Recipe Advice Thread

[denimglen]

Thought it might be handy to have a thread for some of the more advanced brewers to give some advice on recipes.

Let's see how it goes eh...

[Stu H]

I've brewed a few beers with 1882 Thames Valley II, thought it was closish?

S

[jt]

I'm using Thames II at the moment. Not tried Galbraiths ales and I'm not brewing a bitter, but it is a nice yeast. More than happy to share.

Cheers, jt

[Dan]

Not sure if you found this already, but it's a post by Denimglen in 2009. I brewed this recipe a month ago and it's tasting pretty damn awesome!

..................

Working on a clone recipe for Bob Hudson's Bitter from Gals.

Talked to Keith there and showed him my recipe and he gave me a few pointers. This is where I'm at for the first run.

93% Golden Promise
5% Pale crystal
2% Carahell (originally planned to use caramalt but I was all out)

1.043 - 69C mash

Styrian and EKG @ 60
0.5g/L EKG @ 45
0.5g/L EKG @ 30
0.5g/l NZ Styrian @ 15 (Again planned on using the imported one but couldn't get any on short notice)
0.5g/l NZ Styrian @ 0

25 IBU

Bob Hudson's yeast donated by Keith.

Fingers crossed it will come out well, I'm hoping it will make a good summer slammer.

[jt]

I've never had the good fortune to taste Bob's.
That recipe looks a fairly well balanced, maybe even a little restrained and I'm not sure how it relates to
the Galbraiths description of 'generous late addition hops'
I'm tempted to think Richards 30gm at flame out would give a delightful aroma - but may be out of line with Bob's ?
Anyone got an enlightened opinion ?

[Richard Deeble]

I think i'm going to reduce my IBU's down to the mid 20's and use the 60, 45, 30, 15, 0 hop schedule with slightly bigger additions at 15 and 0 than earlier. I get quite a bit of hop flavour and aroma when I drink Bob's but I wonder whether its more the sulphates that make the hops pop than really big additions.  I'm pretty convinced that the malt bill is something like Denimglen suggested as I definitely taste that fawcett pale crystal (such a great malt!).

I'd be potentially interested in picking up that yeast JT, I could flick you a bottle or two of dubbel that's tasting alright the moment for your trouble. I have a feeling/some recollection that Galbraith's may have used Brakspear's yeast strain which sounds very much like thames valley II.  

[Nick T]

RSB - as I look forward to recommencing brewing once I get the brewery makeover complete (as far as home breweries are ever 'complete') I am making up a short list of the first few I want to brew. I have a note from Beervana 2011 that I 'must' get a recipe for the Emersons / Kieren H-J RSB, which I recall enjoying immensely at that event. All I have is that it is an ESB using NZ Pale Malt, English & Belgian Crystal, NZ Golding and Styrian hops. Anyone have a recipe that might approximate  the RSB?

[Stu H]

Hey dudes, I've got a question about a Flanders Red (Jamil's recipe) I brewed about 6 months ago:

I initially fermented the beer with 1056, with the intention of adding the Roselaire blend when the beer hit 1.020-1.030 or so. Unfortunately the 1056 ripped through the fermentables in a couple of days and the beer was at 1.012 when I pitched the Roselaire blend.

So 6 months down the track a pellicle hasn't formed (apart from a tiny amount of foam around the woodchips), doesn't taste sour, but it is tasting a bit "bretty". It actually tastes pretty good - just not sour at all.

Do you dudes reckon it's worth adding some fresh wort to the fermentor to give the bugs something to munch on? I'd imagine the Saccharomyces has died now? Or should I just hold my horses and be patient?

[Dougal]

Interesting, Stu.

I put my first one down about the same time as you, but pitched the Roeselare directly. The pellicle appeared after about 2 months sitting at 13-15C and is now either dropping out or the Brett is being replaced by something else.

I mashed mine high to get lots of dextrins, but at this stage, you could either add fresh wort or add some maltodextrin to give the Brett something to work on. In theory the Pediococcus should kick in at some later point and start making more lactic acid. From what I read, the really important thing is to limit extra oxygen exposure so that it doesn't get too vinegary. When most of us talk about desirable sourness, we're talking about lactic sourness with maybe a hint of acetic. Not salad dressing.

You might just need to wait it out though. Apparently, not waiting long enough and frequent checking is the best way to screw up a sour beer. It's taken all of my patience to not sample mine since April :-) 

[Stu H]

That is interesting! Yeah mine has been sitting around those temps too - I guess a good hot Auckland summer could potentially get things moving along too right?

[Mark]

You do need some oxygen to get the bugs going. Maybe add a small amount of wort and see how things go, especially as it's getting warmer.

I'm not a fan of the 1.056 preferment a la Jamil, the Roeselare pack already has 2 yeast strains to do that.

[Stu H]

How much do you recommend into a 20L batch?

[Mark]

Maybe a liter or 2? Just to get the ball rolling I suppose. Other reasons for the pellicle not forming could be temperature and lack of oxygen, these may resolve with adding some wort. Sours are an exercise in patience, that's for sure!