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This is my attempt at a hobgoblin like ale...

4400g Pale Malt
165g Flaked Barley
165g Torrefied Wheat
55g Chocolate Malt
200g Crystal Malt
10g Black Malt

39g Progress @ 90min
10g Styrian Goldings @ 15min
10g Fuggles @ 15min
15g Styrian Goldings @ 0min

Wyeast 1004 Irish Ale

Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.013
Alcohol Content: 5% ABV
Total Liquor: 34.6 Litres
Mash Liquor: 12.5 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 80%
Bitterness: 31 EBU
Colour: 42 EBC

Thanks for the advice on the other thread - it has not been ignored, but the recipe is pretty much what I started with.

pictures to follow...

The grains


Doughed-in


pH is a bit low (5.2?) - I am still trying to get the pH right by adjusting the CRS - and these pH papers are very hard to read.


Batch sparging


Nice rolling boil


Some late hops


Gunk left in the boiler


22L of wort - less than the 23L wanted, so topped up - it was a vigorous boil


1050 at 24C = 1051 corrected - that is fine


I changed yeast and the starter has only just got going - I will pitch the lot


Next morning I have a good fermentation going

Excellent! Hope it turns out good. Really tempted to do a HG now!

I am getting loads of hop aroma coming off the FV I'll put the lid on to keep them in

looks great bud, good job. dont forget more pics!

Excellent stuff! With regards to the pH, those strips are next to useless in terms of accuracy. I'd concentrate on getting the alkalinity of the liquor correct with the help of a Salifert kit. Unless you've got weird grains or have seriously messed up the salts, the mash pH will be about right if the alkalinity is right. I've found those strips do nothing but make you worry pointlessly; I once took 6 consecutive readings with strips and no two were the same. If you really want to know, you'll could spend a few quid on an electronic pH tester.

Naich, what pH should the liquor be to get pH 5.3 mash?

We have a lot of chalk in our water and I am using CRS to remove it. The calculation from the published carbonate levels (CaCo3 275.5ppm) gives 1.29ml/l CRS, but that gave to high a mash pH. This brew used 1.52ml/l CRS, so the correct amount is somewhere in between.

Rubbery wrote:Naich, what pH should the liquor be to get pH 5.3 mash?

The pH of the liquor is not the important bit. The important bit is the alkalinity of the liquor, as this is the main thing which determines the mash pH. The alkalinity is directly related to how much the liquor buffers the acidity of the grist, i.e. how much it resists becoming acidic.

Rubbery wrote: We have a lot of chalk in our water and I am using CRS to remove it. The calculation from the published carbonate levels (CaCo3 275.5ppm) gives 1.29ml/l CRS, but that gave to high a mash pH. This brew used 1.52ml/l CRS, so the correct amount is somewhere in between.

It sounds like you are getting closer to the right numbers by trial and error, but you could measure it yourself with an off the shelf kit. Depending on where you live, the levels can stay the same for years or change from week to week. The brewniversity has got all the details you need about alkalinity and testing.

Thanks Naich, I have ordered the Salifert KH and Alkalinity test kit.

make me realise how lucky i am to not have to deal much with water chemistry. the water here (Edinburgh) is *very* soft and it's mainly a case of adding stuff rather than trying to get it out! Which is good, cos i bloody hated Chemistry at school
Nice pics. Be interested how this one turns out. Hobgoblin seems to be the marmite of the beer world - some people detest it and everything it stands for, but i think it's a decent pint.

Just tested my tap water with the Salifert KH and Alkalinity test kit and I get CaCO3 254ppm (275.5 published by water company). I was expecting about 300ppm

I will test again on my next brewday (Timothy Taylor Landlord - next week)

ok, I tested again and got 265ppm. That equates to 1.23 ml/l CRS, but I have been using more CRS than that and still getting high mash pH.

so, todays brew I added 48ml CRS to 34.5l water (1.39 ml/l CRS). The mash pH on the strip was about 5.6! However, my efficiency was good at 78.8% so I am in the right ballpark.

any advice? should I use less CRS and ignore the mash pH (those strips are very difficult to read anyway)? or should I add more CRS to get the mash pH spot on?

Have you tasted it yet?

And if so did it taste like hobgoblin?

I'm really interested how the Wyeast 1004 Irish Ale yeast impacted on the flavor.

I did a hobgoblin clone with wl05 yeast and it tastes more like ringwood old thumper.

Cheers Baz.

My next brew is going to be Hobgoblin, so is this the recipe to go with?

You lot are impatient - It's only been in the barrel a week. ok, I dont usually drink at lunchtime, but here goes...

Colour - dark amber - way to light for hobgoblin
Clarity - slight haze - it is still too young
Aroma - spicey, fruity, pleasant.
Taste - fruity, slight burnt flavour, malt undertone, slight sweetness, medium bitter aftertaste
Mouthfeel - good, smooth and refreshing
Head - good at first but disappearing slowly, little lacing

yes, I would say it tastes like Hobgoblin. I am sure it will improve with a bit more conditioning. The colour is wrong and I think it could use more chocolate malt - I would double the chocolate and black malts (from very low levels) if doing this recipe again. The head retention is a little disappointing, but I suspect that it my process rather than the recipe.

The Progress hops worked well for bittering - I think the brewery use Fuggles, but I wanted to try out Progress.

The wyeast 1004 (Irish Ale) worked well. I would say it adds a mellow fruity quality and leaves a slight sweetness to the beer.

so, it's too early to recommend it heartily, but it is not a bad clone.