Your favourite AK recipe?

[Miraculix]

I am finally getting around to this pack of A09 Pub! I have my starter going now and I plan to brew one of these 2 recipes this week. I adapted the Mild recipe from one Bramling Cross posted earlier in the thread and the Best Bitter recipe is another variation of one I've been constantly working on. Great stuff in this thread!

11-B Best Bitter

Size: 5.25 gal
Efficiency: 81.0%
Attenuation: 76.0%

Original Gravity: 1.046
Terminal Gravity: 1.011
Color: 13.69 SRM *
Alcohol: 4.54%
Bitterness: 32.6

Ingredients:
6 lb (75.1%) Maris Otter
.75 lb (9.4%) Crystal Malt 20°L
.25 lb (3.1%) Aromatic Malt (Amber 50)
.25 lb (3.1%) Cara-aroma®
1.75 oz (1.4%) Acidulated Malt **
10 oz (7.8%) Light Brown Sugar - boiled 20 m

.75 oz (33.3%) First Gold (9.2%) - 60 m
.25 oz (11.1%) Challenger (6.3%) - 50 m
1.25 oz (55.6%) East Kent Goldings (4.5%) - 10 m

1.0 ea Imperial Yeast A09 Pub

* I don't think this will be as dark as predicted. BeerTools scores Light Brown Sugar way too dark based on experience with previous recipes.

** I use Acid malt to adjust mash ph based on my water report.

--- OR ---

13-A Dark Mild

Size: 5.25 gal
Efficiency: 81.0%
Attenuation: 76.0%

Original Gravity: 1.040
Terminal Gravity: 1.010
Color: 16.36 SRM
Alcohol: 3.95%
Bitterness: 22.8

Ingredients:

5.5 lb (68.4%) Maris Otter
.75 lb (10.3%) Wheat Flaked
.75 lb (10.3%) Cara-aroma®
.25 lb (3.4%) Crystal Malt 120°L
1 oz (0.9%) Acidulated Malt *

.5 oz (28.6%) First Gold (9.2%) - 90 m
.5 oz (28.6%) East Kent Goldings (4.5%) - 15 m
.75 oz (42.9%) Fuggle (2.9%) - 5 m

Imperial Yeast A09 Pub

* I use the Acid malt to adjust mash ph based on my water report

I prefer bitter to milds, but in this case, the bitter recipe looks too busy for me. How about narrowing it down to 3 ingredients? 5% crystal, 10% simple sugar, rest pale malt. If you want, add 5% to 10% wheat/flaked barley for head and remove the same amount from the pale malt.

Why two crystal malts in the dark mild? In my experience, there is no benefit from that, one darker one is plenty. If this does not give you the flavour you want, better choose another crystal, instead of adding other crystal malts. But that's just me. I honestly forgot my crystal completely in my last dark mild (damn you drinking homebrew while brewing homebrew rule!!!), I can honestly say, that was not enough crystal at the end

 

[schmurf]

I don't mind blending two crystal malts, but then one light - one darker... I'm not sure about cara-aroma but looking it up it seems more or less like crystal 120 so I agree with @Miraculix.

 

[Gus_13]

Okay now after reading this I'm going to have to pick up some Chevallier. Also got to brew an AK. I love Ron's blog. This thread has been such a great read.

 

[Miraculix]

Okay now after reading this I'm going to have to pick up some Chevallier. Also got to brew an AK. I love Ron's blog. This thread has been such a great read.

That is the best malt ever. At least for English beers. Something really simple would be best. OG 1.042. Only Chevallier plus 5-10% medium invert (could be left out). Goldings or Saaz or Mittelfrüh for every addition. 30 Ibus, 3/4 of the ibus early addition, 1/4 of the Ibus as a 10 Minute late addition. Small or no dry hop. I prefer no dry hop for this type of beer. The malt shall have all the space! Pub or the English yeast of your choice (not verdant, too fruity for this) and that will be good!

 

[kmarkstevens]

I humbly suggest trying this Machine House Mild: Machine House Mild Clong | Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

I think the Baird's specialty grains really make this one. I did about 20 tries before my experience, talking with the brewer and having his recipe finally dialed this one in. If you ever visit Seattle, Machine House Brewery is just a few miles from Seatac Airport, and well worth the pilgrimage. They serve using beer engines and proper cellar temperatures.

 

[eshea3]

That is the best malt ever. At least for English beers. Something really simple would be best. OG 1.042. Only Chevallier plus 5-10% medium invert (could be left out). Goldings or Saaz or Mittelfrüh for every addition. 30 Ibus, 3/4 of the ibus early addition, 1/4 of the Ibus as a 10 Minute late addition. Small or no dry hop. I prefer no dry hop for this type of beer. The malt shall have all the space! Pub or the English yeast of your choice (not verdant, too fruity for this) and that will be good!

Just finished off my first 5 gallons of my Yorkshire bitter which I did with Chevalier. I have two observations. First, I would add more hops than I would use with a more modern malt like MO or GP. Brewfather Tinseth IBU was about 35 and I felt the hop character was muted. Second, the beer seemed to get better with some age on it. Got some lovely marmelade notes even though I fermented with 1469. Going to be doing a second batch in the next few days.

 

[Miraculix]

Just finished off my first 5 gallons of my Yorkshire bitter which I did with Chevalier. I have two observations. First, I would add more hops than I would use with a more modern malt like MO or GP. Brewfather Tinseth IBU was about 35 and I felt the hop character was muted. Second, the beer seemed to get better with some age on it. Got some lovely marmelade notes even though I fermented with 1469. Going to be doing a second batch in the next few days.

Yes, I can confirm your observations, I experienced the same. The problem with the the Ibu Calculations is, that they are based on OG which is mainly based on sugars in solution. But the limiting factor in wort for the alpha isomerisation is not the sugar itself, but the proteins that are also going into solution. Usually, the protein amounts per gravitypoint are fairly equal in our grists, unles we use big amounts of adjuncts or "special" grains like chevallier. Chevallier contains higher amounts of amino acids, meaning that a 1.04 OG wort made with maris otter or similar modern barley variety, will allow for more alpha isomerization than the same OG wort made with chevallier. So the calculators are overestimating ibu isomerization in Chevallier wort und underestimating it in worts with a lot of corn or simple sugars in it.

Regarding aging, I also found that the beer was best after two or three months. My Chevallier barleywine from last year is still getting better, it is now about 9 months old, but has 11% abv or more.

 

[eshea3]

Yes, I can confirm your observations, I experienced the same. The problem wit the the Ibu Calculations is, that they are based on OG which is mainly based on sugars in solution. But the limiting factor in wort for the alpha isomerisation is not the sugar itself, but the proteins that are also going into solution. Usually, the protein amounts per gravitypoint are fairly equal in our grists, unles we use big amounts of adjuncts or "special" grains like chevallier. Chevallier contains higher amounts of amino acids, meaning that a 1.04 OG wort made with maris otter or similar modern barley variety, will allow for mor alpha isomerization than the same OG wort made with chevallier. So the calculators are overestimating ibu isomerization in Chevallier wort und underestimating it in worts with a lot of corn or simple sugars in it.

Regarding aging, I also found that the beer was best after two or three months. My Chevallier barleywine from last year is still getting better, it is now about 9 months old now, but has 11% abv or more.

Thanks for that information. Going to make some adjustment to the hop quantities and looking forward to this next batch.

 

[Miraculix]

Thanks for that information. Going to make some adjustment to the hop quantities and looking forward to this next batch.

My gut feeling says, add 10-15% more bittering hops. Depending on the OG, if it is a higher OG, I would probably even add 20%.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Gary Gillman delves further into the meaning of AK, and concludes the K was for "keeping" - but by the consumer rather than at the brewery. It was an indication of a beer that was stable enough that it could be kept even over the summer.

https://www.beeretseq.com/a-k-in-english-beer-history-another-look/

 

[Witherby]

My most recent AK with Maris Otter, corn grits and invert sugar fermented with Imperial Pub. Drinks like a session English IPA. Great hop flavor from a 1 ounce dry hop of whole hop Goldings added at racking.

Sadly the second batch I brewed with Chevallier got infected.

 

[Gusso]

My most recent AK with Maris Otter, corn grits and invert sugar fermented with Imperial Pub. Drinks like a session English IPA. Great hop flavor from a 1 ounce dry hop of whole hop Goldings added at racking.

View attachment 764512

Sadly the second batch I brewed with Chevallier got infected.

Nice Beer! After 15+ years of brewing without an infection, I recently had 3! 3! I did ad deep clean on my fermenters with starsan, iodophor, and finally bleach. I did a batch last week and it went fine. Hopefully, those dirty critters are gone.

 

[Witherby]

Nice Beer! After 15+ years of brewing without an infection, I recently had 3! 3! I did ad deep clean on my fermenters with starsan, iodophor, and finally bleach. I did a batch last week and it went fine. Hopefully, those dirty critters are gone.

On that second batch I did two things I never do—I racked the chilled wort directly onto the yeast cake from the previous batch. And I got that yeast from a friend in my homebrew club who brews a lot of sour beer. Fortunately I was using my Anvil stainless bucket to ferment in so it is easy to clean and completely disassemble.

 

[Miraculix]

On that second batch I did two things I never do—I racked the chilled wort directly onto the yeast cake from the previous batch. And I got that yeast from a friend in my homebrew club who brews a lot of sour beer. Fortunately I was using my Anvil stainless bucket to ferment in so it is easy to clean and completely disassemble.

That is a pitty because the Chevallier one would have been marvelous for sure.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Just as a headsup for those who can get to Seattle towards the end of this month, Foggy Noggin in Bothell have Ron Pattinson for a tasting of AKs, followed a week later by John Keeling with a tasting of Fuller's core beers against the Foggy equivalents.

https://us18.campaign-archive.com/?u=272b636bd3b53a447213ef6b5&id=9f213cea56http://foggynogginbrewing.blogspot.com/2022/06/fullers-brewery-vs-foggy-noggin-brewing.htmlhttp://www.foggynogginbrewing.com/

 

[Beer History Bloke]

Oh, finally!!
I've been a subscriber of his blog, brewed some nice vintage recipes from there, and was really upset when his blog suddenly stopped updating.
I even went to TheHomeBrewForum.co.uk to enquire what happened to the guy. They said he was busy with some new project and it was nice to know as I was starting to worry (lost too much familiar people to The Plague, so was assuming the worst).
Resubscribed to the new blog!

Thanks Protos ,
I`ve been beavering away at the first book ; of which I`ve just completed the first draft ;
Cheers
Edd

 

[kmarkstevens]

Just as a headsup for those who can get to Seattle towards the end of this month, Foggy Noggin in Bothell have Ron Pattinson for a tasting of AKs, followed a week later by John Keeling with a tasting of Fuller's core beers against the Foggy equivalents.

https://us18.campaign-archive.com/?u=272b636bd3b53a447213ef6b5&id=9f213cea56http://foggynogginbrewing.blogspot.com/2022/06/fullers-brewery-vs-foggy-noggin-brewing.htmlhttp://www.foggynogginbrewing.com/[/USER]

I may be forced to attend John Keeling's Fuller's session. Ronnie I think I will join the Machine House Brewing Mild session instead of Foggy Bottom

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Reviving an old thread, I've read through it and also read Ron's AK and have a sort of late 1800's/early 1900's inspired recipe.

For a ~21L post boil 85%eff batch

Chevalier as base
7% flaked maize
15% Invert 2

Mash 60c/15min 69c/90min

90min boil
EKG 45g 60min
EKG 30g 30min
EKG 20g dry hop when fermentation slows down and I close the fermenting bucket
OG 1.045
Est FG 1.011-1.009
Abv 4.5-4.7%
IBU in Beersmith calculated to 50, likely closer to 45 actual IBU so about 1:1 bu:gu ratio.