An Ankoù brewday:

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Just a tad more bitter than I would like, but I think this will condition out as there's still a faint haze in the beer from suspended yeast. This often exacerbates the bitterness.

Ah that's really useful info, thanks! I tried another sample of mine last night and likewise it's got a very nice freshness but I was feeling pretty down about the intrusive bitter aftertaste - however it's still super-cloudy so I will defer stressing about it until it's had a chance to properly clear down. Perhaps I should crash it?

Similarly I've been taken by surprise by the high attenuation :-)

 

[An Ankoù]

USER UPPERS
Just had a good clear out of the hop fridge and anything that's been open more than 6 months or unopened more than a couple of years has got thrown into a picnic box pending a good sort out. Anything "dank" goes in the bin I had some Sovereign and Pilgrim leaf that had been opened and resealed a couple of years ago- no smell and yellow and crisp- in the bin. Pellets seem to keep better: among the stuff I want to use up is 120g of Barbe Rouge, an unopened bag of Kasbec about five years old and a pile of Cascade Pellets that have been open a year (I've learnt to use only the very freshest Cascade as a late and dry hop). All the pellets smell good and the Kasbec leaf smells gorgeous. So I'm going to use this little lot up by making 2 batches of Lovibond XB 1864- substuting the hops.
23 litre batch, 6oz (171g hops) and OG 1053-ish.
Each batch has 5.6 Kg pale malt- 50% Chevallier and 50% Crisp's Best.
Batch 1: 90 minutes 60g Barbe Rouge, 60 minutes 50g Kasbec, 30 minutes 50g Kasbec
Batch 2: 90 minutes 60g Barbe Rouge, 60 minutes 55g Cascade pellets, 30 minutes 55g Cascade pellets
Both pitched with Wyeast London Ale - The Worthington White Shield one.

If these are going to work, it's because the alpha acids are around the same as the original Goldings version and the Barbe Rouge nicely balances the relatively high cohumulone content of the Cascade. The first batch is just coming to the boil and then I've got to decide what to do with the bits and pieces of high alpha hops that remain.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Sounds like a lot of malt - what OG are you aiming for?

 

[An Ankoù]

Sounds like a lot of malt - what OG are you aiming for?

You're right. It's Pattinson's recipe, but I would expect 1060 from that lot. But I don't mind if it runs out at 1055. He says 1053!
With such a high hopping rate, I can liquor back without spoiling the beer.
I made a small batch some months ago with EKGs and it really is a delicious beer.

 

[An Ankoù]

Sounds like a lot of malt - what OG are you aiming for?

You're doubly right. I've never been able to find reference to his batch volumes and someone said, here, that they'd read in one of his books that it was 23 litres. I've just recalculated half a dozen of his recipes with the kind of efficiency I'd expect from my kit and they are all within a few tenths, if not spot on, 26 litre batches. So it looks like I'll be having Imperial Lovibond XB. I've no problem at all with that, but I'll brew the cascade one to 26 litres.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Imperial Lovibond XB

Excellent! I agree with you on the EKG - they are top class hops. I also have an unopened pack of the Whitbread Golding Variety (WGV) in the fridge which I must try

 

[An Ankoù]

Excellent! I agree with you on the EKG - they are top class hops. I also have an unopened pack of the Whitbread Golding Variety (WGV) in the fridge which I must try

WGV are a great hop and lovely in traditional ales. Quite different to EKG, though (well, not as different as SImcoe). I think you'll like them.

 

[An Ankoù]

You're doubly right. I've never been able to find reference to his batch volumes and someone said, here, that they'd read in one of his books that it was 23 litres. I've just recalculated half a dozen of his recipes with the kind of efficiency I'd expect from my kit and they are all within a few tenths, if not spot on, 26 litre batches. So it looks like I'll be having Imperial Lovibond XB. I've no problem at all with that, but I'll brew the cascade one to 26 litres.

Damn. This doesn't make any sense at all. Look at this thread: The home brewers guide to vintage beer by Ron Pattinson.
Apparently Ron does confirm 23 litres (6 U.S. gallons), but the malt bills and stated OGs consistently suggest a considerably higher batch size!!!!! WTF???? I can't imagine RP doesn't get better efficiency with his kit or is he referring to historical malts with less yield? I don't know, but I'm going to recalculate each recipe before I use it.

 

[marshbrewer]

I've done this one with a Chevalier/MO mix, and also with just MO. The former is better by far, but they are both great beers. Need a bit of ageing, in my experience.

 

[An Ankoù]

In his book co-written with Roger Protz "Homebrew Classics - India Pale Ale", Clive la Pensée has a right old rant about how much he enjoyed an IPA crafted by one James McCrorrie, A Durden Park member, and how it was by the the best among what appears to be an absolute shedload of IPAs that they necked down that particular lunchtime in May. Later in the book he provides the recipe scaled down from McCrorrie's 12-gallon batch and, I have to say, I'm dubious that the grainbill he recommends will give the required OG per volume. Anyway, I've corrected that and knocked up 12 litres this morning. The recipe's below. I have to say that the malt and overall hop quantity are very similar to the recipe for Lovibond XB (1864), which is becoming one of my favourites, but the hop timings are different and the IPA is dry hopped. Here we go. What is there to lose? A little lightweight for an IPA I thought, but let's get on with it. He calls it Balham IPA.

Balham IPA
12 litres, OG 1055, IBUs- a fair few.
Water treated for IPA (ie, Burtonised) He recommends Murphy's Liquor Treatment. I used the scrapings from the floor of the budgie cage.
MO Pale Ale Malt (I used Hook Head) 3 Kg
Hops: Goldings Early Bird (I used up some open bags of EKGs, Worcester Goldings and a tad of WGV in the first charge to make up the weight)
50g at start of boil (mine go in as FWH)
25g for 30 minutes
(Irish moss (protofloc) last 10 minutes)
22g at flameout
15g dry hops

Mash at 68C for 90 minutes
90 minute boil
Yeast not specified. I've used W1028 London Yeast as I had some ready in the fridge.

There's much more detail given in the book including dry hop in Cornelius kegs for 7 days and roll them twice daily (not going to happen as I'm bottling) and drink as soon as clear. For those who have the book, it's on page 150.
Everything came out as it should. I liquored back from 11 litres to just over 11½ litres to hit 1055 and Bob's your uncle.
I wish I'd had some Early Bird, but I've never seen it for sale. As it happens, I've got three bines of Calais Goldings just about to pop so I'll knock up a later green-hop batch with those when they're ready. They're alleged to be like Early Bird.

 

[An Ankoù]

It's that glorious time of year again.
GREEN HOPS SEASON

The time has come to start using up this year's hops grown in the garden. I used to have three bines: Cascade, Centennial and Challenger and I generally make 20-25 litres with the produce of one bine. this year I picked up 3 Calais Goldings and a Fuggle when Hopstock were knocking them out cheap at the end of the season. They all went in in May and immediately went wild. I've got to get the Calais Golding harvested as some of the cones are starting to brown and we've got thunderstorms for the next few days, starting tomorrow.
Ballcocks' It's a lousy day for brewing, 34C in the shade in Caden and I didn't want an early start as I wanted the hops to have a bit of sun on them before picking them. I picked two binesworth and am happy that I got any crop at all in first season.
Here's my recipe for Calais Gold:
25 litres; OG 1050-1055; Nominal IBUs 40; 134g green hops collected.
100% Chevallier pale malt 5.5 Kg
2½ hour mash at 66C (It came out at 67C, but had to go shopping and the extended mash time will give the beta-amylase a bit more time to work)
Bittering hops 111g of Goldings (French) leaf at 4.5% alpha acid FWH (I don't do Tinseth)
Late hops 20g Goldings (French) leaf 15 mins; protofloc 10 mins; 20g green hops 5 mins; 30g green hops flameout; balance of green hops 75C steep for 30 mins.
75 minute boil.
No dry hops.
Pitch with CML Beòir; Ferment at 19C.

Four or five batches to go. In previous years I've used a high proportion of Vienna malt and I'll repeat some of those recipes.
EDIT:
Why bother? You may ask. I not just use dried hops from CML or wherever? I've found that used loads of green hops at the end and after the boil gives the beer a flavour that I can only describe as perfumed and that I've never tasted by using dried hops. Centennial, markedly so.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

All brewed up and bottled this morning. Smells lovely and fresh. Just a tad more bitter than I would like, but I think this will condition out as there's still a faint haze in the beer from suspended yeast. This often exacerbates the bitterness. BRY-97 is not US-05 under a different guise as I had suspected. It takes a while to drop clear and it has attenuated more than anticipated FG 1006. This is going to be a lovely beer. I can't wait for it to carb up and condition.

How did you enjoy yours in the end, AA?
I‘ve just about finished mine now; I took the last 5L over to a party at the w/e and it went down well with the punters, but then most things seem to.

Overall I think I liked it - a nice refreshing and faintly tropical flavour but thankfully well short of fruit-salad territory. A bit too bitter for my liking - possibly because my hand slipped with the Taihiki during the last hop addition. That aspect did eventually (6-8 weeks?) improve with conditioning though and nobody else seemed to notice it.
I definitely felt it drank best when well chilled and well carbonated... Mouthfeel was good though; nice and 'full' and it carried the fairly OG well.

The appearance was a bit of a disappointment and I'd have loved it to be clear and golden... in the end it was more like "Lilt" despite fining and cold crashing. The keg did get a bit shaken up during transportation at one stage, but even after three more weeks in the fridge it was stubbornly cloudy

Would I brew it again...? Mmmm - possibly... it was a very nice drink on a hot day; but I'd probably knock the gravity down and reduce the bittering hops. A good learning experience, and thanks for suggesting it

 

[An Ankoù]

How did you enjoy yours in the end, AA?
I‘ve just about finished mine now; I took the last 5L over to a party at the w/e and it went down well with the punters, but then most things seem to.

Overall I think I liked it - a nice refreshing and faintly tropical flavour but thankfully well short of fruit-salad territory. A bit too bitter for my liking - possibly because my hand slipped with the Taihiki during the last hop addition. That aspect did eventually (6-8 weeks?) improve with conditioning though and nobody else seemed to notice it.
I definitely felt it drank best when well chilled and well carbonated... Mouthfeel was good though; nice and 'full' and it carried the fairly OG well.

The appearance was a bit of a disappointment and I'd have loved it to be clear and golden... in the end it was more like "Lilt" despite fining and cold crashing. The keg did get a bit shaken up during transportation at one stage, but even after three more weeks in the fridge it was stubbornly cloudy

Would I brew it again...? Mmmm - possibly... it was a very nice drink on a hot day; but I'd probably knock the gravity down and reduce the bittering hops. A good learning experience, and thanks for suggesting it

I bottled all mine and I ve recently tried the first one after the required 6 weeks. Perfectly clear without being crystal clear. On opening the bottle there was a slight stink from the yeast. Slightly eggy. This dissipated quite quickly. The beer tasted very nice, not too bitter, but I had the impression it wasn't quite ready yet. I'm going to leave it another four weeks or so. I'm very suspicious of the yeast and I had a funny feeling about it from the first. I shall make it again, this time with US-05 or a fairly neutral ale yeast. I really enjoyed the Kiwi hops, which were present, but not overpowering.
As a matter of interest I opened my last bottle of ale made with Golden Promise, bittered with Archer and late hopped with Jester. It was amazing. A year old and the hops had really come into their own. I think we drink beer too early.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I think we drink beer too early.

No I wait until 6pm for my first pint.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I think we drink beer too early.

No I wait until 6pm for my first pint.

Blimey, I respect your self control :hat:

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Slight stink from the yeast. Slightly eggy. I shall make it again, this time with US-05 or a fairly neutral ale yeast.

Ewwww - I hate that smell, even the slightest whiff of it puts me off a beer. Fortunately I didn't get any from the keg or during primary fermentation... did you use the BRY-97 ?

 

[An Ankoù]

Ewwww - I hate that smell, even the slightest whiff of it puts me off a beer. Fortunately I didn't get any from the keg or during primary fermentation... did you use the BRY-97 ?

Yes I did. I expect it to disappear with a little more ageing and it wasn't very strong to start with. I hadn't used BRY-97 before.

 

[An Ankoù]

It's that glorious time of year again.
GREEN HOPS SEASON

The time has come to start using up this year's hops grown in the garden. I used to have three bines: Cascade, Centennial and Challenger and I generally make 20-25 litres with the produce of one bine. this year I picked up 3 Calais Goldings and a Fuggle when Hopstock were knocking them out cheap at the end of the season. They all went in in May and immediately went wild. I've got to get the Calais Golding harvested as some of the cones are starting to brown and we've got thunderstorms for the next few days, starting tomorrow.
Ballcocks' It's a lousy day for brewing, 34C in the shade in Caden and I didn't want an early start as I wanted the hops to have a bit of sun on them before picking them. I picked two binesworth and am happy that I got any crop at all in first season.
Here's my recipe for Calais Gold:
25 litres; OG 1050-1055; Nominal IBUs 40; 134g green hops collected.
100% Chevallier pale malt 5.5 Kg
2½ hour mash at 66C (It came out at 67C, but had to go shopping and the extended mash time will give the beta-amylase a bit more time to work)
Bittering hops 111g of Goldings (French) leaf at 4.5% alpha acid FWH (I don't do Tinseth)
Late hops 20g Goldings (French) leaf 15 mins; protofloc 10 mins; 20g green hops 5 mins; 30g green hops flameout; balance of green hops 75C steep for 30 mins.
75 minute boil.
No dry hops.
Pitch with CML Beòir; Ferment at 19C.

Four or five batches to go. In previous years I've used a high proportion of Vienna malt and I'll repeat some of those recipes.
EDIT:
Why bother? You may ask. I not just use dried hops from CML or wherever? I've found that used loads of green hops at the end and after the boil gives the beer a flavour that I can only describe as perfumed and that I've never tasted by using dried hops. Centennial, markedly so.

Last batch on today. That's 5 brews in 7 days, not a bad effort, if I do say so myself. The Challenger was the last to start turning, but they've got to be picked today. If I've got too many I'll just freeze the excess straight from the bine. I had to let a small portion of the Calais Goldings go as I just didn't have time to pick them and use them. I'll pick over the bine and see if there any still good for the freezer.
So that's 115 to 120 litres of beer to bottle in a few weeks, which should be fun. Fortunately we've had cooler nights and I've been able to keep the fermentation temps almost spot on 20C.
Right. Back to the grind. The beer's boiling so it's time to go and pick the hops. This is turning into a job of work!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Blimey - more power to your elbow

 

[DocAnna]

Crikey 115 to 120 litres of beer is a lot to bottle - I thought half that was a bit of a mountain to climb . Five brews in a week sounds like a commercial process, I'm well impressed. .