Crouch Vale Brewer's Gold?

monk · Post by **monk** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:47 pm

Heard a lot about this beer--two champion beer awards--and thought to brew it. After some searching, I haven't been able to find a recipe. Does anyone have a recipe they've tried? I'll have to substitute Northern Brewer for Brewer's Gold hops, unless they are completely indispensable. Thanks in advance, guys!

Monk

Gurgeh · Post by **Gurgeh** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:01 pm

I havn't seen a recipe for this either, but I have tasted vast quantities of thgis beer and it is money well spent.

you have to have BG hops - no other way of doing it.

as far as I can tell, the grain bill is pretty much 60:40 or perhaps 75:25 pale malt to lager malt. They certainly had lots of sacks of lager malt stacked up when i toured recently.

now that beer is not hugely bitter - IBU is probably in the range 30-35 but you get fully clobbered by that hop flavour & aroma. I suspect they have bugger all bittering hops and just do all the bittering with the flavour hops.

they don't condition their beers for very long either - nowhere to store it.

someone shed some light on this?

btw, i'm experimenting on a similar method of hopping at the mo. havn't racked to secondary yet, as i have a brewery full of beer flies but that 4.5 Gallon batch had 75g of cascade in the last 15 mins and 20g to steep.

Olly Graham? you out there? how'd you do it?

Oh and can i have some of your yeast please?

BigEd · Post by **BigEd** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 10:18 pm

Monk, I haven't had the beer but as far as Brewer's Gold hops go I can tell you that you will not get the same result with a substitute. BGs are not always easy to come by. They are an older bittering variety and have been almost completely replaced by newer types in commercial breweries. I love the BG hops and they do have a very particular profile that I have yet to find in any other hop. One of my favorite personal recipes uses Brewer's Gold and I have substituted Bullion (a close relative) when I could not get BGs locally. The beer never tastes the same even though they are used in bittering additions only. As you are in the States I have had good luck with Grape & Granary in Ohio as a supplier of Brewer's Gold. http://www.thegrape.net/ Cheers!

steve_flack · Post by **steve_flack** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:25 am

BigEd wrote:Monk, I haven't had the beer but as far as Brewer's Gold hops go I can tell you that you will not get the same result with a substitute. BGs are not always easy to come by.

They're quite easy to get over here in homebrew shops.

steve_flack · Post by **steve_flack** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:27 am

Gurgeh wrote:I suspect they have bugger all bittering hops and just do all the bittering with the flavour hops.

I doubt that as it's pretty uneconomical to do it that way.

Oh and can i have some of your yeast please?

I know a man and he has some...

norman · Post by **norman** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:33 am

This brewery used to brew millennium gold wonder if its the same beer renamed,but they didnt use brewers gold hops,challenger and omega were the hops used.

RabMaxwell · Post by **RabMaxwell** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:39 am

norman wrote:This brewery used to brew millennium gold wonder if its the same beer renamed,but they didnt use brewers gold hops,challenger and omega were the hops used.

That's what i was thinking also when i saw the millennium gold recipe in Marc Ollossons Real Ales.

steve_flack · Post by **steve_flack** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:44 am

It's definitely Brewers Gold hops they're using now. When I went there they made a point of saying some old brewing book said that Brewers Gold had no commercial use (or something like that).

Gurgeh · Post by **Gurgeh** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 1:04 pm

steve_flack wrote:I know a man and he has some...

well it just so happens I'm going to be in feltwell (nr brandon) weekend of 21st July and going to the weeting steam rally with the kids....

steve_flack · Post by **steve_flack** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 1:37 pm

I should be getting some this weekend from 'the man'...hopefully.

BTW, you could talk to the nice people at the Iceni Brewery (nr Thetford) if you need any malt/hops/chemicals.

steve_flack · Post by **steve_flack** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 1:52 pm

Having said that you live about seven miles from Crouch Vale itself - why not ring them and get some yeast off them. I'm pretty sure that's what my contact will have done anyway.

23 Haltwhistle Road, South Woodham Ferrers, CHELMSFORD, Essex CM3 5ZA U.K.

Telephone 01245 322744

Gurgeh · Post by **Gurgeh** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:00 pm

steve_flack wrote:I should be getting some this weekend from 'the man'...hopefully.

BTW, you could talk to the nice people at the Iceni Brewery (nr Thetford) if you need any malt/hops/chemicals.

That's where i get my malt & hops from already - nice people.

Gurgeh · Post by **Gurgeh** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:03 pm

steve_flack wrote:Having said that you live about seven miles from Crouch Vale itself - why not ring them and get some yeast off them. I'm pretty sure that's what my contact will have done anyway.

23 Haltwhistle Road, South Woodham Ferrers, CHELMSFORD, Essex CM3 5ZA U.K.

Telephone 01245 322744

been there, toured the brewery - going again before not too long I hope!

I got the impression they jealously guarded their yeast and thought better than to ask for it when i was there.

I'll pop back and ask them soon - see if tehy can sell me some lager malt too. do you think they'll be miffed or flattered by my cloning attempt?

spearmint-wino · Post by **spearmint-wino** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:15 am

I had a pint (well, 3 actually) on draught last night, and was getting subtle cascade-y notes in the flavour and aroma, although I've not previously heard they used it in the recipe.

Here's a rubbish camera-phone pic (

) as a colour reference for you:

It has to be in my top 5 favourite beers, if not my number 1... happy brewing

Gurgeh · Post by **Gurgeh** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:23 pm

it'll be my first at the chelmsford beer fest tonight

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Crouch Vale Brewer's Gold?

Crouch Vale Brewer's Gold?