Damn this is a good beer! Good flavor. A little bit of hop bite yet easy to drink. Love it.
I am not lying when I say I have brewed hundreds of gallons of that stuff, I love it. I have made some small variations here and there a number of times, but I am never as happy as when I brew it just the way they say too. West Yorkshire ale yeast is a must on that, as well as the Golden Promise. Cheers, it will be gone before you know it. At my house it’s actually known as A.M. ale, after the sat night live commercial, “cuz you can’t wait till afternoon!”
Yeah, on paper nothing about this beer seems great but man does everybody love it on tap or out of the bottle. Some friends and I have gone through our fair share over time.
Just bottled my 5th batch of it in the last 10 months. I would like to have it on tap or bottled at all times if possible. My favorite “lighter” session beer that I have found. Sent a couple bottles of my last batch in to the Iowa State Fair and it won the English Pale Ale division and scored a 41. Now, just need to wait a couple weeks for this latest batch to carbonate.
I must have screwed up making the AG version. It drank okay, but it was really disappointing after all the hype. I suppose I should try making it again.
I’ve converted to AG brewing but I just bought the extract of the Innkeeper b/c I need a quicker brew session this week. I hope it lives up to it’s humongous positive feedback.
I’ve heard this from some people and I get it. It does have a lot of hype but the beer itself is nothing mind-blowing. It’s just a really, really, really nice beer to have around. I’ve heard you really need the West Yorkshire Wyeast for this one to really give it that extra something something. So maybe you messed it up a bit, maybe it was just too overhyped, or maybe it is just nothing amazing to you personally.
Really 
Didn’t they used to recommend their Wyeast NB Neobrittania for the Innkeeper? That was my first extract brew a year ago, and still one of my favs.
They have sold it with neobritannia, but 1469 is the actual yeast to use (1469 used to be limited release, now it is on hand regularly.)
I do use 75% RO water and treat with gypsum, CaCl and a bit of epsom salt. I do not shoot for burton water or anything like that - just bring it up to reasonable levels. half tsp of gypsum, quarter tsp of CaCl and epsom salt.
I ferment it relatively low - ambient basement temp. holds right around 60-62 degrees.
First time I brewed it, I was not impressed at right away - actually kind of thought it tasted like a weird cross between a belgian wit and a bitter. But, it really improved over a few weeks. Did have one batch that I was not impressed with - used more water additions and I think I might have been a little high on ferm. temps. I do agree with some of the above statements . . . . there is nothing “super” special about it. But, if you turn out a good batch of it, you will suddenly find yourself about 5 or 6 pints deep in it some night and think, “damn, this is a nice beer and I am pretty sure I could just keep on drinking it.”
Batch I just bottled tasted great after 3 weeks in primary though, looking forward to it in a couple more weeks.
Out of curiosity, what srm value does the Innkeeper produce? I pumped the recipe into my Beersmith and w/o having Eng. Dark Crystal to choose from, I used C80 and it estimates 9.1srm. I had assumed it was a very pale/light color.
I’m actually brewing my second extract kit of this tonight! I definitely agree that it isn’t necessarily a crazy beer that you tell everyone about, but it is definitely a great beer that is nice to have on hand…all the time…
if i am not mistaken, the english dark crystal is 135/165 L.
According to the Northern Brewer recipe on iBrewmaster, the dark crystal is 160L. The overall SRM is listed in the 7’s.
Mine usually comes in 8.5-9.5 on ibrewmaster when I input my ingredients - I tend to make mine just a tad bigger high 1.04’s. And, I make a 6.5 gallon batch.
As mentioned I’m doing this extract batch for a quick brew day. I was wondering if anyone geeks up the Innkeeper with any additional ingredients to suit their taste. If so wadda ya do?
I brewed the AG version of this last night, but after the wort cooled, I realized that I had missed the 3rd hop addition which was an oz of Syrian Goldings at 5 min. It was on page 2 of my Beersmith instruction sheet and because it was after adding whirfloc tablet, I just missed it.
What would you do? I have not had this but want to try to keep as authentic as possible. Add as dry hop (full or half oz), or just let it go?
I’m not surprised that this is a popular beer recipe. I love British bitters as a style for their wonderful showcasing of the distinctive flavor of British malt. They make excellent base malt and their crystal is fantastic too. I also love West Yorkshire yeast, I got it when it was a special release and used it for a full year. I’m trying other British ale yeasts now but I still haven’t found one I like as much.
560, go ahead and dry hop it or look into making a hop tea to add to your fermenter. I recently had a TTL in a bottle but by then (over here) the aroma was all but gone. I think you’d be fine to dryhop with 0.5-1oz of Styrians but If I remember when I did that level was subtle.
Thanks, for me, that is probably the easiest route. I will also make some taste notes as I will likely brew this again.
