Old Ale Recipes?

[Monkeybrew]

I bought some Dark Crystal malt (300 EBC) on a bit of a whim, and have been wondering what to brew with it.

I assume that it would be a good fit in an Old English Ale?

I would appreciate any thoughts or tried and tested recipes for this style.

Cheers

MB

[6470zzy]

The last Old Ale that I had was a bottle of Gale's 1997, which turned out to be spoiled from a cracked cork. I didn't let that stop me though

Cheers

[seymour]

I bought some Dark Crystal malt (300 EBC) on a bit of a whim, and have been wondering what to brew with it.

I assume that it would be a good fit in an Old English Ale?

I would appreciate any thoughts or tried and tested recipes for this style.

Cheers

MB

Here's my response to a similar thread awhile ago:

…In case you're interested, here are several more commercial Old Ale recipes for reference. I notice many of the best ones are dry-hopped. I notice some authentic English ales are low-grav, basically an aged version of English Mild, but others (especially American versions) are very high-grav, like a Barleywine.

Arundel Old Knucker
Arundel Brewery, Arundel, West Sussex, UK
OG: 1055
ABV: 5.5%
Grainbill: 82% Pale, 12% Crystal Malt, 6% Chocolate Malt
Hops: Fuggles, Goldings
Colour: brown

Avery Old Jubilation Ale
Avery Brewing Company, Boulder, Colorado, USA
OG: 1074
ABV: 8.3%
Grainbill: 88.3% Pale, 4.7% Special Roast Malt, 4.7% Victory Malt, 1.6% Chocolate Malt, .7% Black Malt
Early hops: Bullion
Late hops: Bullion (30 min and 0 min)
IBU: 45
Colour: mahogany
Yeast: the Worthington brewery English ale strain, available as Wyeast 1028

B & T Black Bat
Banks & Taylor/B & T, Shefford, Bedfordshire, UK
OG: 1064
ABV: 6.0%
Grainbill: 89% Pale, 10% Crystal Malt, 1% Black Malt
Early hops: Challenger, Fuggles
Late hops: Goldings
IBU: 42
Colour: very dark brown
Yeast: believed to borrow yeast from nearby Wells & Young, possibly related to White Labs WLP006

Bells Third Coast Old Ale
Bell's Beer, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
OG: 1095
ABV: 9.0%
Grainbill: 92.3% Pale, 3.8% Victory Malt, 1.9% Pale Crystal Malt, 1.9% Crystal Malt
Early hops: Centennial (60 min)
Late hops: Centennial (20 min and flame-out)
IBU: 50
Colour: brown
Yeast: Anchor Liberty strain, available as Wyeast 1272 and White Labs WLP051

Stonehenge Old Smokey
Bunce's/Stonehenge Brewery (founded 1984, name change in 1993), Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK
OG: 1050
ABV: 5.0%
Grainbill: 88% Maris Otter, 3.5% Brown, 8.5% Torrified Wheat or Wheat Flour
Hops: Challenger, Omega, Goldings

Burton Bridge Old Expensive/OX Old Ale
Burton Bridge, Burton-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire, UK
OG: 1065
ABV: 6.5%
Grainbill: 88-94% Pale, <5% Chocolate Malt, up to 6% Invert Syrup
Hops: 50% Target, 50% Challenger
Colour: deep amber

Robinsons Old Tom
Frederic Robinson & Co/Unicorn Brewery/Hartleys, Stockport, Cheshire, UK
OG: 1080
ABV: 8.5%
Grainbill: 83.6% Pale, 7% Crystal Malt, 2.4% Chocolate Malt, 7% Caramel Syrup
Early hops: Northdown
Late hops: Goldings
Dry hops: Goldings
IBU: ≈25
Colour: dark brown
Yeast: high attenuating English ale yeast, fresh addition at bottling?

Gales Prize Old Ale (1920's-2005 bottles contain primary yeast)
George Gale & Co (now owned by Fullers), Hordean, Hampshire, UK
OG: 1094
ABV: 9.0%
Grainbill: 86% Maris Otter, 2% Black Malt 12% Brewer's Sugar Syrup (mash at 154°F for 60 min, add sugar to boil at 15 min remaining)
Early hops: Challenger (60 min)
Late hops: Fuggles & Goldings (10 min)
IBU: 48
Colour: brown
Yeast: historic Gales brewery strain, bottles contain classic strain until 2005 vintage, but so old it's likely dead. Ferment at 62°F.

Highgate Old Ale
Highgate Brewery/Davenports/HWBC Ltd (1898-present), Walsall, West Midlands, UK
OG: 1055
ABV: 5.1%
Grainbill: 91% Pale, 2% Crystal Malt, 2.5% Black Malt, 4.5% Invert Syrup
Early Hops: Progress
Late hops: Fuggles & Goldings or Challenger & Whitbread Goldings Variety
IBU: 30
Colour: very dark brown

Suddabys Auld Bob/Malton Owd Bob
Malton/Suddabys Brewery Ltd (Historic, closed 2004), Malton, North Yorkshire, UK
OG: 1055
ABV: 5.8%
Grainbill: 94% Pale, 3.3% Crystal Malt, 2.7% Black Malt
Hops: Challenger or Goldings
IBU: 49
Colour: 41/81, black

Marstons Old Empire
Marstons plc, Burton-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire, UK
ABV: 5.7%
Grainbill: 100% Optic
Early hops: Fuggles & Goldings
Late hops: Cascade
Colour: golden
Yeast: historic English ale strain, White Labs WLP026

Schlafly Old Ale
Saint Louis Brewery/Schlafly, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
OG: 1074
ABV: 8.0%
Grainbill: Pale, Munich Malt, Flaked Wheat, Special-B Malt, Molasses
Hops: Northdown, Marynka (45 min)
IBU: 40
Colour: 14/28, copper
Yeast: Wyeast 1028 London Ale - Worthington brewery strain

Theakston Old Peculier
T. & R. Theakston, Masham, North Yorkshire, UK
OG: 1058
Grainbill: 80% Pale, 10% Crystal Malt, 2% Black Malt, 8% Invert Syrup
Early hops: Challenger, Fuggles
Late hops: Fuggles
Dry hops: Fuggle
IBU: 29
Colour: 48/95, opaque black
Yeast: unique historic Theakston English ale dual-strain brewery yeast from around 1900, still used in Yorkshire Squares, possibly in use by Black Sheep, possibly available as WLP037

Wadworth Old Timer
Wadworth & Co Devizes, Wiltshire, UK
OG: 1055
ABV: 5.8%
Grainbill: 90% Pale, 3% Crystal Malt, 7% Invert Syrup
Early hops: Fuggles
Late hops: Goldings
Dry hops: Goldings
IBU: 22
Colour: copper
Yeast: Fruity English ale yeast strain, bottled by Hepworth with live Brakspear yeast.

Wood's Sam Powell Old Sam
Wood's Brewery Craven Arms, Shropshire, UK
OG: 1048
Grainbill: 86.5% Pale, 5.5% Crystal Malt, 1% Chocolate Malt, 7% Wheat Flour
Hops: Fuggles, Goldings

[barney]

Which is the best one out of that lot Seymour?

[seymour]

Which is the best one out of that lot Seymour?

I guess it depends on what I'm in the mood for. Most American microbreweries interpret English Old Ale as super high-gravity, which is fine as a caramelly winter warmer to sip by the fire, and I guess Gales Prize Old Ale falls into that category too. But if we think of Old Ale as nothing more than a slightly stronger English Mild which has had some time to mature and develop some extra complexity, than I'm a real sucker for ones like Robinson's Old Tom and Theakston Old Peculiar. I could drink those everyday.

[Barley Water]

About 1 1/2 years ago I made a pretty high gravity version I want to say the O.G. was around 1.085 or so. Mostly just M.O., some crystal and some molassis as I recall (but it's been awhile since I made and and I've slept a few time since then). Anyhow, after a bunch of time in a cornie I bottled the entire batch. Naturally, while bottling I felt the need to sample and I was very impressed. I hopped it pretty good as I remember but much of that is now dumbed down and there was alot of dried fruit flavors and of course the whole thing was pretty chewy and malty, not what I'd call a quaffer. Since I made it to compete over here I went the big route but as was noted you certainly don't have the make the beer anywhere near that strong. Anyhow good luck with your brew and let us know how it turned out.