Buggered Burton Ale

[mashani]

Basically this is an old school Burton Ale type of recipe I've made before. With the hop schedule Buggered up. Because I can.

For 2.5 gallon batch.

Mashed @154 in Burtonized water: (I used Brewin Water to figure out what to add).

6.5# Maris Otter
2oz British Chocolate
2oz 120L Crystal

I went with a 45 minute boil vs. the traditional 60-90.

3oz East Kent Goldings (5.7%) @40 (in a big hop sack) - traditionally this would be 60-90 minute boil.
1oz East Kent Goldings @flamout with lid on hop stand for 20 minutes. (commando) - traditionally this would be a dry hop.
All the hops stayed in for the hop stand.

Cooled, pitched the other half of the West Yorkshire starter I made for my failed batch of Pagered Gadgie.

OG was 1.072
IBUs = triple digits in theory, but you won't notice it as harsh because of lots of residual maltyness
SRM should be something like 11-12

EDIT: I might still dry hop some EKG. Depends on how sample tastes. But with the lid on hop stands like this I've not been having to do it.

EDIT: I did not dry hop any EKG. You could if you wanted to, it would not hurt it, but I didn't think it needed it.

[mashani]

Well I bottled this at 1.017. Which is lower then I expected. But it doesn't taste at all of Brett so no bugs got in. My mash temps must have fallen lower then I thought at some point early on, or my thermometer is whacked.

It tastes awesome assuming you like English beer, the hydro sample did not last long, it was very tasty flat and warm. It is nothing like any 'Merican beer of course. It doesn't seem overly bitter, even though I was expecting it to be a bit sweeter then it is. It smells sweet due to the goldings and the first taste is a bit sweet/candy like due to all the malt and goldings, but then the bitterness hits you and it finishes bitter, and the bitterness lingers between sips. The touch of diacetyl and stone fruit esters from the yeast choice combined with all the malt makes it seem like I used more medium/dark crystal then I did and/or did some kettle caramelization, and is a big part of why it tastes like a real Yorkshire ale. Except this is extra strong like an old style Burton ale (before there were IPAs there were these kinds of big beers... some really sweet, some bitter, but all of them big). The only other yeast to use here would be Ringwood. Do not try it with anything else if you want the right flavor profile. The bitterness will be a bit firmer with carb and the hops will pop more in the finish, so we will see if it gets more into IPA levels of perceived bitterness or not. But this beer will rock regardless. Short boil/adjusted hop schedule did me no harm.

[LouieMacGoo]

Not sure how I missed the original post on this but this looks interesting to me. Also I didn't know what Burtonized Water was so I had to look it up and I learned that, BURTONIZE means to harden (water used in brewing) by adding gypsum or certain salts especially for the purpose of approximating the flavor of burton. I decided to share hoping I wasn't the only one that didn't know what that meant.

Anyway this sounds like a good beer and somewhat (generally speaking) to the Wm Younger No 1 Ale that The_Professor and I did for the RCE as far as the caramelization in the kettle and balance between the malt and hop bitterness.

[mashani]

It's of a similar style yes. One thing that is really important in these kinds of big old English beers (which is true of the recipe you used as well) is that there is a lot of hop mass in there in the boil. It's not just about IBUs but the vegetal tannins that get added by the amount of hops, it all becomes part of the flavor profile. Using a small amount of a high AA hop as the bittering addition won't give you the same results. I think you used a wider variety of hops which would add more complexity. And you probably used London Ale yeast right? I stuck with just Goldings because I wanted the West Yorkshire stone fruit esters to really pop and the Goldings candy like vibe does this well. Well that and that I have a pound of them in my freezer LOL.

[LouieMacGoo]

Yeah, this was a pretty complex beer that had some amazing fruity flavors coming from it the longer it conditioned that I believe as you said was from the vegetal mass. I opted to use the Windsor Ale yeast (Dry yeast) instead of the London Ale yeast, mostly because I'm cheap and I already had some on hand.

[mashani]

I popped my tester/trub bottle of this, and it's really nice, even this young, and this kind of beer can age for a year and still be good, it simply "evolves".

I'll do this again. It's nice with just the goldings, but it would be good with some fuggles or styrian goldings mixed in. A bit more crystal would be fine. But it doesn't need it, there is plenty of malt here and the little bit of diacetyl gives that malt a toffee kind of vibe that's balanced by the bitterness. Too much crystal and that would easily become annoying though. If using Ringwood, especially be careful with that, and with either yeast do a D-Rest if your not fermenting at real ale temps. (as in on the warm side - not trying to suppress the yeast like a 'Merican - this beer is as much about the yeast as a Belgian). Your not trying to get rid of all the D like in a lager, but just bring it down to barely perceptible.

If using Ringwood, you will need to rouse it. More then once. When I use Ringwood, I will rock the fermenter gently every day. Otherwise it will floc out before its done. Ringwood is a PITA, but it's a great yeast if you are willing to deal with that and looking for that real English Yorkshire Square ale flavor. West Yorkshire is not quite as temperamental and similar in many ways - Ringwood is a bit more fruity, West Yorkshire is a bit more nutty, either would be nice here.