For a few years I’ve been struggling to come up with a decent English pale ale. Either the yeast is too clean, or water too minerally, or just not lovin the hops. Always one thing or another. I’m giving it one last try.
I’m not trying to nail a particular style. Im looking for a beer that says ‘hey, that’s english’, but is also just plain good for drinking without too much thought. I’ve never been to the UK, and likely never will go. I’ve tried several UK beers but obviously all have been shipped. I can only imagine what they are like fresh, so I’m not concerned really with trying to make a replica of a beer I’ve never had and never will. My top three UK beers, of the imports I’ve had, are Dark Island, Landlord, and London Pride, for what it’s worth. Again, not trying to recreate any of those, but that’s the zone I’m aiming at.
After some thought I’ve decided to make an 80’s-90’s APA (method-wise) but with UK ish ingredients.
6 gal
93% Simpson’s GP
7% Thomas Faucet C45
No Sparge about 156F
Mellow water 90 SO4/30 Cl
~14°P
~5% abv
15g Target and 15g Challenger @60
30g Styrian Goldings @10
Wy1469 @ 65F with temp set at 68F
No dry hops
I’m pretty set on recipe, but you know the drill, you just have to post your brewing stuff for feedback.
Honestly, I recently discovered I dislike fuggles. And ive grown meh of EKG. So I went looking for a replacement and found in Timothy Taylor’s website that they use Styrian Goldings in Landlord. That, and the fact that I bought a pound, are the only reasons…
So why not, Keith?
I’m making 2 batches so I could change up one of them if it doesn’t require a purchase.
Jim, the recipe looks promising. Couldn’t think of a thing to change, but: I hear you on the “yeast too clean” bit, I think that’s something I never put my finger on till now. I think I mentioned a while back I (when you were more optimistic) that I had at some point just given up, decided English beer just can’t live outside its native habitat. Somehow I could get all the ingredients right, think I had the right process, but it just was missing something. For a time I even tried “cask” beer the way they sell it for home use, and homebrewers do it, over there: in polypins, known here as cubitainers. So right temp, right carbonation, still just not chewy, and tartly fruity, and musty enough, if those are the right words. (Orange marmalade on buttered sourdough toast, that’s what I want!) Your open fermentation is not doing it? I’d hoped that might turn out to be the secret. I’m sure it has to be something in the fermentation.
I don’t really like Fuggles and Styrian Goldings is a lot like Fuggles. I actually like Challenger a lot as an aroma/flavor hop. Or I used to many years ago.
This will only be my second brew day with 1469, so 2 batches so far. It definitely has a crazy cheese cake krausen. Many say it never drops, or they have to reverse rouse it to get it to drop, but I open fermented and they both drop clean on their own after 12 days. Last time I ran them at 65F, this time I’m pitching at 65F but controller set at 68F just to see what I get.
Good to know, just let it take care of itself! Yeast makes beer, we dont. Indeed Fuggles (and Styrian is transplanted Fuggles) has no place in pale ales IMO. I’m not a Fuggle hater, they just need to stay where they belong. FWIW London Pride is Challenger, Goldings, Northdown and Target. And mighty tasty.
I really like Fuller’s ESB. I tried multiple times to make something similar with sub par results. I finally propagated yeast from a bottle of Fuller’s…The starter smelled like Fuller’s…The brews I made with that yeast turned out great. It was the same with Pilsner Urquell…I think the yeast is key in some of these styles…
I’m not putting fuggles in it. I’m just saying that somehow landlord gets away with it. I have never used Styrian Goldings yet. I dont doubt that you guys get a fuggles ish character from it, after all it has a fuggles parent. But so does cascade, and a bunch of others. I have some, so I’ll give it a try. But I’ve already decided the 2nd batch will be challenger/target at 10 instead, if for nothing else to have a control/compare situation.
Jim,
I have had Timothy Taylor’s Landlord fresh in Yorkshire and it was so good that I immediately decided to try to reproduce it at home. After a couple of years and several batches I have an “Americanized” version of it that I like a lot. I stuck with the Goldings and Fuggles, but the OG and ABV are more typical of Yanks and less typical of Brits (i.e 5-6%). I also like more foam on top than is typical for British ales. I have found that Wy1469 is a slow finisher — it keeps going for days on end, albeit slowly after the first few. Your recipe looks pretty good overall. I have also increased my ferment temp from 65 to 68 to get a bit more stone fruit character to complement the maltiness.
Everything in Landlord is British except the Styrian Goldings. Styria is a region that is now split between Austria and Slovenia. I have been there also, and seen hops being grown commercially on a large scale, which really warmed my heart. I can’t claim to be able to taste the difference between East Kent Goldings and Styrian Goldings, but they bring different images into my head when I think about them and drink beer made with them, and that counts for something.
