St Austell's Tribute

[weiht]

I'm sure it is diacetyl, yes. Sweet, buttery, caramely taste. Yuk. I've never had a brew do that before. And I'm sure the fermentation was well over before I racked into the barrel. I've put the barrel somewhere warm, to see if the yeast will kick off again and break some of it down.

And on a more enjoyable drinking theme: off to St A tomorrow, for the beer festival. Woohoo!

Are u gg to wear ur famed sweater again??? Wish i could be there, 25 beers from the St. Austell microbrewery

[Tattie bogle]

Just had a little taste of my effort, very pleased with the results. I just hope it holds the currents flavours as I think they are pretty close, with a nice clean taste.

I gave this brew 2 week in FV1 then about 6 days in FV2 at cooler temp (~13-15C) to help clear. It's now been in the keg for 8 days conditioning (primed with 80g sugar solution).

Also, I ended up adding a bit of black malt as I've brewed a few pale ones on the trot so fancied a bit a colour, but it turned out pretty close I think would have to see side by side to know for sure though.

So thanks for all the good work chaps

[weiht]

had a quick browse at ur recipe and its pretty much close to mine except for the black malt n torrified wheat. Hops are identical as mine. How did u like the US05 with this beer? So far all of us have tried british strains only

[Tattie bogle]

Having a bit more of a taste tonight. I think this is really good, could be the best brew I've done so far (but I often say that).

Second time I've used US-05, previously only used Nottingham and S-04. So my experience of yeast is limited but I think it works very well. Nice
biscuity/toffee note, a little fruity. I think the recipe is nicely balanced.

Oh, the lady and her mate also like it.

[chrisr]

Fortunately, when the barrel was back at room temperature, the yeast picked up again and has consumed the diacetyl. The result is at least drinkable, but nothing at all like Tribute

weiht: yes I was wearing a themed sweatshirt, but a new one. I'm on the photos they've published on their facebook page - again. There were 37 St A brews altogether of which I had 16. Including a 'half' of Smugglers Grand Cru at 11.5% (like nectar, slipped down a treat ). I see in the programme that (standard) Smugglers and Admiral's won beer awards in Hong Kong this year. I finally had some Trelawny and found it rather disappointing. Nothing at all like their other beers, it has a different character. It actually made me think 'Sharps'. I had two, at different times/places and I have to say I'll be avoiding it in future. Tinners is gone now - which is a shame and I heard several people complaining about that at the festival. They didn't even put it on as a special However, on a brighter note they have relaunched Dartmoor Best and I did like that. The Korev lager is actually quite nice, too, a really lagery/grainy taste to it. The wife persuaded another beer enthusiast at her work to go, and he went, just for the afternoon, from Derby to St Austell and back, on the train! He had to queue 2 hours to get in and had to catch his train back at around 6pm as that was the last one that would get him home. Even so he said 'Fantastic! Going again next year, definitely.'

[chrisr]

I'm reading the new release of the history of the St A brewery, the book by Liz Luck. Wherein, when describing how they make beer, it says the mash temperature is 'around 65C'. Accurate? Who knows! I don't think that's a rounding to the nearest 5, as it also says the liquor is at 74C prior to mashing - a pretty precise figure.

I've been musing if my (guessed) water chemistry is right. RR's philosophy seems to be 'keep it simple' so I presumed that the source water would be meddled with as little as possible. This, combined with my (upon reflection, erroneous!) belief that Tribute is a 'light and delicate' beer resulted in my guess being that the water would be quite low in the brewing ions. However, thinking about it, and considering my results so far, I'm wondering if the water used isn't a lot 'stronger'. Really, Tribute isn't a 'light' beer, is it?! Compared to many, it's high alcohol, has a lot of taste and it has quite a bit of colour to it. I'm going to use a more typical 'bitter' water next time and see how it comes out.

[Tattie bogle]

I'm about half way through the barrel and it's still tasting pretty good. I think the flavour is lasting well, maybe the Williamette flavours have faded more than the Styrian Golding. Might slightly increase the amount of Williamette next time, maybe 50g rather than 25g. I'll defininately be using US-05 again for this recipe but I'm tempted to try S-04, bacuse my first AG brew was a TTL (recipe not a million miles away) and I remember a period where I thought the brew tasted very much like tribute.

It looks like I'll still have some of this left for crimbo

[fego]

Brewed my attempt this weekend gone.

Brew day here.... viewtopic.php?f=24&t=47150

Just checked on it, lovely head of krausen but stinks of eggs! Is that normal?

[chrisr]

I have experienced a variety of worrying smells during fermentation. I'd only worry if it persists.

I'd say the worst case is your resurrection of the yeast went awry and you got something nasty in it. Though I've found that usually an 'off' micro-organism in your brew doesn't give you a good krausen - it's just dead and flat and smelly. Did your yeast starter culture smell OK?

I tried getting the yeast from a bottle a couple of times and had no joy. I then tried 'live' draught Tribute and that worked a treat.

[fego]

Thankfully, the smell has gone. Probably just a build up in the fridge becuse I hadn't opened it for 40 hours or so. Plus, the yeast seemed ok so hopefull all is well.

[fego]

Thought I'd post the update I just added to my brew day topic for this...

Have now started drinking this after a few tasters to see how it has matured.

First things first, this beer isn't one to be drunk green. It's not nice green and takes a full three weeks before its drinkable at all. I honestly thought it had an infection at first but having left it a bit and tasted the odd sample here and there, it has improved massively. In fact it's delicious but not unimprovable.

The flavour is very balanced and extremely close to a well stored cask Tribute, but nothing like a bottled Tribute. It's much better than the bottled version which is a totally different drink altogether. The malt is slightly sweet but not in a sticky way, just nice but not full or overly flavoured. The hops shine through however and I think that's down to the dry finish the St. Austell yeast produces. The flavour is all in the back of the mouth offering a very chewy experience and a delightful mouthfeel. It's almost as if you're biting into it and having a mouthful of it creates such a pleasant experience that you can't help but smile with enjoyment.

I'm amazed at the outcome and I can tell that with a couple more weeks it will improve further. As I said however, I'm sure there's still room to make it even better or, as intended, even closer to the real thing. First, the colour is a bit paler than the original. Secondly, I think the bittering level could be increased a bit just to give an even more striking contrast to the malt's sweetness. And maybe even increase the aroma hops a tad just to add yet more flavour. The one thing I wouldn't change is the yeast which worked really well getting the wort down to 1.008 no trouble.

Im planning to do a taste test with the real thing in a couple of weeks so it will interesting how it really compares. In the meantime, this is a smashing beer which has got the thumbs up from everyone who has tried it, which is a first for me.

[chrisr]

Well done - it sounds great. I'll be really interested to hear about the side-by-side comparison.

One thing I have done, regarding the colour (yes, I know it's just cosmetic, and it's the taste that matters) is to add a smidge of melanoidin malt (a darker relation of munich, I think). One or two percent is sufficient, and you get a slightly darker brew, with a slight reddish tinge. And the melanoidin adds a bit more sweetness. I think the colour mismatch is because St A's Cornish Gold malt isn't quiet the same as the munich we have to use use, I suspect it's roasted just a touch darker.

[weiht]

cornish gold is a british munich type malt but kiln to 20L

[Tattie bogle]

Going to have a brewday tomorrow , was really please with the last effort, I think it was pretty close to be honest. This time I'll try increasing the amount of Williamette and use S-04 yeast.

MO 3200g
Munich 800g
Torrefied Wheat 100g
Black Malt 30g

Boil, 90 min
Fuggles 50g
15 min
Protofloc 1/2

80C (steep 30 min)
Styrian Golding 25g
Williamette 50g

yeast: S-04

[fego]

I had another go today. Thought I'd try two batches with different yeasts.

To 40 litres I brewed

6,400gm Pale
1,400gm Munich
40gm Fuggles (all I had left)
65gm EKG (substitute for the Fuggles)

Steeped 55gm Willamette and 45 Styrian Goldings for 30 mins @ 80 dg C

OG 1044

Have split into 2 x 20 litre batches using US 05 and S04 in each.

My last batch using cultured Admirals yeast (and less aroma hops) was lovely but I lost the yeast so I thought it'd be interesting to see how much difference the two yeasts make.

The Wort was amazingly clear, probably because I took sooooooo long doing it. Hopefully worth it though.