Questions about brewing ingredients

[millstone]

I’m planning on doing two brews in the near future and have a few questions. My brew plans are for a Fullers ESB and Theakston Old Peculier. I just finished reading Wheeler’s Brew Your Own British Real Ale, it answered some questions but opened up a few more. In many of the British ale recipes it calls for Crystal malt but it does not give a lovibond. In Wheeler’s book , under fermentables, under the Crystal malts heading is says the color is between 100-300 EBC, what lovibond would this be? In a number of the recipes they call for white sugar, is white sugar table (cane) sugar? And why do so many of his recipes call for it, what does it do for the beer? Final question, he talks about how close his formulas are to the real thing, he states others who have brewed is formulas felt they were spot on (learned that one from some gardening BBC program), but know where does he mention what yeast to use. I bet I read the book three times thinking I missed it. So how does one find out the yeast used to brew any of the recipes in his book?

Thanks for taking the time to read the above.

tom

[mysterio]

Half the EBC to get the lovibond rating. Lovibond is primarily an American scale, we use EBC. So 120 EBC is approx 60 Lov. British maltsters tend to give their malts in ranges, US ones tend to specify an exact lovibond rating.

Yes, just plain cane sugar. I presume he includes it because this is what the actual brewery is doing. Adding sugar is not atall uncommon in English brewing. Invert sugar (golden syrup) can also be used in its place. Adding sugar will tend to boost alcohol without boosting body or malt flavour. The overall effect is the beer will tend to drink like a lower gravity beer.

I'm guessing here, but I think the book was written before a wide variety of liquid yeasts were available to the homebrewer. Everyone has access to dried yeast though. You can fill in the blanks yourself, if the recipe is from London, use a London yeast. Yorkshire, use a yorkshire yeast etc. Or, just pick a dried yeast and go with it. Try Brewlabs, White Labs and wyeast for liquid yeasts. Fermentis & Danstar for dried.

Oh yeah, many of the liquid yeasts actually come from known breweries. For example you can easily get a hold of the Brakspear or Fullers yeast. A lot of us are using the Timothy Taylor yeast because it was released as a limited edition. Have a look at this chart:

http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm

[millstone]

mysterio, great information, that clears up allot questions. Thanks for taking the time and thanks for the link.
if you don't mind another question regarding Crystal malt. Sometimes the receipe will state just Crystal or medium crystal or dark crystal. Should i assume it's in the 100-300 EBC range.


tom

[mysterio]

Good question, I think it generally means the 120 EBC ish crystal, when homebrew shops just sell 'crystal malt' this is generally what they're selling unless it specifically says light or dark. 100 - 300 ebc pretty much covers the entire range. Dont be afraid to experiment, you won't ruin a beer by switching one type of crystal malt for another.

Use your own tastes if you're not sure, if the commercial version has a pronounced dark toffee type of flavour when you should probably go for dark crystal.

Which recipes are you going for ? Maybe Graham will rear his head and clear this up a bit better (he posts on here semi-regularly).

[millstone]

Which recipes are you going for ? Maybe Graham will rear his head and clear this up a bit better (he posts on here semi-regularly).

My brew plans are for a Fullers ESB and Theakston Old Peculier.

tom

[mysterio]

Might be worth getting the WLP002 from White Labs (Hop & Grape sell it) or the wyeast equivalent. Really adds a Fullers flavour. Advisable to make a starter though.

Failing that Safale SO4 would be good.

[millstone]

Thanks everyone.

tom

[Barley Water]

I agree, get some WLP02, there are several advantages to using this strain. First of all, the stuff floculates really quickly which means you get very clear beer in a big hurry. As noted above, this is the Fuller's yeast so if you are making ESB, this is the yeast the brewery supposedly uses and it makes a very good brew. A couple of things you need to watch though. First of all, the yeast is not a big attenuator so you need to make sure you pitch enough. I see this as an advantage though because you can make a low gravity beer with this strain and make it drink bigger than it is. Secondly, it throws off a lot of diacetyl which is part of it's flavor profile. You need to make sure you leave the young beer on the yeast long enough to clean up after itself otherwise, you will end up with a glass of buttered popcorn (I know this from personal experience when I got in a hurry last year). As it turns out, I just put together a starter using this strain last night as I am doing a Mild this weekend and an Oatmeal Stout the following weekend (God and my wife willing).

[quiff]

My brew plans are for a Fullers ESB and Theakston Old Peculier.

Any chance you can post the Old Pec recipe Millstone?

[millstone]

My brew plans are for a Fullers ESB and Theakston Old Peculier.

Any chance you can post the Old Pec recipe Millstone?

I'm still in the process of building it, thinking about 8.5 lbs maris otter, 1 lb flaked maze, .75 lb crystal 60, .75 lb brown sugar, .25 lb roasted barley, .25 lb golden syrup, .12 British black patent and maybe 2 oz black treacle, and about 3 oz of black treacle for bottle priming. But once I'm complete, I'll post it. My main concern in the hops, what will be available. I was thinking .5 0z Challenger and 1 oz Fuggles at 60 and .50 oz Fuggles again at 15 minutes. My problem could be the Challenger, may have to look for a US substitute on this one. As for yeast, I will be using Wyeast 1028 London ale yeast and I always make a 3 liter starter with 1.030 wort. My brewhouse efficiency is about 77%, so this should give me an OG of 1.067, SRM 20, IBU 30, alcohol of 6.4%. Anybody who finds fault/errors with the above, please suggest changes.

tom

[hazard]

Millstone, did you finalise this recipe? I've had Old Peculiar i the bottle and loved it, but can't find it any more in Australia, keen to make some if I can get a good recipe.

Hazard

[millstone]

Millstone, did you finalise this recipe? I've had Old Peculiar i the bottle and loved it, but can't find it any more in Australia, keen to make some if I can get a good recipe.

Hazard

It's carbing now, have another two weeks before i put one in the fridg, I'll report back

tom