used, say, Galena for bittering and Willamette for the flavor/aroma (adjusting for AA%, of course)?

I'm sure the answer is something like "it won't be exactly the same beer, but it'll probably be great anyway; just go for it," but I'm just wondering how far off the original these subs'll take me.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Orfy]

You read my mind

mMaybe some one can give you first hand experience with suitable substitutes.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Hey, is Dememera Sugar the same as Demerara Sugar?

 

[BierMuncher]

Hey, is Dememera Sugar the same as Demerara Sugar?

Yes. But Demerara sugar is harder to come by making it....rara. :cross:

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Don't quite your day job!

 

[Palefire]

Just finished brewing this a few hours ago! My f'in thermometer got all wacky so I'm not sure what my mash temp was (somewhere between 150-155, I'm pretty sure) - my OG was 1.055 (expected 1.052) so who knows. Used Galena and Willamette cause that's what I had, and I didn't feel like spending more money on hops. But earlier this week I did find a British Import store right near me that carried Lyle's Golden Syrup. I had to use the whole tin in the beer, but I may just go back and get some for personal use after taking a little taste ... mmm ... syrup...

Hydro sample was pretty awesome. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

[Palefire]

Just bottled after ~4 weeks in primary ... man, the whole kitchen smelled like caramel. Mmmm. Have a pretty decent stock right now, so I should be able to go at least 4 weeks before drinking it. I'm super excited.

Oh, it ended at 1.009. Lower than I had hoped for, but when I mashed my thermometer was all wacky jacky, so I must have mashed at a lower temp than planned. Oh well. So it's going to be a 6% ABV. A bit stronger than a session brew, but I have a feeling that these'll be so good that I'll want to make sure all my friends get a bottle or two.

 

[osodonoso]

I'm about to try my hand at brewing for the first time, and decided to go with the extract version of this recipe.

I have everything that I need to brew this clone EXCEPT for the Lyle's. I bought 7 lbs. of extract but spaced on getting the Lyle's (mostly because I'm giddy about trying this!)

Going back to the Brew Hut isn't a problem, but I was wondering about two things:
1. What would be the effect of skipping the Lyle's completely?
2. What would be the effect of using all 7 pounds of extract AND Lyle's?

I'm assuming that skipping the Lyle's would mean a less 'caramel' final product, and that using all 7 pounds of extract plus the Lyle's would result in a closer clone with a higher final ABV.

Any thoughts?

 

[kappajoe]

The Lyle's is not a caramel syrup type product (it has 0 SRM color).. It is basically partially converted cane sugar.

I would just use table sugar in place of Lyle's Golden Syrup if you are ready to brew.... or make your own golden syrup.

 

[osodonoso]

Thanks for the advice, kappajoe.

Adding the extra LME and mashing the Crystal 60 made the ABV approximately 6.5%. A little higher than I was hoping for, but for a n00b experiment, I'll take it.

I also realized that I did a really crummy job of letting the wort settle before putting it in my primary, so my end product will be fairly cloudy, I'm afraid. Racked to secondary today.

At any rate, I'll post again in 4-5 weeks, after this brew has been bottled for a couple of weeks.

 

[osodonoso]

So, I've had this bottled for two weeks now. It keeps getting better and better.

Earlier samples had a much fruitier/butterier flavor, but the yeast seems to have cleaned up after itself quite a bit.

I'll have to go pick up some of the original in a few weeks to compare. Either way, this turned out great and I'm looking forward to tasting how well it ages.

 

[steveomel]

Orfy
I've gotta tell you, although as you can see I'm a noob to posting, like the rest I'm constantly seeking beer knowledge and tripped across this thread.

Having gotten the chance while in England to try OSH drawn from a keg in Chester, specifically at the "Frog & Nightingale", I can attest to how amazing this beer is! Went great with their delicious yorky pudding.

I was so happy with the OSH, I went to the nearest grocery store around my hotel and bought a bottle, then brought it back in the luggage for the family to try. To my dismay, however, the bottled OSH tasted like what I'd imagine a 50 year old unwashed bar rag would taste like. I was truly disappointed in not being able to share my beer happiness.

Now though, thanks to your recipes, I will be able to attempt to recreate this wonderful brew... and luckily even if I am way off, my brother's heading over there soon, so I'll be able to have him try OSH 'spot on'.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of beer and England, what is it called when someone has a Carlsberg with 1/2 lemonade in it? I can't blame them, personally I think it's a horrible beer and it can use whatever help it can get!

Cheers for the recipes!

 

[Orfy]

Shandy.

Happy to oblige.

 

[steveomel]

Ah right, thanks! If I could trouble you once more on beer trivia, this one's regarding Guiness in Europe.

One of the drafts of Guiness over there taste infinitely better than any I've had in the states. It was deliciously smooth with vanilla tones, and I haven't been able to put my finger on it as to which it was... I'm hoping you might know which type it was off hand. I had just gotten back from an extremely long day of work and ordered room service that night, and did not get to see which exact guiness it was.

If you think i'm 'irish' and have no idea what i'm talking about, no problem either.

Thanks again Orfy

 

[Orfy]

There are all sorts of reasons you'll never get a Guinness like you have had in Ireland.

One is that it lacks the Craik.

For other reasons read here for some starters

 

[steveomel]

Great article!!
Wow I did not realize the differences in alchohol content, even between Ireland and England. Actually I got to have that brew near the 'admired' town of Grimsby in England... so my brew must have been in the 4% range.

I did some searching around but could not pin point what 'Craik' is... is this referring to the water used to make the beer?

 

[Orfy]

It's the atmosphere, the banter, the people and the place. The "Moment"

 

[osodonoso]

Brewed another batch of this stuff a week ago. Didn't have any Lyle's (nor did the three closest Whole Foods / World Markets) so I subbed in 1 cup of molasses / 5 gal batch.

I put the wort on a WLP001 yeast cake that had just finished fermenting a vanilla porter.

Took a gravity reading of the OSH tonight and it is shockingly good. I feel like the molasses adds a bit more of the earthy note I detect in the real deal.

At any rate - I wouldn't shy away from using treacle or molasses instead of inverted syrups - your mileage may vary.

 

[Meddle]

I'm a n00b making an attempt at the Extract and Steep recipe. I went to the LHBS for the ingredients and there they mentioned that 2.4 oz of Northern Brewer seems like quite a bit for Old Speckled Hen. Has anyone else made the extract recipe or can it be confirmed that 2.4 oz is correct? Thanks in advance and sorry for the rookie question.

 

[Meddle]

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the AAU of the 60 minute addition of Northern Brewer is 20.4. Is that high for an English Pale Ale?

 

[BierMuncher]

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the AAU of the 60 minute addition of Northern Brewer is 20.4. Is that high for an English Pale Ale?

Nope. Actually a bit on the low side...but OSH leans to the sweeter side of things if I recall.

 

[Meddle]

I brewed the extract and steep version tonight. I made a boneheaded mistake - instead of throwing in the East Kent Goldings at 15 and 5 minutes, I put them in at 30 minutes and 15 minutes. No idea why. Total brain freeze I guess. Not sure what exactly that means for the beer, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Orfy]

I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[CanadianNorth]

just dropped a 2 gallon tester of this in the keg last night.

A+

I was dead on with the O.G and F.G., for once.
Can't wait to make the full batch!!!

 

[jeffmeh]

I am going to try a version of this as my first all-grain, and I will be using Brew In A Bag (BIAB). I will also no-chill, but I have been doing that with extract batches already.

As another first for me, I put the recipe I am going to use into Beer Smith. It is a derivation of Biermuncher's "Yankified" recipe, scaled down to 5 gallons, that I am naming Venerable Snipe Ale. Beer Smith does not appear to support BIAB as a mashing method, so I put in the full water volume as a mash-in and zero volume as a step for a single infusion mash with no mash-out. It also does not appear to support calculating the IBUs for a no-chill hop schedule, so I used the handy spreadsheet based upon Pol's adjustment schedule and put the adjustments into the Beer Smith notes. If anyone knows whether there is a better way to do this in Beer Smith, or whether Beer Smith plans to release a version that will support this, please let me know.

As this is a full-volume BIAB, I plan to start with about 9.25 gallons, losing about 3.75 gallons to absorption, evaporation (90 minute boil), and whatever I do not drain from the kettle, for about 5.25 gallons into the fermenter. I found this spreadsheet to estimate this. I also converted all of the factors in the formulas from metric to English, so if anyone is interested, let me know.

I am going to mash at 156F for 70 minutes and a ramp-up to 168F for 20 minutes. This is lower than Biermuncher's recipe, but from what I have read this seems to be at the high-end of what is recommended for BIAB. It will be interesting to see how it turns out regarding mouth-feel and maltiness. I tend to prefer my ales a bit drier and higher ABV anyway.

I would appreciate any feedback and suggestions on the plan. Many thanks.


BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Venerable Snipe Ale
Brewer: Big Slap Brewing Co
Asst Brewer:
Style: Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (0.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 8.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 9.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 47.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.00 lb Lyle's Golden Syrup [Boil for 15 min] Extract 9.52 %
7.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 71.43 %
0.75 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 7.14 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
1.25 oz Northern Brewer [8.10 %] (60 min) Hops 38.6 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.20 %] (15 min) Hops 6.8 IBU
0.33 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.20 %] (5 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
0.25 lb Demerara Sugar (2.0 SRM) Sugar 2.38 %
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 9.25 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 37.00 qt of water at 159.8 F 156.0 F
20 min Step Add 0.00 qt of water at 168.0 F 168.0 F


Notes:
------
Hop Adjustment for No-Chill:
- 0.5 oz. EKG First Wort Hop (Mash In + 50 minutes, outside of bag)
- 1.25 oz. Northern Brewer at 40 min (Boil + 50 minutes)
- 0.33 oz. EKG Dry Hop


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[jeffmeh]

When should one add the invert sugar syrup and the demerara sugar? Do these go into the boil or the fermenter, and when? Thanks.

 

[Revvy]

Well after several years and a couple tries I finally got my hands on an un-skunked bottle of it. This was going to be a "third Strike you're out" third, but a place that has mixed sixers had some in the fridge, so I grabbed one...from the back of the row.

I am so glad I did. I can now see what you and other Brits have raved about the beer. It was a perfect session beer, nicely balanced, and even though it was balanced, you still got a nice malty taste.

That bottle was enough to get me to re-visited this recipe. I am going to give it a try, I might even brew it on May first during the Big Brew Day.

Thanks!!!

 

[SumnerH]

Well after several years and a couple tries I finally got my hands on an un-skunked bottle of it. This was going to be a "third Strike you're out" third, but a place that has mixed sixers had some in the fridge, so I grabbed one...from the back of the row.

I am so glad I did. I can now see what you and other Brits have raved about the beer. It was a perfect session beer, nicely balanced, and even though it was balanced, you still got a nice malty taste.

That bottle was enough to get me to re-visited this recipe. I am going to give it a try, I might even brew it on May first during the Big Brew Day.

Thanks!!!

I've never seen Old Speckled Hen in bottles. It's available in nitro draft cans similar to Guinness cans at a few places around here (Alexandria, VA), and on tap at several area bars.

 

[suprchunk]

I've never seen Old Speckled Hen in bottles. It's available in nitro draft cans similar to Guinness cans at a few places around here (Alexandria, VA), and on tap at several area bars.

I've seen it in both manners and prefer the bottles. It is really not as good I would have hoped though, and prefer Hen's Tooth (even if it is labeled as a strong ale, which it is not that much more ABV than the Speckled). Now if I could find them casked then I would spend all night comparing.