Chalky's Bite

[Redbloke]

I supped a fantastic beer tonight, purchased at Sainsbury's
... Chalky's Bite, from the Sharp's Brewery, Cornwall. The depth of flavour was amazing. If anyone has a recipe for this I would be eternally grateful

[Matt]

I just looked at this in Satansbury's this morning. Wish i'd picked up a bottle.

Googled the following description:

The 6.8% abv beer is made using Cornish malted barley, wheat, whole hops, Sharp's unique yeast strain and wild Cornish fennel.

Shouldn't be too difficult to approximate a recipe and if I were you I'd contact Sharps and ask if the bottle yeast is the primary strain, to see if its worth re-culturing.

I'd guess that the fennel is in the form of seeds added like cardamom is to Wit beers. I.e. circa a teaspoon or so, like this guy.

[Parp]

I had this beer a wee while ago.

I would have liked it a lot if it wasnt for the fennel.

I know that was the idea of the beer to use the fennel to produce a beer suitable for sipping with fish dishes, but still, not for my palate.

The fennel was quite subdued when the beer was cool, but got a bit more pronounced as it warmed in the glass.

It's the aniseedy aftertaste i couldnt get away with, it actually worked well in the middle with the hops.

[Redbloke]

I just looked at this in Satansbury's this morning. Wish i'd picked up a bottle.
Googled the following description:
The 6.8% abv beer is made using Cornish malted barley, wheat, whole hops, Sharp's unique yeast strain and wild Cornish fennel.
Shouldn't be too difficult to approximate a recipe and if I were you I'd contact Sharps and ask if the bottle yeast is the primary strain, to see if its worth re-culturing.
I'd guess that the fennel is in the form of seeds added like cardamom is to Wit beers. I.e. circa a teaspoon or so, like this guy.

I'll send an e-mail to Sharps concerning the yeast and see what response I get.
I don't suppose you fancy approximating a recipe for me
Would you add a teaspoon of fennel seeds per gallon, and would they be whole or cracked?
Great link by the way, the fella brews some interesting beers

[ColinKeb]

I tried to recreate this last year and failed through not getting the fennel to come through, I think you have to put quite a lot in to get that tang noticable. the beer was nice but not what i was aiming for

[Matt]

I just looked at this in Satansbury's this morning. Wish i'd picked up a bottle.
Googled the following description:
The 6.8% abv beer is made using Cornish malted barley, wheat, whole hops, Sharp's unique yeast strain and wild Cornish fennel.
Shouldn't be too difficult to approximate a recipe and if I were you I'd contact Sharps and ask if the bottle yeast is the primary strain, to see if its worth re-culturing.
I'd guess that the fennel is in the form of seeds added like cardamom is to Wit beers. I.e. circa a teaspoon or so, like this guy.

I'll send an e-mail to Sharps concerning the yeast and see what response I get.
I don't suppose you fancy approximating a recipe for me
Would you add a teaspoon of fennel seeds per gallon, and would they be whole or cracked?
Great link by the way, the fella brews some interesting beers

Crikey … pressure I'll get SWMBO to pick up a bottle tomorrow and see if I can come up with anything. Interesting feedback from Colin above.

Colin - how much did you add and wot dyou reckon it should have had?

Matt

[ColinKeb]

I added about 3 table spoons and cracked it first, no taste whatsoever in 30 pints

[Matt]

Had a bottle tonight … really nice. A couple of things mystified me though - I couldn't taste the fennel, and there was no yeast in the bottom of the bottle at all.

To me this is a quite neutral pale ale and all the character comes from the hop taste and a massive hop aroma, that smells like Challenger. The bottle label says three hops were used but failing some inside info on what those are I'd stick with a single hop brew.

Re the fennel, and given Colin's comments I would omit it, or maybe just chuck in a teaspoon full at the end of the boil in honour of the original marketing concept er I mean recipe

I have also reduced the ABV to make it more drinkable. Shout if you want the calcs for the original 6.8% and we might have to seek advice from others on here about yeast pitching on bigger beers (I haven't done a great deal of that).

Chalky's Light

ABV 5.4%
IBU 34
Efficiency 75%
Mash @ 68°

Maris Otter 5kg
Wheat Malt 250g

Challenger, 5.6%, 35g full boil
Challenger, 5.6%, 20g 15 mins
Challenger, 5.6%, 20g 5 mins
Challenger, 5.6%, 50g at turn off

Ferment with WLP007 or if you prefer dried then Nottingham.
Its quite fizzy so I'd prime @ 28g per gallon if it were my brew.

Well, see what you think RB.

Cheers,

Matt

[Garth]

Chalky's Bite is not bottle conditioned, well the couple I had weren't, just filtered/force carbonated

I don't think any of their bottled beers are

[Matt]

The bottle I have here says it is on the label, plus the usual allow to settle, pour carefully bit. Maybe there was a label printing cock up.

[ColinKeb]

let us know how it turns out Matt Im due a consignment of challenger hops so that looks quite a good recipe for me

[Redbloke]

Thank's for the feedback fellas, and thanks Matt for the recipe attempt, you were spot on with the grains. I think with the info I did manage to get you might be able to tweek it further

I sent an e-mail to Sharps and got a nice reply from the head brewer, but understandably he didn't give away too much

Sent --------------------------------------------

Hi,

I know this might be a cheeky question to ask, but can you tell me if the yeast used to bottle condition Chalky's bite is the same used for primary fermentation please? I am a keen homebrewer and I would love to try to replicate this excellent beer, one of the best I have tasted for many years.

... I suppose a recipe would be out of the question?

Cheers,
Ken

Reply ------------------------------------------

Ken hi,

Thank you for your kind words!

We use a different yeast for primary and secondary fermentation to the stuff that’s in the bottle. The bottle yeast in from a well known brewery in Belgium who make a devil of a beer that’s 8.5% (if you know what I mean!). The first two fermentations are carried out with Sharp’s yeast.

I can’t divulge the recipe I’m afraid but the following describes the process we use. It’s pretty elaborate to attempt on a home brew scale so good luck!


· The beer enjoys a slow and painstaking 6 month production process (two weeks warm fermentation, two weeks cellar temp, 2 months lagering at 0oC , 2 months warm and cold bottle conditioning)

· It is brewed with pure Cornish water, floor malted Cornish Maris Otter and malted wheat with whole Hallertau Brewers Gold, Styrian Goldings and Northdown hops

· Fresh whole hops (Styrians) are added during the extensive lagering stage to impart vivid hoppy/citrus notes to work like a crisp white wine with seafood

· The beer is fermented three times with two separate strains of yeast; a Cornish yeast in warm and cold fermentation for a good full ester-fruit aroma and a Belgian yeast added to the bottle for a good spicy component in the finish and to yield some more carbonation from the residual sugars

· Wild fennel seeds are added at the end of lagering just before packaging to lock in the sweeter notes of the herb and avoid the intense liquorish/aniseed end of its flavour

· The over sweetness typical of some strong ales is prevented by the full attenuation of malt sugars through the use of a unique ‘dynamic’ fermentation carried out as the beer is circulated between two vessels during its two-week primary fermentation period

· After bottling, the beer enjoyed 6 weeks in the warmth of the Cornish summer followed by a month of cold storage in our cellars


Kind regards

Stuart Howe

Head Brewer

-----------------------------------------------------

... that's some brewing process!

[delboy]

That was very decent of him to go into so much detail, i know he didn't give you a recipe as such but he give you a lot of cracking information about the beer, especially the stuff about the duvel yeast etc.

[Matt]

Wow, that is a good response.

That is a mighty amount of fannying about though, IMHO, and I'm confused about them shooting for an estery finish and then using the dynamic fermentation to dry it out.

Maybe its b0ll0cks, maybe its masterful

I wonder if the following would give you an approximation:

ABV 5.4%
IBU 35
Efficiency 75%
Mash @ 68°

Maris Otter 5kg
Wheat Malt 250g

Brewer's Gold, 7%, 30g full boil
Northdown, 8%, 14g 15 mins
Northdown, 8%, 14g 5 mins
Styrian Goldings, 4.5%, 50g at turn off

I'd still ferment with WLP007/Nottingham as I think the overall effect is a neutral-ish ale with a big hop nose. Although maybe WLP550 could be interesting.

[Redbloke]

That's an excellent looking recipe Matt, many thanks for your efforts, it's definitely on my 'to do' list Is it for 5 gallons?
When I get around to it I'm gonna play about with the fennel thing, maybe split the brew after primary and try different amounts. Possibly the fennel seeds need blanching to bring the flavour out?

I'll keep the new name as well, ... 'Chalky's Light', love it