Tim Taylor in Cali II

[monk]

I'll be making my second attempt at brewing a TTL-like ale on Saturday. Here's my recipe:

for 19 Liters

3.6 kg Golden Promise

43g Willamette for 60 min
15g EK Goldings for 60 min

15g EK Goldings for 10 min
21g Styrians for 10 min

36g Styrians steeped for 20 minutes during cooling

TTL yeast from Wyeast, fermenting around 20c, hopefully.

As for caramelizing, I'm going to reduce 2 liters of first runnings down to 1 or less.

The calculator gives me OG 1.040 and 35 IBU, which seems about right.

What do you guys think about the late hops schedule, esp the flavor hops? And do you normally make a starter from a smack pack? I've never used one before.

[Barley Water]

I always (except for when I make Heffe) make a starter with either White Labs tubes or Wyeast smack packs. Although you should be able to directly pitch either in a 1.040 O.G. ale, I think making a starter gets things going faster and probably gets you better attenuation and less noxious fermentation by products (with Heffe, I want by products so I underpitch on purpose). I made my TTL last Sunday and the yeast took off right away using a stir plate and 500ml starter, I figure the little insurance gained by making a starter is worth the extra bother (but what do I know). This weekend is a lager weekend for me so I am currently doing a starter for Wyeast 2206 which I will step up to a gallon, for lagers, I pitch gigantic amounts of yeast as I have had problems in the past when not doing so.

[Whorst]

Sounds good, but no Styrians? I'm not making a starter either. I'm just going to hit the wort with pure oxygen and see how it goes.

[monk]

I've got 3/4 oz of styrians at 10 minutes and 1.25 during chilling. Do you think that's enough? I thought maybe all 2 oz during chilling and just EKG at 10 min...

[Scooby]

I did a TTL last weekend and had read about reducing some of the first runnings
to get a caramelising effect.

I reduced 3L to 0.75L, I reckon up to 1L it was just a reduction, ok alittle darker and thicker
but I didn't think it was 'cooked'. The 0.75L I ended up with was just going 'toffee' like but
in hindsight I wished I had taken it to 0.5l to really caramelise it.

It was still thick enough to need some hot wort to rinse the pan out though.

[Whorst]

Hollow Legs, I was going to do the same. Some around 10 minutes towards the end, then some just before I rack into the fermenter.

[mysterio]

Looks good, I agree with Scooby, I think you really want to boil that wort down to a sticky goop on the stove to get the full effect!

[Whorst]

My hopping schedule is as follows:

57g Fuggles @ 45 min. 3.8% AA%
28g EKG @ 15 min. 4% AA%
28g Styrians @ 10 min. 1.9% AA
28g Styrians when wort is cool for steeping.

Total IBU's is around 43, which should be fine. I'm pulling through a sparkler.

[Grot]

I've got 3/4 oz of styrians at 10 minutes and 1.25 during chilling. Do you think that's enough? I thought maybe all 2 oz during chilling and just EKG at 10 min...

That's about what I did with mine. I racked it to a secondary last weekend and the Styrian aroma was outstanding. It's dropped pretty clear so I'll probably bottle it in the next couple of days.

And do you normally make a starter from a smack pack? I've never used one before.

I usually make a starter but I've had success pitching directly with lower gravity beers. It's usually a matter of whether my yeast arrives in the post far enough in advance of my brewday. For my TTL, I didn't have time for a starter but my yeast was less than a week old and it took off like a shot.

[Whorst]

Mine, within one hour is going off. It's definitely fresh.

[iowalad]

I reduced 3 liters down to much less than 1 (didn't measure). It was syrupy.

I thought the color was too light but no so sure now although always hard to tell when beer is in bulk.

I used 20 grams after the wort was cooled to below 20C. Nice aroma. I would go with your amount or more as I tend to be light on the hops compared to others. My IBUs were 35 via Tinseth.

[monk]

Sweet. You guys are really building my confidence regarding the caramelization. I burnt some sugar trying to do this about a month ago, but now I will return and triumph.

[monk]

I now have even more confirmation for the caramelization method. The test brew I made, where I did some condensing but no real caramelization was bottled tonight. Upon tasting it came out very dry, with only hints of caramel or toffee. That means I do really need to boil the heck out of this TTL. Tomorrow morning!

[Whorst]

I think what people are missing is the malt. Timothy Taylor use floor-malted Golden Promise. I've used GP before, that when mashed, had a very light straw color. The floor-malted variety gives you that Landlord color, and more than likely the maltiness, due to the kilning.

[monk]

Crap. Something went way wrong. I'm at the end of my brew and I've got 4 gallons of wort at 1.030. What the heck? That means I scored 50% efficiency?! On the calculator that means I've also got 50 IBUs. Needless to say this wort does not taste good.

Iowa, I'll bet we both got our Golden Promise from NB? I think they cut mine with Grape Nuts.