Last week I made an attempt at a Brewer's Gold clone. The original is made by Crouch Vale Brewery in Essex and won champion beer of Britain two years in a row. It's also bloody delicious.
Info I found online suggested it was a SMASH recipe with just pale or possibly larger malt and Brewer's Gold hops. I tweaked this a bit because the only Brewer's Gold hops I could get were 4% AA and if I had used them for bittering I wouldn't have enough left for flavour/aroma. Instead I used Admiral for bittering and also chucked in a little bit of crystal malt.
Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: British Golden Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 24 liters
Boil Size: 30 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.033
Efficiency: 80% (brew house)
STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.041
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV : 4.1%
IBU : 44
FERMENTABLES:
3.8 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (97.4%)
0.1 kg - United Kingdom - Crystal 45L (2.6%)
HOPS:
20 g - Admiral, Type: Pellet, AA: 14, Use: Boil for 80 min (first wort hops), IBU: 36.42
50 g - Brewer's Gold, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 4, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 8.13
50 g - Brewer's Gold, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 4, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 75 ðC
MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 66C, Time: 80 min, Amount: 24 L
2) Sparge, Temp: 75 C, Time: 10 min, Amount: 10 L
YEAST:
White Labs - Essex Ale Yeast WLP022
TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Ca2: 137; Mg2: 6; Na: 26; Cl: 48; SO4: 188; HCO3: 0
The brew went well, with no major hiccups. I chilled the wort to 19ðC, stuck it in my fermentation chamber and pitched the yeast. 12 hours later the airlock was bubbling away.
I then had to go away for a couple of days and got a call from my girlfriend to say that there was a major eruption from the airlock. I had to give her instructions on setting up a blow off tube and prayed that she sanitised everything properly. Luckily all seemed well when I got home.
When I tasted a gravity sample it was really tasty and very close to what I remember the original being like. It had such a great fruity hop flavour that I decided not to use the extra packet of Brewer's Gold hops that I had intended for dry hopping. This means I can make it again soon!
Info I found online suggested it was a SMASH recipe with just pale or possibly larger malt and Brewer's Gold hops. I tweaked this a bit because the only Brewer's Gold hops I could get were 4% AA and if I had used them for bittering I wouldn't have enough left for flavour/aroma. Instead I used Admiral for bittering and also chucked in a little bit of crystal malt.
Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: British Golden Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 24 liters
Boil Size: 30 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.033
Efficiency: 80% (brew house)
STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.041
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV : 4.1%
IBU : 44
FERMENTABLES:
3.8 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (97.4%)
0.1 kg - United Kingdom - Crystal 45L (2.6%)
HOPS:
20 g - Admiral, Type: Pellet, AA: 14, Use: Boil for 80 min (first wort hops), IBU: 36.42
50 g - Brewer's Gold, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 4, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 8.13
50 g - Brewer's Gold, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 4, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at 75 ðC
MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 66C, Time: 80 min, Amount: 24 L
2) Sparge, Temp: 75 C, Time: 10 min, Amount: 10 L
YEAST:
White Labs - Essex Ale Yeast WLP022
TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Ca2: 137; Mg2: 6; Na: 26; Cl: 48; SO4: 188; HCO3: 0
The brew went well, with no major hiccups. I chilled the wort to 19ðC, stuck it in my fermentation chamber and pitched the yeast. 12 hours later the airlock was bubbling away.
I then had to go away for a couple of days and got a call from my girlfriend to say that there was a major eruption from the airlock. I had to give her instructions on setting up a blow off tube and prayed that she sanitised everything properly. Luckily all seemed well when I got home.
When I tasted a gravity sample it was really tasty and very close to what I remember the original being like. It had such a great fruity hop flavour that I decided not to use the extra packet of Brewer's Gold hops that I had intended for dry hopping. This means I can make it again soon!
