Real Ale thread

[Gazzala]

4 hours ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Pop over to Pom and grab it in Tescos ; )  They're even on spesh at the mo!

You got till late October : )

 

Haha - I will actually be over there in October!

[Lab Cat]

Bottling my ESB soon, so the Real ale will be back on. The basic Real + liq malt is a bit thin on flavour for me, kind of a mild english ale. Not bad, but needs something more.

As I mentioned, I'll be going a tin of liq Amber this time, and adding some sugar, so following the idea of the Scotch ale recipe. Dunno whether to go 250g Dark Brown or blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap is the darkest, most syrupy version. One article I found suggest it might be too much, don't want any burnt flavours. 

"Blackstrap: Full, Robust, heavy. Some bitterness, notes of rum and raisin, along with heavy tar and burnt caramel."

but this is from an AG brewer, so they'll probably be using it in a boil and at bigger quantities I would imagine. Any experience with this black molasses added as a fermentable sugar?

[Lab Cat]

Slight change of plan...

Real ale, liquid Crystal malt 1.7kg and 250g brown sugar. My LHB owner was really keen I try the Crystal malt tin, so I caved. I have an idea what the Amber might bring to the Real ale anyway, so thought I'd try this instead. It's another sub $30 brew, so King Ruddy thumbs up all around.

[Pezzza]

Sounds good. Let us know how it goes Ratticus.

[Aussiekraut]

9 hours ago, Lab Rat said:

Real ale, liquid Crystal malt 1.7kg and 250g brown sugar. My LHB owner was really keen I try the Crystal malt tin, so I caved. I have an idea what the Amber might bring to the Real ale anyway, so thought I'd try this instead. It's another sub $30 brew, so King Ruddy thumbs up all around.

This tin has been calling my name for a while. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.

 

[BlackSands]

10 hours ago, Lab Rat said:

...My LHB owner was really keen I try the Crystal malt tin, so I caved. I have an idea what the Amber might bring to the Real ale anyway, so thought I'd try this instead. It's another sub $30 brew, so King Ruddy thumbs up all around.

I used this...   well the Blackrock Crystal - is that the one?  

The BR Crystal was pretty full on with crystal that's for sure. Very rich malt flavours I found.  I used it in a best bitter along with a Coopers Lager can and some hops.   Came out a dark copper colour.  It was a nice enough brew overall though others thought the crystal was perhaps a bit too much.  Personal taste and preference I guess.  I had planned to try it out in an extract amber ale one day.   

Edited August 28, 2019 by BlackSands

[Lab Cat]

4 hours ago, BlackSands said:

I used this...   well the Blackrock Crystal - is that the one?  

The BR Crystal was pretty full on with crystal that's for sure. Very rich malt flavours I found.  I used it in a best bitter along with a Coopers Lager can and some hops.   Came out a dark copper colour.  It was a nice enough brew overall though others thought the crystal was perhaps a bit too much.  Personal taste and preference I guess.  I had planned to try it out in an extract amber ale one day.   

Yep, BR Crystal. I'll probably brew to 25l, as I felt the Crystal was going to add a lot. But I like malt driven beer and English style ales, so it sounds like it'll suit me.

[Otto Von Blotto]

What's the percentage of crystal in the tin? Surely it's not 100%. I just wonder whether the outcome would be much different to the amber malt tin. 

[Aussiekraut]

55 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

What's the percentage of crystal in the tin? Surely it's not 100%. I just wonder whether the outcome would be much different to the amber malt tin. 

21% they say.

[Lab Cat]

6 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

What's the percentage of crystal in the tin? Surely it's not 100%. I just wonder whether the outcome would be much different to the amber malt tin. 

Good question. BR Crystal malt is 79% lager and 21% Crystal. Their Amber malt is 94% Lager and 3.8% Crystal. Coopers don't give their ingredient make up, but is probably similar to the Black rock? Looks like it's enough Crystal to make it different enough.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Must be pretty dark crystal in the amber if it's only around 4%. I've only used the Coopers one and the beer turned out a deep copper colour, expected but yeah. 

[BlackSands]

I have a hunch the BR Crystal LME uses a darker crystal malt or perhaps even a blend of crystals.    As it happens I met all those guys you see in the Black Rock videos when I was managing my LHBS.  I should email them and ask.  I also want to ask about Maltexo...   their 'food grade' LME which I reckon is the exactly same as their Ultralight LME.  Interestingly their contact email address contains the word 'maltexo'  

Edited August 31, 2019 by BlackSands

[Lab Cat]

My LHB guy loves it and says it is a big addition. With some kits he suggests only using half of it. I'll be checking my OG sample and might go to 27l if it tastes like it needs it.

[BlackSands]

Just had a 'sneak peak' taste of my recent RA brew...   it's still very young but I have to say it tastes pretty full-flavoured to me.  I didn't note down the exact recipe, it was just a quickly thrown together brew  - RA plus Blonde LME, Styrian Gldings hops and I thought I'd steeped 200g of toffee malt but based on the taste and colour I'm now wondering if I actually used a crystal malt -  perhaps light or medium crystal?    hmmm....

Anyway, tasty enough as is right now though the 'greeness' is still apparent but I'm sure in a couple more weeks it'll be a perfectly good beer. I probably wouldn't bother adding steeped grains if I ever do something like this with the RA tin again but there's certainly no doubt the Styrian Goldings hop additions were worthwhile. 

To be honest I can't imagine this RA can plus a tin of BR's Crystal malt... I feel sure that would be way too malty for my palate. And I do also wonder about the crystal sweetness you may get out of that combo?  In the past I used to use quite a lot of crystal ... often in pursuit of achieving a certain colour but I soon realised the sweetness can actually get quite cloying and it made it less appealing when it came to pouring a second (or third glass)!  Not a good situiation to be in!       I then dialled right back on the crystals and instead used small doses of roasted barley to achieve the desired colour.   So....   your idea of upping the volume to 27 litres or using half the Crystal LME might well have some merit!  

And...it's all personal taste and preference...

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by BlackSands

[Lab Cat]

I hear what you're saying, but I do like malt driven beers. The Scotch ale was huge on malt and a little sweet to begin with - very simple recipe, Innkeepers, Amber and 500g brown sugar. Some would find it too sweet, especially if they prefer hop forward beers. Getting to the end of the Scotch now and everything has noticeably mellowed. Apart from the ABV...

I tasted the OG sample of this Real Ale. I added the Crystal tin and 250g Brown sugar. It's less malty and sweet than the Scotch, so I think it's safe for me, the Real can IBU is fairly high (Innkeepers is a bit higher) and I kept it to 24l.

[Marty_G]

Just did a double batch with Citra FO and Centennial dry hop ... one thing I have noticed going through my notes is the RA kit and Kilo finish a bit higher that most of the beers ... around 1016-1012 ... 

[Shamus O'Sean]

Both of my recent split batch RA's (Half kit and half kilo LDM) finished at 1.011

[BlackSands]

11 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Both of my recent split batch RA's (Half kit and half kilo LDM) finished at 1.011

Likewise...  using Nottingham yeast.  A different yeast may finish a little higher...  or lower for that matter!

[Shamus O'Sean]

12 hours ago, BlackSands said:

Likewise...  using Nottingham yeast.  A different yeast may finish a little higher...  or lower for that matter!

Mine were both kit yeasts.  One was what came with the Real Ale can.  The other was a spare yeast from a Dark Ale can I had used in another brew.

[Marty_G]

21 hours ago, BlackSands said:

Likewise...  using Nottingham yeast.  A different yeast may finish a little higher...  or lower for that matter!

Used Notts in the last one and it finished at 1013 1kg LDM and 300g Golden Syrup. This batch, a double,  M36 1015 with 1kg LDM and 1kg BE3 ,  previous to that the kit yeast 1016 with 1kg of LDM.  The kit yeast brew had no hop additions and was my 1st kegged brew. I did it to go old school and make a great cheap brew $26.00. Boy was it good for a straight kit and kilo.  

[BlackSands]

2 hours ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

 I did it to go old school and make a great cheap brew $26.00. Boy was it good for a straight kit and kilo.  

I was pleasantly surprised a wee while back when I did a K&K +hops brew after a long stretch of just brewing 50/50 partials.   Since then I've been doing more kits n bits brews when I'm not feeling in the mood to devote several hours to a brew.   To date one of my best beers ever was a kit+extract+hops beer.  

[Marty_G]

54 minutes ago, BlackSands said:

I was pleasantly surprised a wee while back when I did a K&K +hops brew after a long stretch of just brewing 50/50 partials. 

That is exactly the reason why i did it. I had been doing more and more  tinkering with kits, bits and grains etc that I thought I would just go back to basics and use temperature control and cold crashing and I too was very happy with the results.   

[Aussiekraut]

I tried my RA+Amber+Nottingham version today. It's not a bad beer at all but still needs some time. Very malt driven as expected. It does need more time to mature though. It's been in the bottle for just under 2 weeks but is slow to carbonate (a problem I have a lot lately). If I give it another two weeks, it should be ready to drink. Head retention is still poor, due to the low carbonation but the head is very creamy, almost Guinness like. It seems to lack something though. I can't quite point my finger at it. It's like there is something missing between the (slight) bitterness and the sweetness of the malt. Maybe it just needs more gas and/or more time. I'll see. Maybe the next time, I try some dry hopping or maybe a Fuggles hop tea.

 

[Pezzza]

15 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

 the bottle for just under 2 weeks but is slow to carbonate (a problem I have a lot lately). 

Is it the cool temperatures for the Secondary Ferment AussieKraut?

Or do you keep the bottles warm - I have to use an electric blanket down here to get to 18 Deg C - and even then I think with my 18 deg C my carbonation in the bottle has slowed a lot - even with Lager Yeasts...

[Lab Cat]

1 hour ago, Aussiekraut said:

It seems to lack something though. I can't quite point my finger at it. It's like there is something missing between the (slight) bitterness and the sweetness of the malt. Maybe it just needs more gas and/or more time. I'll see. Maybe the next time, I try some dry hopping or maybe a Fuggles hop tea.

 

I felt the same about the Real + Light malt tin. We might have different tastes, but I would have hoped the Amber would have added something extra  the beer tin lacked. The RA Crystal malt I have brewing might go ok, I also went 250g brown sugar.

In the meantime, I'm topping pu my Real ale with some of the ESB I made with some dark malt, which although now over 3 months old, is still not my thing. The ESB adds a bit of dark flavour the Real lacks, and picks it up a bit.

Edited September 5, 2019 by Lab Rat