Ridley's Old Bob Clone

[floydmeddler]

Right... School was shut today so I got a day off!

My friend really enjoys Ridley's Old Bob so he asked me to look into making a clone. I came up with the recipe using this info:

http://www.beer-pages.com/notes/beer-of ... 8-05.shtml

Here's what I settled on:

Old Bob Clone
8-C Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale)
Date: 02/12/2010

Size: 25.0 L
Efficiency: 80.0%
Attenuation: 79.0%

Original Gravity: 1.049 (1.048 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (1.010 - 1.016)
Color: 14.19 (6.0 - 18.0)
Alcohol: 5.08% (4.6% - 6.2%)
Bitterness: 34.8 (30.0 - 50.0)

Ingredients:
4.0 kg Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt - TTS
650.0 g Crystal Malt 60°L -TTS
650.0 g Torrified Wheat - TTS
42 g Fuggles- TTS (4.2%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min
33 g Goldings - TTS (5.2%) - added during boil, boiled 90 min
20 g Bobek - TTS (4.5%) - steeped after boil
S-04 Safale S-04 - TTS

Ended up exactly as above. Made sure I got the OG bang on target by taking hydrometer readings throughout.

I had a WLP005 starter on the go but it wasn't pitch ready so I had to settle for S04. I mashed at 74c in the hope the FG will be a little higher. Also caramelized 2L of the first runnings. Should be interesting!

Heating up the sparge water



Reaching temp



Filling up the MT



Recirculating



Caramelizing 2L of first runnings to (hopefully!) add maltiness



Getting thicker



Adding it to the boiler later



Fly sparging



Adding hops



Rolling boil



Steam room!



All in all a great brew day. Have this puppy fermenting now with temp set to 21c. Also, just found out I have tomorrow off too... Damn! Should have bought more ingredients!

[WishboneBrewery]

Nice shot of the Steam Room!!! ha ha Good pics all round too.
Did you taste the Malt Toffee?? Its good stuff

[Dennis King]

Old Bob is a great beer, as usual not as good since GK started to brew it. Intrested to know how it tuins out.

[Frothy]

Love the igloo cooler

[floydmeddler]

Right, bubbling away merrily. I did taste the malt toffee. Twas lovely. Really hope that it adds something a bit special to this beer. Will keep updating here as it progresses. Whether or not this turns out like the original is anyone's guess. Should be damn tasty regardless though!

[Iceberg]

Hi Floyd,

Was there much involved in adding the tap to the Igloo cooler please? Was it a fairly straight forward modification? Also, what tap did you use?

Many thanks,
Jason

[floydmeddler]

Hey Iceberg. I put more work than I needed to be honest. However, here's the easy way which I've done a few times since with other vessels. Basically, all you need is a 1/2 inch tank connector (with a rubber washer preferably) like this:

http://www.h-i-e.co.uk/acatalog/Compres ... ector.html

You need to bore out the inside with a rounded file so that a 15mm copper pipe can fit through. Attach a ball valve tap like this to the outside end of the pipe:

http://www.h-i-e.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001 ... %23a64#a64

The other end of the pipe will be inside your mash tun. Deciding on your false bottom design will determine how long it is and what goes on the end of it. I have nothing as my false bottom sits above it.



Hope this helps.

[Iceberg]

Hey Floyd,

Thanks for this. I have a feeling that Santa may be bringing me an Igloo cool box just like yours :O)

Did you have to cut the coolbox at all or drill any holes? I haven't seen one up close yet, and am hoping that the tap pops out and I just fit a tank connector in the hole that's left. Is it that simple, or am I overly optimistic?

Many thanks,
Jason

[floydmeddler]

Hey Floyd,

Thanks for this. I have a feeling that Santa may be bringing me an Igloo cool box just like yours :O)

Did you have to cut the coolbox at all or drill any holes? I haven't seen one up close yet, and am hoping that the tap pops out and I just fit a tank connector in the hole that's left. Is it that simple, or am I overly optimistic?

Many thanks,
Jason

It really is that easy! Let me know if you need any more advice.

[StrangeBrew]

Hi fm, how did this turn out? I'd like to add this one to my 'to do' list if you think it's worth a go.

[floydmeddler]

It's in secondary at the minute. Will bottle on Friday then do a side by side comparison when it carbonates. Will update here.

[floydmeddler]

Just bottled this morning. Pretty annoyed at the cloudiness of it to be honest. Maybe because of the high quantity of torrified wheat... or perhaps because I was pissed out of my head when I did the gelatine bit! Ah well, hopefully it will settle out. Tastes good though. Too early to tell if it will be anything like the real deal but either way, I think it'll be a nice beer. Watch this space.

[floydmeddler]

Forgot to mention, FG is bang on so that's one thing I got right!

[floydmeddler]

Supping a pint now. Very clear now with a lovely amber hue. Very malty and 'caramelly' with just a slight hoppiness at the end. Little bit of vanilla there as well. Little bit astringent too - more than likely due to the high crystal malt content. It isn't unpleasant though. I like this beer so far. Will do a side by side comparison with the real thing when it is a little older.

[floydmeddler]

Astringency has disappeared. Beer coming together beautifully. Really like it. Trying to track down a bottle of Old Bob to do the all important side by side taste test. Will hopefully get one this wknd. Don't really mind either way as I love how it has turned out. Massive malt body with a lovely lingering bitterness.

Truth is, I don't ever remember trying the original! I'm sure I have in the past though. I liked the look of the grain bill and fancied a fun challenge basically.

Will update as soon as I do the test.