AG# 31 Tribute 1 (with pics)

[fego]

This is my first attempt at cloning St. Austell's Tribute Ale with the recipe based on Chrisr's recipe here viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8952&hilit=tribute& ... 55#p474653.

Actual recipe used...

Pale Malt - 3940 grams (82.5%)
Munich Malt - 835 grams (17.5%)

Fuggle - 60 mins boil 67 grams
Willamette - steeped for 60 mins @ 80C - 25 grams
Styrian Goldings - steeped for 60 mins @ 80C - 25 grams

Yeast - cultivated from bottle of St. Austell's Admiral's Ale.

I did this yesterday alongside taking down the Christmas decs so it was a bit of a busy day. Still, it went well and I only had two problems; 1) I dropped a sack of Malt everywhere and 2) The blocks I use to raise my HLT fell into the copper mid boil splashing me. I also had a moment with my refractometer telling me lies and making me panic, but that was later put down to me leaving it in the cold. Here's some pictures of the day.



Recipe and water treatment notes



Whoops!



Grain Bill and mash salts adorned with an empty from the night before.



Brew day hops/salts all measured out and labelled



Cultivated yeast being readied



Brewery being set up



Mash Liquor being measured (accounting for dead space)



Measuring out CRS



Mixing grain and salts



Checking Strike temperature



Doughing in



Mash temp 68C



Measuring Sparge Water



Checking sparge water temp



Fly sparging



First runnings (after small recirc)



Adding salts to boiler



Catching final runnings for gravity check



Hydrometer reading of final runnings (all good above 3 but has scare earlier when hydrometer was cold)



Measuring pre-boil volume at point of hot break



Adding copper hops



Boil done and chiller in and cooled to 80C - Aroma hops added



Steeping hops @80C for one hour



Chiller back on. I normally use two chillers but the water was so cold I only needed one.



Copper tilted forward in prep for run off and spout wiped with sanitised cloth (also ran several litres through spout during boil to kill nasties)



FV and tools sanitised



Checking final run off temp and break material



First run off yuk



Very next glass run off is remarkably clear



Pitching cultivated yeast



Cleaned man fridge/incubator



Some of the leftovers



Exceeded target volume 25L



Just under target OG at 1.042



All hooked up for temp controlled fermentation.

Wort tasted lovely and was very clear. I was very happy with the day and hope this tastes as good as it looks.

[haz66]

Looks like a good brewday there fego, nice pics.

[StrangeBrew]

Enjoyed that, well done!

Did Tribute myself early in 2010 and you have inspired me to give it another go in the near future.

[leedsbrew]

nice one matey!

[barney]

Super system you got there.

[WishboneBrewery]

what a shed load of photos, excellent stuff.

[phatboytall]

Let us know how this tastes! I don't know if it was just the sunshine in cornwall but i remember drinking this stuff on a stag do a few summers ago and thinking it was a pretty cracking quaffing beer.

Since had it a few times and been underwhelmed, but its on my list as a potentially great homebrew beer. Beef up the Willamette and Styians a bit

[fego]

Have now started drinking this after a few tasters to see how it has matured.

First things first, this beer isn't one to be drunk green. It's not nice green and takes a full three weeks before its drinkable at all. I honestly thought it had an infection at first but having left it a bit and tasted the odd sample here and there, it has improved massively. In fact it's delicious but not unimprovable.

The flavour is very balanced and extremely close to a well stored cask Tribute, but nothing like a bottled Tribute. It's much better than the bottled version which is a totally different drink altogether. The malt is slightly sweet but not in a sticky way, just nice but not full or overly flavoured. The hops shine through however and I think that's down to the dry finish the St. Austell yeast produces. The flavour is all in the back of the mouth offering a very chewy experience and a delightful mouthfeel. It's almost as if you're biting into it and having a mouthful of it creates such a pleasant experience that you can't help but smile with enjoyment.

I'm amazed at the outcome and I can tell that with a couple more weeks it will improve further. As I said however, I'm sure there's still room to make it even better or, as intended, even closer to the real thing. First, the colour is a bit paler than the original. Secondly, I think the bittering level could be increased a bit just to give an even more striking contrast to the malt's sweetness. And maybe even increase the aroma hops a tad just to add yet more flavour. The one thing I wouldn't change is the yeast which worked really well getting the wort down to 1.008 no trouble.

Im planning to do a taste test with the real thing in a couple of weeks so it will interesting how it really compares. In the meantime, this is a smashing beer which has got the thumbs up from everyone who has tried it, which is a first for me.