Ridley's Old Bob Clone

[floydmeddler]

Any updates on this BBJ?

[BrewBoyJoe]

Hi Floyd,
Thanks for all your help with this. Sorry for my late reply. Guess I've been busy for a bit and don't come on the site that often!

Bob finished a bit high, about 1.022, so I chucked a sachet of US 05 in and went on holiday for a few days, came back, racked and left to stand for a day then kegged up with no priming! My young's keg has never really held the pressure very well and I know this, so was just conditioning for 3 weeks or so while I was back and forth to conferences and whathaveyou! Nevertheless it got a slight carbonation which lasted for a couple champagne flutes worth (tasted very nice) After that I decided to bottle up as no gas in the keg left! In fact after bottling up I noticed quite a bit of yeast in the bottom of the keg so maybe the yeast has slowly done it's stuff! Even if not, it tastes good! Taste results, I need to measure the gravity but it is not massively over sweet! OG was 1:056 or so! I'll measure gravity out of the bottle in a week or two! The hops are absolutely spot on for the original! It's a tasty beer! It's the first time I've used the steeping method you recommended. Normally I would add at flame out then put the cooler on straight away (which takes an hour to bring it down to pitching level), this time I added at 84 deg or so and left for 45 mins (at which point it might have been 77 or something), after which I cooled with a copper coil home made contraption! Perhaps this brought out the flavour a bit more than my normal method?

If I make again (which I may well do, I will probably mash at 66 deg for 90 mins! The high crystal content should leave it a bit sweet / higher fg in any case!)

My girlfriend invited all her mates around in about a months time for a BBQ, so I need to make another batch of something or other for that! I may get the stuff out next week and boil up 30 or 40 litres of something or other! Perhaps a summery ale to bring in the good weather when it comes! I had a fantastic "golden ale" from M&S (their range aint bad) which I may try to recreate.

All the best

Joe

[floydmeddler]

Glad it went well Joe. Surprised at the FG being so high.

Yes, steeping the hops at that temp releases the oils. Great method - as is dry hopping.

I'm doing my first summer beer soon. Honey, orange zest, crushed coriander... the works! Always a hit with the girls too.

Here's last year's brewday if you fancy having a look. viewtopic.php?f=24&t=51644&hilit=+honey+zest+ale

[BrewBoyJoe]

ok, so gravity test out of the bottle! Yesterday and today! It's 1.010 and with a low level of carbonation! Tastes fantastic! I initially thought perhaps the reading was off because of co2 collecting around the hydrometer! But I don't think it can be! It's a consistent 1.010! Hard to believe as it does taste quite sweet and plenty of body. This makes it a whopping 6%! Hope it doesnt ferment in the bottle too much more! I'll do a side by side with the bought beer at some point!

I was forced to put the us-05 as the wlp005 was so sluggish (despite giving it a lot of air and rousing from time to time which stirred it back into action but only momentarily) and I had to go away in 2 days and for a week and didn't want to leave it on the trub, so chucked a sachet of us us 05 and racked after 3 days (total 9 days fermenting! Still, all's well that ends well!)

[floydmeddler]

Sounds like a great beer Joe! Yes, do the taste test... look forward to the results!