ABV

[Western Brewer]

Just taken a hydrometer reading of my Hobgoblin clone and it is reading 1.011. OG was 1.059, recipe target was 1.059. According to Beersmith this equals 6.2%ABV. The real bottles stuff is 5.2% ABV. Now if fermentation had stopped at 1.016 this would have been correct.
Is there anything I could have done to stop it at 1.016 or not?
What i'm trying to say is, is there anything I could of done to hit the nail on the head so to speak.
Smells great though. Time for a second cornie me thinks and and bottle the rest.

[oblivious]

That looks like around 80% attenuation; maybe mash at higher temp and shorten the mash time to increase the unfermentables in the wort.

[bitter_dave]

What yeast did you use? Perhaps you could use a less attenuative yeast (for example, Windsor rather than Gervin).

[steve_flack]

1.059 is a rather high OG for an ABV of 5.2%. I'd expect an OG of around 1.050-1.054 for that ABV.

[Western Brewer]

This recipe was from the Beer Captured book. I think Orfy has used it. The recipe og was 1059 finishing 1016 with an ABV of 5.5.
For some reason I haven't written down which yeast I used but think it was Safale 04.
Cheers

[steve_flack]

Does it have any sugar in it?

[Western Brewer]

Does it have any sugar in it?

No sugar!

[Scooby]

Bottled Hobgoblin FG is 1.014 not sure if that is fermented out or stopped at that to get the desired ABV

[bitter_dave]

For some reason I haven't written down which yeast I used but think it was Safale 04.
Cheers

All things being equal, Windsor a is less attenuative yeast than Safale I understand so you should end up with a marginally higher fg if you use it (although I've never used Windsor I should add).

Did they suggest what yeast to use in the recipe? That might give us some clues.

Incidently, the Real Ale Almanac 1997 gives an OG of 1053 and an ABV of 5.5%

[steve_flack]

Calm down....a lot of commercial beers do

I have two recipes for Hobgoblin

One says 1.053 (The Fifth Real Ale Almanac) and the other says 1.059 (The Fourth Real Ale Almanac). All use the same grist proportions (98% pale and 2% Black malt) but the hop bitterness varies - 28IBU in the 1.053 and 35IBU in the 1.059 - both use Progress for bitterness and Styrians for aroma.

My guess is the Clone Brews recipe is based on the old recipe and the current recipe is closer to the 5th Edition recipe.

[Western Brewer]

Doh! Of course as soo as I looked at the book I rememberd which yeast I used. Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale

[Western Brewer]

Incidently, the Real Ale Almanac 1997 gives an OG of 1053 and an ABV of 5.5%

The 5.2 I quoted was from Wychwoods own site. The book also says 5.5 though.

[steve_flack]

The 5.2 I quoted was from Wychwoods own site. The book also says 5.5 though.

Brewers do change their recipes from time to time - for example Greene King recently castrated Old Speckled Hen.

[maxashton]

I stopped liking old speck a long time ago.
It used to be a really nice pint maybe four or five years ago, then it started tasting like crap, be it bottles or barrels.

[Scooby]

I stopped liking old speck a long time ago.
It used to be a really nice pint maybe four or five years ago, then it started tasting like crap, be it bottles or barrels.

Like when they shut down Morland in Abingdon and moved to BSE

Funny that, GK took over in 2000