Castle Rock Harvest Pale Recipe

[retourrbx]

Voted 'Champion Bitter of Britain' this year, there's some ideas on how to re-create it in this months Nottingham drinker...

ABV 3.8%

95% Fawcetts Lager malt, 5% torrified wheat

Bittering hops Centennial and Cascade with late addition of Chinook and further Cascade for aroma

Hardy's & Hanson's yeast

3 days fermentation, at least 4 days in cask

Hope this is of help to someone - going to try it myself, any ideas on quantities for those that might have tried this tasty brew?

[David Edge]

Hardy's & Hanson's yeast

That'll be a good trick! I wonder where they get their yeast now H&H are shut? They used to get it from Black Sheep until they discovered that Black Sheep got it from Kimberley in the first place! It is a Yorkshire strain, so you could do worse than Brewlab Yorkshire 2 if you fancy culturing from a slant. If you don't Nottingham would suit the character - good attenuation, neutral. Or as you're in Nottingham you could always knock on the door and see if they'll give you some. If it is still the Kimberley/Black Sheep strain it will need rousing.

any ideas on quantities

Hope this doesn't sound facetious (it isn't meant to be), but it's pretty bitter so for the copper hop about the amount (adjusted for alpha) that you'd use in a pretty bitter beer of that gravity or 30% more than you'd use in a run-of-the-mill one.

Cascades don't store too well I seem to recall - if you have some use them for boil and buy fresh for aroma. IMO hop freshness counts for more than variety, I wouldn't bother with more than two hops, so Chinook or Centennial for both additions.

Late and aroma additions - well if your current beers are this hoppy, good, if not double them. Try cooling the wort to 80C for the final addition - that will evaporate less aroma.

[maceyboy]

Thanks for the above suggestions chaps, this is a beer I've been trying to copy as it's one of my favourites.

[dan_olo]

Or as you're in Nottingham you could always knock on the door and see if they'll give you some.

The brewery is in Queensbridge Road, just opposite the train station. The brewery tap is called the Vat and Fiddle... was in there for the first time today and rather nice it is too!

[bconnery]

Cascades don't store too well I seem to recall - if you have some use them for boil and buy fresh for aroma. IMO hop freshness counts for more than variety, I wouldn't bother with more than two hops, so Chinook or Centennial for both additions.

Hop freshness is important but if you are trying to get something close to this beer using just those two hops won't give you the flavour of a beer that has a late hop addition of Chinook and Cascade together.

I would say that if you want to come close to this beer, and I haven't tried it but I have tried a lot of beers with Cascade and Chinook, then I would wait until you can get fresh and/or well stored Cascade rather than substituting.

This is not to suggest that a Centennial Chinook combo won't produce a nice beer. I think it would. Again, it is a question of how close you want to try and get.

[David Edge]

using just those two hops won't give you the flavour

Sorry, I wasn't clear - I was assuming you could get Cascade and suggesting using either Centennial+Cascade or Chinook+Cascade. As you imply, using the two aroma hops would make more sense for matching ergo Chinook+Cascade for both copper and aroma.

In suggestions for brewing I didn't mention liquor treatment or mash temp. Low carbonate, some gypsum and 64C spring to mind.

[andyp]

It is a good brew and the Vat n Fiddle's a good pub (used to be called ZIGGYS!!)

The Hemlock is even better IMO. Now that would be one to try out. Dare I invite any recipie stabs?

[David Edge]

Late and aroma additions - well if your current beers are this hoppy, good, if not double them.

The things we do for love! After forcing my way through a pint at the Alex in Derby make that x4!

[bconnery]

using just those two hops won't give you the flavour

Sorry, I wasn't clear - I was assuming you could get Cascade and suggesting using either Centennial+Cascade or Chinook+Cascade. As you imply, using the two aroma hops would make more sense for matching ergo Chinook+Cascade for both copper and aroma.

In suggestions for brewing I didn't mention liquor treatment or mash temp. Low carbonate, some gypsum and 64C spring to mind.

Ah, I'm with you.
The only slight caveat to that is that a lot of people I know, and american pales ales are a very popular style amongst Aussie homebrewers at the moment so there's a lot of discussion on these hops, report that Chinook as a bittering can impart some of the Chinook flavour, despite the general consensus that bittering doesn't impact so much on flavour.
So, if this is the case again it would suggest that following the Centennial+Cascade for bittering and Cascade/Chinook for late would be better for matching, otherwise you would get more of the Chinook flavour than you bargained for.
Again this does not mean you would produce a beer you didn't like, but if you like a beer, and know the hop combinations used to produce it, why not go with them to try and get as close as you can? You can always experiment later if the result is not to your liking...