St Austell's Tribute

[chrisr]

I think that snippet of info that the Styrians and Willamette were of equal quantities and both were (effectively) steeped rather than boiled will make a difference. I hadn't been doing that. I will next time.

[weiht]

With the weyerman Munich malt, I getting more sweetness and little toastiness, I guess that it's down to the difference in domestic Munich and the German ones. In fact, Cornish gold is basically a pale malt that's kiln to a higher colour of 20lovibond and more moisture content.

Anyone crazy enough to try roasting in the oven? Or maybe some amber malt?

I'd probably go with 25-30g per hop from steeping in future and definitely higher mash temperature if you are using Nottingham yeast which tend to over-attenuate for beers like these.

[chrisr]

Yes, I had considered DIY malting. Doesn't seem that complicated, but a bit time consuming. And you need raw barley.

But having said that, with all the various malts available, it should be possible to get the right results 'off the shelf', with a little tweaking of the base recipe.

[Kinley]

I've been following this thread and decided to have a go at what is one of my favourite beers too. A partial mash as I didn't have a boiler st the time. Water in Glasgow is soft with low Ca and Mg, so a total of about 8g CaCl and a touch of CaCO4. Mashed at 66C for 90mins, batch sparged.

23L
1.9Kg Pale Malt Extract
900g Maris O
250g Wheat Malt
550g Britich Munich (malt miller)
16g Black Malt

34g Fuggles 90 Mins
30g Wiliamette 10 Mins
30g Styrian G. 0 minutes

2 sachets of Gervin, hydrated, as I think the yeast should have a very neutral profile in Tribute. Primary fermentation took 5 days: I started at 18C and increased to 20C over 3 days. After 1 week, I transferred to a secondary for conditioning, without pressurising. I transferred to a pressure barrel today for dispensing via beer engine as per Jim's King Keg setup.

Colour is spot on. On the nose again I think the hop profile is near perfect (perhaps I'd add more Wiliamette, add it later or dry hop with it). I would guess this to be Tribute alone from its hops. There is a maltiness and pepperiness that is slightly atypical though. I'd be tempted to cut back again on the Munich (this was 15.2%) again. That said, I think this will fade/ integrate if bottled, but I think it is just a little prominant here. The body is good: nicely weighted without excessive sweetness or maltiness. The hops come through well with typical Tribute hops and background brambles. Good complexity. The finish is dry, smooth and creamy.

Not to blow my own trumpet, but I think this is a pretty good (beginner's luck) attempt. My Cornwall-living sister and Brother-i-L will be up in a week to pass judgement so I'll let you know.

[weiht]

Thats great!!! Btw, is gerwin yeast a similar strain to nottingham yeast? My previous batch attenuated more than i would have liked with the nottingham.

[Piscator]

Thats great!!! Btw, is gerwin yeast a similar strain to nottingham yeast? My previous batch attenuated more than i would have liked with the nottingham.

I believe it is the same yeast repackaged by Muntons.

[Rubbery]

I'm having a go at this recipe. I have posted my brewday here.

Thanks to all on this thread for all the input

[smp465]

Great to see this thread is so active still, lot of effort going into this clone.

I will be having another bash at this soon, so good to read the progressions.

I was speaking to some other JBK members at a Cambridge meet recently and they had recently attended the St Austell brewery beer festival. They overheard there that they steep the hops in Tribute at ~50 degC for something approaching an hour iirc. I'll check the details again when we next meet on 20th, or maybe they are following the thread and can confirm?

[chrisr]

That's very interesting.

I believed that the late hopping was done at around 80 degrees C, and not immediately after the boil ended (IE while pretty much still at boiling point). But 50 degrees - that is unusual.

It would be good if you could confirm this.

[weiht]

Probably because there is still isomerising at 80c??? Given that tribute isn't a very bitter beer

[urbanvet]

As an update on Kinley's recipe (I am he but couldn't log in with that username) I think the Munich is a bit too much but my brother-i-L reckoned apart from the colour (too dark; drop the black malt) it was dead ringer. Personally I would give this a go AG as I suspect the maltiness of the Munich might end up more balanced. I'll let you know soon.

[weiht]

I think i have managed to finalise on my hop additions as 40g fuggles 60mins, and 25-30g each of willamette and styrian at flame off for 23L. As for grain bill, I will go with 77% MO, 18% Munich malt (weyermann) and 5% victory or amber since I dont have any british munich malt which is supposed to be more toasty than the german munich. I remember that tribute to also have a nice toasted note to it.

I did try to roast 20% of pale malt to about 20L, but it turned out too toasted and lacking the maltiness of the munich. So i think will try the above grain bill next time around.

I still trying to come to terms that the brewery managed to pack so much flavour and mouthfeel in the malt department with an OG of 1042, and almost no specialty malts at all. I also think the secret of the beer is really to prime it and drink it cask, ie let it be exposed to the air, rather than forced carbonate and dispensed with CO2. Maybe the secret in the final product is how the beer changes with air in it, since the bottled version is a very bad representation of the beer.

[chrisr]

I'm actually having another go tomorrow. Planning same hopping schedule as weiht, above.

Though I am trying replacing 5% of the Munich with Melanoidin malt, this (I think) being a more dark version of the Munich. So I'm hoping the beer will be slightly darker and have more toasty/malty notes. This is a bit of an experiment to try and replicate the (elusive) Cornish Gold. So I've got 80% MO, 15% Munich, 5% Melanoidin.

I'm sure the way homebrewers keep and dispense their beer does impact on the flavour, yes. It may well be the air in the cask affects the beer. I do believe I can tell the difference between a fresh cask of Tribute and one that's a bit older. The new ones have certain little citrusy 'zing' to them - IMHO.

The bottled stuff is a different brew - it just can't be the same stuff!

In two weeks we're off down there for a few days, so I'll be on the real McCoy

[critch]

The bottled stuff is a different brew - it just can't be the same stuff!

youd be suprised chris, i bottle out of the same brew i cask from and its always markedly different in the bottle.if the tribute is not bottled conditioned itll have been sterile filtered and that strips so much of the flavour profile away its untrue!
i bottle condition and as stated thats a different product to the cask!

[weiht]

Im enjoying this batch alot, I think I'm very happy with the hoppiness. I do get a little bubble gum smell tho lol.

Hey chrisr, im gonna be a arse and to ask how the doombar compares with the tribute for bragging rights as best of the south west. Didn't get a chance to try the doombar when i was there.

On a side note, my sis in law is gg to do the brewery tour next month just to spike me, she doesn't even drink!!!