Flagg Ales Brewday

[Galena]

I decided to resume my Brewday diary having let it slip into disuse, if only for my own benefit of recording my brews, a fair few missed but hey ho.

12th March 2021
Adnams Broadside Clone (Bottled version)

I previously tried a batch of Broadside, not listed here but recorded in some detail HERE the first attempt was a split batch with half being harvested Adnams Dual Strain Yeast and half being Ringwood. The brew was a failure in that 1) I forgot to add the Whirfloc, 2) The Ringwood never cleared and several months later (yesterday) I chucked it down the drain as it was extremely cloudy and also a spectacular fizz bomb (what causes that?) Luckily only 10 litres to bin. 3) The Adnams strain was quite nice but missed target ABV by quite a lot (2% at least), Adnams specify a high mash temperature and perhaps I got it a bit too high, who knows.

So, back to today.

I started early (for me) and had the kettle filled last night so on waking I added the water treatment and turned on the heat whilst having breakfast. Very civilised.

I have not changed the recipe much but instead of going for 70C straight off I did a kind of stepped mash, building from 67C up to 70C by 30 mins and then hold that to 60 mins. I don't know how well it will do but it should hopefully be a little more fermentable than last time if that was the issue I had.

I hit all the targets spot on so well pleased with that apart from pH which was 5.62 (target 5.2) I have no idea why but I always miss my mash pH by a fair margin. Mash efficiency was 81% so well pleased with that from Fullhorn and BIAB with batch sparge.

Pitched the yeast and all cleaned up by 1430 with time to make a starter for Mondays Brew.

Recipe
Batch Size: 15L
Boil Time: 60 mins, Mash Time: 60 mins (Build from 67 C t0 70C by 30 mins)

Targets
ABV: 6.2% OG: 1.069 FG: 1.022 EBC: 48.5 IBU: 34

Fermentables
4.5Kgs Thomas Fawcett MO
120g Chocolate
70g Black

Hops
20g First Gold @ 60
7g First Gold @ 15
20g First Gold @ 5

Yeast Nutrient @ 10
Whirfloc @ 5

Water Profile
ca: 161 Mg: 5 Na: 9 Cl: 91 SO4: 268 HCO: 18

Yeast
Adnams Dual Strain (Harvested and built up in 2 stages)

Fermentation
4 days @ 20C 1 day @ 21C 9 days @ 22C

 

[Galena]

Thursday 18th march

Vaccination day tomorrow so I though I would get this brew in beforehand, that and the fact that I had made up a Ringwood starter scheduled for use today and din't want to risk feeling off-it over the weekend.

Oatmeal Stout
My second batch of this as the first was so nice.

Made pretty much as the Greg Hughes recipe


All went well but gave it a 90 minute boil to hit target OG which left me 1 litre short in the FV.

 

[Galena]

Update on the Broadside.
Did a gravity check on the Broadside today, tried with the refractometer first, with corrections and then with the hydrometer.
Well it is sitting pretty on 1.012, which considering the target was 1.022 thats rather impressive.
So that works out at an ABV 0f 7.5% (target was 6.2%
Tasted rather good as well, has that fruitcake taste about it like the real stuff does. Well pleased after the last two efforts, well a split batch with 2 different yeasts failed. This one used the harvested ADnams Dual strain again. Bottling on Friday then and then the wait.

 

[foxbat]

Did you get the Adnams yeast from a bottle or from a mini keg?

 

[Galena]

Did you get the Adnams yeast from a bottle or from a mini keg?

It was from a mini cask of Broadside rather than mini keg (Adnams make this distinction)

 

[foxbat]

It was from a mini cask of Broadside rather than mini keg (Adnams make this distinction)

Got it, thanks.

 

[Galena]

Got it, thanks.

Apparently neither the bottles nor the kegs contain yeast, the kegs are filtered the casks are not though @An Ankoù has had success from a keg of Ghost Ship. I have no idea what happens with the bottled variety.

 

[cushyno]

Hey @Galena , I took the time to read back through your brewing history. It's an interesting journey. Your recipes all look sound and your approach to brewing and learning from each batch is commendable.

I also tried to brew an Old Hooky clone from the Wheeler book last year too and seemed to miss the whole essence of the beer by a country mile. The Wheeler recipies are almost useless unless the brewer is able to interpret the notes and infer what type of yeast to use. My Old Hooky clone was lacking in yeast character and too dark. The sugar additions really limit the ability to create something drinkable and lovable.

It's good to see you're still enjoying the journey and full of ideas to enjoy and improve your brewing.

 

[Galena]

Hey @Galena , I took the time to read back through your brewing history. It's an interesting journey. Your recipes all look sound and your approach to brewing and learning from each batch is commendable.

I also tried to brew an Old Hooky clone from the Wheeler book last year too and seemed to miss the whole essence of the beer by a country mile. The Wheeler recipies are almost useless unless the brewer is able to interpret the notes and infer what type of yeast to use. My Old Hooky clone was lacking in yeast character and too dark. The sugar additions really limit the ability to create something drinkable and lovable.

It's good to see you're still enjoying the journey and full of ideas to enjoy and improve your brewing.

Thanks for the comments, by coincidence I have just been reformulating my Old Hooky recipe, I haven't re-read my posts so not sure what I said earlier but I agree about the GW book, I also now have the Roger Protz Almanac which lists Old Hooky as having some Mild Malt in it so I have replaced some of the MO with Crisp Vienna.
Mine too was way too dark for some reason as well so I have replaced the crystal medium with light.
I have also increased the quantity of dry hops as well and removed all the sugar, this may mean it is too full bodied of course but I feel I need to give it a try.
Yeast wise I am not really sure what to go with, can't get hold of the Hook Norton Yeast of course, first time I used So4 which I wont use again, second time I tried WLP002 and still didn't hit the mark and maybe try WLP013 this time, not sure tbh, do you have any thoughts?
I am making a Blonde/Summer Ale next but after that will have a go at this.

 

[cushyno]

The recipe says Old Hooky has a fruitiness. That's my memory of it too from a wedding I attended near Hook Norton.

Someone recently wrote on here (I think it may be @matt76 ) that MJ M36 is quite similar to WLP013 London Ale III.
I tend to use dry yeast and have returned to using M36 for my last three brews. There is a definite fruitiness from the yeast fermented at 20-21°C. Less so fermented at 18°C. I have another batch conditioning that was fermented at 19, then raised to 20 after 2 days. It was done in three! I can let you know in a few weeks what difference that made. The M36 attenuates reasonably well for me though doesn't dry anything out completely.
I wonder if M36 or WLP013 might work with a lower mash temperature (65) and low to middling fermentation temperature (18-19)?

I'm keen to give it another go some time, maybe later this summer. Thanks for the tip about using Vienna. I'll more than likely avoid black malt and use half the crystal.

 

[Galena]

Yes, do let me know the difference is.
I mashed the previous batch at 65C and I always start my fermentation at the lower end of the range for 4 days and then raise it 1 degree a day to the upper end for a diacetyl rest.

What Roger Protz says is:
OG1048 ABV4.5%
Ingredients: maris Otter mild ale and pale malts, crystal malt, enzymic malt, flaked maize, brewing sugar, 32 units of colour, Challenger, Fuggles amd Goldings whole hops, dry hopped, 30 units of bitterness.

Tasting notes
Nose: Rich malt and ripe fruit aromas
Palate: Complex balance of grain and hop bitterness in mouth, deep bittersweet finish with raisin notes.

I have a copy of the original book by Wheeler on order, before CAMRA bastardised it.should arrive soon so I will see if there is any more detail in that.

 

[Galena]

Adnams Broadside Clone update
I bottled the Adnams Broadside Clone today, on tasting it really was WoW! This has the distinct rich fruitcake flavour of the real thing so I have great hopes for my recipe for this going forward. Not very clear yet but I added 18 mls Chitosan and now as its ended up as 7.5% it will be put down for a couple of months before tasting, if I can wait that long.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Adnams Broadside Clone update
I bottled the Adnams Broadside Clone today, on tasting it really was WoW! This has the distinct rich fruitcake flavour of the real thing so I have great hopes for my recipe for this going forward. Not very clear yet but I added 18 mls Chitosan and now as its ended up as 7.5% it will be put down for a couple of months before tasting, if I can wait that long.

I love broadside and brewed my version of it at the end of last year, i'm not sure how close it really is but it's definitely in my top 5 that i've brewed.

 

[Galena]

I love broadside and brewed my version of it at the end of last year, i'm not sure how close it really is but it's definitely in my top 5 that i've brewed.

It is a great beer, when this is ready I will have to buy a bottle or two again to compare, but the important thing is that it turns out a nice drink along the lines of, not that it is indistinguishable from the real thing.

 

[Galena]

So today I brewed a Blonde / Summer Ale
I had originally planned on using WLP007 Dry English Ale yeast, but had none and I already have six yeasts in the yeast fridge and could do without another, I was tempted to ditch WLP005 and replace it with the 007 but couldn't bring myself to do it.
I want this to attenuate a bit more than 002 is likely to and want to hit 1.008 so decided to try adding US05 on day 3. I have no idea how well this will work but the hope is that it will dry it out more but not destroy the flavour of the 002.

The brew generally went well, but as usual I missed my mash pH target of 5.24 only getting 5.55, this seems to have become a regular occurrence now and I cannot figure out why, all calculated with Brewfather and backed up with Simple Water Calculator, but I must be doing something wrong.

OG was 1.040 which is close enough, my Pre boil volume worked out as a target of 26L but with a boil time of 60 mins I ended up with only 19.5L in the FV instead of the target 21L so that was a bit odd, my boil off is usually very close to 3L an hour.

Refractometer agrees with hydrometer with a correction factor of 0.990
It has been pretty close with alcohol as well using a correction of 0.957

Targets
ABV 4.3% OG 1.041 FG: 1.008 EBC: 11.6 IBU: 25 Batch Size: 21L

Fermentables
3Kgs Maris Otter
300g Amber
300g Wheat

Hops
12g Challenger @ 60
10g Cascade / 10g Citra @ 10
10g Cascade / 10g Citra 20 min hopstand at 80C

Target Water Profile
Ca: 96 Mg: 8 Na: 9 Cl: 132 SO4: 81

Yeast
WLP002 for the first 3 days
then add: US05 on day 3 to try and dry out a little.

Fermentation
4 days at 19C, 1 day @ 20C, 9 days @ 21C

 

[Galena]

Today was double brew day.
The idea was a bit daunting but I need to get ahead a bit as I had a bit of a lack of brewing for a few weeks and now my stock is desperately low. Another reason was both brews were using the same Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley yeast and so I wanted to give both the same fermentation profile. I had considered brewing consecutive days but that would mean twice the washing up and I didn't fancy that.
So the first brew was a development on my Old Hooky Clone, this time with the Thames Valley Yeast and using Maris Otter and Vienna malt as Roger Protz lists it as containing mild malt, a little Crystal and torrified Maize with 300g Lyle's Golden Syrup.
Water profile was Ca 192 Mg14 Na 48 Cl 141 SO4 398
Hit all my targets spot on giving an OG of 1.042 for an ABV of 4.5%
The last times I made this it has always ended up way too dark following GW's recipe so I branched out on my own here and see how we go.

Brew 2 was my first attempt at an Old Speckled Hen clone with Maris Otter, some Crystal and Golden Syrup and again trying the Thames Valley Yeast.
Slightly off with the OG so added 75g DME at 10 mins from end of boil
Water Profile was Ca 180 Mg 4 Na 9 Cl 127 SO4 269

Kettle went on at 6 am to heat up for the first brew and it took exactly 12 hours until all cleaned up and cleared away. A long shift.
Kegging my Blonde Ale tomorrow and my next brew hopefully on Monday

 

[cushyno]

Great work today @Galena :hat:
I also found the GW recipe was too dark for Old Hooky. Hope yours turns out well.

 

[Galena]

Blonde Bear Clone (version 1)

A first attempt to clone this delicious Blonde Ale by Little Critters Brewery of Sheffield

This is a regular guest ale at one of the pubs I (used to) frequent. There is not a lot of available information on it but a little research and I managed to glean the following:

Our blonde ale is a smooth, balanced, bear hug of a session beer. The bready, light caramel malt complements the premium variety of whole hops used. With a light body, light hints of tropical fruit, balanced with earthiness, making a satisfying, authentic and moreish blonde. Grains: Maris Otter, Wheat Malt
Hops: First Gold, Jester

That plus the pump clip gives me 4.2% ABV IBU: 35 and Colour: 10 (I can only assume this is EBC but I ignored this anyway)

Version 1 recipe
Batch Size 21 Litres
ABV: 4.2% OG: 1.044 FG: 1.012 EBC 7.9 IBU35

Fermentables
3.5Kgs Thomas Fawcett Maris Otter
350g Wheat Malt

Hops
15g First Gold at 60 mins
20g First Gold / 20g Jester @ 10
10g First Gold / 10g Jester 20 min hopstand at 80C

Water Profile I decided to go with a balanced profile
Ca: 140 Mg: 8 Na: 9 Cl 153 SO4: 155

Yeast: WLP005

Fermentation: 4 days @ 18C 1 day @ 19C 1 day @ 20C 9 days @ 21C


My precision probe thermometer gave up the other day and it's a bit of a wait for a FOC replacement from the US, but never mind I have a back up of a cheap digital probe thermometer, but the first thing that did was give up, luckily I was close to the end of the mash and had to rely on the Klarstein gauge after that whilst recirculating by hand to keep an even temperature, prior to that it had been close to 66C all the way. I have just ordered a re-circulation pump so the next brew should be a bit less labour intensive hopefully.

My water treatment, as calculated by both Brewfather and EZ Water Calculator got it wrong again, by a large margin, I treated mash and sparge water seperately and knowing my past failures to hit mash pH I targeted 5.12 on Brewfather, EZ gave me 5.27 however at 15 mins into the mash and at room temperature it was reading 5.63?? I am not sure what is going on and why I can never hit my target. I guess maybe some of the salts are not dissolving properly? No idea just a guess but it is frustrating.

Other than that the brew went well and I hit all other targets with OG bang on 1.044

I usually filter whilst dropping down to the FV and today was no exception using an Aldi Veg bag works well for me and stops all debris.

The good thing about these Speidel FV's is they have 2 good strong handles so shaking aggressively is quite easy and on top of plenty of splashing from the kettle it hopefully aerates well.
The Blonde Bear is destined for the corny and to be drunk young hopefully.

 

[cushyno]

Looks like a good recipe. The description hints at caramel, so I wonder if there are some other caramel malts in there too? First Gold and Jester are both fruity hops, so maybe the earthiness is from the yeast and malt. Using WLP002 may leave a touch more sweetness than you expect and give a sense that there is more body, but is likely a good place to start with that temperature schedule - keeping it simple and predictable.

 

[Galena]

Looks like a good recipe. The description hints at caramel, so I wonder if there are some other caramel malts in there too? First Gold and Jester are both fruity hops, so maybe the earthiness is from the yeast and malt. Using WLP002 may leave a touch more sweetness than you expect and give a sense that there is more body, but is likely a good place to start with that temperature schedule - keeping it simple and predictable.

Some good points I had overlooked and I won't get the chance to try the real thing for sometime to come. I couldn't get the colour with the MO and wheat so perhaps there is a little Crystal in there or possibly Amber? I'm not sure about earthy flavours, I gather some hops can give a certain earthiness and as you say could be the yeast. In reality though as long as I get a nice drinkable beer I will be happy enough and keep tweaking to get closer.

Using WLP002 may leave a touch more sweetness than you expect and give a sense that there is more body

I just noticed that mistake in my report, it was WLP005 I used (now corrected above).