Ruddles Couny.. Any1?

[Viking23]

I've been trying to brew RC 3 times now. I got the recipe of this forum, but it was no RC.. but a good bitter, I must say :-) First time was the best. Last two had too much heat durring fermentation and did not come out any good. Last batch is still inn the keg, hoping to settle into something better after some lagering. Nr two (batch) whent to play in the toilet.

Now for my question!
Is there an all grain recipe for RC that will taste really close to a real RC? I've only tasted the 4,7 bottle version, and its one of my favs, absolutely! I guess the sirup/caramel feel and taste will be the hard part to replicate. Maybe an extra dose of caramel malt will do the job? And the body.- The original has some big foam bubbles.. Maybe the body comes from some extra wheet, that also create the sopy foam?

Any suggestions to any of all this?

[seymour]

This is what I have, but it's very likely one you've already tried:

Ruddles County (an ESB from Ruddles of Oakham, Rutland, UK, closed 1998)
OG: 1050
IBU: 38
Grainbill: 85% Pale, 4% Crystal Malt, 11% Invert Syrup
Bittering Hops: various sources indicate Fuggles, Goldings, Challenger, Northdown, Bramling Cross
Aroma Hops: Goldings
Yeast: original primary strain unknown, but clone brewers report excellent results with Wyeast 1028/WLP013 (believed to be Worthington White Shield strain) or Nottingham

[scuppeteer]

Found a Dave Lines recipe, it uses brewers sugar, molasses and caramel. Wouldn't think you would need to use the sugar though just up the grain bill. Anyway here it is for 23l:
Pale Malt:3875g
Crystal:250g
Brewing Sugar:500g
Molasses:30g
Brewers Caramel:10ml
Hops:Fuggles 60g @ 60min
Now it says WGV as second and 3rd additions but I know they use Bramling X so I would substitute for these at 10 and 1 min. 20 and 45g respectively.

As I said I would ditch the sugar but keep the molasses and Caramel, dissolve in a bit of boiling water and add at 10mins from boil end.

OG estimates at 1050 so you need to up the grain bill by about 15% to compensate or just try it with the sugar, would really like to know how it turns out. Bit of a fan of county myself.

[RR22]

Here is a recipe I cobbled together from books and internet scources,


4 Kg Maris Otter
260 Crystal Malt

Mash 90 Min. started around 70C. finished around 61C.
Mashed out 15 Mins. 78C.

30 Mins.
500g. Invert sugar , 10 ml. brewers caramel.

20 Mins.

15g Challenger,
15g.Northdown,
15g.Goldings,
30g.Bramling cross

10 Mins.

1tsp. yeast nutrient Irish moss.

5 Mins.

20g Bramling cross

Heat Off.

30g. Goldings (20 Min. steep)

Yeast Wyeast 1335 British Ale II

It reproduces almost exactly (according to 3 tasters) the draught County of the 1980's early 90,s
It was my first AG brew and amazed me and others with it,s qualities.
It was BIAB so the mash temp is actuall,you will have to make the call on that but it was a little "chewy" so I'd err on the high side.

[seymour]

Wow, those are three extremely divergent recipes, all claiming respectable sources. No wonder Viking23 has struggled to reproduce the real deal!