A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a .... substitute for American 6 row?

Planning a brew to put down for Christmas, which is only 12 weeks away, so anything huge is out of the window as I don't have sufficient conditioning time. Enter, stage left, Ron Pattinson's blog, and his guide to Vintage beer, for a massive resource of suitable recipes.

The problem? Well, it's a problem I keep having with many of these historic recipes, mainly American 6 row pale malt. I can't get it here in the UK, and can't find any consensus on what would be a suitable substitute. Some say 'meh, don't worry, just use any pale malt', others say Vienna, others UK distilling malt. Arrrgggh! I suspect it may vary from recipe to recipe; if it was used for its huge diastatic power, maybe distillers malt, if it was used because it was cheap and neutral in flavour, maybe any old pale malt. But that is just my uninformed guess.

So I've settled on 1804 Barklay Perkins TT ~ a nice early porter that doesn't use any 6 row, and isn't crazy strong.

Brews update and stuff

The Kentucky Common has finished at 1010, giving a pleasing 4.73% abv and apparent attenuation of 78%, which is within yeast specifications. Tastes nice, but is hazy. No yeast taint whatsoever so this is one CML yeast I can get on with. It has a nice hop bitterness and taste, with a surprising amount of malt coming through. As I planned,  I've set the fermenting fridge to 4 degrees to cold crash it before I package it in a King Keg. On that front, I need to dismantle the S30 valve on my second keg, replace the rubbers, then check if for sealing, as it was leaking. I've got the kit for this, so I'll try and remember to take some photos to post.
My Lovibond XB has dropped clear, and tastes OK. The taint from the barrel appears to be subsiding, so I'll leave it a bit longer. Its very hoppy!

Kentucky common after 1 week

After a week, the experimental brew has dropped to between 1010 and 1012. It still looked fairly effervescent and active so it may have a couple of points to go. CML say it's Californian yeast performs in a similar manner to Mangrove Jack's Californian yeast. If that's the case, then brewers friend says it should finish around 1010, so I think it probably needs leaving another week to totally finish then clean up after itself. I am fermenting at the bottom end of its temperature range after all. Then I'll cold crash for a couple of days before packaging.

I tasted the sample and am quite hopeful for this brew. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, it didn't have the yeasty tang that I detected with the other two CML yeasts that I have tried; US pale and real ale. Secondly, it had a malty, fruity taste that was nice. Not estery fruity from the yeast, but from the Bramling Cross hops; or actually had quite a clean finish.

A long way to go, and anything could happen, but a very encouraging start.

Some bad news; the Ron Pattinsons Lovibond XP appears to have picked up a taint from the king keg I used. My fault, I had lent it to a friend who told me he had used Milton to sterilise it, I must not have rinsed it out enough. School boy error. I'm hoping it will fade with time, as it hasn't cleared yet so there is hope!

Kentucky common update

Well, this is interesting. It's took off, with the Inkbird keeping the temp between 16 & 17. It must have been fairly vigorous, as it blew the top of the airlock off, but I've put it back on. Predictably, it isn't bubbling now but I can see activity. I think this is the air lock; the top part is too firm a fit so pressure builds up and it pops off.

It looks to be a proper bottom fermenting yeast, which as I understand it, is correct for the style; I read somewhere that some of these supposed Cali common yeasts were top fermenting ale yeasts that just happened to be quite clean, which isn't what they would have used in the gold rush era; they would have been bottom fermenting lager yeasts that could tolerate the higher temps. 

Either way, all the activity appears in the lower part of the fv with just a bit of crud on the top. 

All very interesting.

I've asked on the forum if a period of lagering will be required, as the packet and yeast specs say it may improve things. I'm hoping to get away with just a cold crash, and so far the wisdom of the forum suggests this will be OK. After all, the early American settlers wouldn't have had any means of doing this, so it will be true to style. I'll take the first gravity reading on Friday (after 1 week).


Update, Day 4 ~ OK, so no it has a think krausen and looks much like a top fermenting yeast, so who knows. I'll leave it alone now to see how it comes out.

Kentucky Common inspired 'use it up' brew

I wanted to try to use up the various odds and ends I had hanging around. Yeast wise, I wanted to use the last remaining Crossmyloof yeast that I had, which was the California Common. I had been reading about Kentucky Common ale, and thought I could knock something similar up with my leftovers. Brewers Friend calculated this;



HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Kentucky common

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Kentucky Common
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 20 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 27.7 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.041
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.057
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 6.1%
IBU (tinseth): 28.71
SRM (morey): 14.75

FERMENTABLES:
2 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (41.7%)
1 kg - Flaked Corn (20.8%)
0.5 kg - German - Vienna (10.4%)
100 g - American - Black Malt (2.1%)
100 g - United Kingdom - Crystal 60L (2.1%)
1 kg - United Kingdom - Lager (20.8%)
100 g - Flaked Barley (2.1%)

HOPS:
10 g - Challenger, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 11.68
15 g - Challenger, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.5, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 13.47
20 g - Bramling Cross, Type: Pellet, AA: 6.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 3.56

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 64 C, Time: 62 min, Amount: 14.4 L
2) Sparge, Temp: 70 C, Time: 15 min, Amount: 18.6 L
Starting Mash Thickness: 3 L/kg


For some reason, I didn't hit my usual efficiency, so my OG was 1046, quite some points down. However, if this hits an FG of 1010, then that will give a more quaffable sub-5% beer, so Im not really bothered. Some of the crushed grains were over 6 months old, so that my be the reason.

Here is a blury picture of the sample. It looks (and actually tasted) like a brown ale to me, so we will have to see what the yeast contributes to it. The wort is chilling down from the 30 odd degrees C the wort chiller could get this down to in this heat, down to 17 in the brew fridge. I think I'll pitch at 22, which is the top end of the yeast specs, in the hope that once the yeast has hydrated and started, the wort will be down to 17. I'll keep you updated.

1864 Lovibond XB

A recipe from Ron Pattinson's book, which I won't reproduce here, apart to say that despite being a Pale Ale, rather than an IPA, it uses over 170g of hops in a 5 UK gallon brew, all of the East Kent Goldings.

Target OG / FG was 1052/1011 giving an ABV of 5.56%. I hit 1056. I pitched Nottingham yeast rather then the specified Whitbread liquid yeast, and it finished at 1004. Gulp ~ after priming, this is going to be the wrong side of 7%. My plan was to bottle this, but along with the fantastic sun and heat this summer has brought, it has increased the fly count so I put it in a King Keg in the end. Its had a week conditioning now and has already started to clear; a combination of 4 weeks in the primary caused by work and family life intervening.

It tastes very promising ~ quite bitter, obviously, but it also has an intense hop taste. This surprised me as none of the additions are later than 30 mins.

More on this once its conditioned fully.