British Brewer

Recipe: Old Speckled Hen (version 1)

Online version with calculator can be found here.

Next up in the series on Old Ales and Browns is another classic Old Ale available in both the UK and US, Old Speckled Hen, brewed by Greene King after its acquisition of the Morland Brewery in 2000.  We have already covered the history of Greene King with the Abbot Ale recipe last year but Morland also has an interesting past.

Prior to its acquisition by Greene King, the Morland Brewery was located in Abingdon, now part of Oxfordshire, in the UK and has a history dating back to 1711.  The original brewery was located in the town of West Ilsley started by a local farmer John Morland to brew stouts and porters, the popular ales of the time.  Over the next 150 years the brewery slowly grew, remaining a family business, eventually acquiring 2 small breweries in nearby Abingdon in 1860.  By 1880 Morland had moved its operations from West Ilsley to Abingdon and by 1885 they incorporated as a limited company registered as United Breweries.  From this point on the company grew rapidly, buying out a number of local breweries.  The company went public in 1994 and was acquired by Greene King in 2000.  Throughout its history the company had a reputation for respecting the breweries they acquired, maintaining the original brewery names and brews.  Post Greene King acquisition though only the Morland name survived, the Abingdon brewery did not and all production is now in the Greene King brewery based in Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, UK.

The history of Old Speckled is not so old but is definitely one worth noting.  I found this description on wikipedia:

Old Speckled Hen was first brewed by Morlands of Abingdon in 1979. MG cars celebrated the 50th anniversary of their move to Abingdon, from Edmund Road in Cowley. They asked Morland to brew a special commemorative beer for the occasion, for which they would suggest the name and they would design the bottle label. The name chosen was Old Speckled Hen which took its name from a car which was brought to Abingdon, when the factory moved.

The car was called the MG Featherweight Fabric Saloon made from cellulosed fabric stretched over a wooden frame and was black speckled with gold. It became the factory’s demonstration model and general runabout and as it chugged about the factory people would say “There guz the Owd Speckl’d un”.

The original beer label bore the MG colours of cream and brown. The bottle dressing was finished with a green foil capsule, which matched the background colour of the Borough of Abingdon Arms. The beer was an amber colour and was brewed at a gravity of 1050 to denote 50 years (i.e. 1929 – 1979) of production of MG cars in Abingdon.

According the company website the ale is described as:

“Old Speckled Hen” has a full, smooth flavour and is very easy to drink. Its rich amber colour and superb fruity aromas are complemented by a delicious blend of malty tastes.

Toffee and malt combine with bitterness on the back of the tongue to give a balanced sweetness. This is followed by a refreshingly dry finish.

I can attest to the validity of the above notes for the pre-1999 version. In my experience the current export version is not as balanced or as rich and comes across a little dialed down in the flavour department.  Not to worry though as is what this blog is about, trying to recreate the original and sample the ale fresh  as John Morland intended.

The company website gives nothing away around ingredients, colour, or bitterness. It states the ale comes in 2 varieties, a cask version at 4.5% ABV and a bottled version at 5.2%. We will focus on the bottled.  I consulted with the The Real Ale Almanac (5th edition, last published in 1999, so prior to the Greene King acquisition. Important to note considering many experts on this beer claim the recipe was changed) and it confirms the bottle strength is 5.2% ABV, with an OG of 1050 (a given considering the history of the ale), uses Pipkin Pale Malt as a base, Crystal Malt, brewers sugar, Challenger hops for bitterness, Goldings and Challenger for aroma with a range of 30-35 IBUs of bitterness.

Here are the tasting notes from the Almanac:

Nose: Superb Goldings hop aroma (considering using Goldings for a flavour addition at the end of the boil)
Palate: Full hops and fruit in mouth, long dry finish with hops and delicate fruit notes
Comments: Rich coloured and fruit flavoured strong ale with generous hop support.

(my italics) The only hint we have for colour is it is “Rich” and “Amber” (from the company website). My own experience put the colour as a light amber almost a dark golden colour.  Given we have the OG and final ABV, bitterness and fermentables I believe the colour is a variable that will resolve itself. For yeast I will go with Wyeast #1275 Thames Valley Ale, its high attenuation will give the dry finish and both yeast and ale hail from the same location. So lets get busy and input the ingredients into the beer calculus system on hopville.com and balance the quantities in order to create a workable recipe conforming as best we can to the constraints above.

Morland Old Speckled Hen (BJCP Beer Style: Strong Ale, category: Old Ale)

• 2.5 Gallon, 60 min boil
• OG 1050, FG 1011
• 5.2% ABV
• 35 IBU
• 10° SRM (Gold to Copper)
• Ready to drink in 2+ Months

Base Malt and Fermentables:

• 2 lb 4 oz Light Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)
• 4 oz Cane Sugar (0 mins)

Specialty Grains:

• 6 oz Caramel Crystal 60L

Hops

• Bittering Hops – 0.5 oz Challenger (60 mins)
• Flavour Hop – 0.125 oz Challenger, 0.125 oz Goldings, East Kent (15 mins)
• Aroma Hop – 0.5 oz Goldings, East Kent (0 mins)

Yeast

• Wyeast Thames Valley Ale (1275)

Other Additions

• 1 tsp Irish Moss (15 mins)
• 1/4 tsp Yeast Nutrient (10 mins)

Process

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

On Tap (Feb 22nd 2010)

Sorry for the light post week, its been my first week at work and my head is spinning, not from the work but more just being back in the corporate world.  So far so good and I actually found myself enjoying wearing a suit, weird.  I have been brewing though (and finishing a couple of the older batches), managed a new brew on Saturday and moved some beer around.  Guess its time for the On Tap Update

Primary

• Olde Luddite English Strong Ale (2 days (p) ) – A new Old Ale kit from Northern Brewer, thought I would add some Old Ale kits to my current Old’s and Browns series.  OG came in perfect and the ESB yeast is doing its thing.

Secondary

• Theakston Old Peculier Clone (1 wk(p) 2 days (s) ) – My first pass at this classic old ale, FG came out in range along with the colour, that is all we can ask. Now for 2 weeks in the secondary
  
• Twelfth Night Stout (2 wk (p), 1 day (s) ) – A new extract clone recipe of Rogues Shakespeare Stout from Northern Brewer featuring the PacMan ale yeast strain from Rogue.  This one is an ass-kicking 70 IBU stout destined for the keg. Week 2 in the secondary.
  

Bottle/Keg Conditioning

• Fullers London Pride clone (1 wk (p), 1 wk (s), 1 wk, 3 days (b) ) – came out crystal clear from the primary with the FG exactly on target. Looking forward to seeing how this brew finishes off.  Week 2 of its 4 week conditioning period.
  
• Spitfire Premium Ale clone (1 wk (p), 2wks (s), 2 wks, 3 days (b)) – my 2nd pass at Spitfire Ale, the Shepherd Neame classic from Kent UK.  Completely cleared but with a lot of sediment in the bottle.  This has another 1 week to go before opening
  
• Grateful Dead Guy Ale (1wk (p), 2wks (s), 2 wks 3 days (b)) – a new special edition kit from Northern Brewer featuring the newly released PacMan ale yeast strain from Wyeast/Rogue Breweries, this one is a Rogue Dead Guy Ale clone. Still got one week to go, cannot wait.
  
• Lord Fatbottom Ale (1 mth (p), 3 mths (s)) – exactly half way through its 6 month rest.

Drinking

• Flowers Original Ale clone (1 wk (p), 1 wk (s), 4 wks (b)) – my first brew of 2010 and first attempt at the classic Flowers recipe.  Opened and drunk a couple, look for the review later this week. Its a good one 🙂
  
• Dogfish Head 90 min IPA clone (1 wk (p), 3 wks (s), 3 mnth 1 wk (b) ) – Really liking this brew a lot.  I learnt the technique Dog Fish Head uses is called Hop Bursting. I ordered a kit with a similar recipe in its honor.
  

On Tap (Feb 15th 2010)

Tomorrow I will be starting my new job, exactly one year to the day that I officially parted ways with Fidelity after an almost 9 year career there.  This past year has been amazing, I have been a full-time father, got to spend the 1:1 time with the wife we never had before our first child was born (and loved every minute), built a very large blue stone patio, watched our house addition get built, have some great trips, become school treasurer and board member and last but by no means least re-connected with my hobby of old, home brew. Its been a great time, a time of reflection, growing and learning the true value of people and things.  So going back to the office will be bitter sweet.  I am not saying goodbye, the kids, wife, house, school and beer will all still be there but the relationship will change as I add a work life to the mix. But I have changed to, priorities have been reset this past year and I hope I have grown enough to not let work get in the way of my real life back home, one that has On Tap Updates like this one.

Primary

• Theakston Old Peculier Clone (1 day (p) ) – My first pass at this classic old ale.  Realized too late I put in only half the Lyles Golden Syrup I wanted but I think everything will work out.  Yeast is still getting going so too early to tell how this one will turn out

Secondary

• Twelfth Night Stout (1 wk (p), 1 day (s) ) – A new extract clone recipe of Rogues Shakespeare Stout from Northern Brewer featuring the PacMan ale yeast strain from Rogue.  This one is an ass-kicking 70 IBU stout destined for the keg. The FG was on the low end of the attenuation scale but still within range.
  

Bottle/Keg Conditioning

• Fullers London Pride clone (1 wk (p), 1 wk (s), 3 days (b) ) – came out crystal clear from the primary with the FG exactly on target. Looking forward to seeing how this brew finishes off. Will give it 4 weeks in the bottle before sampling
  
• Spitfire Premium Ale clone (1 wk (p), 2wks (s), 1 wk 3 days (b)) – my 2nd pass at Spitfire Ale, the Shepherd Neame classic from Kent UK.  Completely cleared but with a lot of sediment in the bottle.  This has another 2 weeks to go before opening
  
• Grateful Dead Guy Ale (1wk (p), 2wks (s), 1 wk 3 days (b)) – a new special edition kit from Northern Brewer featuring the newly released PacMan ale yeast strain from Wyeast/Rogue Breweries, this one is a Rogue Dead Guy Ale clone. Still got 2 weeks to go, cannot wait.
  
• Lord Fatbottom Ale (1 mth (p), 11 1/2 wks (s)) – sitting peacefully as part of its 6 month rest.
• Flowers Original Ale clone (1 wk (p), 1 wk (s), 3 weeks (b)) – my first brew of 2010 and first attempt at the classic Flowers recipe.  Still cooking, one more week before its ready to sample and review
  

Drinking

• Swampswill 6X (1 wk (p), 1 wk (s), 5 wks, 3 days (b) ) – my first attempt at a true Wadworth 6X clone.  Not as I had hoped due to the use of oak chips. See review.
• Chiswick ESB (1 wk (p), 2 wks (s), 7 wks (b)) – version 1.0 of my Fullers ESB clone. Improved beyond all recognition, only 1 bottle remaining
  
• Draught Irish Ale (1 wk (p), 1 wk (s), 5 wks (k)) – my first attempt at Northern Brewers Irish Ale. Solid keg brew, does well with the BeerGas. Been taken offline whilst my keg system is out on loan to a friend. Will transfer whats left to a Growler.
  
• Dogfish Head 90 min IPA clone (1 wk (p), 3 wks (s), 3 mnth (b) ) – Finally ready to drink after 3 months bottle conditioning. It tastes great in a snifter, the hops are potent and peppery with the caramel malt notes coming in the back.  Will definitely continue to improve with age but I am considering upping the amber malt load for the next brew and using brown sugar over white cane.

Youngs Special (by request)

I got a request via email today regarding a recipe for Youngs Ram Rod and Youngs Special.  Its always great to receive email, it provides encouragement and support.  It just so happens that I have a recipe for Youngs Special researched and ready to go but never got to post it given my desire to get going with the Old Ales.

I just made the recipe public on hopville.

The target for Youngs Special is:

OG 1046
FG 1011
4.7% ABV
32 IBU
13 SRM.

This recipe is really close, especially using the London Ale #1028 from Wyeast.  Unfortunately Wyeast no longer supplies their Special London Ale strain which was sourced at the Youngs brewery.  London Ale #1028 is sourced from Worthington and a great substitute.

The recipe (5 gallons, 3 gallon boil, 20 mins steeping specialty grains) will get the following:

OG 1046
FG 1011
4.7% ABV
32 IBU
11 SRM.

Just a little off on colour. As I replied in my email, this recipe is posted with a disclaimer that I have not personally tested it, something I do with every recipe I have posted so far. Have fun and a great Superbowl. I will be watching the England vs Wales 6 Nations Rugby on Setana (sorry)

Recipe: Theakston Old Peculier (version 1)

Full recipe and process can be found online here.

So begins our journey looking into some classic British Browns and Olds.  First up, probably my favorite commercial Old Ale, Theakston Old Peculier from Masham in Yorkshire, England.

There is something really satisfying for the homebrewer when brewing an Old Ale recipe.  Unlike the English Pale Ales we have just finished, which tend to more delicate and one mistake in any ingredient is heavily punished, it is really hard to mess up an Old Ale.  What with the copious amounts of dark Jamaican sugar, Golden Syrup, Chocolate Malt and Molasses to compliment the mainstay Pale Malts and English Crystal. You end up with a rich, smooth almost rum like dark ale that will last forever in the cellar if we ever gave it a chance.  So I must say I had a ton of fun with the Theakston recipe and have taken more than a few risks in the quest to faithfully recreate this quintessential Yorkshire Old Ale.

The family owned Theakston Brewery is located in the North of England in Masham, North Yorkshire. A town steeped in brewing history dating back to before William the Conqueror.  The village of Theakston, and the namesake of the family was referenced in the Doomsday Book, created in 1089, and the Theakston coat of arms created in 1587 for Sir Richard Theakston whose descendent, Robert, in 1827 went on to create the first Theakston brewery in a pub called the Black Bull.  In 1875 Roberts son Thomas takes over the brewery building a new one in the process, which is still used today.  The company proceeded to grow buying many local breweries to meet growing demand.  In 1984 the Theakston family joins the wave of independents selling to larger firms and finally decided to sell and the brewing of its flagship products moves away from historical Masham to larger capacity breweries of the acquirer. Now proceeds a story we have become familiar with, bigger company x sells to even bigger company y (in this case Matthew Brown PLC is bought by then North East England brewing giant Scottish and Newcastle, maker of Newcastle Brown, who in turn is taken over by Heineken in 2008).  In 2004, as some previously Theakston owned breweries are closed and brewing operations moved as far north as Newcastle, four Theakston brothers buy back the company, making it an independent family owned brewery and in 2009 announced that brewing would again return to Masham after 35 years, bringing the story full circle.

On to the ale itself.  According the The Real Ale Almanac this is the flavour profile we are trying to recreate:

Dark and vinous old ale bursting with complex fruit flavours. Massive winey bouquet of rich fruit with peppery hop notes.  Toffee and roast malt in the mouth, deep bitter-sweet finish with delicate hops

On to the ingredients.  The brewery website was actually very unforthcoming with ingredients.  All they have posted is the use of Fuggles hops and a ABV of 5.6%. Its a start. The Real Ale Almanac was a little more helpful listing pale malt, crystal, unmalted cereal (torrified wheat) and sugars.  Fuggles and “other” hops, with an IBU of 29, 48 24 SRM colour, and an OG of 1058.

This has to be the toughest challenge we have had yet. Typically by this point we have a complete list of hops and malts  and enough variables in colour, gravity and bitterness to fire up the calculator and get to work.  Instead we have incomplete hop information and no FG.  What is most concerning is the vagueness around “sugars”. In English Pale classification ales sugar is used to bolster ABV with no flavour so its safe to assume cane sugar.  With Old Ales all types of sryups and dark sugars are used, imparting dark rum like richness to the finished brew.  This is going to be tough (but fun).

So time to consult the BJCP classification to see if we can gain any insights into the types of Crystal Malt and sugars used.  Old Ales are listed under the classification of Strong Ales.  Here we see Caramel Crystal Malts, and a sparing use of both Chocolate and Black Malts which is to be expected given the rich dark colour but not too much or risk imparting too much of the roasted smokey flavour. This ale is all richness and fruit.  It is the following sentence in the BJCP guidelines that could help answer our question:

Adjuncts (such as molasses, treacle, invert sugar or dark sugar) are often used, as are starchy adjuncts (maize, flaked barley, wheat) and malt extracts

This helps greatly.  So I then took to the internets and enquired into the sugar mix employed by other homebrewers attempting to recreate this historic ale.  To my surprise I found consistency, the use of Golden Syrup, Molasses and Dark Sugar.  The quantities varied but this should be enough to get us started.

The big question for me remains the yeast. We know we need fruit but at the same time we need a yeast that attenuates fairly well to get from a OG of 1058 to a final ABV of 5.6% (implied FG of approc 75%). It cannot be a dry finishing yeast because of the strong fruit flavours in the tasting notes.  I scoured the yeast strains available to homebrewers and scratched my head.  There are limited Yorkshire yeasts and I could find little to provide the level of fruit and attenuation implied by the data.  Finally I got some inspiration from the Pretty Things Old Ale, inspired by Theakston Old Pecuilier among others, and their use of German and Belgian strains.  So I started digging and hit pay dirt with various Belgian strains. You can have your cake and eat it to providing high attenuation and fruit flavour characteristics.

This just leaves the hops. Not so worried here, as the BJCP guidelines for Old Ale state:

Hop variety is not as important, as the relative balance and aging process negate much of the varietal character

So I am going to stick with Fuggles which will definitely provide the peppery hop notes, and we know the target IBU is 29. The calculator can do the rest.

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 as best we can to the constraints above.

Theakston Old Peculier (BJCP Beer Style: Strong Ale, category: Old Ale)

• 2.5 Gallon, 60 min boil
• OG 1060, FG 1011
• 6.3% ABV (slightly stronger but this is the mid-point range for the yeast with the 5.6% on the lower)
• 29 IBU
• 48 24° SRM (Dark Brown to Black)
• Ready to drink in 2+ Months

Base Malt and Fermentables:

• 1 lb 8 oz Dark Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)
• 9 oz Light Dry Malt Extract (60 mins)
• 4 oz Lyles Golden Syrup (15 mins)
• 2 oz Black Molasses (15 mins)
• 8 oz Dark Candi Sugar (0 mins)

Specialty Grains:

• 2 oz Torrified Wheat
• 8 oz Caramel Crystal 60L
• 3 oz Chocolate Malt
• 3 oz Black Malt

Hops

• Bittering Hops – 0.67 oz Fuggles (60 mins)
• Flavour Hop – 0.53 oz Fuggles (15 mins)

Yeast

• White Labs Trappist Ale (WLP500)

Other Additions

• 1 tsp Irish Moss (15 mins)

Process

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

Pretty Things

It was with great sadness that I recently learned Buzzards Bay brewing down in Westport MA had stopped brewing their own brands. Great ales in a beautiful farm setting. The place was owned by the Westport Rivers Winery guys (great wines also) who still appear to be going strong but alas the brewery was not to be.  I took a tour down their a couple of years ago and sampled some brews fresh from the kettles, yum.  It appears they are now a contract brew location opening up the brewery to third parties and appear to have launched a new brand called Just Beer.

So it was with great pleasure that I learned over the weekend that Buzzards Bay Brewing is contracting with the Pretty Things Brewery. A great project brewing fantasic ales.  Just as BritishBrewer is re-creating and brewing authentic real ales, Pretty Things is going one step further and actually brewing ales using authentic old recipes and techniques, researched by top beer historians, using traditional methods.

This past Saturday evening, thanks to my friend and great ale critic Mike Chase who I use to critique my own fare introduced me to Pretty Things and poured a few bottles of their ST BOTOLPH’S TOWN Rustic Brown Ale, only batch #2 bottled last April.  It reminded me of Theakstons Old Peculier, the brew I happen to be avidly researching as my first experimental Brown/Old Ale recipe.  So I come home and fire up the internets and what do I find but the brew master of Pretty Things was a former brewer from Yorkshire, England, and the Rustic Brown is actually inspired by Old Peculier and a couple of other rustic darker Yorkshire ales, right down the use of Yorkshire malts and the northern england fermenting technique of open Yorkshire squares. It was a fantastic beverage, and I only wish we had more because when the word got out about (via the oohs and aahs) there really was not enough to go around.

Check out Pretty Things at these locations. I am really looking forward to the London Mild inspired by the Milds brewed in 1800’s London and something I briefly mention in my post on Brown Ale.

On Tap (Feb 1st 2010)

Its hard to believe that Jan is already over.  Well Jan ended with a big bang for me. After 12 months of unemployment I managed to secure a new role, starting on Feb 16th.  The change in status will in no way detract from my blogging and brewing, in fact I will probably need the distraction more than ever as a wind down from the pressures of work.

Had a great weekend sharing ales with friends who introduced me to some delicious new brews. It was funny, a friend of mine brought with him an ale inspired by Theakston Old Pecuilier which just happens to be my next recipe, this friends favorite ale to date is Rogue Dead Guy, which just happens to be the inspiration behind Northern Brewers Grateful Dead Guy recipe kit brewed with PacMan yeast, a strain taken from the Rogue Brewery and currently in a secondary in my cellar, and our host served Fullers London Pride, a recipe I researched in Jan and currently in my primary fermenter. With that its definitely time for an On Tap Update.

Primary

• Fullers London Pride clone (4 days) – the first pass at a London Classic Best Bitter using a White Labs yeast strain from the Fullers brewery. I live in hope, colour looks great and the yeast appears all but done with its job.

Secondary

• Spitfire Premium Ale clone (1 week) – my 2nd pass at Spitfire Ale, the Shepherd Neame classic from Kent UK. Dry hopped with some Kent Goldings, yeast appears to be still fermenting, guess it needed longer in the primary. This ale has at least another week in the secondary.
• Grateful Dead Guy Ale (1 week) – a new special edition kit from Northern Brewer using the newly released PacMan ale yeast strain from Wyeast/Rogue Breweries. The recipe calls for at least 2 weeks in the secondary. Will transfer to a cooler location to finish.
• Lord Fatbottom Ale (1 month, 1 week, 3 days) – sitting peacefully as part of its 6 month rest.

Bottle/Keg Conditioning

• Flowers Original Ale clone (1 week) – my first brew of 2010 and first attempt at the classic Flowers recipe.  Still cooking, will not touch for at least another week, maybe 2.
• Dogfish Head 90 min IPA clone (10 weeks) – Only 2 weeks remaining of its 3 month rest, cannot wait.
• Dry Irish Stout (2 weeks, 4 days) – my second batch of Northern Brewers Guinness clone.  Sitting waiting to be drank, come on Bob. The spare bottles have been either drunk, used in cooking or sold already.

Drinking

• Swampswill 6X (3 weeks, 3 days) – my first attempt at a true Wadworth 6X clone.  Not as I had hoped due to the use of oak chips. See review.
• Sinistral Warrior IPA (3 weeks, 2 days) – nice hoppy IPA, not quite an Imperial but its close. Sold another 6 pack and made a severe dent in the remainder of the case at a party this weekend, only 2 remaining of what is a wonderful IPA.
• Chiswick ESB (3 weeks, 1 day) – version 1.0 of my Fullers ESB clone. Improving with age, still got half a 22oz case.
• Draught Irish Ale (1 week, 1 day) – my first attempt at Northern Brewers Irish Ale. Solid keg brew, does well with the BeerGas, more my wife’s taste than mine, but refreshing and smooth nonetheless, still got 1/3 keg to go

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

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.  UPDATE: Recipe turned out great and has been promoted to the permanent recipe section of the site.

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