I do enjoy my pale ales. I have a harvest ale that I just tapped the second keg that’s been sitting since September. I had some dry hops in the keg which I pulled and threw in some fresh. This beer is awesome unfortunately it can’t be repeated
OK you’ve got me wondering…why can’t it be repeated?
For me it’s a toss up between my all centennial pale ale, my sunny jack IPA (sort of a union jack takeoff) and my cz pils. I love a good pils.
Niko brew hops???
Kitty cat ate your brew sheets!!
Sneezles61
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The reason is its a beer made with a boatload of homegrown hops which never taste the same. Since I don’t irrigate I never know what they are some years have strong aroma some years not so much. Not to mention the bittering quality. Although I bitter with pellets
@brew_cat I kind of wondered if that’s what you meant. Nice thing is you can call it your wet hop project where no 2 beers will be the same.
I seem to be a drunk as I like pretty much all styles except coffee infused beer. I don’t drink coffee. But I could drink one if need be.
My absolute fav would be session IPA and Oktoberfest.
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Yes I agree there is so much that can be done with your pale ale. I always use the same grain bill and change hops and bitterness or whatever and they always come out good. I always have one or two on tap.
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Yep, same grain bill for the pale ale and IPA I mentioned above and a few others I do. Just change the hops variety, amount and schedule.
@brew_cat I wondered what special hops nikobrew had that no one else did. The homegrown hops makes more sense. I feel the same way about a red ale I made once. It was really good. Never been able to replicate it. I’m not sure why. I’ve brewed the same recipe every time. I chalk that one up to the yeast.
Not sure about the Niko brew hops. @voodoo_donut was cracking a joke about that. I did get some lubliner hops real cheap from Niko though. Never used it actually never heard of it might be a secret ingredient
I don’t remember the brewery name but the brewer had said the same thing about a special beer produced each year. That the beer will never be exactly the same because of the variation in the same hop from year to year.
Your brewing is right on par with the larger craft breweries.
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I like doing some off-the-wall stuff, and lots of IPAs, but it seems like I’m always coming back to two different recipes. A pretty basic gose for the summer really hits the spot, and an English bitter for the colder months. Nothing strong, just a moderate strength 1.040-ish simple beer with some nice finishing hops. The kind of thing you can drink by the gallon.
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I just had a sample of my bitter with that Ringwood yeast you recommended… for the crap people say about that yeast, I’m really pleased with it. I always keep a pale and a porter around, but I forget how much I love a good bitter.
Glad it worked out for you! I think it’s a very underrated style. So simple, so easy to drink. To the point where you start yelling at your reflection in the mirror.
How about sharing those bitter recipes guys? I love the TT’s Landlord and have brewed the Innkeeper a few times using different yeasts. That’s another style I like a lot as well.
I was just thinking about how I need to get something “crushable” going. Seems like everything I brew is 1.060-1070.
I’m not an expert, but I did mostly Maris Otter, a couple of pounds of Victory, and some flaked Maize to 1.040 ish, then a couple ounces each of Bramling Cross and Meridian at 5 min, with just a touch of bittering hop at 60 to get close to 40 IBUs (you can tell I’m a very exact brewer). The Ringwood yeast is pretty cool stuff… huge gloss floccing out very quickly. I roused it. It had a reputation for diacetyl, so I’m giving it a bit of a rest, but the sample before I roused the yeast was fruity, minerally, and not buttery at all.
Hard to pick a favorite. I always have four beers on tap. 1 Munich dunkel. 2 Helles. 3 Fuller London pride clone. 4 Fuller Esb clone. That’s my favorites
Mine’s pretty similar to @uberculture. UK pale malt, maybe 4-8 oz crystal 60 (the real British stuff, not the not-so-comparable caramel stuff), some flaked or torrefied wheat for foam stability. If no crystal malt, I’ll use invert sugar 2 or 3. I really like bramling cross, too. Or anything with “gold” or “golding” in the name. 35-40IBU total with 60, 30, and 5 minute additions. Gravity 1.040-1.055. Or cut the crystal and invert completely, and jack it up to 120+ IBU of EKG. Just because.
Yeast is usually whitbread’s or maybe worthington’s. Not really a fan of fuller’s yeast.
I have an ESB that I’m drinking now that just wasn’t doing it for me so I pulled it of line and stuck it in the garage. I’ve visited it with a picnic tap and serving it cask style and well I keep going back,whatever that means. It really shines with the mellowed carbonation and a tad warmer.
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^^^ what @brew_cat said. I like to bottle it at about 1.5-1.9 volumes, and serve it at basement temperatures. So like 55°F. Yum! Time to go have one now.
