British Brewer

Wadworth 6X recipe review (4/10)!!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, I was right, my worst fears concerning the use of oak chips in any quantity have been realized.  Big lesson, trust your instincts, that little voice raging inside your head telling you not to add oak chips, it is not required, especially since the beer was doing so well in the primary and came out near perfect without the help of any adjuncts.

Well I didn’t listen, the ale has strong oak notes and a sweetness similar to a chardonay, its not bad to drink it is not a Wadworth though.  Ah well that is why I brew these experimental brews in small batches, its not a big loss and I have tons of other brews in the cellar right now.

So why did I give the ale a 4/10, well the recipe without the oak appeared to be very close. The OG and FG were perfect as was the colour and aroma.  The flavour out of the fermenter showed great promise.  I will brew this again as an experimental batch, little changed from version 1, except NO OAK CHIPS.

So my record in the English Pale Ale recipe section remains poor.  Here is the current roundup with 2 recipes to go

• My example generic best bitter modelled after the BJCP style using only kent hops, Kentish Best Ale, was a 7/10
• I have upgraded my Fullers ESB to a 6/10 as aging has improved the flavour some what
• Green King Abbot Ale – 6/10
• Wadworth 6X – 4/10

I have Flowers Original conditioning and showing promise (and no adjuncts going in to spoil it either) and a Fullers London Pride in the primary fermenter. So I live in hope that at least one of my English Pale Ale classification recipes reach my self imposed 8/10 grade required to be promoted to my permanent recipes page.  Getting to this page ensures its a recipe I have faith in and something I would recommend other people to brew.  I so have work to do as I want at least one brew in each major English Ale category.

Beer Comic – or everything you ever needed to know about beer

I good friend sent me the following link this morning.  Its laugh out loud funny and manages to impart some history and methodology around beer making in the process.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/beer

Hope it puts a smile on your face.  Have a great weekend

Brown Ale

For those of you who are regular readers you know we have spent the last 8 weeks or so looking into classic British Pale Ale recipes such as Fullers ESB, Pride, Flowers, and Wadworth 6X.  Next up we will be focusing on Brown Ales and their big brother, Old Ales (which we covered in a previous post). I hope to get some great recipes together and have been hard at work researching the best ones to try out.

But before we move on this post is for those of you that enjoy a glass of brown ale or two (its my wife’s favorite ale) whether its Smuttynose Old Brown Dog or a Newcastle Brown from back home in the UK.  I thought it would be worthwhile to highlight a little of Brown Ales rich history, which dates back to 1600’s Britain, before getting into some recipes.

But first, what is Brown Ale?  The BJCP classification of English Brown Ale encompasses the Northern and Southern English varieties along with Mild Ale. The Southern Brown Ale is described as:

A luscious, malt-oriented brown ale, with a caramel, dark fruit complexity of malt flavor. May seem somewhat like a smaller version of a sweet stout or a sweet version of a dark mild.

with the Northern:

Drier and more hop-oriented than the southern English brown ale, with a nutty character rather than caramel.

Whatever the classification Brown Ales have a cult following and are among one of the most popular styles for homebrewers, following stouts and porters.

The term Brown Ale was first used by brewers in the late 1600’s London to describe the beverages they sold at the time such as Mild Ale, a lightly hopped sweet beer made entirely of brown malt.  This type of beer died out in the early 1800’s with brewers moving to pale malt which proved cheaper due to higher sugar yields and is still used by modern brewers today.

The term “Brown Ale” was revived again in the early 1900’s by the London brewer Mann, who create Mann Brown Ale (still available today and brewed under contract by Thomas Hardy Burtonwood).  By the 1920’s Brown Ales were very popular again with large brewers such as Whitbread began brewing strong browns, far stronger than the modern browns brewed today with an ABV of over 5%. The popularity of Mann Brown and Whitbread Double Brown continued through WWII at which point breweries began to produce weaker, cheaper Brown Ale (I suspect due to rationing and the economic conditions of the time) all but wiping out the expensive, more premium forebears. Today, with the exception of homebrewers, the strong Brown Ales are hard to come by, being replaced with Porters, Stouts and Old ales.  Great examples of Northern English, strong, Brown Ales would be Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale and Newcastle Brown.  Mann’s Original Brown Ale would be a good Southern example.

It is actually in the USA that Brown Ale has seen a resurgence, mainly from the legion of homebrewers like myself who like to brew strong flavoured, robust ales. The grass roots movement has not gone unnoticed by the micro-brewers who have developed a broad array of full-bodied Brown’s for the American public. American Brown Ales tend to be drier than either of their English counterparts, with a slight citrus aroma and bitterness due to American varieties of hops used.  Popular American varieties include Petes Wicked, Smuttynose Old Brown Dog, Sam Adams Brown and Brooklyn Brown. A whole host of Brown Recipes are available online also.

So my quest will be to recreate a selection of Old and Brown Ales in the coming months and I welcome any suggestions for brands you would like me to try.  I fully intend to attempt at least Samuel Smiths Nut Brown and possibly a Smuttynose.  Should be fun. Would love to get a Brown and an Old onto my completed recipes page.

On Tap (Jan 26th 2010)

Its been one of those weeks.  I have spent some downtime from the blog researching my next set of recipes and putting some posts together.  The next batch of experimental brews will focus on Browns and Old Ales and I have been doing research on ingredients and looking around for the best varieties to try out.  I have also had a slow week in the cellar, I believe it is the first week since Nov 2009 when I have not actually had a new brew on the go.  But I did move some brews around and managed to bottle a batch to.  So I guess its time for an On Tap update.

Primary

• Nothing this week, have the Fullers London Pride on deck

Secondary

• Spitfire Premium Ale Clone (1 day) – my 2nd pass at Spitfire Ale, the Shepherd Neame classic from Kent UK. Recipe taken from the Clone Brews book. The FG was a little bit of a let down. The Irish yeast only attenuated 68%, this is the second Irish Ale yeast in a row from Wyeast to have a low attenuation.  But flavour and color were on the money.
• Grateful Dead Guy Ale (1 day) – a new special edition kit from Northern Brewer using the newly released PacMan ale yeast strain from Wyeast/Rogue Breweries. The yeast came in on target setting up what is promising to be a great early spring brew.
• Lord Fatbottom Ale (1 Month 4 days) – Over 1 month of a 6 month rest down.

Bottle/Keg Conditioning

• Flowers Original Ale clone (today) – my first brew of 2010 and first attempt at the classic Flowers recipe.  Colour and aroma are on the money and flavour is coming together and tastes just like a Flowers, already crystal clear as well. Here’s hoping the carbonation works. Used Cooper carb drops.
• Dry Irish Stout (1 week, 5 days) - my second batch of Northern Brewers Guinness clone.  Sitting waiting to be drank, come on Bob.
• Swampswill 6X (2 weeks, 3 days) – my first attempt at a true Wadworth 6X clone.  Will be sampling this one in a couple of days, fingers crossed but I have a bad feeling about using the oak chips, they have never worked for me.
• Dogfish Head 90 min IPA clone (9 weeks) – 3/4 of the way through its 3 month rest, cannot wait. As mentioned last week I gave in and tried a sample, the hops are still a little wild and crazy but the flavour is potent and fresh. Will become a favorite, though I only made just over a case so I must keep a couple back to age.

Drinking

• Sinistral Warrior IPA (2 weeks, 4 days) – nice hoppy IPA, not quite an Imperial but its close. Still going slow on this case as the aging is really paying off and I also sold a 6 pack. It remains the top nominee for the 2010 brew of the year.
• Chiswick ESB (2 weeks, 2 days) – version 1.0 of my Fullers ESB clone. Again amazing what a week can do to a beer. This beer continues to get better and getting closer to a Fullers ESB and the carbonation is also improving so definitely better than the 5/10 review I gave it 2 weeks ago
• Draught Irish Ale (2 days) - my first attempt at Northern Brewers Irish Ale.  This keg was tapped over a long nights Rock Band Session with the wife and our band “Daphne’s Bark” (after our first and much loved Boxer who died of very old age, Daphne).  We were swilling them down between “Eye of the Tiger” and “Today”.  Solid keg brew, does well with the BeerGas, more my wife’s taste than mine, but refreshing and smooth nonetheless.

Recipe: Fullers London Pride (version 1.0)

An online version complete with process can be found here.

For my last version 1.0 Best Bitter/ESB recipe for the near future (before we turn our sites to the Old Ales) I thought we could go out with a bang with one of my favorites (and my dads), Fullers London Pride.  You can find the write-up on the brewery from my recipe post on Fullers ESB.

Fullers London Pride, or just Pride to us Londoners, is the flagship brew from the independent Chiswick Brewery.  It can be found in pubs and liquor stores throughout the US, on many airline hospitality carts, and on tap across the globe.  It is a refreshing, complex, ale with well balanced hops and malt flavours.  Great session brew and a favorite down my old rowing club after an exerting outing on the river.

Written up in the The Real Ale Almanac as an:

Astonishingly complex beer for its gravity, a marvelous melange of malt, hops and fruit.

and in “Brew Your Own British Real Ale” as a:

…fine for drinking on its own or with full flavoured food. A multi-layered delight of malt and hops and a deep intense finish with hop and ripening fruit notes.

On to the ingredients.  Standard practice these days is for the the brewery to be forthcoming with its basic ingredients and Fullers in no exception.  The site proclaims a malty base, complemented with Northdown, Target and Challenger hops.

The Real Ale Almanac confirms the  brewers website and includes the addition of maize, crystal malt and Alexis and Chariot pale base malt, which I confess to know nothing about.  Maize is used in brewing to boost the ABV in the same way as cane sugar.  But unlike cane sugar Maize is not 100% fermentable, containing 20% non-fermentable sugars and therefore will not dry the beer as much as cane sugar leaving some sweetness behind.  The almanac estimates the bitterness at 30 IBU’s, and a OG of 1040.  The website provides two ABV values, 4.1% in the cask and 4.7% in a pasteurized bottle.

The all grain recipe contained in Brew Your Own British Real Ale confirms everything mentioned so far and includes an estimate SRM of 13. I doubt the SRM 13 value, which would be copper colour. The Pride I have been known to buy and from my past was a little lighter, more golden. I am going to strike for an SRM of 10.

I have no idea what Alexis and Chariot pale malt is. I found this excerpt on BYO.com

The Europeans only grow 2-row barley. Examples of European spring barley include Chariot, Alexis, Hana, Ferment, Steffi, Krona and Sissi. Winter varieties, mainly grown in England, include Maris Otter, Halcyon and Pipkin.

so  I guess it is a form of 2-row spring barley.  I then found some threads on a bulletin board stating Alexis malt to be a

Alexis is a lager malt and is the standard variety supplied by Munton’s of Stowmarket, Suffolk.

which I checked and it appears to be true.  Either way we are using extract ultimately making the type of 2-row we use irrelevant.

Next stop is to input the ingredients into the beer calculus system on hopville.com and balance the quantities in order to create a workable recipe conforming to the constraints above.

Fullers London Pride (BJCP Beer Style: Special/Best/Premium Bitter, category: English Pale Ale)

• 2.5 Gallon, 60 min boil
• OG 1044, FG 1013
• 4.1% ABV
• 32 IBU
• 10° SRM (Gold to Lt Copper)
• Ready to drink in 6-7 weeks

Base Malt and Fermentables:

• 1 lb 8 oz Light Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)
• 7 oz Amber Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)

Specialty Grains:

• 5 oz Flaked Corn (Maize)
• 6 oz Caramel Crystal 60L

Hops

• Bittering Hops – 0.125 oz Target, 0.125 oz Challenger, 0.125 oz Northdown (60 mins)
• Flavour Hop – 0.125 oz Challenger, 0.125 oz Northdown (15 mins)

Yeast

• I am using some recultured yeast I harvested from a Fullers Vintage bottle.  If you wish to use either Wyeast or White Labs I would use either Wyeast 1968 London ESB or White Labs WLP013 London Ale, which according to this reliable online reference, are both sourced from the Fullers Brewery.

Other Additions

• 1 tsp Irish Moss (30 mins)

Process

• Please follow the process guidelines outlined in my post here.  You will require all the equipment specified here.
• Primary Fermentation: 5-7 days at 65-75°
• Secondary Fermentation: 1-2 weeks in the same location as the primary
• Prime and store in the bottle for at least 2 weeks before consuming
• Peak flavour will be reached after 4 weeks in the bottle

Brewing on a budget – Borrowing Yeast

As part of the continued deep dive into specific ingredients and techniques (so far we have dug deeper into yeast and reviewed water treatment) I thought a further post on yeast was in order especially given the cost of quality yeast. Its expensive.

As I mentioned in an earlier post on why I brew, its not just the pleasure of drinking high quality fresh ale, or the enjoyment of simply brewing, but also the lower cost of home made ale that stokes my passion for homebrew.  Brewing your own real ale is very economical. I was reminded as I toured the liquor store today and noticed a 6 pack of Fullers ESB on the shelf for $12 (or $2 a bottle), and remembered I have 2 cases (48 bottles) of my own version (though still not up to Fullers quality) in my cellar that cost me approx $4.75 per 6 pack ($0.79 per bottle).  Given I like to use the more expensive liquid yeast from Wyeast or White Labs I find yeast is the most expensive ingredient in my brews. These yeasts have reliable attenuation percentages and produce very consistent results every brew. I have never had a bad batch.  But they are expensive, most being over $6 a packet.  What also doesn’t help is I am often left guessing what type of yeast to purchase for a recipe, e.g. is it a London Ale, London Ale III, or a Thames Valley strain?

But what if I could get the right yeast and pay nothing (except for the one time cost of a single bottle of beer). I could bring the price of a 6 pack of Fullers ESB down to $4 (or $0.66 per bottle) helping my budget somewhat and deliver an even closer match to the original I am trying to clone.

This brings me to the main reason for the visit to my local quality liquor store (as I rarely buy beer except for research purposes), to acquire a sample of 2007 bottle conditioned Fullers Vintage Ale.  As noted in my prior post, I am unhappy with the results of version 1.0 of my Fullers ESB clone.  As part of my research into figuring out how to improve the recipe I have been investigating how to improve the malt, hops and yeast mix.  I have managed to finally find a reliable source for the appropriate hops but got stuck on the yeast. Fullers, like most breweries, is very secretive around its yeast as so much of the flavour and character of the finished ale comes from it.  During my research I was browsing some recipe web sites and found a post on a bulletin board where a homebrewer from England was trying to replicate Fullers London Pride using some yeast grown from a yeast sample he had lifted from some bottle conditioned Fuller 1845 Ale.  Much like homebrew, bottle conditioned commercial beers are naturally carbonated in the bottle using residual yeast and priming sugar leaving a sediment on the bottom of the bottle. The sediment is rich with yeast cells and, with a little care and attention, these cells can be reactivated and grown to be used again in whatever beer you choose. In my case any Fullers clone I might make in the future.

But isn’t all beer sold in the USA pasteurized? I always thought so. So what commercial beers are out there that we could use to create our own free supply of yeast?  The answer appears to be not many.  As a rule almost all imported bottled and keg beers are pasteurized, the reason given to preserve freshness and enhance shelf life (though this point in hotly debated, I can attest to having regular gravity beers in my cellar for months and they continue to improve with age).  Furthermore almost all domestic US bottled beer is also pasteurized though domestic US keg beer is typically unpasteurized and “fresh” (with the exception of the mega-breweries such as Bud who pasteurize everything).  But recently the rules appear to be slowly changing. It is now possible to get imported and domestic bottled conditioned ales for higher gravity brews. I have noted Ringwood, Fullers 1845, Fullers Vintage Ale, and Sam Smiths Organic Ale from the UK and Shipyard Barleywine and Sierra Nevada from the US all available unpasteurized and bottled conditioned in the US market.

So how do we take a sample of bottled conditioned ale and re-culture it for use in your typical 5 gallon batch of homebrew?

1. First acquire some bottled conditioned ale that matches either the style you are shooting for or from the same brewery that brews the ale you are attempting to clone (chances are its the same strain)
2. Pour yourself a drink, make sure to save ~20% of the ale bottle, including all the sediment from the bottom
3. Assemble the following to make a “yeast starter” :
   • Sanitized 1 gal carboy or flask, stopper and airlock
   • 1/2 cup of Dry Wheat Malt Extract
   • 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient (optional)
   • A couple of hop pellets (try to use the bittering hop from the ale you are trying to clone)
4. In a saucepan bring to a boil 8 oz of water, add Wheat DME and the hop pellets and boil for a total of 10mins
5. After 8 mins add yeast nutrient (optional)
6. Cool rapidly, I partially submerge the saucepan in a sink full of ice cold water and stir vigorously, this also aerates the liquid
7. Once the liquid is cooled to 80ºF pour into a clean, sanitized flask or carboy
8. Add the remaining 20% of the bottle conditioned ale, including sediment, from the bottle you purchased
9. Insert stopper and airlock and keep at a constant 68-75ºF. The yeast should come back to life within 3-4 days.

The Equipment

Mixing in the Wheat DME

Pour drink, saving 20%

Add yeast nutrient after 8mins

Cooling rapidly in cold water

Transfer to flask, add ale with sediment

Once the yeast is active you can either use it or place in the refrigerator to sleep.  Make sure to keep some back to re-culture again for another brew.  Yeast can stay healthy for up to 3 months in the fridge, so make sure to re-culture a batch before 3 months to keep the strain alive or you will just have to go out and actually BUY beer, how does that work with the budget!

Other resources:

• For a complete list of breweries where White Labs and Wyeast strains originate you can look here.
• For a list of bottled conditioned ales capable of harvesting yeast go here.

On Tap (Jan 18th 2010)

I love it when beer that has been resting for a while in the cellar really comes together to make a killer brew.  The Sinistral Warrior IPA has been in the bottle for a month and I have been laying off the case since my birthday to let it mature further.  Well I finally cracked open another one Saturday night and WOW!!  The hops have finally come through packing a huge fruit punch.  I can still taste the fruit almost 12 hours later, it really leaves a long lasting impression.  The Fullers ESB is also finally showing some character after 4 weeks in the bottle, I may even upgrade it from my initial 5/10 score though I am still planning on altering the malt and yeast.

This week has seen another brew hit the kettle, some transfered to the keg and others simply conditioning, waiting to be opened when the time is right. Its time for this weeks On Tap Update.

Primary

• Spitfire Premium Ale Clone (2 days) – my 2nd pass at Spitfire Ale, the Shepherd Neame classic from Kent UK. Recipe taken from the Clone Brews book. The first batch was a real crowd pleasure and made the Best of 2009 list.  Batch #2 is underway and off to a great start.
• Grateful Dead Guy Ale (today) – a new special edition kit from Northern Brewer using the newly released PacMan ale yeast strain from Wyeast/Rogue Breweries. Its a play on a Maibock, a typical Spring time ale, which is why I am starting a batch now giving the ale enough time to rest for when Spring arrives, which I hope is soon, and not just because I want to drink this beer.

Secondary

• Flowers Original Ale clone (1 day) – my first brew of 2010 and first attempt at the classic Flowers recipe.  The primary finished exactly where the yeast manufacturer said it would, not bad because the attenuation range was 77-77% with no margin for error.  Colour and aroma are on the money. We have heard all this before so lets just wait and see.

Bottle/Keg Conditioning

• Draught Irish Ale (4 days) - my first attempt at Northern Brewers Irish Ale. Came out of the secondary already a wife pleaser.  It is currently in the keg force carbonated with BeerGas were it will sit for at least a week.
• Dry Irish Stout (4 days) - my second batch of Northern Brewers Guinness clone.  Went straight to the keg and force carbonated with BeerGas were it will sit until my friends poker evening.  The batch came in with a super high yield so there was some left over after I filled the keg.  The leftovers went into bottles which will rest for a couple of weeks.
• Lord Fatbottom Ale (3 weeks 3 days) – 3 1/2 weeks of a 6 month rest down. Would love to know whats going on inside the fermenter.
• Swampswill 6X (1 week, 2 days) – my first attempt at a true Wadworth 6X clone.  Following the example of my Fullers ESB I am giving this another week before cracking the sample and writing the review.  From the bottle it is extremely bright and clear.  Hope the oak balances out okay.
• Dogfish Head 90 min IPA clone (2 months) – Over half way through its 3 month rest, cannot wait. I gave in an tried a sample last night.  Its really coming along, the hops are still a little wild and crazy but the flavour is potent and fresh. Will become a favorite, though I only made just over a case I must keep a couple back to age.

Drinking

• Sinistral Warrior IPA (1 week, 3 days) – nice hoppy IPA, not quite an Imperial but its close. After slamming nearly a case with friends I left off them for a whole week before trying another bottle Saturday, the change a week extra of aging makes is amazing. It is already the top nominee for the 2010 brew of the year.
• Chiswick ESB (1 week, 1 day) – version 1.0 of my Fullers ESB clone. Again amazing what a week can do to a beer.  The burton water treatment is really coming through making for a mouthfeel lighter than air.  Its still not a Fullers ESB and the carbonation is too low but its better than the 5/10 review I gave it last week.

A Short History on Bottled Beer

The Zythophile has a great post (short for him) on the history on Bottled Beer.  Check it out.

Beer Wars ctd

As we have been discussing over the last week in both the plight of the Flowers Ale and the Beer Wars movie post much appears to be getting lost in the race to become the biggest brewery in the world.

Well almost on cue Heineken, not wanting to be outdone by InBev and SABMiller, announced on Jan 11th the acquisition of Mexican brewery FEMSA Cerveza, owners of such brands as Dos Equis and Sol, in a transaction worth $7.6 billion assuming the closing price of Heineken stock and the value of the FEMSA’s outstanding debt.

This merger will create the second largest brewery in the world behind InBev, with over $24 billion in revenue, infront of SABMiller.  Wonder if the URL www.mexicanbrewer.com is free, hmmmm it is, what to do.

Recipe Update (Chiswick ESB version 1) – 5 out of 10

I finally cracked the first bottle of version 1.0 of my Fullers ESB clone I started back in early December. I am a little disappointed. The brew went well with the OG being spot on and the primary fermentation proceeded without a hitch leading to an almost clear ale with great taste potential when transfered into the secondary. The FG was perfect with the yeast attenuation at 77%, the highest point in the range provided by the supplier.

But during the secondary something happened.  The colour appears to be just a little darker when compared to the original ESB.  But the finsihed beer could be clearer, its actually not that bad, but I look for really bright, crystal clear ales in all my recipes. Given the ale shows no signs of infection I am putting this down to a little over zealous use of the Burton Salts in the water treatment.  This has happened to me before and something I shall put down to experience. Clarity may also improve with age so I will be sure to hold back a few bottles for comparison. The carbonation was way off too, the finished ale is almost flat.  But all of these little gripes still does not explain the taste.

The flavour is overly sweet and malty, not dry and balanced like the original.  Again I will hold a few back to if aging brings out a more balanced hop/malt taste.  These issues would suggest a reduction in the 120L Crystal to say a 60L and potentially the use of Black Malt altogether, hopefully taking take care of the overly malty sweet flavour. The lack of malt/hop balance could also suggest an issue with the hops. In this brew the hops were a substitute, I used Perle instead of Challenger and Northdown so I guess I need to rethink the substitution or wait until my supplier gets some Challenger and Northdown hops in stock.

The carbonation I will need to work on as it is the one area of brewing I am inconsistent on.  Right now I simply mix powdered sugar into the secondary and bottle.  The issue is dissolving the sugar.  To do so requires rigorous stirring risking aeration of the wort in the process, something I do not wish to do.  I am going to try carbonation tabs and the process of dissolving sugar/DME in boiling water and adding to the bottling bucket prior to racking. Lets see which process works best and delivers consistent, predictable levels of carbonation.

Thats it for now, so far my clones are 1-3. The Kentish was a hit, the Abbott was okay but not a Greene King and the Fullers ESB has room for improvement.  I have high hopes for the Wadworth 6X which will be bottled later today so I will keep you posted.