Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

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Maynewater

Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by Maynewater » Sun Feb 09, 2014 1:14 pm

I made a Hobgoblin Clone based upon some Recipes here and other sources as below

Hobgoblin 2 (Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale))

Original Gravity (OG): 1.053 (°P): 13.1
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (°P): 3.3
Alcohol (ABV): 5.22 %
Colour (SRM): 15.5 (EBC): 30.6
Bitterness (IBU): 36.2 (Average)

21L
91.09% Pale Malt - 4.7kg
6.78% Crystal 150 - 0.35kg
1.55% Chocolate - 0.08kg
0.58% Table Sugar - 0.03kg

0.5 g/L East Kent Golding (7.5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) - 11g
0.7 g/L Fuggles (5.44% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) - 14g
0.7 g/L Cascade (9.2% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) - 15g
3.1 g/L Styrian Golding (3.98% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) - 65g

0.5 g/L Irish Moss @ 10 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 67°C for 90 Minutes. Boil for 90 Minutes

Fermented at 20°C with Fullers

This produced a really nice pint maybe should of had more chocolate to darken and give more toasty notes and maybe too much zesty hops and I used harvested Fullers yeast and should of gone for something with a less fruity finish.

Here's the thing though the Hobgoblin bottle (in date) which I bought from Tescos was very different from what I remember, no hint of citrus hops the only hops flavour I could taste was Fuggles. Has Hobgoblin changed to reduce the expense of late hopping with imported hops, or is it me ?(and a few other at our Brew club meeting)

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jaroporter
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Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by jaroporter » Sun Feb 09, 2014 9:45 pm

the recipe from years back (possibly pre marstons) was definitely more hoppy and delicious. a great beer is now very bland and average.. :(
dazzled, doused in gin..

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DeGarre
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Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by DeGarre » Sun Feb 09, 2014 10:13 pm

I remember mid 90's in Reading there was a Hobgoblin pub in the town centre, small and cosy dark woody place.

kinnockthecat

Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by kinnockthecat » Fri Feb 14, 2014 9:41 am

Hobgoblin pub in Reading had to change it's name recently due to threat of litigation I believe!

Petrovitch

Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by Petrovitch » Sun Feb 16, 2014 9:52 pm

Random interjection...the manager of one of the pubs I frequent in Cambridge when I'm back home used to be the assistant manager at the Reading Hobgoblin; apparently when Wychwood got taken over (again) they started to get shirty about brand ownership.

And yes Hobgoblin has definitely changed a few times - they ruined the cask version a few years ago (dropped it from 5.3% I think down to 4.5% and lost most of the flavour in the process), and the current bottled version isn't as robust or full-on as it was. Never tried the cans tho...

Glad your version turned out well (ish) tho, what yeast would you try next time? I need to do one of these soon.

Maynewater

Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by Maynewater » Mon Feb 17, 2014 1:13 pm

I would try and use some harvested Brakspear yeast, I'm trying to culture it up at the moment from a bottle of Triple.

I've done it before and got some good results (attenuates really low) but this time it doesn't seem to want to grow, we'll see.

steambrew
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Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by steambrew » Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:35 pm

There is a similar post on brewuk form it is worth a read =D>

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Normski
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Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by Normski » Wed Feb 26, 2014 6:27 pm

Maynewater wrote:I would try and use some harvested Brakspear yeast, I'm trying to culture it up at the moment from a bottle of Triple.

I've done it before and got some good results (attenuates really low) but this time it doesn't seem to want to grow, we'll see.
Hi Maynewater
I thought that Brakspear had stopped bottle conditioning the Triple.
Shame.
Norm
The Doghouse Brewery (UK)

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Hanglow
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Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by Hanglow » Wed Feb 26, 2014 10:14 pm

They stopped then started again, although the last time I got a bottle must have been a year ago, so they could have stopped again. They have certainly messed around with the triple recipe over the last few years

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far9410
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Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by far9410 » Wed Feb 26, 2014 10:38 pm

pretty much par for the course with marstons, buy up a great brewery then f@ck it up!
no palate, no patience.


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Redimpz
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Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by Redimpz » Thu Feb 27, 2014 1:47 pm

I'm liking the look of this recipe, only problem is, I don't have any styrian goldings. I do have some aurora, would this make an acceptable substitute? if so, should I keep the quantities the same?

Maynewater

Re: Hobgoblin Has the Original Changed?

Post by Maynewater » Fri Feb 28, 2014 10:15 am

Regarding the availability of Brakspear Triple, they had some 330ml bottles in a supermarket (sorry can't remember which one) about 6 months ago.

However I have just been on the Brakspear website and this link http://www.brakspear-beers.co.uk/beers/view/triple takes you to their listing of Triple in pints which says 'Bottle conditioned' on the label (No idea who would stock it though). Sadly I find very few bottle conditioned beer for sale in supermarkets.

By the way the starter got going eventually and is now in the fermenter chewing through a robust porter I have in there.

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