DAMN that looks absolutely gorgeous!!
They were well made beers. The hop flavors were very apparent. They seemed to be dry hoped with C hops or similar. They stand out. I assume those are for the locals, because as a tourist I am looking for the typical bitter.
I’ve had way more cask ales with British hops. They are starting to blend together now, but most are very good.
I miss higher CO2 for a lot of those beers. I’ve had several 500 ml bottles of beer the last couple of days. I had Spitfire Golden Ale and Amber Ale from Shepard Neame. I really liked the Amber. It had a really nice dark fruit flavor in the finish. The Golden Ale was hoppy, but one of the dry hops was Saaz and that really gave it a nice but not so American flavor.
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Sounds like a wonderful trip. I try to retain as much condition in my beers so they are not flat. One reason I typically don’t use a sparkler unless it’s a stout.
The sparkler rips co2 out of the beer, where does that cascade and creamy head come from?
In southern England I suspect you had several cask beers dispensed using a shorter faucet as opposed the swan neck. Those retain condition better but look flat and well….seeing is believing. Switch from a short faucet to a swan neck without sparkler and the beer looks like it has more condition even though it does not. But seeing is believing. I have been serving all of my pales with a swan neck, they just look a bit better especially if I have friends/family over
I think a lot of the pubs are serving with a sparkler. That explains one in London served with less head that tasted more carbonated.
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It’s deceiving and counterintuitive isn’t it?
Bottled this year’s Christmas mead — aged five months on 225g/l of mixed berries.
About 10% ABV … fully dry: FG ~ 0.994.
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My second beer this year… trying to keep the ball rolling! It’s an homage to Poperings Hommelbier, the west flanders showcase of local hops. They use whichever hops they have grown in the region each year, and I did the same with my (very) small hopyard.
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I’m brewing a PH inspired beer at a local brewery in a couple weeks
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Just tapped my El Dorado Mosaic combination. The ABV on my Guzzler pump clip is probably about right for this beer.
I really enjoy freshly tapped beer and then taste how the beer changes as it ages
Sorry I had to add this pour I did today. Got all 20 oz worth
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That’s cool Denny, you’ll have to share more about that once it happens
Will do. I’d love to see your recipe if you don’t mind.
Sure thing. It is inspired by PH but deviates a bit in target OG and some other things. Hops are what I had grown last year so the estimated IBUs are probably an upper bound.
Boil Time: 75 min
Batch Size: 6 gallons (ending kettle volume)
Original Gravity: 1.064
IBU (tinseth): 39.94
SRM (morey): 5.87
FERMENTABLES:
6 lb - Pilsner (41.9%)
102 oz - Domestic 2-Row (44.5%)
14 oz - Munich Malt (6.1%)
5 oz - Cara 45L (2.2%)
12 oz - Cane Sugar - (late boil kettle addition) (5.2%)
HOPS:
0.25 oz - Chinook, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 7.2
1 oz - Cascade, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 14.39
0.75 oz - Tahoma, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 6, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 6.43
0.75 oz - Mount Rainier, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 6, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 6.43
1.25 oz - Tahoma, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 6, Use: Whirlpool for 30 min at 180 °F, IBU: 3.61
1.25 oz - Mount Rainier, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 6, Use: Whirlpool for 30 min at 180 °F, IBU: 3.61
YEAST:
White Labs - Abbey Ale Yeast WLP530
Starter: Yes
Fermentation Temp: 68 F
Pitch Rate: 1.0 (M cells / ml / deg P)
WATER PROFILE:
Target Profile Name: West Flanders Lite
Ca2: 52.4
Mg2: 11
Na: 57
Cl: 99
SO4: 92.1
HCO3: 0.1
Mash pH: 5.5
Kettle pH(adjusted): 5.3
MASH GUIDELINES:
- Strike, Start Temp: 160 F, Target Temp: 149 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 8 gal
- Temperature, Start Temp: – F, Target Temp: 172 F
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Thanks! Is that 102 oz or 10.2?
It’s 102 aka 6 lbs 6 oz. The grist is a bit of a mishmash but I had some stuff I wanted to use up. From what I read, they get the medium orange color just from pils, pale, and (maybe) aromatic malts, but I know I don’t get that kind of caramelization in my system. The beer is actually no longer brewed on the old system in Watou, where I was lucky enough to visit on a great tour of Belgium 10 years ago. They moved to Boezinge outside of Ypres to consolidate with SAS under Leroy.
Thanks again!
Just tapped my Empty Nest Bitter
1.036 O.G.
Maris Otter #19
Biscuit Malt
Citra and El Dorado Hops FWH to 28 IBUs
1.5 oz Citra dry hop in “cask”
1.5 oz El Dorado in “cask”
WYeaet1968 harvested from previous batch
Conditioned just over a week
Wonderful malt stone fruit and citrus combination
Both kids going to be in college and out of the house this fall
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