Skinners 'river cottage EPA' recipe?

micmacmoc · Post by **micmacmoc** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 2:12 pm

I had several pints of these last night in The Fowey Hotel. As usual the bar staff could regale me with info on the wine list but knew nothing about ales. My wife loved it too and asked if I would brew some for home. Its only 4% and full of taste. I'm not overly fond of the usual skinners fare, Betty and Figgys Brew. Their 'Porthleven' is quite good. From what I have been able to discover they use British Hops cascade, northdown and admiral. I reckon the malt is extra pale 100%. Anyone offer any further info?

Post by **Jim** » Sun Apr 27, 2014 4:05 pm

Can anyone help?

mozza · Post by **mozza** » Sun Apr 27, 2014 4:35 pm

I tried it a while back from a bottle and nearly tipped it away

but maybe it was a bad batch?

Clibit · Post by **Clibit** » Sun Apr 27, 2014 4:36 pm

Maybe it's a lot better on cask, unpasteurised?

According to the article below, UK Cascades and Admiral are used for aroma, and Northdown for bittering. No malt info though - and you need a suitable yeast. I've not come across UK Cascades on sale to mere mortals yet, has anyone else?

http://beertoday.co.uk/skinners-river-cottage-epa-1213/

The malt comes from three farms near Truro! What malts did the colour suggest? Was it just pale malt do you think? And what sort of yeast did the flavour suggest?

barney · Post by **barney** » Sun Apr 27, 2014 5:18 pm

PDTNC had English cascade last year, I dont know if he has any left.

Matt12398 · Post by **Matt12398** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 12:58 pm

Clibit wrote:And what sort of yeast did the flavour suggest?

They use the same yeast for all of their beers. They're not very imaginative.

Mic, I don't know what you were drinking but the bottle I tried was like Sam's drain cleaner he mentioned above.

micmacmoc · Post by **micmacmoc** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 3:00 pm

It was cask....what's the chance that whatever they were serving wasn't skinners at all? It was blonde, hoppy and quite good. I awill try a bottle if I come across any and compare. Is the skinners yeast Notty? I think that's all the Keltek brewery use?

mozza · Post by **mozza** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 3:51 pm

I doubt their yeast is notty. All their beers have a distinct murky flavour if that makes sense? Notty seems too clean. I'd be interested if anyone knew the strain they use

Matt12398 · Post by **Matt12398** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:21 pm

I understand it's one they buy in that's specific to their brewery but managed by an external yeast lab.

fego · Post by **fego** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:27 pm

I reckon it wasn't Skinners or you might have been lucky. I had one in the Fowey hotel recently and gave it back it was so bad. Skinners beers really arent for my pallette despite trying to like them. Only Heligan honey is bearable for me. When I went to see them in Truro they explained how their beers are all essentially the same but slightly different by the ppns of each of their two main brews they blend.
Pretty sure they use dry packs of S04 too. Certainly tastes muddy enough...

Have you dropped them an email?

Post by **seymour** » Thu May 01, 2014 5:17 am

Clibit wrote:...I've not come across UK Cascades on sale to mere mortals yet, has anyone else?...

This is a question, not a hard & fast statement, but if you can't find UK-grown Cascades (which are still very citrusy but less intense than US-grown version), doesn't that sound a lot like Challenger?

Conversely, I know from experience US-grown Challenger is very Cascade-like, so I think it could be a reasonable substitution for you guys.

Regarding the grainbill, my guess is 100% Extra Pale Floor Malted Maris Otter.

Dave S · Post by **Dave S** » Thu May 01, 2014 10:28 am

seymour wrote:
Clibit wrote:...I've not come across UK Cascades on sale to mere mortals yet, has anyone else?...
This is a question, not a hard & fast statement, but if you can't find UK-grown Cascades (which are still very citrusy but less intense than US-grown version), doesn't that sound a lot like Challenger?

Conversely, I know from experience US-grown Challenger is very Cascade-like, so I think it could be a reasonable substitution for you guys.

Regarding the grainbill, my guess is 100% Extra Pale Floor Malted Maris Otter.

I've just brewed an all Nelson Sauvin summer ale using 100% low colour MO and I must say it is extremely light in colour. Might revert to normal 4-4.5 EBC MO if I brew that one again.

mozza · Post by **mozza** » Thu May 01, 2014 5:46 pm

seymour wrote:
Clibit wrote:...I've not come across UK Cascades on sale to mere mortals yet, has anyone else?...
This is a question, not a hard & fast statement, but if you can't find UK-grown Cascades (which are still very citrusy but less intense than US-grown version), doesn't that sound a lot like Challenger?

Conversely, I know from experience US-grown Challenger is very Cascade-like, so I think it could be a reasonable substitution for you guys.

Regarding the grainbill, my guess is 100% Extra Pale Floor Malted Maris Otter.

From a couple of challenger brews I've done I'd say uk challenger is more rich and spicy than fruity. I nice strong hop. Don't know if it would be similar to cascade?

DeGarre · Post by **DeGarre** » Fri May 02, 2014 7:22 am

Challenger is like a boring cousin of Northview which is nothing like Cascade (US).

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