John Smiths Recipe

[BrewHouse]

Before I get chucked off the forum for even mentioning John Smiths, let me explain.
Whenever my brother in law visits I try and tempt him with all manner of HB, and used to have bottles of TTL, OSH etc in standby just in case. All he ever wants to drink is John Smiths.
I now have a secret shelf in the brew house where I have an emergency stack of JS in case of surprise visits. It is a bit like having a secret stash of porn that I don't want any of my proper beer buddies to see.
I have invited him for a brew day in a couple of weeks and said that we will will knock up a barrel of John Smiths. I can hardly believe that I am going to spend 5 hours in brew house for this but family is family etc.
Does anyone have a John Smith(ish) recipe that they are willing to publicly admit to?

[Nitro Jim]

It would be better to disown him!

[gobuchul]

Dave Line has a recipe, doesn't look very interesting!

Pale 1.5kg
Wheat 60g
DMS Malt extract 1kg
Brown sugar 500g
Bramling Cross 30g @ 60 min
Goldings 45g @ 60min
Goldings 10g @ 0min

That looks very bitter to me, although the brown sugar may offset that.

Stated OG of 1037

I have never brewed this and have no intention trying!

Personally I would add some crystal, increase the pale, adjust the hops for more aroma and drop the sugar. Something along the lines of 5% crystal, OG of 1040 and IBU's of between 30 and 40. Like the "classic" English bitter from the other thread.

[BrewHouse]

Thanks Goguchul,

Hmmm. Can I really bring myself to do this? It looks like I will end up with a barrel of piss water. (Which of course is exactly what I asked for!)

I think you are right Nitro, disowning him might be less painful alround.

I think I might just have to do an AG TTL clone and let him throw a beer kit together in the idiot's corner.

[Simonh82]

I used to drink a lot of John Smiths when I first started going to pubs but I haven't touched a pint in years. It's pretty devoid of character but I think that's at least partly to do with how it is served. When it has been pasteurised and is served at 5°C with nitro it is very different to the same beer were it in a cask.

It doesn't have much body at 3.6% and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the fermentables came from simple sugars. The recipe above has a fair amount of late hops for a beer that doesn't strike me at being particularly hoppy.

I can't offer a recipe but I would cut back a bit on on the brown sugar and aim for about 30 IBU with a bittering addition and then a single 10 minute addition for flavour. Golding seems like a good candidate.

I suspect that even if you found the exact recipe it will taste completely different as the commercial product has had all the yeast stripped out of it and is served cold.

Personally, I would be a bit sneaky. I'd make a beer which bore some resemblance, at least in terms of colour and strength but then do what the hell you want to make it a decent pint. Hopefully your brother in law will try the finished article if he thinks it is going to be a JS clone and you might be able to slyly introduce him to good beer.

[Dennis King]

Don't give up on him. My brother in law would not touch my beers for years then about 6 or 7 years ago they were round at Xmas he finally tried one. Now he will expect at least three different beers to drink Xmas night.

[alexlark]

Without the nitro I'd mash a bit higher than 66c and add some torrefied wheat to increase the body.

[OldConkerwood]

Personally, I would be a bit sneaky. I'd make a beer which bore some resemblance, at least in terms of colour and strength but then do what the hell you want to make it a decent pint. Hopefully your brother in law will try the finished article if he thinks it is going to be a JS clone and you might be able to slyly introduce him to good beer.

Haha, My thoughts exactly
Barnie.

[BrewHouse]

Thanks guys,

Some very good suggestions.I am going to knock up a simple, straight forward bitter and tell him that the forum have dug deep and found the original pre widget/pasteurisation recipe for John Smiths. He will think that he is getting a very special treat. A little bit of sneakiness that has put a smile on my face. I am really looking forward to this now. Excellent stuff!

BH

[davew]

A similar recipie I brewed up recently but a bit stronger and very tasty.
5kg pale malt
250g crystal malt
50g EKG @ 60mins
25g EKG @ 15mins
25g EKG @ flameout

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[Rookie]

It would be better to disown him!

Or at the very least brew what you like to drink. If it isn't good enough for him he can bring his own.

[gobuchul]

The more I look at that recipe, the more it seems a very good way to ruin some perfectly good ingredients.

I am going to knock up a simple, straight forward bitter and tell him that the forum have dug deep and found the original pre widget/pasteurisation recipe for John Smiths.

Do that and save him from himself.

Report back if you convert him or not!

[BrewHouse]

Will let you know. After a life of drinking JS it may be a bit of an uphill struggle.

[Dave S]

It would be better to disown him!

Or at the very least brew what you like to drink. If it isn't good enough for him he can bring his own.

If it is any good, he probably won't like it anyway

[gobuchul]

Any update?

Did this brewday happen?