USA brewer looking for that "best" english bitter

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scuppeteer
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Re: USA brewer looking for that "best" english bitter

Post by scuppeteer » Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:47 pm

homebrewdude76 wrote:I am 90% sure I had bad EKG hops. They were whole leaf and the bag marked 2016.
Its possible if they are new season, East Kent was very dry in the Summer and the quality of the harvest not great, although AA% was higher overall. If you have them available get standard Goldings which are probably from Worcestershire, which fared better with a bit more rain. We have new season Goldings but I haven't opened them yet. Will be next week so will let you know if they are better.
Dave Berry


Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!

Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC

Mattpc
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Re: USA brewer looking for that "best" english bitter

Post by Mattpc » Sat Feb 04, 2017 1:16 am

scuppeteer wrote:Can't but help correct you on a couple of things BW.

Its spelt BISCUIT! We're English not French! :lol:

And Styrians are from Slovenia. :wink:

I certainly agree with your perception of our hops though. We gave away too many from the extensive breeding program in the early part of last century because they were deemed unsuitable for English beers. But times change and now one of the best is Bullion, only grown by one farmer here but they are head and shoulders over the American one. Some farmers and brewers are now looking again at those discarded varieties in the National Hop collection. Whilst we may not be able to grow the really high alpha ones, save Admiral, there are some really interesting ones yet to be trialled. But we are very good at what we do on both sides of the pond. Punchy go to America, subtle go to England.

As for the Graham Wheeler book it is a good starter, though with more information now readily available I do question some of the recipes. I really struggled to find anything sensible when looking for my Fremlins beer. So glad I made the effort and did the research myself.

If you do manage to make it over sometime. Aim for early August, then you can go to the Great British Beer festival in London and try ales from all over the country in one place. Its a 4 day festival so stay somewhere close by. :beer:

It's worth looking at some of the earlier than current editions of the Graham Wheeler books. There are some very silly errors in the latest? editions which he attributes to the publishers. I have a pretty old edition of his brewing book and found the recipes excellent I have to say. Some of the information about equipment and ingredients is totally outdated but that is simply because homebrew has moved on since he released these editions. A really good recipe from the early editions I enjoyed is "Big Lamp Bitter". You can pick up earlier editions of his books second hand for peanuts on Amazon. I'm sure Airmail to USA would not be expensive.


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Mattpc
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Re: USA brewer looking for that "best" english bitter

Post by Mattpc » Sat Feb 04, 2017 1:25 am

It also strikes me that for a proper English beer you could do with something better than an "English Ale" dry yeast. While many of these products are reliable, they are not that tasty and this is really important when brewing subtle traditional English beers. Have you thought about buying yeast slants from Brewlab in Sunderland, UK? They can supply you with the exact yeast for whatever English clone recipe you desire. Perhaps I'm in danger of giving away too many of our secrets now....


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TheSumOfAllBeers
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Re: USA brewer looking for that "best" english bitter

Post by TheSumOfAllBeers » Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:06 pm

You can see the impact of yeast on commercial English Ales. Many small breweries are using 500g packs of dried yeast for their cask ale, which limits them to S04, Nottingham and a few strains like that. The family Brewers with a house strain are always way better.

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scuppeteer
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Re: USA brewer looking for that

Post by scuppeteer » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:38 pm

TheSumOfAllBeers wrote:You can see the impact of yeast on commercial English Ales. Many small breweries are using 500g packs of dried yeast for their cask ale, which limits them to S04, Nottingham and a few strains like that. The family Brewers with a house strain are always way better.
I agree completely. I think its a convenience thing when new breweries start up, their sales rise and they are too lazy to change and have the extra hassle of cropping and managing wet yeast.
When my boss started out he borrowed yeast from another local brewery. Once he got the hang of it he went to the national yeast bank and selected a strain from a very famous, now very much defunct, old brewery. It really gave the beers something unique. On top of that the cost savings against dry yeast are well worth the little extra effort. It does make the brewing a bit more interesting as well especially when the yeast misbehaves. :)
Dave Berry


Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!

Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC

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Dennis King
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Re: USA brewer looking for that

Post by Dennis King » Mon Feb 06, 2017 9:39 pm

TheSumOfAllBeers wrote:You can see the impact of yeast on commercial English Ales. Many small breweries are using 500g packs of dried yeast for their cask ale, which limits them to S04, Nottingham and a few strains like that. The family Brewers with a house strain are always way better.
=D>
Couldn't agree more.

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orlando
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Re: USA brewer looking for that

Post by orlando » Tue Feb 07, 2017 7:52 am

scuppeteer wrote:
TheSumOfAllBeers wrote:You can see the impact of yeast on commercial English Ales. Many small breweries are using 500g packs of dried yeast for their cask ale, which limits them to S04, Nottingham and a few strains like that. The family Brewers with a house strain are always way better.
I agree completely. I think its a convenience thing when new breweries start up, their sales rise and they are too lazy to change and have the extra hassle of cropping and managing wet yeast.
When my boss started out he borrowed yeast from another local brewery. Once he got the hang of it he went to the national yeast bank and selected a strain from a very famous, now very much defunct, old brewery. It really gave the beers something unique. On top of that the cost savings against dry yeast are well worth the little extra effort. It does make the brewing a bit more interesting as well especially when the yeast misbehaves. :)

It is undeniably true, but I do have some sympathy for the start up and the newer brewers. They just can't afford a single bad batch, it could be terminally catastrophic. But if you want to survive in the long term having a distinct taste or style can only really come from the yeast.
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Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

AnthonyUK

Re: USA brewer looking for that "best" english bitter

Post by AnthonyUK » Tue Feb 07, 2017 12:11 pm

S04 and Nottingham are pretty neutral especially when temps are low. I do like a bit of ester character in a bitter and some of the smaller breweries I've spoken to that use these dry yeasts do ferment at upto 25°c.

Whether this is for flavour or commercial reasons though is the question.

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orlando
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Re: USA brewer looking for that "best" english bitter

Post by orlando » Tue Feb 07, 2017 12:18 pm

AnthonyUK wrote:S04 and Nottingham are pretty neutral especially when temps are low. I do like a bit of ester character in a bitter and some of the smaller breweries I've spoken to that use these dry yeasts do ferment at upto 25°c.

Whether this is for flavour or commercial reasons though is the question.

Certainly speeds things up. :?
I am "The Little Red Brooster"

Fermenting:
Conditioning:
Drinking: Southwold Again,

Up Next: John Barleycorn (Barley Wine)
Planning: Winter drinking Beer

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