Geordie Yorkshire Bitter Tweak

[wortAndAll]

Thought I'd post some information about the adapted kit recipe I'm trying. I'm a big fan of Timothy Taylor's Landlord and have read the all grain recipes suggesting a mix of Goldings and Styrian Goldings for ages with another hit of Styrian Goldings at the end.

I've gone for the Geordie Yorkshire Bitter Kit as firstly Geordie kits are very cheap and my goal is to get decent beer as cheap as possible. Secondly the description is 'Geordie Yorkshire Bitter is light in colour and has the slightly sweet taste of the best traditional Yorkshire beers' with the sweetness suggesting it may take hopping quite well. And finally the Timothy Taylor Landlord brewery is in Yorkshire so hopefully it's already somewhat similar.

I thought I'd also post so people could see a Beer Machine in non-official use. I actually don't think it's worth the money but it's useful for small brews and also if someone else got bought one as a present they might like to see what you can do with it. Because the Beer Machine is so small I can only brew 10 l at a time so I only use half a kit.

I'm not planning on hopping for all grain durations/amounts because the kit is already hopped. Also I couldn't find Styrian Goldings but could get Fuggles (apparently the Styrian is a Fuggles variety). So I'm going for:

15 g Goldings + 15 g Fuggles simmering for 15 mins.
Add 15 g Fuggles and sit for 30 mins.

Here's a picture of the ingredients.


Cutting the hops (I just use a bread knife!):


Simmering the 1st Hops:


Adding cold water to the wort:

[wgardner]

Looks good!

How is your brew getting on? Thinking about trying this out.

[wortAndAll]

I took a gravity reading at the weekend, it was 1.016. I tasted it and it was still sweet so I think it's got some way to go. I'll try again this weekend!

[john_drummer]

the Timothy Taylor Landlord brewery is in Yorkshire

Yorkshire's a big place - before it was broken up into West, South & North Yorkshire, and Humberside, it was geographically the biggest county in the UK; North Yorkshire may still fit that bill, and stretches all the way from the East Coast almost as far as the Lake District.
What may work in Keighley (TT) may not work in, say, Masham (Theakston's & Black Sheep) or Tadcaster (Sam Smiths/John Smiths/etc) as the waters may be soooo different

but good luck anyway, sounds like an interesting experiment. Let us know how you get on

At 1016 it definitely has some way to go. I'd leave it another week & test it next weekend. If it's 1010 or under, check it again every day. When you get the same reading 3 days in a row under 1010, it's about done

For Styrian Goldings, read Bobek or Cecilia (sp?), although Fuggles may work a treat. Remember that kits are already hopped so you probably don't want to overdo the bittering hops (long boil) if you're doing them at all

[FrankSidebottom]

Looks like an interesting brew - will be watching with baited breath!

As an Yorkshire man born in East Yorkshire and living in West Yorkshire, there is a massive geographical difference, let alone chemical difference to the water (I do happen to work for our utility) let alone to our out look on things (influencing the way we brew and our outcomes) But I appreciate the sentiment thats it's Yorkshire style so more likely to get a Yorkshire outcome!

If that made any sense at all!

[wortAndAll]

Update time! Just took another hydrometer reading it's now at 1014, however sweetness is almost gone and the citrus notes of the Goldings are coming through.

Also I forgot the mention the starting gravity was 1044...I think I'll bottle soon - it's in plastic bottles so I don't need to worry about bottle bombs!

I did a batch of the Yorkshire Bitter before this and had a drink of that - it's a good drop - certainly tastes better than I'd expect from the price of a Geordie kit! Still from the taste of this sample this should be a significant improvement.

I know Yorkshire is a big place, but looking at the budget kits (Geordie/John Bull) I thought this would be the closest thing to a Landlord. Although I never thought of landlord as a 'northern' beer until I looked into it. Well it should be closer than a stout at least!

[wortAndAll]

Bottled on the 23rd. Gravity 1012.
The sample I had while bottling was tasty, quite bitter, it might mellow a bit after bottling. I need to get another bottle of landlord - for comparison purposes you understand!

[wgardner]

Great to hear wortAndAll, will be interested to see how it turns out.

I did a very similar one that I've blogged about.

http://www.drinkingbers.co.uk/common-pride-brewed/

[wortAndAll]

OK the results are in!

I tried this at the same time as a Landlord to get a good comparison. I would say it is certainly close. The aftertaste is very similar - to be expected as that's mostly hops. However the initial taste is not very similar. I think Landlord is cleaner and biscuiter. I think if you didn't have them at the same time it would be tricky to tell the difference.

It's still a very nice pint. Here's a pic:

[wortAndAll]

Does anyone have a suggestion as to what the initial taste of the kit is (compared to the Lanlord)?

I can only describe it as slightly sweet and creamy. I thought it may be because I use spray malt but I put that in a Coopers stout and it does not have this flavour. I've also done a Wherry and that also had a 'cleaner' initial taste. Any ideas?

[Pinto]

Sounds like it wont hurt to condition it a little more in the bottle - my BrewBuddy Bitter is now 12 weeks old and none the worse for it

Remember that the charcheristics like "biscuit" etc come from the grain bill used for the mash - if they didnt use the same grains then the flavours wont compare - not bad, just different