St Austell's Tribute

[mozza]

Because their yeast usually finishes in about 2 days. It's crazy stuff!

[chrisr]

[chrisr]

Well... I had hoped to be reporting on the beer resulting from the Tribute kit now. But I drew off the first pint from the barrel last night - and it's off. Chemical smell and really sour, bitter taste. It was fine when it went in the barrel, I had a taste and thought 'this could be good.' This is first time this has happened for perhaps two years, and it has to be this brew - how annoying.

I was planning on a side-by-side comparison, as I'm off to St Austell tomorrow, for the beer festival on Saturday. (No new sweatshirt - I can't afford them now.)

[fego]

Shame. Sorry to hear that.

Still, you can always buy a minikeg from the brewery when you're down there and use that as a basis for comparison. And don't forget to ask for some yeast too. They were very accommodating to me (but they weren't hosting a massive fest then)...

[chrisr]

I don't think the bottled Tribute (and by extension, the cask-let, though never had it myself) is anything like as good as the cask Tribute. I remain unconvinced it really is the same beer. Though I will indeed get a couple of bottles for later comparison purposes. And the first brew upon return will be another go at the BrewUK Tribute...

The plan is, we are going straight to the Visitor Centre upon arrival in StA (Thursday lunchtime, all being well), firstly for lunch and beer,secondly to beg some yeast, thirdly to stock up on beers to bring home.

<mouthwateringalready>I think that will be my first 'real' Tribute in a year.</mouthwateringalready>

[chrisr]

Well, we got there Thursday lunchtime as planned, and stocked up with beers. I did get a Tribute mini-cask, for Christmas, I'll see how it goes...

They were good enough to provide me with a bottle of yeast (though finding a brewer to do it at this very busy time took a while!). Thank you StA, most obliging.

However, the highlight of the whole trip was the fantastic piece of good fortune to be given a 'golden ticket' for the beer festival: an invitation to the preview evening on Friday and VIP entrance on Saturday. I have never been so lucky before in my life; I never win anything in raffles! Friday evening was just amazing. It was in the 'cornish bar' where all the St A beers were, plus 30-odd from other cornish brewers. Try everything, Roger said. Smaller measures, so you could really try everything. I think we did pretty much have every StA brew. Full of beer enthusiasts: staff from StA and 'outsiders'. I spent some time taking to the Sharps head brewer (not Stuart Howe, he's now 'head of craft brewing' for Coors or something like).

[chrisr]

Completed another go at the BrewUK Tribute clone yesterday. A copy of their recipe, but with Weyerman Munich malt and Celeia instead of Styrians (just happened to have a packet open already). And, of course, real St Austell yeast. Which smelt gorgeous when I opened the bottle. Skimmed off the first head of yeast this morning and will try to harvest the next. It was at 16C overnight, now up to 17C.

[mozza]

Completed another go at the BrewUK Tribute clone yesterday. A copy of their recipe, but with Weyerman Munich malt and Celeia instead of Styrians (just happened to have a packet open already). And, of course, real St Austell yeast. Which smelt gorgeous when I opened the bottle. Skimmed off the first head of yeast this morning and will try to harvest the next. It was at 16C overnight, now up to 17C.

Sounds fantastic! And isn't Celia a styrian golding?

[chrisr]

Yes, I believe it is, or if not, it's a very close relation.

[chrisr]

Did a side-by-side comparison between the BrewUK Tribute kit and the real thing this lunchtime. The kit brew isn't quite ready for drinking yet, I don't think, but real Tribute is pretty rare here in Derbyshire, so I took the opportunity to do a comparison anyway...

The big thing that hit me straight away was the much bigger 'body' and mouth-feel of the real thing. The kit brew tastes thin and watery by comparison. (I mashed at 66C, as per the instructions.) But you can definitely tell it's the 'same' beer; the overall tastes are indeed similar. But the real one has more of everything! The kit brew wasn't as malty, and this resulted in the hops coming to the fore, and making the kit brew seem more bitter than the real one, but I don't think it was really, just that the real one had a better malt/hop balance. The other noticeable difference was in the citrusy/fruity hop aroma and taste real Tribute has. Those were lacking in the kit brew. But I guess that's down to the specifics of the late hopping StA do (as reported by bigrichlock). Something we (well, I) can't replicate with the equipment we have. The late hopping in the recipe is just Styrians at flame-out.

So, I may well try this again, but up the mash temperature to try to get more malty flavours and more non-fermentables in it to get a bigger body. I feel that was the biggest difference between the two brews.

However, having said all that I would add:
1/ This wasn't the actual kit, it was redone (see prev posts) following the same recipe and instructions. I used Weyerman Munich malt, Celeia instead of Styrians and real StA yeast. Other than that, it was a copy of the kit.
2/ Someone else brewing the kit will undoubtedly get a slightly different result to me - different equipment, personal idiosyncrasies in procedures, there's lots of potential differences that can affect the result.
3/ The kit makes you a nice enough drink in itself. If you are considering trying the kit, do. You should get a nice drink out of it and as I say, it is definitely Tribute-like.
4/ This is not intended to be a criticism of the kit. I think we (Tribute fans) owe BrewUK a big thank you for organising the competition and supplying the kits following them. We must acknowledge it is really tricky to copy a beer exactly (impossible, really).
5/ I was impressed enough to try BrewUK's 1851 kit.

[mozza]

The lack of body could also be due to fermentation temperature? St Austell yeast is like a steam train on the warm side and I believe at the brewery they maintain around 17 degrees for primary fermentation (or there abouts!)

[chrisr]

Yes, I know you have to be careful with it temperature wise, particularly at the start, as it can just go crazy.

The kit brew was fermented at: 16C for 2 days; 17C for 2 days; 18C for 2 days; 19C for the remainder. For some reason, it did take a lot longer than I expected to finish fermenting; 13 days in total. Not what I was expecting from StA yeast! (Which is why I warmed it up.) Perhaps this indicates something not quite right. (Advice on any improved temperature regime welcomed.)

I did a starter, 1L overnight, and that took off to the extent of blowing the kausen out of the flask. The wort was well aerated and had some yeast nutrient added.

A good point about the fermentation. I've just measured the Tribute kit beer and it's 1007. Which implies 4.8% alcohol and 83% attenuation (is that possible?!) So you may have something there - that could be where the 'body' and maltiness has gone!

[mozza]

I've got around 81% attenuation before so it sounds about right

[chrisr]

Having mused on this a little more, I'm now thinking I may possibly have had some sort of infection in the kit brew, resulting in the over attenuation. Though, it certainly doesn't seem to have any 'off' aromas or tastes.

So I'm going to repeat it, at some point, same ingredients but not with the StA yeast. I'll post the results.

And I'm going to be be very thorough with the sanitising before my next brew.

[fego]

Chris, did you get to try the Tribute Extra whilst in town? i had presumed it was just a stronger Tribute but it tastes like a different beer to me; much sweeter.

btw, is it a coincidence that you and I both got an infection when using the yeast donated by the brewery?