Youngs Special London Ale

[Otters]

Hi All and a Happy New Year!

Been looking for a recipe for Youngs Special London Ale

Can't seem to find one anywhere, which is strange as it's a fantastic beer!

Has anyone tried to brew this or have a recipe?

Rgds Otters

[seymour]

From brewer's website:

Alcohol strength: 6.4%
Pack format: Bottle

Young’s Special London Ale is an award winning bottle conditioned beer. It is an unpasteurised, living beer, matured in the bottle for a fuller, more complex, multi-dimensional, fresher taste. Without artificial carbonation, the only fizz is the natural effervescence created by fermentation.

It has been described as a “truly great example of a bottle-conditioned ale” by beer writer Jeff Evans and Oz Clarke describe the flavour of Special London Ale, "...like making love in a hop garden. "

It is a 100% malt brew combining Maris Otter and Crystal malt with Fuggle and Golding hops. Golding and Target hops are added after fermentation, which creates an exciting fresh and hoppy bouquet. Fresh yeast and wort are added at bottling to continue the maturation as a ‘live’, bottle-conditioned ale.

SEYMOUR YOUNGS SPECIAL LONDON ALE CLONE
all-grain (plus sugar) recipe

5 Imperial Gallons = 6 US Gallons = 22.7 Litres

FERMENTABLES:
91% = 12.1 lb = 5.49 kg, Maris Otter Pale Malt
5% = .67 lb = 304 g, English Crystal Malt
4% = .53 lb = 240 g, Cane Sugar

Pinch of calcium carbonate in mash, pinch of gypsum in boil kettle, Irish moss near end of boil

MASH at 151°F/66°C for 60 minutes or until converted

BOIL 90 minutes

HOPS:
1 oz = 30 g, Fuggles, 90 minutes
1 oz = 30 g, Goldings, 90 minutes
1 oz = 30 g, Goldings, dry-hops added to secondary fermentation
1 oz = 30 g, Target, dry-hops added to secondary fermentation

YEAST:
Youngs is believed to use their own version of Whitbread-B, which you can reculture from the dregs of Special London Ale, or buy as Wyeast 1768. But any of the following should get you very close: Safale S-04, Wyeast 1098, White Labs WLP007.

STATS assume 75% yeast attenuation and 77% mash efficiency:
OG: 1.065
ABV: 6.4%
IBU: 30
COLOUR: 8°SRM/16°EBC

[jmc]

I'm wondering if Youngs beers still use their own yeast from the old Wandsworth brewery?

In 2006 the next generation of the Youngs family sold the family silver (brewery) and Youngs brewing moved up to Bedford, when it was 'merged' with Charles Wells (near me), the taste changed and not for the better IMHO.
BTW: I think Youngs family aren't involved at all in the brewing side now, just concentrating on their pub chain. The new 'merged' company website hardly mentions Youngs at all now.

Taste change could be due to change in water supply I suppose but that should be easy for brewery lab staff to change, so that's why I think youngs yeast isn't used for the bitter.

To be fair the website says they use different yeasts, but that could just be Ale & Lager yeasts as they brew a fair amount of brews

Different types of yeast are used for different beers. Yeast is an important component to beer character because different yeast give different tastes to different styles of beer.

Current Youngs beers, especially ordinary bitter taste too similar to Charley Wells beers for me.
BTW: Charley Wells beers have a reputation locally for being OK with a good landlord, but often awful.

I was brought up in South London & Youngs & Fullers beers were a godsend in the 70's & 80s when proper beer was hard to find, such a shame.

[seymour]

Some good history, jmc, thanks. I have no idea if they're currently fermenting with the historic Young's strain, but there is pretty solid confirmation the Special London Ale is bottle conditioned with the same strain used in primary fermentation.

So, if you like the way that beer tastes from the bottle, you should get similar results with the yeast dregs. But I take it you plain ol' don't like the beer as much as you did before the merger, which is obviously a bigger issue. In that case, I'd say your best yeast options to try would be Wyeast 1768 from the "Private Collection" or contact BrewLab or perhaps best of all, your National Collection of Yeast Cultures http://www.ncyc.co.uk/about.html

[BitterTed]

Does semour sleep? or is he connected 24/7 to this site and is ready, willing and able to respond at a moments notice? Astounding!!
BTW, it is only available in Private Collection in July, but it would have been the old Youngs yeast.

[seymour]

Does semour sleep? or is he connected 24/7 to this site and is ready, willing and able to respond at a moments notice? ...

Ha, ha. I guess I would come across a bit over-eager. Really I just have a boring job with time between calls. Sitting here with my links and spreadsheets a few clicks away, it's an interesting way to pass the time.

[jmc]

Some good history, jmc, thanks. I have no idea if they're currently fermenting with the historic Young's strain, but there is pretty solid confirmation the Special London Ale is bottle conditioned with the same strain used in primary fermentation.

So, if you like the way that beer tastes from the bottle, you should get similar results with the yeast dregs. But I take it you plain ol' don't like the beer as much as you did before the merger, which is obviously a bigger issue. In that case, I'd say your best yeast options to try would be Wyeast 1768 from the "Private Collection" or contact BrewLab or perhaps best of all, your National Collection of Yeast Cultures http://www.ncyc.co.uk/about.html

Thanks for the yeast suggestion Seymour.
It would be interesting to try out Wyeast 1768 on a Special Bitter and see if its like the old beer pre-merger. Another one for the to-do list.

I normally use WLP yeast but I couldn't find an equivalent on the yeast comparison list at MrMalty unless I missed it?

[BitterTed]

Does semour sleep? or is he connected 24/7 to this site and is ready, willing and able to respond at a moments notice? ...

Ha, ha. I guess I would come across a bit over-eager. Really I just have a boring job with time between calls. Sitting here with my links and spreadsheets a few clicks away, it's an interesting way to pass the time.

Not over-eager at all, IMO!! Just my observation that you're always there to respond quickly to most questions!!
Have you used 1768? if so, did it give you a beer similar to Youngs? When I started homebrewing, I was trying to clone Youngs Bitter but gave up because I didn't have the proper yeast.

[seymour]

...Have you used 1768? if so, did it give you a beer similar to Youngs? When I started homebrewing, I was trying to clone Youngs Bitter but gave up because I didn't have the proper yeast.

No, I haven't used Wyeast 1768, unfortunately. As stated, it's only available at specific times and I keep forgetting to "strike while the iron is hot." However, I've used several other versions of Whitbread-B, of course, from which it's supposedly derived and is still very similar, by most accounts.

Which leads to...

...I normally use WLP yeast but I couldn't find an equivalent on the yeast comparison list at MrMalty unless I missed it?

From my research, there is no White Labs version of Wyeast 1768 which is believed to be Youngs version of Whitbread-B, but as I stated, White Labs WLP007 is the plain-ol' Whitbread-B which should be very similar.

[Otters]

Hi Seymour

Thanks for the recipe this is great help.

As for young's beers; I was in my local Young's pub at the weekend, (the Waverley 'Sunny Bognor Regis), where I sampled yet another 'bottled' Special London, I noted that Youngs are now selling 'Bottled Water' apparently from their brewery well?

Anyway I'll be using this recipe soon, very soon.

Cheers again

Otters