I acquired a taste for 80/- after holidaying in Scotland last Summer so having a crack at brewing an all-grain version has been on the to do list for few months now. After much trawling of the internet and homebrew books that threw up countless eighty bob recipes, this six year old recipe from Mysterio was the one on paper that got the taste-buds going the most.
I brewed it pretty much to the letter, omitted my usual gypsum water treatment, stuck with the hop schedules and grain bills all bar the addition of an extra 200g of rolled oats. As with the original recipe I boiled down the first gallon of first runnings, reducing it to a toffee caramel before adding it back to the main copper. I too used a high mash temperature of 69C for a bit more body. Fermented the brew with WLP028 Edinburgh ale yeast. This being my first use of liquid yeast I was keen to see how much of a difference it would make to my all grain brews that invariably use either SA04 or US05.
The ale had pretty much dropped bright within 48 hours of racking to secondary which may explain why it took a little longer than normal to carbonate during warm conditioning. It's been in the bottle for a week and a half now and is crystal clear.
Well for someone who mainly brews heavily hopped beers this one is without doubt the best beer I've ever brewed by a long long way, this being a combination of a great recipe and I'm sure my switch to liquid yeast. I've tended to find a lot of my own brews have a certain taste/character specific to my AG brews even when the hop and grain bill is quite different between brews and I've put that down to my in house methods and equipment. However I think the change in yeast has given the ale a character and depth of it's own in that it doesn't have that signature character/flavour that in my mind marks it out straight away as one of my all grain homebrews, but actually tastes more like a good quality bottle-conditioned ale from a commercial brewer rather than barl_fire homebrew, if you know what I mean
As for the recipe, I think it nails it for the style, well at least it is everything I hoped an 80/- would be. The malts are beautifully defined in both the flavour and aroma, Amber and Pale Chocolate, double yum! I'm so used to being a little disappointed with the contribution from the malts to the flavour in brews I've done using dried yeasts so this is a revelation and makes me very happy indeed. I too like Mysterio pick out a faint smoked note, there's an almost peated whisky quality to the nose without being spirity, combined with an unmistakable EKG note that just peaks faintly through in the aroma. For a 4% beer there's alot of body and the mouthfeel is smooth, although very malty as one would hope it's not too sweet with a nice unobtrusive balance from the EKG hops.
So after fifteen all grain brews I can thank Mysterio for coming up with what will undoubtedly be the first regular house AG brew for me from now on, a cracking recipe and one which deserves being brought out of six years hibernation from Jim's vaults
I'm also looking forward to having a play with more liquid yeasts. Got the ingredients ready for a London Pride clone to be done with the Fullers strain next week, London Pride out of cans being my go to quaffing bitter when drinking at home.
. My guess is brett, but I'm not completely sure. So I had to dump the yeast cake, but will certainly be looking at brewing a 90/- sometime in the future.