Hull Brewery receipe

[wilfh]

Hello all,
I want to do a brew from the now defunct Hull brewery as my family is from that neck of the woods.
I know nothing about what they brewed but assume that they did something like a "best bitter".

I gather that the yeast is still being used by Ringwood (??) but can you get it elsewhere or from a bottle?
A bit vague I realise but it would be nice to have something that used to be local as such.
thanks
Wilf

[jimp2003]

If you look at page 305-306 HERE there is some info on 6 of Hull Brewery's beers.

Not sure how accurate they are and I am afraid they don't go into a huge amount of detail but it might be a starting point for you.

Good luck!

Jim

[seymour]

Sounds like a fun project. Here are a couple leads:

The Hull Brewery was bought by Mansfield Brewery in 1985, which then sold to Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries in 1999, now part of Marstons. Presumably, the historical brewery logs were part of each transaction. It's a long shot, but you could email a research request to Marstons, appealing to a sense of cultural heritage, mentioning your purpose is home-brewing and definitely "non-compete", etc...

Also, Peter Austin, the Hull brewmaster went on to form Ringwood Brewery, so you could try contacting them for historical Hull recipes. Marstons now owns Ringwood outright too, right? If so, another reason an email to Marstons might work...

However, it might all be "much ado about nothing." The Hull recipes I've seen are very traditional, no big mystery: Maris Otter with a bit of chocolate malt and sometimes black malt, with Fuggles and Goldings hops. It's likely Mr. Austin carried the Hull yeast to Ringwood, which is available as Wyeast 1187 and White Labs WLP005. So, with that info, and your accumulated knowledge of English brewing practice, I'm sure you can get very close to an authentic Hull ale.

Good luck!
-Seymour

[jimp2003]

One of the head brewers at Hull, Alan Pugsley, ended up on your side of the pond Seymour. HERE he tells a little bit of the history about the start up of Ringwood and confirms that their yeast came from Hull. He also gives some tips if using Ringwood yeast...

[seymour]

Great article, thank you for sharing. I had never made the Hull-Shipyard connection before. I've had many Shipyard beers, how cool to learn the history after the fact!

Also, I don't know if you caught this reference, but the Canadian brewery Pugsley helped setup--McAuslan--their St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout is one of the highest rated beers in the world. I've had it too, and it's as good as they say. And one more: he mentioned Gritty McDuff's in Portland, Maine. Their Nuptial Ale is considered one of the most authentic English Dark Milds in the USA. I guess we should thank you guys for sending him over here!

[jimp2003]

Our loss has definitely been your gain it seems. That oatmeal stout sounds great.

[seymour]

Our loss has definitely been your gain it seems. That oatmeal stout sounds great.

Oh god, yes. The only problems with it are limited distribution (I had to trade for it through the mail) and the undersized bottles.

[Trefoyl]

There's a Peter Austin Brew pub about an hour north of me http://www.britishbrewpub.com/ which is where I found I must like Ringwood yeast because I really like their beers. My LHBS owner HATES Ringwood. I guess Ringwood is like Marmite (which I also love ).

McAuslan oatmeal stout is a lovely beer, but I didn't know it was rated 100 at Ratebeer. My friend was rapturously overjoyed over it when we split cases in the mid 90's, but while I thought it was very nice, for some reason it was never my thing.

I think Gritty's might need to be enjoyed at the pub, their bottles are not that great.

Seymour, if there are any beers you'd like me to keep an eye out for let me know.

[seymour]

...Seymour, if there are any beers you'd like me to keep an eye out for let me know.

Thanks, Trefoyl, I will!

In case anyone is interested, here's a clone recipe I found for McAuslan Griffon Extra Pale Ale, which won a gold medal in the 1996 World Beer Cup. It's likely Alan Pugsley at least influenced this recipe. I haven't had it, but it sure sounds like it would be good.

Griffon Extra Pale (Canadian blond style)
McAuslan Brewing Co Montreal, Québec, Canada
OG: 1048
ABV: 4.6%
IBU: 28
Colour: Golden 7°SRM/14°EBC
Grainbill: 90% Pale, 5.5% Wheat Malt, 4.5% Cara 40L Malt
Bittering/Flavor Hops: Mount Hood (60 min), Tettnanger (30 min, 20 min)
Yeast: historic Ringwood strain, available as White Labs WLP005 and Wyeast 1187

[Barley Water]

Well I am currently growing up a starter of Wy1187 for this weekend's fun and games. Although this strain is notorious, I have used it a couple of times before without issue. I'm using it on an AIPA but after that, it's time to get back to traditional English brewing, it's been too long.

[seymour]

If anyone can tame that beast, it's you Barley Water. Happy brewing!

[Barley Water]

Although this stuff will ferment really quickly I think the trick is to leave the beer on the yeast cake long enough to clean up the diacetyl. The good news though is that it will really attenuate which is exactly what you want with an IPA. I also use WLP02 alot and that stuff will also spit out the diacetyl, I have screwed up with this strain once so now I am really careful.

[tec-9-7]

I just made a pale with WLP-005. I was pretty aggressive with my late hops, but I'm not getting much if any diacytel after an 8-day ferment at 17° C. Really in this particular ale, I don't taste much beyond the black currant I got from the 56 g of Bramling Cross I tossed in at the end of the boil...

[seymour]

I just made a pale with WLP-005. I was pretty aggressive with my late hops, but I'm not getting much if any diacytel after an 8-day ferment at 17° C. Really in this particular ale, I don't taste much beyond the black currant I got from the 56 g of Bramling Cross I tossed in at the end of the boil...

Well, sounds good to me, whatever the case!

[goldstar]

Hi wilf,

I'm originally from Hull (well Cottingham actually) and have asked before about people's recollections of the beers from the brewery. BribieG suggested to me a close example from his memory is Graham Wheelers Camerons Strongarm recipe.

Please post any other information you find in your search.

Cheers,

Goldstar