I managed to squeeze in another brew at the end of last month. After playing around with my Best Bitter recipe so many times, I thought it was about time I did something different. So I did, but in all honesty, it's not that different...
The grist for the Best is made up of 95% Pale Malt and 5% Crystal. For this brew, I simply replaced the Crystal with British Caramalt, so it should give a much paler beer. The Caramalt is EBC 27-32, compared to the Crystal at EBC 120-140.
As for the hops, I used my normal WGV and Progress for bittering (essentially a Fuggles and Goldings type combo) and then late hopped with Simcoe.
I was hoping to end up with is a a nice pale ale, around 4.2% with a nice touch of bitterness from the English hops, but rounded off with a nice American zing.
The brewday was straightforward enough, although this was the brew that I noticed some cleaning residue inside one of the fermenters, which was slightly scratched. I used a boiling kettle to wash away the residue and continued as normal and just hope the beer will be okay.
Early samples prior to racking were encouraging, although the phenolic flavour that blighted by Citra Pale Ale didn't manifest itself until after it had conditioned properly, so only time will tell with this one. I've stuck half the batch in a cask which I'm putting to one side for a forthcoming BBQ and he other half has been bottled.
Tasting notes to follow, unless of course, the whole lot gets dumped...
Hey Mark,
ReplyDeleteWhat type of yeast do you use for your bitters? I've tried Whitelabs wlp002 in the past. It floculates really well leaving a beautifully clear beer but it also imparts diacytel's butterscotch flavors. Any suggestions for a truly authentic Brit ale?
Hi Mark, I have to admit I tend to use dry yeast more than I do liquid and I also prefer the American strains which let the hops shine, rather than the malt, (Dry US-05 and Whitelabs WLP001 and WLP051) so my beers are by no means traditionally British. I agree with you about WLP002, it does leave some diacytel but that's very common in Fuller's beers (very good London brewery) and I believe it is their strain. I've used WLP007, but found it a bit 'bready' for my palate. I've not tried Burton Ale yeast yet (WLP023) but that might be a good one for you to try (although it might give a sulphur nose, which I'm not keen on), but again, that would be consistent with beers brewed in Burton.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this helps you, but good luck!