British Brewer

Recipe Update – Flowers Original Ale 9/10

Finally the time has arrived to review the Flower Original Ale clone recipe, the penultimate brew in our English Pale Ale series.  Well the title says it all, its a winner and the first recipe to be promoted to my permanent recipes page.  It really is a pleasure to drink.  It has a light mouthfeel, going down easy as a good session beer should. The flavour is packed with fruit, its fresh with a balanced malt/hop flavour profile with the Target and Goldings hop really coming in on the front and a sweetness from the Crystal coming in the back.  The tasting notes call from a “hop edge and a dry finish”, this recipe delivers.

The brew process went well.  The OG came in at 1042, exactly on the money with the recipe, the colour came out exactly as planned though to be honest I am comparing with memory (unreliable given the amount of this stuff I drank in my youth) and some pictures I found on Google images.  The fermentation process went well with the recipe calculator calling for a 1009 FG which is exactly the measurement on the hydrometer out of the primary.  Aroma seemed close to.  I was indeed hopeful but I have been hopeful before and walked away disappointed.  I bottled the beer after 1 week in the secondary using Cooper Carb drops for priming.  Following my own tip to leave ales primed with Coopers for 4 weeks I waited one whole month before sampling the final brew.  So here we are, our first beer to get promoted to the permanent recipe page, and the first of the BJCP English Pale Ale series.

So my record in the English Pale Ale recipe section has picked up a bit in recent weeks.  Here is the current roundup with 1 recipe to go:

• My example generic best bitter modelled after the BJCP style using only kent hops, Kentish Best Ale, was a solid 7/10
• I have upgraded my Fullers ESB also to a 7/10 after my lessons learned on aging ales
  
• Green King Abbot Ale – 6/10
• Wadworth 6X – 4/10
• Flowers Original Ale – 9/10
  

I have the Fullers London Pride clone conditioning and showing promise. So maybe I can get 2 of my English Pale Ale classification recipes to 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 to other people to brew. I will continue to refine the other recipes that did not make the grade with the goal of getting all of them over 8/10 and therefore enjoyable by all.

I welcome everyone to go ahead and brew this recipe and enjoy a near reproduction of a British classic. Send along your comments, brew notes and suggestions, we still have one 1 point to gain for a 10/10 after all.  Give one to a Bud Lite drinker, it will make them cry, InBev can go……… nite nite

My Favorite Extract Kits

For those that are regular readers you know that in between my British ale brewing I brew a bunch of kits from Northern Brewer (NB).  The quality of the brews is high and every few months they introduce something new.  I especially enjoy the beginning of every new quarter when Wyeast and White Labs put out a special limited edition selection of yeasts and NB crafts a special recipe to showcase the yeast.  This quarter NB put out a Rogue Dead Guy Ale clone and Rogue Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout clone to complement the Wyeast Special Edition release of PacMan yeast, the proprietary strain from Rogue Breweries

I have brewed quite a few of these kits over the last 12 months, some more than once and a couple one too many, so I thought I would provide my own little guide to the kits I have drunk and some little tips I have picked up along the way.

1) Quality – Almost all the pre-prepared recipe kits I have brewed have been of the highest quality. The ingredients are fresh and pre-packed to the right quantities.  Grains are crushed and hops are sealed and fresh. If brewed correctly the quality of the finished brew is also of the highest order with some exceptions.  I thoroughly recommend the clones such as the Broken Spear Bitter (Brakespear Best) or the Grateful Dead Guy (Rogue Dead Guy Ale).  I have done side by side comparison with the commercial version and the clone and they are so close, helped of course by the fact that the yeast strains hail from both version are the same.

Here are my top 3 quality favorites:

#1 New Old Ale – winner of my 2009 brew of the year. This ale matures well with age, strong fruit with a rum quality on the back with a balanced hop flavour make this strong old very approachable.  Many friends who are not ale drinkers have been converted after drinking this ale because it is so well balanced with a distinctive flavour.  Leave this brew in the bottle for at least 2 months before drinking,

#2 Sinistral Warrior IPA – this brew is currently in my 2010 favorites list.  A killer American Style IPA with a high IBU count.  But give this brew 2 months in the bottle and watch as the ale begins to mellow slightly whilst retaining the hop driven peppery spice leaving a really smooth IPA. It goes down way too easily for its alcohol content, so be careful.

#3 Peat Smoked Porter – an American style porter that goes down smooth like desert.  It has a full mouthfeel and delivers a balanced hop malt character.  The kicker with this stout is the inclusion of peat smoked malt giving an almost bourbon note to the drink.  This ale will fill you up, its not a session drink and is great as an end of the evening brew.  Needs at least 1 month in the bottle.

2) Degree of Difficulty – NB extract kits are not hard to brew, if you can cook oatmeal you can brew these kits.  The OG’s tend to be conservative but SRM and IBU calculations to my eyes and taste are typically on the money.  There are some exceptions.

#1 Lord Fatbottom Ale – a very viscus Barleywine. The kit ships with a monster 14 lbs of extract and its nearly impossible to avoid the hot break boiling over.  I recommend using a 10G boiler for this brew.  Many people who have brewed this ale have reported the need to kick start the primary fermentation with champagne yeast as the ABV climbs over 10%, most yeasts pack up and go home with ABV’s over 10.  Its a tough one to brew, I have and its is a decadent, thick hop bursting delight.  I have one in the carboy conditioning away at a happy 13% ABV.  Needs almost a year to finish. I recommend at least 1 month in the primary, 6 months in secondary. But come prepared.

3) Ones to avoid – not everything or everyone is perfect and NB kits are no exception.  We all have times when our brews have gone wrong due to matters well within our control, wrong ingredients, poor sterilization, temperature etc.  But sometimes there is nothing we can do, the ale just isn’t that good.  Here are my least favorites from NB

#1 Cream Ale – just don’t try it, it’s bland, has poor head retention with nothing distinctive whatsoever.  The brew process was accurate, OG, FG, color and IBU perfect. It just doesn’t taste of anything.

#2 Irish Draught Ale – this was a big disappointment but the wife liked it.  None of the nutty character claimed by the kit was present, it was a little too dry and left an after taste not too my liking, the late clover honey addition appeared to have no effect. I had high hopes for this brew based in the reviews but I will not be brewing this one again.  Again the brew process was perfect, the taste just wasn’t there

So that’s my list for now.  I have the two Rogue clones on the go right now and I cracked a sample of the Dead Guy Ale clone and had a bottle of the real thing immediately after.  The results are almost identical.  This brew will definitely be making my favorites list this year. If you have a favorite kit drop me a line or post a comment, would love to get some recommendations.

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.

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.

Recipe update

Recipes first posted here and here.

Had a busy day moving beer from primary to secondary, secondary to bottles and kegs and had a chance to sample the Kentish Best and the Abbots Special Bitter.

First up the Kentish.  Am happy to report the beer is one of the brightest, clearist I have ever brewed, with the fining’s doing their job.  The SRM and IBU where as expected.  The taste and mouthfeel were that of a real ale best bitter, fresh and very drinkable.  Had mine with some ‘bubble and squeak’, a Boxing Day favorite.  The Fuggles hops came out in the flavour though I felt the beer had a metallic aroma I still cannot trace. Been doing some research on the aroma but have not found an explanation as of yet.

The one big issue I found was my own mistake, I failed to add enough priming sugar to the batch prior to bottling, the ale took longer than expected to carbonate, and when it did, it proved to be a little flat, though not overly so.  This is easily remedied. Given the metallic aroma and the incorrect amount of priming sugar I will need to brew the recipe one more time before it can get promoted to the permanent recipe page here.

The Abbots Special Bitter was a real surprise. First up the ale was nothing like the original so back to the drawing board. That said the finished ale served really well, have it in a keg with a BeerGas mix.  The IBU and SRM were perfect but the taste, flavour and aroma were not Greene King.  The taste lacked the fruit and there was a little too much malt for a recipe that calls for a balanced flavour.  Nonetheless it tastes great, sometime mistakes can lead to great discoveries.

So the Abbot clone recipe needs some work.  For the caramel I will look to change the base malt to include some amber to replace the amber specialty malt reducing the caramel tones.  I found some While Labs Burton Yeast with apple flavour characteristics I will look to try also.  Look for more in the future.

So nothing gets promoted but we have definitely made progress and as always they are fun to make and drink.