Jennings Bitter

[zgoda]

It doesn't introduce any sour twang, it's easy to dose and had it at hand.

[IPA]

I was introduced to this beer by my local B&M store where they're flogging it for £2 for two 500ml bottles. Didn't think I liked 'brown beer' but it's lovely and I'm inspired to try and recreate it. It has a pronounced nutty aroma and flavour. I haven't been able to find a clone recipe anywhere.

It's 3.5% ABV. Has a deep red brown colour. Jennings website says "Brewed with English pale Ale and Amber malt, to give a nutty flavour that supports a subtle blend of English aromatic hops."

My thoughts are:
Malts: 75% Pale, 15% Brown, 7.5% Amber, 2.5% roasted barley
Hops: Fuggles or EK Goldings to give 30 IBU.

I'm a novice AG brewer so any advice would be appreciated.

Roger Protz's Real Ale Almanac has this info
Pale Malt
Torrified Wheat
Invert Sugar
Challenger Fuggles and Golding hops

[AnthonyD]

Recently been on the Jenning's Brewery tour. They only use Stryian Goldings in their beers these days.

[Eric]

Recently been on the Jenning's Brewery tour. They only use Stryian Goldings in their beers these days.

Are you sure? That would surprise me. Who showed you around? Could that possibly have been the only hop pellet they use?
They certainly use Celeia (Styrian Golding) pellets, but I managed to relieve them of a few Challenger, Goldings, Fuggles, Summit and some pellets recently.

[AnthonyD]

Sorry. My post should have been more accurate.

We were told on the tour that they only use Styrian Goldings - i.e. their only Goldings were Styrian and not East Kent.

They do indeed use a variety of others. Challenger, Cascade (for Cocker Hoop? we were informed), and Fuggles. We were only shown whole hops and not pellets.

Forgot the name of the lady that showed us around - but it was a good tour.

[seymour]

...We were told on the tour that they only use Styrian Goldings - i.e. their only Goldings were Styrian and not East Kent...

Just a quibble: I know you're simply repeating what the brewery said and we've all been through this argument before, but despite the confusing names, Styrian Goldings are a Fuggles adaptation, not a Goldings hop at all.

See "The History of Hop Breeding and Development" by Peter Darby:

After several centuries of grower selection, very many different varieties existed. By 1900 more than 20 varieties were known in England and at least 60 recorded in mainland Europe. 7 Modern methods of analysing essential oils have been used to distinguish which of the older varieties are clones of each other and which are distinct varieties. Varieties such as Rodmersham, Mercers, Mathon, East Kent, Canterbury, Cobbs, Bramling, Eastwell and Early Bird have been shown to be variants of the same variety, the Golding, selected in 1790. The Golding clones vary in their ripening date, yield and susceptibility to diseases. In contrast, Fuggle, reputed to be selected in 1861 as a chance seedling, has indeed been shown to be a distinct variety. However, oil analysis indicates that Fuggle and Savinjski Golding are clonal variants of each other.

[gyleable]

Plan for next weekend:



And yes, despite me pooh-poohing the idea initially, I'm going to make and use some invert sugar (sounds like fun!)

[seymour]

It remains to be seen how close it comes to Jennings Bitter, but I'll say it definitely looks like a beer I'd wanna drink.

Does Jennings Bitter seem predominantly Fuggle-y? I don't know how big a difference it would make, but I get the impression Jennings blends both Goldings and Fuggles for the later aroma addition(s), and I'm pretty sure they don't do dry-hopping. That said, I'm sure your suggested hopbill would be nice and hoppy, probably better in that sense. Have you settled on a particular yeast?

Best of luck!

[Eric]

Yes Seymour, I too like the look of that. Don't think it will be exactly Jenning's Bitter, but that could even be more to my taste. Soft water and plenty of brewing salts?

[gyleable]

Have you settled on a particular yeast?

Safale S-04

Soft water and plenty of brewing salts?

I live in Nottingham and I don't think the water is partularly hard or soft (neither firs up the kettle nor makes the soap lather up a lot). I treat water using Wheeler's basic approach (for people who haven't had a water analysis) from his CAMRA Guide to Home Brewing. From my process notes:

Per 25ltr: Add 12g (2 heaped tsp) calcium sulphate (or 4g flaked calcium chloride for milds and stouts).
Boil vigorously for 15 mins.
At the end of the boiling period, add 2g (half tsp) magnesium sulphate, 3g (1 tsp) sodium chloride (common salt) and 4g citric acid (1 tsp).

All the ingredients are in. Brew day tomorrow!

[gyleable]

My usual murky wort:

More or less the right colour. Tastes quite bitter but plenty of time to mellow.
Overshot the target OG: 1.038 (after diluting to 25ltr) rather than 1.035. Must remember to dial in a higher efficiency (in the low 80's since I switched to batch sparging recently).

All being well I'll bottle it in three weeks (after a week of dry hopping) then crack one open after four weeks in bottle.

[gyleable]

Bottled 14/09/13. Looks more appealing now!

FG 1012.5. ABV 3.4% (apparent attenuation 68%)
Tastes promising. Will report again after a few weeks in bottle.

[seymour]

Yum. Nice work!

[swiggingpig]

Bottled 14/09/13. Looks more appealing now!

FG 1012.5. ABV 3.4% (apparent attenuation 68%)
Tastes promising. Will report again after a few weeks in bottle.

Cracking colour !!

[gyleable]

Reasonably pleased with this beer, though it's no clone and I would tweak the recipe before having another go.
Here's a picture I took while having a side-by-side taste comparison (mine on the left):



I'm not an expert beer taster by any means but here are my notes. I'll refer to Jennings Bitter as JB and mine as BBB, which stands for Boring Brown Bitter. (It's not really boring - this is just a joke 'cos some of my friends think traditional brown bitters are generally boring.)

• Both beers are light, refreshing and very quaffable.
• Colour: BBB is a tad darker than JB.
• Aroma: BBB aroma is more hoppy than malty. No problem with this per se but it's not appropriate for a JB clone. JB has a stronger aroma which is predominantly malty.
• Flavour:
  • JB has more malty sweetness / body. Nutty!
  • BBB is lacking malty falvour (although it does have a nice hint of burnt). Certainly doesn't have the distinctive JB nuttiness I was after.
  • BBB tastes a bit thin (surprising, given the 1012.5 FG / 68% apparent attenuation).
• A bitter finish is more evident in BBB. JB has a mellow bitter finish that balances nicely with the malty character.

If nothing else, this brew has helped me appreciate what a well crafted beer JB is.

All this considered, next time I would be inclined to:

• skip the dry hops
• reduce the bittering hops a smidgen (or just go for a 60 minute boil)
• decrease the Black Malt a little and significantly increase the Amber Malt (or perhaps experiment with some other malts that give nuttiness)
• decrease the proportion of invert (probably to 0 since there was only 3% in there anyway) to get a bit more body / mouth feel

Thanks for the help, advice and encouragement!