Need advice

[HobgoblinISbest]

I have a question; I have this recipe from countryfile:

Ingredients
13l (23pt) of water
1kg (2lb 2oz) malt extract
55g (2oz) dried hops
750g (1lb 10lb) sugar or pale dried malt extract
Ale yeast
Method
1. Bring half of the water to the boil and pour in the malt extract. Boil this mixture for 30 minutes. Then throw in the hops and boil for a further 30 minutes.
2. Strain the liquor into the fermentation bin and add the sugar or dried extract. Stir thoroughly to ensure that the sugar has fully dissolved.
3. Pour in the rest of the cold water and allow to cool. When the temperature is lukewarm (about 18°C), sprinkle on your yeast.
4. Seal the bin and leave it for a week or until it has fermented (when you have a consistent hydrometer reading over a few days).
5. Place half a teaspoon of sugar into each empty bottle and siphon the liquid into the bottles, ensuring that you don’t siphon in any of the sediment.
6. Leave the bottles for 10 days. Then they are ready to drink.


===================================
I was thinking of using Fuggle (UK), target, and bramling cross hops, with brown malt in the above recipe. Would it work?

[HobgoblinISbest]

P.S. Was thinking 75% fuggle, 15% target and about 10% Bramling cross.

[seymour]

What do you mean by "brown malt"? The recipe calls for malt extract, do you mean like a dark-coloured dry malt extract, or the actual grain?

If you mean the actual Brown Malt grain, most modern versions are not diastatic, meaning they don't have sufficient enzyme content to convert their own starches to fermentable sugars, so you would typically only use a little such brown malt in a primarily pale base grainbill.

The hops sound good.

What is countryfile, anyway? I've seen lots of old Prohibition-era household recipes along these lines, is that what this is? What exactly are you going for with this brew?

Cheers!
-Seymour

[HobgoblinISbest]

I have little knowledge of malt. I will use the malt that is in the recipe......(ignore the brown malt bit)

Here is the website/programme I was referring to http://www.countryfile.com/countryside/ ... -real-beer




Following the method, should I mix all hops together at once, or add at different stages. I am new to brewing, sorry for the noobness.

[Flaneur]

As a general rule, Target are seen as bittering hop, Bramling X as aroma and Fuggles in between. Bittering hops, added to the start of the boil make the beer bitter. Later hop additions add aroma and other tastes. In reality, a very bitter beer can be made just with Fuggles. It's a matter of taste, but I would use the Target and most of the Fuggles at the start and about 10 minutes before the end add the rest.

I know some home brewers are very scientific in their approach, I am a bit more inexact and experimental, each to their own. Just ensure that everything is properly scrubbed and get a good yeast ( ie one that is stable and produces a good, clean result). You don't want brew number one to go wrong due to a yeast that prefers high fermentation temperatures when the brew bin is in the garage in December.

Good luck!

[Rick_UK]

Is your question about the hops? If so then yes the Brambling and Fuggles will be good late hops for an English pale ale, the Target for bittering. How bitter are you wanting it to be? I would use the calculator on the Brewers Friend website to ensure you use the right amount.

Rick

[seymour]

Here is the website/programme I was referring to http://www.countryfile.com/countryside/ ... -real-beer

Cool, I'll check that out. Thanks for sharing.

Following the method, should I mix all hops together at once, or add at different stages. I am new to brewing, sorry for the noobness.

Great question. No need to apologize at all. That's what this forum is for, and we're so glad you found it. Welcome!

NOTE: much of this info repeats what others have already said, but since I had already typed most of my reply into a draft last night, I'll go ahead and leave it.

It's entirely up to you about the hops, and you could get slightly different results depending on how you split them up. I'll give you some info, and then you as the brewer can just pick a method and give it a shot.

Those three types go well together.

Fuggles is classic, and is generally described as flowery, earthy, a little woodsy.

Target is a more modern, higher alpha acid percentage, which means you get more bitterness compared to the same weight of lower AA% hops like Fuggles. Some people describe Target as a little harsh or unpleasant, but it's used in a lot of great beers, so you be the judge. If you were to drop one of your three hops, Target would be the one.

Bramling Cross falls somewhere in between, not quite as historic as Fuggles, a bit higher alpha acid percentage, but still fairly smooth classic English hop flavours plus some interesting fruity, weedy, blackcurrant aspects similar to bolder American hops.

You as the brewer have control over the timing of hop additions too. In the broadest sense, here's one way to conceptualize it:
The longer you boil the hops, the more of those alpha acids are isomerized into the beer, thus the more bitter it will be. This bitterness is good because it balances the malt sweetness which might be cloying and one-dimensional otherwise.
So, the hops you add at the beginning of the boil produce mainly bitterness, less flavour and aroma. The longer you wait, the closer to the end of the boil you add additional hops, those produce less bitterness but more flavour and aroma. If you add them at the very end after turning-off the heat, or even dry hops added to the fermenting beer, those add pure fresh aromas. Many historic English breweries only added "kettle hops" for the full boil to emphasize the complex malt flavours. But nowadays many people want hoppier beers, so they add some hops at the beginning of a 60-90 minute boil, more hops in the middle like 30 minutes remaining or so, more hops at flame-out, and sometimes even more dry-hops a week or so later in the fermentor. It's all up to you.

Going back to the types of hops: all three are generally considered "dual-purpose" hops meaning they work for bitterness and delicate aromas, but like I said, Target is mostly used for bitterness because its flavours and aromas are not as "noble" as the other two.

Perhaps you could add a little Target at the beginning of the boil, then a mix of Fuggles and Bramling Cross in the middle and end of the boil.

[Dave S]

I have a question; I have this recipe from countryfile:

Ingredients
13l (23pt) of water
1kg (2lb 2oz) malt extract
55g (2oz) dried hops
750g (1lb 10lb) sugar or pale dried malt extract
Ale yeast
Method
1. Bring half of the water to the boil and pour in the malt extract. Boil this mixture for 30 minutes. Then throw in the hops and boil for a further 30 minutes.
2. Strain the liquor into the fermentation bin and add the sugar or dried extract. Stir thoroughly to ensure that the sugar has fully dissolved.
3. Pour in the rest of the cold water and allow to cool. When the temperature is lukewarm (about 18°C), sprinkle on your yeast.
4. Seal the bin and leave it for a week or until it has fermented (when you have a consistent hydrometer reading over a few days).
5. Place half a teaspoon of sugar into each empty bottle and siphon the liquid into the bottles, ensuring that you don’t siphon in any of the sediment.
6. Leave the bottles for 10 days. Then they are ready to drink.


===================================
I was thinking of using Fuggle (UK), target, and bramling cross hops, with brown malt in the above recipe. Would it work?

I'd substitute most if not all of the sugar addition for the pale extract. That much sugar in such a short brew length would make very thin beer

[Clibit]

I would just use either liquid malt extract, you can buy 1.5kg tins, or 1.5kg dried malt extract, which usually comes in 1kg bags. You could put some sugar in, maybe 200g or so, to make up the shortfall.

Seymour's hop suggestion in his last paragraph is good advice.

You can get Gervin ale yeast at Wilko's, which works well, or a home brew shop will have other alternatives. Munton's ale yeast is a good option too.