TTL: Caramelize or not?

[monk]

Good deal, BW. My batch will be brewed on Saturday, I hope. I made a little test batch of bitter last Wednesday where I boiled hard and made sure to get some caramelization. A sneaky sample indicates a buttery, toffee-like flavor, but this could be in part from the S-04 that's only been fermenting for 4 days.

As for the aroma, those in the know appear to indicate lots of styrian aroma, so you're probably perfect.

[mysterio]

Mmm yeah you do get a bit of butter from SO4 when it's young. I like it.

[drsmurto]

I didnt caramelise in the end. Laziness and all that. Added 50g of choc to get the colour. Only added 2 styrian plugs (28g) at flameout cos they smelt so damn good but aroma is a little lacking.

I know TTL isnt supposed to be dry hopped but am give another Styrian plug a TTL bath.

[mysterio]

Got some of the wyeast in the post today

Didn't bother with the GP malt... sticking with MO.

My Styrians are 'bobek' too... has anyone tried this variety?

[monk]

Brewing tomorrow, Myste? I am. I'll be making a starter this evening after work, and getting my water together. (I just buy my water, cuz the tap stuff is so bad)

[iowalad]

My TTL will be going in the keg this weekend while I give an ESB inspired brew a go on Saturday.

[mysterio]

Brewing tomorrow, Myste? I am. I'll be making a starter this evening after work, and getting my water together. (I just buy my water, cuz the tap stuff is so bad)

Sadly not, got a couple of essays due in Wednesday, so that's the first day i'll be able to brew. Dubbel on Wed so it has time to mature and carbonate before christmas & new year, then TTL the week after probably.

[monk]

Brewing tomorrow, Myste? I am. I'll be making a starter this evening after work, and getting my water together. (I just buy my water, cuz the tap stuff is so bad)

Sadly not, got a couple of essays due in Wednesday, so that's the first day i'll be able to brew. Dubbel on Wed so it has time to mature and carbonate before christmas & new year, then TTL the week after probably.

Ah...too bad. First things first, tho. Good man. Procrastination brews have bad mojo anyway, I think.

[monk]

My TTL will be going in the keg this weekend while I give an ESB inspired brew a go on Saturday.

Oooo. You should post a thread for your ESB. What's your recipe? Anything dark in the grist? The bitter I made with 2 oz of Chocolate seemed closer than any ESB clone I've tried.

[Benjy Edwards]

I have been following this thread with interest, enough to have brewed my own version of Landlord this past weekend. I have brewed it many times before, but this time I tried the caramelisation idea. I boiled the first gallon of runnings down about 50% and added it back to the kettle. It was darker than the rest of the wort, but I probably didn't boil it enough to contribute much, if any, of the desired toffee notes. Gravity was 1.041 and I used copious amounts of Styrians at 15 minutes and knockout.

I'm curious as to whether anyone who tried the caramelisation technique has any tasting results to post yet?

[Grot]

Mine has been conditioning in bottles for 10 days or and I'll probably give it a taste this weekend. I didn't taste much toffee at bottling but I'll report back. The Styrian aroma was amazing, though.

[monk]

Unfortunately, due to problems with grain or the brewer, mine turned out badly, and to repair it I used some amber DME and s-04 yeast. So I don't think it is very close to TTL anymore. It's eluded me again...but one day I will sip TTL!

[Whorst]

I just tasted mine. Can definitely pic up the Styrian character. It's nice and dry. Pretty damn close to original.

[Barley Water]

I tasted my TTL clone this past weekend. I did the carmelization and also added an ounce of styrians at flameout. My initial tasting reaction is good but I would say that the hop flavor and aroma from the late additions is very dominant right now although I would expect it to wain as the beer ages. Right now, I can't taste the effect of the carmelization and the hops are covering up most of the malt flavors as well. This beer is very similar to an American pale ale with British hop character without of course the grapefruit effect that say cascades hops would provide. Unfortunately, I have never had the commerical version so I can not comment on how close my effort was the real thing.

[Grot]

Well, here's the final product. I think the color is pretty good but I don't taste any toffee notes. It's been a year since I had a pint of the real thing so I don't know how close I came but it's mighty tasty nonetheless.


I've got a slurry of the yeast saved so I might give it another go soon.