British Brewer

Hops

Thought it was time for the next installment in our ingredients deep dive. So far we have covered water and the mighty yeast so I thought it was time to take a deeper dive into one of the more complex and underrated of all the ingredients in ale, hops.  I say underrated because hops do more than just provide the bitter flavour to balance out the sweet malt. Hops also contribute to the aroma and arguably more important have anti-bacterial properties that favor brewers yeast over bacterias keeping beers fresh and allowing a hopped ale to age without spoiling.

I have often wondered how hops came to be used in beer. I have to admit they are not an obvious choice.  Fermentation of fruit and grains has been an activity well documented in history going back into ancient times and I am sure much experimentation was done to improve flavour and longevity, especially given the quality of water and food was not a guarantee.  We take for granted today our near universal access to clean drinking water in the modern western world, something that was not a given for brewers of old.

So I went online and through my history of brewing books and found all kinds of explanations as to how hops came to be used.  In the end I came back to an old faithful (though I don’t think the author, Martyn Cornell, would not appreciate the old bit), my favorite beer history blog, Zythophile.  In a post dated Nov 20th 2009 titled “A short history on hops” Mr Cornell provides a well researched and thorough piece on the hop and its rich history.  I will not try to re-write the piece, I could never do it justice and I would probably make a mistake, something Mr Cornell would get very upset with. He is not only a famous beer historian but a beer myth buster also and not afraid to speak out against inaccurate and lazy research. The one paragraph that leapt out of the page (or browser) was the following”

Book I, Chapter 61, “De Hoppho”, or “Concerning the hop”, says of the plant: “It is warm and dry, and has a moderate moisture, and is not very useful in benefiting man, because it makes melancholy grow in man and makes the soul of man sad, and weighs down his inner organs. But yet as a result of its own bitterness it keeps some putrefactions from drinks, to which it may be added, so that they may last so much longer.” (Abbess Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), mystical philosopher and healer, published a book called Physica Sacra, which translates best as “The Natural World” (circa 1150).

The author then goes on to note:

What probably kept the usefulness of hops from being discovered for so long is that the bittering, preserving resins in hop cones are not very soluble, and the hops need boiling for a long time, around 90 minutes, for what is called isomerisation

Please read the rest but the above brings us to the most important discussion around hops and brewing, how they work.  Male and female flowers form on separate hop plants. The hops used for brewing are the female flower cluster, which contains many small flowers.  Female hop flowers, also called cones, are harvested in August-September and dried.  The female cones are important because they contain lupulin glands that contain alpha and beta resins and other essential oils used to impart specific aroma and flavour characteristics.  Alpha and beta resins are measured as the % weight of the hop cone and displayed on the packaging as alpha acids and beta acids.

ALPHA ACIDS – contain the chemical agents Humulone, Cohumulone and Adhumulone and are used to impart bitterness, the higher the alpha % the more bitter the hop.  Alpha resins are not very soluble and require at least 60 mins boiling to extract the bitterness.

BETA ACIDS – Beta resins and hop oils are used to impart flavour and aroma.  Unlike the alpha acids these oils are water soluble and will quickly boil off in the kettle so cannot be in the pot for too long.  A hop will impart flavour if boiled between 5-15 mins and aroma if boiled for 1-3 mins.

An important note to brew calculator users.  The hop alpha and beta % used by these applications are averages for a particular variety.  The actual resin % does vary year to year and even crop to crop from the same region.  It is important to note the published %’s on a package prior to use and recalculate your recipe hop levels to ensure you maintain the appropriate bitterness and flavour characteristics.

A well designed and useful bitterness and flavour hop reference chart can be found here with another great reference on creating flavours found here. This chart and others like it can assist us when it comes to decide the type of hops we should use and the quantities and timing during the boil to attain the flavour and aroma characteristics for our final brew.  Experimenting with flavour is an art and something every homebrewer should have fun with. For example if I were to use the above chart to brew a great spicy, citrus American IPA consider the Williamette as your flavour and aroma hop.

While flavour and aroma are part of the art of homebrew, bitterness is more the science.  Bitterness is measured in most calculators and modern recipes in International Bittering Units (IBU’s).  There is debate as to the most accurate IBU formula for small batch homebrews but it appears that most books and online resources use the Tinseth formula created by hop head Glen Tinseth. Measured in parts per million (ppm), if you do not have access to a brewing calculator or just enjoy doing the brew math by hand here is the Tinseth formula for estimating a brews IBU:

IBU = Utilization * ( oz of hops * ( Alpha Acid% / 100 ) * 7490 ) / Gallons of Wort

Utilization refers to how much of the alpha acid is actually used and is dependent primarily on the boil time, but is also affected by specific gravity of the wort and whether the hops used are pellets or whole hops.  I will not use this post to get into a discussion on the use of pellets over whole leaf except to say I use pellets.  In my experience they are easier to store and stay fresh longer.  Typical utilization %’s are in the range of 15 to 25% depending on the length of the boil. Pelletized hops have about 10% more bittering potential than whole hops because the soft resins have been upset and made more available during the pelletizing process.   To calculate utilization using the Tinseth formula use the following (for pellet hops add 10% to the final value).

Utilization = ( 1.65 * 0.000125^( OG of the wort – 1 ) ) * ( ( 1 – 2.72^( -0.04 * Hop Boil Time ) ) / 4.14 )

Taking the Theakston Old Peculier brew I researched last week as an example with an IBU target of 29 and the research indicating the use of Fuggle hops. The Fuggle pellets I have in stock have a stated alpha of 4.5% so using the formula above, the alpha %, the batch size and target OG for the brew of 1.060 I would calculate the following:

Step 1 – calculate utilization for both the 60 mins and 15 min additi0ns (adding an additional 10% for pellets)

60 min: ( 1.65 * 0.000125^( 1.060 – 1 ) ) * ( ( 1 – 2.72^( -0.04 * 60 ) ) / 4.14 ) = 21.14% (whole hops) or 23.25% (pellet hops)

15 min: ( 1.65 * 0.000125^( 1.060 – 1 ) ) * ( ( 1 – 2.72^( -0.04 * 15 ) ) / 4.14 ) = 10.5% (whole hops) or 11.5% (pellet hops)

Step 2 – calculate the IBU for the final brew, you may need to

play around with the hop quantities to get the final IBU right. Remember that higher quantities of later addition hops lead to a more intense the flavour and aroma without adding to the bitterness.

60 min: 23.25 * ( 0.67 * ( 4.5 / 100 ) * 7490 ) / 2.5 = 21

15 min: 11.5 * ( 0.53 * ( 4.5 / 100 ) * 7490 ) / 2.5 = 8.25

IBU = 29.25 (21 + 8.25)

Hope this has helped. I have included a basic excel spreadsheet with the above example.  Have fun, remember to always check the alpha % and adjust your recipe accordingly, research recipes from your favorite brews to see the types of hops used and investigate the websites of your favorite commercial brews as they often post the hops they use and associated tasting notes. Next up the Malt and yes there will be more math.

On Tap (Feb 8th 2010)

Been a fun week wrapping up projects and getting ready to start the new job.  My new role will involve wearing a suite again, something I have not done since 1998. Just ordered 3 new ones and some shirts, got to say its nice to wear them again, kind of a work uniform.

It was fun researching Theakston Old Peculier and finally publish the recipe. I expect to begin the brew later this week.  Here are the rest of my brewing updates in this weeks On Tap update.

Primary

• Twelfth Night Stout (2 days (p) ) – A new extract recipe from Northern Brewer featuring the PacMan ale yeast strain from Rogue.  This one is an ass-kicking 70 IBU stout. This is destined for the keg. The OG came in close to the recipe and all is well in the primary so far.

Secondary

• Fullers London Pride clone (1 wk (p), 3 days (s) ) – came out crystal clear from the primary with the FG exactly on target. Colour and aroma were promising. Could this be another winner?

Bottle/Keg Conditioning

• Spitfire Premium Ale clone (1 wk (p), 2wks (s), 3 days (b)) – my 2nd pass at Spitfire Ale, the Shepherd Neame classic from Kent UK.  Came out a little cloudy from the secondary, little surprised as I used finings. Must have been the dry hopping and some yeast activity.  It is clearing in the bottle and the flavour was great.
• Grateful Dead Guy Ale (1wk (p), 2wks (s), 3 days (b)) – a new special edition kit from Northern Brewer using the newly released PacMan ale yeast strain from Wyeast/Rogue Breweries. Came out of the secondary crystal clear and tasting yummy, I had 2 sample glasses even though it was flat. I cannot wait for this one to be ready
• Lord Fatbottom Ale (1 mth (p), 10 1/2 wks (s)) – sitting peacefully as part of its 6 month rest.
• Flowers Original Ale clone (1 wk (p), 1 wk (s), 2 weeks (b)) – 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 (1 wk (p), 3 wks (s), 11 wks (b) ) – Only ONE MORE WEEK remaining of its 3 month rest, can we resist. I know I will try 😉

Drinking

• Swampswill 6X (1 wk (p), 1 wk (s), 4 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), 6 wks (b)) – version 1.0 of my Fullers ESB clone. Still improving with age, with 6 weeks in the bottle, only 4 22 oz bottles left
• Draught Irish Ale (1 wk (p), 1 wk (s), 4 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 (see below)
• Dry Irish Stout (1 wk (p), 1 wk (s), 4 wks (k)) – my second batch of Northern Brewers Guinness clone. Finally picked up by my friend for his poker night. Went over and installed my keg system for him to use.  Tasted great. Hope they all enjoy.

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

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