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Jim’s Homebrew Forum
Newsletter
Autumn 2007 |
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Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness... |
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Now that the lawn's had its last cut and the leaves are swept up, the homebrewer's thoughts turn naturally to Christmas brews. Luckily, David Edge has just the recipe for you - see his recipe for Treacle Chocolate Stout below, and read the story behind this award winning beer.
Of
course the avid homebrewer will also be hard at work writing his list to Santa
in the hope that he'll find that new 10 gallon brewery or stainless steel
conical under the tree on Christmas morning. I hope you get something nice in
your stocking, anyway.
Meanwhile, here at the forum we've had the paintbrushes out and redecorated the site for the new season - we hope you like it! Hopefully the new navigation buttons will help visitors to find their way round more easily. The forum FAQ section is growing steadily and we've introduced an 'events' section and split the Bargain Basement into limited-time bargains (such as ebay) and those items available indefinitely. In the future we're looking to strengthen our links with other homebrewing websites such as the CBA to provide a more 'joined up' resource for homebrewers - watch this space!
In this Autumn newsletter, as well as the usual fodder, Chris (Daab) presents some facts about the Ringwood Brewery yeast (and a fascinating tale it is too!) then to top it all off we have a great interview with Clive Donald of Brupaks in 'Over a Swift Half'.
I hope you enjoy it! Jim |
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Recipe of the Month |
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TCS – a beer for all seasonsBack in 2001 we needed to brew a beer called ‘TCS’ for a friend. A Treacle Chili Stout was my first idea; perhaps Treacle Chocolate Stout would be more sensible? It wasn’t our first stout – we were already had very fond of the 63/- Oatmeal Stout recipe in the Durden Park book, but this was an attempt at the more robust Irish or Dry stout style. The plan was to combine:
to yield og 1060, 75EBC, along with Northern Brewer to 38IBU.
How were the ingredients selected?
Northern Brewer is sensible enough for a stout and probably inspired by Ralf
(my son)’s work experience at the Burton Bridge Brewery. The flaked maize was
added just to use it up and of course the treacle and chocolate malt were
there for the name and in the hope of some flavour. When we actually brewed on
17th November 2001 the maize was dropped to 3% and the flaked wheat to 4% -
history does not record why. The hops had become 75% Goldings and 25% Northern
Brewer by weight presumably because that’s what was in the cupboard. We mashed
at 67ºC and fermented with S-04 and the OG was only 1050, perhaps as a result
of a ‘stuck sparge owing to overenthusiastic extraction’ it says in the log.
The following tasting note comes from the Master’s pen:
A rich, complex taste. Fruit is well matched to the dark malts and a sweet body lingers in the aftertaste. Liquorice flavours and alcohol are very attractive in the initial taste and gives additional complexity.
Ralf decided to enter another batch into the CBA 2005 Derby festival and his beer was judged best in show, thus ending my reign as CBA champion brewer after just four months.
A further brew in 2005 used WLP002 yeast (often regarded as Fullers, but a somewhat different animal to the stuff from the brewery) and had to be repitched with S-04 to finish. The darned stuff is so flocculent it drops out before it’s done. It won second prize for dry stout at Nottingham in 2006, but I got my own back with a first for my oatmeal stout.
We couldn’t resist a little experiment and following a visit to Java where the Guinness tasted surprisingly treacly a small batch had 50g/litre (rather than ten) of treacle added.
So, fancy a go? Here’s the basic recipe for 25 litres
og1056, circa 80 EBC and 40 IBU Assuming efficiency: 75 %
Mash at 68°C for an hour.
The mash temperature is on the high side and I’d suggest that is one of the keys to the recipe. Don’t be afraid – keep the mash warm.
63 g Northdown 8.5%AA. A note on IBUs – our beer was measured at 40IBU, but Promash predicted 53. I have therefore reformulated the recipe on the assumption that your utilisation is higher than mine (our copper is underpowered – 3kW/45 litres). Our version of the recipe contains 80g of hops.
Boil for 60 minutes, adding the treacle for the last 20 minutes
Yeast: White Labs WLP002 English Ale
I wouldn’t get excited about the yeast, but would pitch with a yeast that works for you and gives you the sweetness/dryness balance you want.
Happy Brewing! David Edge
For more tips, suggestions and information, check out David's full account of this award winning beer: - Treacle Chocolate Stout - the full story!
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| Following on from his last article, Daab presents some interesting facts about Ringwood Brewery yeast. |
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Ringwood originally got their yeast from the Halifax brewery, West Yorkshire, displays the characteristics of a Northern strain as described by Graham Wheeler in his homebrewing guide and needs regular rousing.
Rousing is done with pumps collecting the slurry from the bottom of the fermenter and returning it to the top. This is done for 15 mins in the hour.
The Ringwood Brewery have had to alter this timing in the past to account for the different levels of nutrients in different malts when changing suppliers.
Sometime after the Ringwood brewery acquired their yeast they sent a sample away to a yeast specialist for DNA analysis.
Firstly they were asked if the sample had been prepared and washed for analysis, it hadn’t been, the company analysing it were surprised at this saying it was an unusually clean sample, free from bacteria.
Secondly, the Ringwood Brewery were advised not to use this yeast, it wasn’t a single strain but a mixture of 6 or 7 different strains. As the Ringwood brewery were already brewing with this yeast and had made many successful batches they decided to continue using it.
The Ringwood Brewery doesn’t keep their yeast on slopes, they skim from the top of the fermenter and pitch it into the next batch. they have never acid washed their yeast, they haven’t done anything other than skim and pitch since 1978.
The Ringwood Brewery is a very clean brewery, none the less, this is an exceptional yeast.
When propagating Ringwood Yeast at home, care should be taken to rouse the yeast before skimming to avoid selecting the less flocculent strains and leaving the more flocculent strains in behind in the slurry, likewise, yeast shouldn’t be harvested from the slurry in order to avoid collecting a sample that doesn’t contain any of the less flocculent strains.
You can harvest yeast from a bottle of Ringwood ale, it is a primary strain. However you will be propgating the Hop Back strain.
The Hop Back bottle Ringwood beers and didn't want another yeast strain in their brewery, the solution was to remove the Ringwood yeast and add the Hop Back strain for bottle conditioning.
Ringwood's beers are fermented at 22 deg c.
They are subjected to a diacetyl rest at 15 deg c to retain as much condition as possible.
Finally they are stored at 8 deg c.
Contrary to a popular (US) myth, Ringwood beers do not have high levels of diacetyl, but like many beers they do have a small amount, this is desirable. London Pride has much higher levels of diacetyl, it is one of the flavour characteristics that make it popular.
When asked about the Ship Yard brewery in the US who also use Ringwood yeast the Ringwood brewery said, their beers are much different to ours, it was commented that their Old Thumper was ‘quite good’, although not as good as their own. The Ship Yard Brewery keg their beers so they are already at a disadvantage.
Just to finish up, I was amazed at how helpful the guys at the Ringwood Brewery were and that they were prepared to give me so much of their time. If anyone there is reading this, thank you very much, the Huffkin ale was great, I’ll be back for more.
Chris (Daab)
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Forum Gossip |
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Daab
reviews the Hot Topics from Jim’s Homebrew Forum! |
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Rinsing Equipment with Tap Water |
| Ok, here’s one that crops up fairly regularly, not so much on this forum but it’s a question that crops up in various guises on US forums and that is, is it safe to rinse your sanitised equipment with tap water? General opinion here is, it’s fine and hopefully this thread explains why. |
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Sanitising Cornelius Kegs |
| How do you sanitise your Cornelius kegs? There’s some advice here on the use of chlorine based sanitisers as well as Betadine and it’s replacement Videne. |
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Enhancing a Beer Kit |
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Kit brewers, fancy adding some extra hops and grain to your kits the easiest way possible? Why not have a crack at Brupaks Brewers Choice kits. Chris the Fish shows us how it’s done with some great pics. |
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Warning, Gear-Envy Alert |
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Warning, clicking on this link could result in serious gear envy and could ultimately be injurious to your bank balance. (don’t forget to check out the historical IPA recipe in there too).
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7215
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..and finally... |
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In
order to make it easier to find the recipes, Jim and myself (DaaB) have
compiled a contents of links that we have put in the
Recipe Section which can be found
here. Thank you very much
Norman
Check them out, let us know what you think.
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Over a Swift Half |
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This month we talk to Clive Donald, founder of Brupaks. Jim's Beer Kit: Clive, can you tell us a little about Brupaks and how it came about ? Clive Donald: Back in 1990 I opened a home brew shop/off licence in Huddersfield. It went ok but it didn't take long for me to realise that it wasn't possible to get quality brewing ingredients and equipment from the established wholesalers. All they could supply were about half a dozen grains and a similar number of hops (all brown, of course). Brewing equipment consisted of plastic buckets and very little else. My inspiration was Dave Line's 'Big Book of Brewing' and I wanted my shop to be the Mecca for all-grain brewers so I started talking to the hop merchants and maltsters about supplies. The quantities I had to buy, however, were too great for one small shop so I had a word with a few of the more enlightened retailers to see if there was any interest. There was and so Brupaks was born and very soon after the shop sold. JBK: How were the recipes for your beer kits formulated and were they inspired by commercially available beers (if so could you give us a few examples) ? CD: The malt extract kits came into the picture a few years down the line. Previous to them, I supplied full mash kits only as the malt extracts available to me were not brewing grade and made very poor beer. The big revolution came when Muntons were given, by a large chain of brewpubs, the task of producing an extract that made beer indistinguishable from all-grain. In this they succeeded beyond all expectations and Cedarex is the result. I was given samples of Cedarex to experiment with and was amazed that it exhibited none of the usual 'malt extract tang' and did indeed produce beers of commercial quality. Muntons agreed to my suggestion that Cedarex should be canned and distributed under the Brupaks label. Indeed our Premium Grade Pale Malt Extract has remained unchanged to this day. All of the Pride of Yorkshire beer kits have Cedarex as their base with coloured and caramel malts added. The hops used are fresh type 90 pellets added in two stages for bitterness and flavour. Extra aroma hops are included in the kits to restore aroma. The recipes were formulated to fit into commercial beer styles rather than individual beers. The Beers of the World range came into being at the same time as The Brubox was being developed. I wanted an all-in-one brewing system aimed at the complete novice that was simple to make but nevertheless produced excellent beer. It occurred to me that if I could find small porous bags that could be filled with hops and grains then the sky's the limit. I contacted tea bag manufacturers to see if I could have some made but the quantities were far too great. Then, as luck would have it, I found some extra large tea bags in Germany and did some tests. It worked! I then realised that with the range of extracts, grains and hops at my disposal I could make a beer kit to produce almost any beer style in the world (I still haven't been able to make a Rauchbier kit but........). Alongside Muntons Cedarex, their spraymalt also improved dramatically in quality which got me thinking about dried ingredient kits. Previously such kits had been thin and insipid and used isomerised hop extract for bitterness. As you probably know bitterness is all you get. No flavour or aroma. Imagine my delight then when I discovered that pre-isomerised hop pellets were available! These fantastic pellets require no boiling and as such retain their flavour and aroma while releasing the bittering compounds. I then knew that I could again devise dried ingredient beer kits in any style that required no boiling (except the elusive Rauchbier!) - these kits became Brewer's Choice. JBK: If you were asked to supply beer for a small event using your kits, which range would you choose and what beers from that range would you select? CD: I would probably pick beers from all three ranges. For lager drinkers perhaps Brewer's Choice Czech Pils and Beers of the World Munich Dark (for something a bit different). My session bitter would be Pride of Yorkshire Colne Valley Bitter, premium bitter Brewer's Choice IPA and golden ale Pride of Yorkshire Fixby Gold. Dark beers - Beers of the World Irish Stout, Brewer's Choice Old Ale. Wheat beers - Brewer's Choice Bavarian Wheat Beer, Beers of the World Belgian Witbier. Strong ale - Pride of Yorkshire Kirkburton Ale and finally, speciality beers Beers of the World Trappist Dubbel and San Francisco Steam Beer. JBK: What would be your
preferred method of dispense be, i.e. barrel/corni/bottle etc and why? CD: Different beers suit different dispense methods usually determined by the desired level of carbonation. I favour cubitainers (polypins) for real ales, cornies for beers with a bit of sparkle and bottles for Pilsners and wheat beers. I don'y particularly like plastic pressure barrels for any beers, but that's just my personal opinion. JBK: What one piece of advice would you give to a homebrewer to improve the overall quality of their beer CD: If we take as read that everyone already cleans and sterilises everything that comes into contact with the beer, my advice would be to ensure your recipe is properly balanced and that the ingredients are of the best quality. You can easily waste good ingredients with a poor recipe and there's no point in brewing to a good recipe with poor ingredients. JBK: Do you think British homebrewing is becoming a more quality driven market? CD: Undoubtedly this is the case but as each year goes by there seem to be fewer people taking up the hobby. I think we need to get the message over to younger people that brewing is 'cool' and not something their dad or granddad used to do in the bath. A few years ago in the USA, the American Homebrewers Association initiated a 'teach a friend to brew' week. As far as I know this was very successful. Perhaps we should all encourage our friends, especially the younger ones, to give it a go. You never know.......... JBK: Brupaks brings commercial quality brewing ingredients to the homebrew market and your list of ingredients seem to be growing all the time, how do you choose and source what ingredients you are going to supply. CD: Quite simply I want everything and usually I try everything! Of course if something doesn't sell then I drop it. My aim is to have the best range of brewing ingredients in the UK so that my customers can brew any beer they like with the best quality ingredients. JBK: You import some of the best brewing equipment available in the UK from around the world, how do you decide on what you are going to stock? CD: That's difficult to answer. Because the market is relatively small, home brewing equipment cannot be mass produced with the cost savings that provides. This tends to make some things quite expensive. Although there are some nice products around, especially in the USA, I have to take into account the cost of buying the items (US sellers don't usually give distributors much of a discount) plus the astronomic shipping costs (unless you are shipping a 40ft container), I then have to make a modest profit when I sell to the retailer who will pass them on to you, again at a modest profit. Having said that, I think I've found a product in Canada that will be a hit over here. A cylindro conical fermenter that is mounted onto a wall. I'm bringing in a few to test the market so keep an eye on our website for news (www.brupaks.com). JBK: We often have discussions on the forum about ‘difficult to source’ items. Do you have plans to supply any of the following pieces of kit: -
CD: No plans for these I'm afraid but if I should come across them................ JBK: Also, do you have any new gadgets available already that might interest our readers? CD: Again I would suggest visiting the website on a regular basis. There will certainly be new things appearing there later this year. JBK: Do you think the British homebrew scene will ever be big enough to warrant the supply of the varied equipment available to our American friends? CD: Unfortunately no, but we can live in hope. JBK: What do you think is the next big thing in UK homebrewing (equipment etc?) CD: I don't know the answer to this but I hope it's new homebrew shops run by enthusiastic younger people. JBK: What do you see in the future for Brupaks. CD: Brupaks will continue to grow, as it has done every year since its inception. Although much of our business is now involved in supplying the commercial brewing industry, home brew will always be at its core. JBK: Clive, thanks very much.
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See you next time, and happy brewing! Jim |
