Old Thumper recipe

[booldawg]

Guestimating whats required based on the strength, colour and what it says on the label! Input is greatly appreciated as I want to get this as faithful as I can.

I've not brewed since October so will be on my toes on the brewday!

OG: 1053 FG:1010 ABV: 5.6 IBU 35 EBC 8.8

23L

4483g Pale Malt
385g Crystal Malt (60L)
105g Torrified Wheat
31g Progress (60 mins to give 14.7 IBU)
36g Challenger (30 mins to give 16.6 IBU)
15g Goldings (15 mins to give 4.2 IBU)
25g Goldings to steep
Wyeast Ringwood 1187.

[Stonechat]

I brewed OLD THUMPER from GW's latest book on 9/11/09. I'm pleased with the way it turned out, despite using S-04 instead of the live Ringwood yeast.

I used the same grain bill as GW, but upped the hops to 35EBU in Beer Engine as I either like my beers to be hoppier or my hop utilisation is lower.

The grain bill for 23 litres was:
Pale malt...5160g
Torrefied Wheat...345g
Crystal malt...230g
Chocolate malt...35g

and GW's hop bill for 23 litres was Challenger (start of boil)...41g, Goldings (last ten minutes of boil)...14g and Goldings(postboil)...8g.

The planned OG for the above was 1056.

I've only drunk the bottled version of OLD THUMPER and think it more malty than hoppy, so would go with GW's hopping pattern.

Hope this helps.

[booldawg]

Thanks SC. Its given me ideas to tweak my recipe. TBH I wouldnt want to brew it 'as is' purely because I dont own the book.

I did question the amount of torrified wheat I had in my orginial recipe so will up that and maybe keep the progress in there.

God knows where I got the idea of Progress from. I think I was basing the hop schedule on the 49er recipe that has Progress in.

I was under the impression that Ringwood used the same recipe for their Best, 49er and Old Thumper adjusted for strength. I'm not so sure as Best is comparable in colour and maltiness to OT whereas 49er is alot lighter. The butterscotch flavour (diacetyl) really comes through in Best although I cant detect it in 49er and OT.

[Stonechat]

I was under the impression that Ringwood used the same recipe for their Best, 49er and Old Thumper adjusted for strength. I'm not so sure as Best is comparable in colour and maltiness to OT whereas 49er is alot lighter.

The grains used are identical and at first glance the ratios look identical, but they are slightly different. I guess this is why GW did not put one of the beers in with ratios to arrive at the other two. He did do this for Old Thumper and Forty-niner in an earlier book.

Your observation on the 49er is spot on as the chocolate malt in it is only 0.29% and the crystal only 2%, both less than the other two Ringwood ales.

[booldawg]

Thanks SC, 49er and Best are readily available on the pump round here but OT I've only had from the bottle (and a damn good bottled ale it is too!)