Shere drop

[sam c]

went to a BBQ last night and my mate had got a 72 pint keg of this from the surrey hills brewery and was was fantastic!really morrish pint.

i was wondering if anyone had a recipe for this great beer?

[KevP]

All I can find for Surrey Hills Shear Drop is a small entry in the 2005 Oxford CAMRA Beer Festival

[Andy]

The OP is correct - it's Shere Drop (named after the place Shere which is near to the brewery).

http://www.surreyhills.co.uk/9089.html

[sam c]

i decided to send them a checky email asking for a few hints towards the recipe but havent heard back yet but it is quite early so ill check again later.

[adm]

That's the closest micro brewery to me. They make a few nice beers. You don't see them in many places though.

I emailed them once asking if I could buy malt from them, but never heard back....

[sam c]

i also emailed them about buying malt and they said sometimes they do. they said to call in advance though. they dont sell hops.

[adm]

Where abouts are you then Sam - are you a local boy?

[sam c]

guildford area so hogs back is closer for me and thats where i went to get my grain and hops which were very cheap. just a bit of brewery building to do with a mate and then onto my first AG brew. soon i hope

[adm]

Ah....you're pretty close by. I'm just down the A281 near to Cranleigh.

You're welcome to pop down and do a brew with me if you want to go through the AG process before jumping in.

[sam c]

cheers for the offer mate. think i might go straight for it by myself once i get all the bits and bobs together.

i have been researching for a while so hope ive got a good idea of what to do. plus im happy to learn from my mistakes as i gather that even if i do make some small ones it will still produce good beer.

[adm]

Yeah - somebody here said it right "Beer wants to be made!"

As long as you plan well, take your time and above all - sanitise the hell out of everything that can touch the beer after the boil, you'll be good to go!

It's a bit like cooking - a good recipe and some good ingredients go a long way....

[sam c]

yer got myself some soda crystals and idophor which i will use as a non-rinse santizer by following the quantities in the FAQ section.

if you wouldn't mind it would be a big help if you look through my brewing sheet which i have come up with over the past few months from reading around on here.

i have left out the quantities of CRS as i dont know my total alkalinity. actually i am very close to you. wonder if ours would be the same or at least very close? do you know yours?how much do you add?

so here is my brewing sheet. sorry it is very long and hopefuly idiot proof for me. please let me know if you find anything wrong or even a change to the recipe as i came up with that myself. i was hoping for a nice easy drinking pale ale.

Summer Pale Ale

Date:
Gyle Number:
Fermentable Colour lb: oz Grams Ratio
Pale Malt 5 EBC 8 lbs. 13.0 oz 4000 grams 92.2%
Caramalt 30 EBC 0 lbs. 6.0 oz 170 grams 3.9%
Torrefied Wheat 4 EBC 0 lbs. 6.0 oz 170 grams 3.9%


Hop Variety Type Alpha Time lb: oz grams Ratio
Golding Whole 6.1 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 0.8 oz 23 grams 51.1%
Golding Whole 6.1 % 15 mins 0 lbs. 0.6 oz 16 grams 35.6%
Golding Whole 6.1 % Steep @ 80c – 30 mins 0 lbs. 0.2 oz 6 grams 13.3%


Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.042
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 4.2% ABV
Total Liquor: 32.6 Litres
Mash Liquor: 10.9 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 75 %
Bitterness: 21.4044309341653 EBU
Colour: 8 EBC


1. Weigh out grist.

2. Put 4 litres of boiled water into the mast tun to pre-heat it.

3. Treat mash water, 10.75 litres, with 1 tsp gypsum, ½ a crushed Camden tablet and …. ml of CRS and stir well.

4. Bring mash liquor to strike temp – 74 c.

5. Drain water from mash tun.

6. Add strike water to mash tun.

7. Slowly add the grain to the mash tun whilst stirring to wet in all the grain.

8. Check the temp is @ 67 c. If not then add a little hot or cold water to compensate.

9. Put the lid on the mash tun and cover with blankets and leave for 90 mins.

10. Treat sparge water, 25 ½ litres, with …. ml of CRS and ½ a crushed Camden tablet.

11. Bring sparge water to 82 c.

12. Once 90 mins is up add the first batch of sparge water, 9.85 litres, to the mash tun and stir the grains and then cover and let it settle for 10 mins.

13. Now open the tap a little and drain the wort into a jug. Once the jug is full pour the wort, carefully without disturbing the grain bed, back into the mash tun. Repeat this process until the wort is running clear.

14. Now drain all the wort into a clean bucket, cover and leave to one side.

15. Now top up the mash tun again with the second batch of sparge water, 15.3 litres, and repeat the same process but this time once the wort is running clear drain it straight into the boiler (make sure the boiler tap has been sanitized). Make sure the S.G does not get bellow 1.010. This can be done by tasting for sweetness and taking S.G readings. If the pre-boil volume, 30.6 litres, is not reached then top up the boiler to compensate before starting the boil.

16. Add the first batch of wort from the bucket into the boiler and then switch the boiler whilst the second batch is being collected to save time. Also add 1 tsp of gypsum.

17. Once the pre-boil volume, 30.6 litres, has been collected bring the wort to a rolling boil (watch out for the hot break).

18. Now add 30 g Goldings and boil for 75 mins.

19. Now add the irish moss (previously re-hydrated in ta little warm water), chiller and 16 g Goldings and boil for a further 15 mins.

20. Turn off the boiler and then turn on the chiller and cool the wort to 80 c. Now turn off the chiller.

21. Add 6g Goldings and allow them to steep for 30 mins.

22. Turn on the chiller again and cool the wort to 23 c.

23. Transfer the wort to a sanitized F.V by opening the tap a little and letting the wort run through a sanitized sieve to catch any hop debris, aerate well and pitch re-hydrated yeast.

24. Ferment around 20 c and then prime with 80g white sugar and bottle. Leave in the warm for 7 days and then move somewhere cool to condition.


if you got all the way down here then thanks very much.

[adm]

Sam - that looks pretty much spot on to me. I think that recipe will make lovely beer.

My only comments would be that as you are batch sparging, there's no need to check the gravity on the wort from the mash doesn't go below 1010. You can skip that completely!

You can check the pre boil gravity once all the wort from both batches is in the boiler. I'd imagine it should be somewhere around 1036 or so at 20C. No big deal anyway...

I'd also add a bit more Goldings at 80C - if you got them from the HB, you'll have plenty anyway! How much? Maybe 25-40g or so....doesn't really matter at that point as it won't add any more bitterness, but will give more aroma.

Other than that, my water alkalinity is about 135mgl/CaCO3, and I like to leave about 20ml residual for Pale summer ales. To get there, I use 30ml of CRS per 50L of water....I have no idea if your water is similar though....

Good luck with it!

[sam c]

thanks very much.

thats just what i needed. someone with experience telling me im heading in the right dirrection.

steeped hops have be upped to 30g