Clotworthy Dobbin - 29/05/2008

[Jymbo]

Just getting round to posting this now - I see delboy beat me to it

I'd actually been thinking of the caramalisation thing that Delboy did but a guy from the rates office came to the door just at the start of the boil and kept me talking (and measuring) for over an hour so I never got round to it. Anyway the recipe went as follows:

Brew Length: 19L
Target OG: 1047
Target FG: 1012
Target ABV 5%

Grain Bill

Marris Otter: 3.1Kgs
Crystal Malt: 386g
Chocolate Malt: 92g
Black Malt: 32g
Wheat Malt: 85g

Mash at 67C for 90 mins

Bittering Hops (90 mins):
Challenger (7.1%): 12g
Northdown (7.9%): 12g
25 IBUs (90 min boil)

Aroma Hops:
Cascade: 25g at end of boil

Irish Moss: 10g at 10mins before end of boil.

Yeast:
Wyeast Irish Ale (1084)

Ferment at 18C

No major hiccups. Main problem is trying to ferment the thing at 18C to try to keep the esters down as it's supposed to be pretty dry. I kicked off the fermentation at 21C and it stayed at 21/22C for the first 24 hours. It's been a bath of cold water since but still won't drop below 19C. Anyway, I'm sure it won't matter much - I fermented PoP's stout with this yeast at 21C and it turned out very well.

I got 19L @ 1048 so pretty much on target with the calculations. Can't wait to taste this one as Clotworthy is one of my favourite ales.

[kitoog]

looks good, will try this at some stage myself. Not sure if you can get Clotworthy down in the south yet, but hopefully soon.

[Jymbo]

Some Tesco stores in the north have it so you may be able to get it there.

[delboy]

I had a taste of the wort and i know its hard to judge a beer before its even seen the yeast but i have to say it did have the right sort of taste, i have high hopes for it. Thanks for sharing your recipe formulation and sorry about shamelessy nicking it and posting my brew day before you'd even had a chance .

I know the orginal almost certainly isn't dry hopped but i think i might stick some cascades into the fermenter and so how it comes out.

[grumpysod]

Some Tesco stores in the north have it so you may be able to get it there.

Some Tesco stores in the north have it so you may be able to get it there.

Asda and Sainsbury's are now stocking it as well - at least in my neck of the woods

[Jymbo]

No problem, delboy - I think it's called the blind leading the blind . Hope the recipe is a good one - would hate to think you've wasted the end of your MO on a dud. Had a taste of the wort myself and it did taste good, might have a sup from the FV later on just out of curiosity.

[Jymbo]

It's down to 1010 and still a bit cloudy. Had a quick sup and it tastes good, but maybe could do with a bit more aroma so I chucked 25g of cascade in the primary in a muslin bag. Will give it a few more days before bottling.

[delboy]

That didn't take long to get down to 1010 jymbo. I had a taste of mine out of the fermenter tonight also, i think despite all my best efforts to ruin it that its going to be fine. The yeast has only been in two days, i'll probably leave it a few more days taste it again when its neary fully fermented and decide then about dry hopping.

[Jymbo]

I was surprised it attenuated so quickly (4 days) - last time I used this yeast it took about a week - must be all this hot weather we're having - I kept the FV in the bath the whole time to try to keep the temp down but most of the fermentation was at about 20C. Anyway - it tastes fine so no harm done. Airlock has stopped bubbling completely so I'll give it another day or two to clear before bottling.

[kitwom]

Ah now theres a question I've always wondered about. Without wanting to hijack the thread, but is that right to wait until the airlock stops completely - and then some? I'm always concerened the yeast won't recover with the priming sugars .

[Jymbo]

Haven't dry hopped before so I can't say - anyone else tried this? I suppose I could add some more yeast before bottling.

[delboy]

In my experience you can leave a beer sitting about for a few weeks even though it'll have cleared significantly you'll still have enough yeast in solution to do the job of carbonating in the bottle.
Its more of an issue when doing something like a lager that has been cold conditioned for a long time or very strong beers where the orginal yeast has pooped out.

[Jymbo]

In any case I'll probably be bottling on Thursday anyway so there should be plenty of yeast left in suspension. I know 3 days is a bit short for dry hopping but the aroma is fairly subtle in Clotworthy so hopefully that should do the trick.

[Jymbo]

Bottled on Thursday and couldn't resist trying a bottle last night. Although it's still green I can tell that there's definitely too much chocolate malt in the taste which is masking out the hops.

All in all it's a nice brew and it does bear a passing resemblance to Clotworthy but I'd have to say it's more like a Porter than a bitter or an Irish red ale.

I'll definitely have another go at cloning Clotworthy - next time I think I'll reduce the chocolate malt by quite a bit, add some flavour hops and increase the aroma hops. I'll probably caramalise some of the wort too. I'll be interested to hear how delboy gets on with this recipe.

[delboy]

In my experience you can leave a beer sitting about for a few weeks even though it'll have cleared significantly you'll still have enough yeast in solution to do the job of carbonating in the bottle.
Its more of an issue when doing something like a lager that has been cold conditioned for a long time or very strong beers where the orginal yeast has pooped out.

You've got soft water though haven't you Del, like Vossy the lack of calcium reduces the yeast sedimentation rate, but the presence of 50mg/l or more enhances flocculation. If i'm using dried yeasts, with the exception of maybe US05 if I leave it much longer than 10 days the beer ideally needs re-inocculating. Most brewery yeasts i've tried are fine as they are normally very vigouous but i've found shop bought liquid yeasts lacking by comparison (haven't tried the irish ale yeast myself though).

Thats a good point about the calcium DaaB i hadn't thought of that.

I think something has gone awry with my attempted clone, any tasters i had in the first few days were great and i was getting all the lovely complexity of the burton yeast. But im actually now debating wheter to bin it or keg it, theres a strange taste in it that didn't seem to be there at first, either a wild yeast has got into it or the huge amount of break material is causing the yeast to create off flavours, either way its my own fault for getting completely hammered when i was brewing this

Interesting about the choc malt jymbo, was it pale choc (from H&G) or normal choc malt? One thing i would change about this for sure (apart from staying reasonably sober when making it) is i would mash high or maybe even use windsor. Clotworthy dobbin has a lot of residual sweetness.