Full of flavour bitter

[Harbey]

I'm wanting to brew something quite traditional but with lots of malty flavour and a good bitterness. I've done an ESB which was great but having done that twice, I'm looking for something new. I do love Mcwens Champion Ale but the ABV is a bit too much - looking for more of a 5% range brew. Any suggestions before I head off to make something up? Could be a clone of an existing recipe or just someone's fave brew.

 

[Hanglow]

Here's three that might suit or give some inspiration, Gales HSB ( no late hops in this one, should be invert not candi sugar) ) a Bass draught (should be darker invert) and Maclays 70 bob from the 90s which was one of my favourite beers as a teen when I started drinking :).

 

[cushyno]

Two of my fave brews from last year are from Greg Hughes book:

• California Common
• Dunkelweizen

I found these both malty and satisfying. I think I made the calcom a bit darker by mistake but it may have helped the richness. The Northern Brewer hops in the calcom were delicious too.

The Dunkel was all malt and yeast flavours from the Weihenstephan yeast, rich and bready without being overpowering.

 

[Sadfield]

100% Mild malt or Chevallier Malt and a decent sized bittering addition to what ever abv suits.

 

[Harbey]

100% Mild malt or Chevallier Malt and a decent sized bittering addition to what ever abv suits.

Sounds interesting. Not used either of those malts before so a Smash with one of them would certainly be a nice idea.

I've gotten a little tired of hoppy pales of late hence the search for some interesting bitters that have more of a malty flavour but still pack a bit of a punch.

 

[Sadfield]

Sounds interesting. Not used either of those malts before so a Smash with one of them would certainly be a nice idea.

I've gotten a little tired of hoppy pales of late hence the search for some interesting bitters that have more of a malty flavour but still pack a bit of a punch.

They're basically the malts used to brew a mild and pale ale from c1860, if brewed to 6% with a single goldings bittering addition making the pale (80-120 IBUs) more bitter than the mild (40-80 IBUs).

 

[MrRook]

I'm wanting to brew something quite traditional but with lots of malty flavour and a good bitterness. I've done an ESB which was great but having done that twice, I'm looking for something new. I do love Mcwens Champion Ale but the ABV is a bit too much - looking for more of a 5% range brew. Any suggestions before I head off to make something up? Could be a clone of an existing recipe or just someone's fave brew.

take the mcwens recipe and scale it back to 5%.

 

[Harbey]

take the mcwens recipe and scale it back to 5%.

Yeah, I thought of that but assumed it would also dilute the taste. Not tried it before so happy to be corrected.

 

[MrRook]

Yeah, I thought of that but assumed it would also dilute the taste. Not tried it before so happy to be corrected.

It depends. How much would you be scaling back?

 

[JonBrew]

74% Extra Pale
8% Wheat
8% Munich
4% Crystal 50
4% Crystal 100
2% Pale Chocolate

This was an ESB grist I brewed recently. Malt profile came out very similar to Old Jock from Broughton Brewery if you've ever tried that.

I bittered to 40 IBU with a 50g EKG flameout addition.

Came out fantastic and very full flavour.

 

[Cwrw666]

Yeah, I thought of that but assumed it would also dilute the taste. Not tried it before so happy to be corrected.

If you've got a recipe for the McEwans just cut back on the pale malt and leave the rest as is - easiest way to reduce ABV without losing flavour.

 

[The Baron]

If you've got a recipe for the McEwans just cut back on the pale malt and leave the rest as is - easiest way to reduce ABV without losing flavour.

Thats generally what I do cut back on the pale malts and maybe just round some of the others down slightly it is not going to be exact but it will be a beer of similar style/taste and it probably would not have been the same anyway as most clones do not usually have the correct yeast so will be to style etc. Good Luck

 

[Harbey]

Never thought of just cutting down on the pale but that makes sense. Thanks for the advice.

 

[An Ankoù]

I'm wanting to brew something quite traditional but with lots of malty flavour and a good bitterness. I've done an ESB which was great but having done that twice, I'm looking for something new. I do love Mcwens Champion Ale but the ABV is a bit too much - looking for more of a 5% range brew. Any suggestions before I head off to make something up? Could be a clone of an existing recipe or just someone's fave brew.

Perversely and conversely, I've been working on a formulae for Whitbread Trophy just to remind myself of the horrors of yesteryear. I'm pretty much there and will be posting the recipe and results on An Ankoù brewday. Hoping to brew it up tomorrow.

 

[The Baron]

I bet if you are basing it on the old recipe its a better drink than you remember and if it is post the recipe as I will have a go at that once you have perfected it

 

[Harbey]

If you've got a recipe for the McEwans just cut back on the pale malt and leave the rest as is - easiest way to reduce ABV without losing flavour.

Not considered that but sounds like a good idea and makes sense. Thanks for the advice.

 

[matt76]

I made an ESB of my own last year which turned out excellent - details here

It was great after a month of conditioning but continued to impressive over time as the flavour of the brown malt rounded off and mellowed.

Despite the dry hop I wouldn't really describe it as hoppy or like an English IPA - rather that the hops and the brown malt really played well off one another.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Here's three that might suit or give some inspiration, Gales HSB ( no late hops in this one, should be invert not candi sugar) ) a Bass draught (should be darker invert) and Maclays 70 bob from the 90s which was one of my favourite beers as a teen when I started drinking :).

Out of interest, what are your sources for those? Worth comparing the HSB recipe with the actual Gale's recipe book : https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...m-the-horses-mouth.642756/page-3#post-8741190 - and apparently the current recipe is pale, 1.2% crystal and chocolate.

That thread also has the original Fuller's partigyle recipe from the brew book, there's a pretty good homebrew interpretation of ESB in post 42.

Another option for the OP would be the Fuller's porter, also mentioned in that thread.

 

[Hanglow]

The gales one would have been from JBK or from the old video clip of the brewery that might have included a brewsheet, I can't quite remember. Or it could have been from that same post that Henry made , I lost most of my recipes last year due to a pc dieing and me not backing it up and only bothered to make a few back up.

Maclays would have been from Ron P

and the bass draught was just cobbled together from various googlings and wanting to brew it


I also tend to adjust hops a bit, always upwards of the amounts I ever see in recipes for the lesser utilisation I think you get in homebrew setups, although whether or not I did it with those I don't know .