Old Speckled Hen.

[Dude]

I really do like those Whirlfloc tabs, I must say. All my brews that I've used them in seem so clean and clear looking right from the start.

I agree. I think they work better than irish moss. Part of that might be because one tablet is good for 10 gallons, so I'm adding twice as much irish moss as I used to.

 

[Blender]

Orfy
I had one of these Speckled Hens last weekend and enjoyed it a lot. I love the story on how the name came to be. What exactly is Lyle's Golden Syrup? What would be a good substitute? I might try to make this in the near future.

 

[disaffected]

Blender, orfy posted about Lyle's Golden Syrup in this Invert Sugar thread.

I also explained how I brewed orfy's recipe for OSH using American measurements and substituting Karo and molasses for Lyle's Golden Syrup and substituting Turbinado sugar for Demerara. See post number 26 in orfy's previous Old Speckled Hen thread.

I'm about to rack it to secondary, probably this coming Saturday.

 

[Orfy]

How's this coming along?

I am definitely going to make his one of my regulars along with my Boddington's and Hobgoblin.
They make up a good threesome.

 

[disaffected]

I'm a lazy brewer, orfy, but I think it improves the quality of my beer anyway. I haven't racked to secondary yet, but I will later tonight. That'll be 19 days in primary, which isn't unusual for me.

Then I always go a minimum of three weeks in secondary before bottling. That's the two week rule plus a week of sloth.

Three weeks bottle conditioning, though, that's it. Once it's in the bottles I start getting impatient!

 

[Orfy]

Yeh, If I'm on a mission I'll go 3-5 in primary 7 in secondary, 14 to condition and I'm in and can demolish it in 2 weeks.
Thats Born and Died in around 6 weeks.

If I'm busy, am enjoy in what I have then it can easily be 3 months before I look at it. My hob goblin is in secondary and I brewed before Christmas.
I will keg it this weekend and drink it in around 3 weeks time.

 

[RichBrewer]

My local liquor store had some Old Speckled Hen for sale. I almost bought some but it was $9 a six pack.

 

[Orfy]

That's a lot cheaper than here.
It's around £1.50 a bottle, $18 for six.

 

[RichBrewer]

That's a lot cheaper than here.
It's around £1.50 a bottle, $18 for six.

Oh my... I might have to just try a sixer. Half the price here in the States? What's up with that? Something to do with British taxation on alcohol?

 

[disaffected]

I racked to secondary today. My OG was 1.057 and my FG was a surprisingly high 1.020. I wonder what would cause that? Target was 1.013. One of my other recent brews dropped another .003 in secondary, so maybe this one will drop a bit more too.

Anyway, it looks good and it tastes excellent, and I think it's going to be a really good brew. That little bit of harsh bitterness that I reported on brew day is already gone.

I'll taste it again when I bottle in about three weeks, but I'll wait until it has bottle conditioned for three weeks before I compare it to Moreland's OSH.

 

[Spoonta]

im going to give this i a crack mate keep up the good work mate

 

[BierMuncher]

Orfy, could an Old Speckled Hen brewed this weekend be ready to serve in say...oh...um...5-6 weeks?

 

[Orfy]

Speaking of which and totally

Orfy, could an Old Speckled Hen brewed this weekend be ready to serve in say...oh...um...5-6 weeks?

Use irish moss
5 days in the fermenter (if it's done) should be.
10 Days in secondary drop in some finings and leave for 2 days
rack, force carb if you must.
Leave a couple of weeks to mellow.

So I'd say 5-6 weeks real easy.

 

[Orfy]

I've just updated the recipe (under my Avatar) to Partial mash and Steep and grain in US measurements.

 

[DAAB]

Orfy, could an Old Speckled Hen brewed this weekend be ready to serve in say...oh...um...5-6 weeks?

As a rule of thumb, for English ales at least, it will be at it's peak after 1 week for every 10 points of gravity and you can take this time from when the gravity is stable. It's unlikely that Greene King allow this sort of maturation period though. In a pub with a high turnover you could see it on tap in 3-4 weeks from the time it was mashed.

 

[BierMuncher]

I’d planned on posting this to Orfy’s recipe thread but it’s locked down.

This is a fantastic beer. If you’re looking for a break from your normal APA and want to try a different recipe, check into this one.

I know Orfy’s recipe is posted, but here the “Yank’d up” version for those of you to lazy…er…uh…busy to convert it. I did modify it a bit with some biscuit malt but this is dang close.

*******
Batch Size: 11.75 gal
Boil Size: 14.55 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 8.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 44.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
15.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 71.4 %
1.50 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 7.1 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.8 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.8 %
3.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50%] (60 min) Hops 40.0 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.50%] (15 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
0.66 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (5 min) Hops 0.9 IBU
2.00 lb Invert Sugar (0.0 SRM) Sugar 9.5 %
0.50 lb Dememera Sugar (2.0 SRM) Sugar 2.4 %
Nottingham slurry from prior weeks brew.
*******
I mashed this at 165 degrees and the malt profile is crazy good. This is a beer that should be poured at around 45-50 degrees and low carbonation.

I keep me kegs at around 37 and all are carb’d pretty much the same…so I ended up drawing a pint, setting it aside for about 15 minutes and then re-pouring into another glass and it was perfect.

 

[Soulive]

You mashed at 165F? Is that a typo? It looks good in the pic...

 

[Orfy]

Thanks BM.

I'm glad you liked it.

I'll add your version to the recipe thread.

 

[BierMuncher]

You mashed at 165F? Is that a typo? It looks good in the pic...

Yep. Trust me...I was nervous, but it's not uncommon for the English beers to mash that high to keep them malty. I beleive it's the 170 mark where you run into trouble.

 

[Soulive]

Yep. Trust me...I was nervous, but it's not uncommon for the English beers to mash that high to keep them malty. I beleive it's the 170 mark where you run into trouble.

Cool, maybe I'll try like 160F some time. I've never been over 158F yet...

 

[Orfy]

Cool, maybe I'll try like 160F some time. I've never been over 158F yet...

Have faith, let the force be with you.

 

[Soulive]

Have faith, let the force be with you.

Orfy, do you mash below 154F for any beers? I brew mostly British ales and have been mashing from 150F-156F...

 

[Orfy]

Orfy, do you mash below 154F for any beers? I brew mostly British ales and have been mashing from 150F-156F...

No.
I like malty beers and don't like 1008's I sulk if it gets below 1010.
I tend to use 155°F as a base.

 

[Soulive]

No.
I like malty beers and don't like 1008's I sulk if it gets below 1010.
I tend to use 155°F as a base.

Wow, maybe I'll stop going below 154F then. That could've been a problem I've been overlooking. Cheers...

 

[cd2448]

Has anyone brewed the orfy extract recipe? or any other steep/extract version? I'm a good distance from all grain but I love this beer and would very much like to take a run at it.

Has anyone successfully subbed for the lyle's golden syrup?

 

[cd2448]

no takers? well someone bought me over a couple of tins of lyle's golden syrup so i'm off to the lhbs to get the rest of the pm stuff together. i had some old speckled hen in the henry street alehouse in brooklyn last week, so i know what the real stuff tastes like. i'll get back to you dudes when i get my first taste of the orfy pm version.

 

[cd2448]

Just in case anyone looks for this later - the PM went pretty well, and although I had to sub Safale 04 for the Nottingham, I'm pretty much at the FG after 5 days. Hydro sample taste is excellent, definitely close to OSH, could it be the lyle's? My LHBS had no Northern Brewer either so I had to sub some Admirals for that

 

[BierMuncher]

Just in case anyone looks for this later - the PM went pretty well, and although I had to sub Safale 04 for the Nottingham, I'm pretty much at the FG after 5 days. Hydro sample taste is excellent, definitely close to OSH, could it be the lyle's? My LHBS had no Northern Brewer either so I had to sub some Admirals for that

Sounds like it turned out good. It's a unique beer to be sure.

I'd suggest that once it's carb'd and ready to serve, pour it aggressively to knock down some carbonation and let the glass site for 4-5 minutes to warm just a bit.

Those English ales are low carbonated and served at "cellar" temperature. THey taste better that way too.

 

[Spoonta]

good brew i did the og a will back

 

[ozzyatfrbrich]

Hi all. I'm new to homebrew and my first attempt will be an OSH mid Feb '08. First post and a couple questions. So, when do you add the Lyle's and Dememera sugar? Or are they used for priming? Thanks!