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Bitter Toucan


Guzz

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Just made my first toucan recipe, which is loosely based on Smoty Ale

 

1 x Can of Wal's Bitter

1 x Can of Coopers English Bitter

2 Litre Hop Boil:

22 gms Cascade - 15 mins

20 gms Tettnanger, steeped for 30 minutes

Yeasts:

1 x Coopers Ale Yeast (26807)

1 x Wal's Yeast (Maurivin - Mauribrew Ale 514)

OG: 1049

22 Litres.

 

The ingredients I used were chosen purely on what I had available.

 

I have no idea what I just made, but I suspect it may be beer!

 

Wish me luck lol

 

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  • 1 month later...

Thought Id update this after a taste tester of this recipe.

 

30 Days in the bottle.

 

Its a lovely dark beer, about 5.7%

 

The bitterness on drinking is not extreme at all, which is surprising. The bitterness does hang around on your lips though. kissing

 

Hop smell and flavour is great.

 

Looking back, it is a weird recipe on paper, 2 x Bitter kits and 2 different yeasts.

 

It IS a VERY tasty beer indeed and my notes in my beer log say "Do It Again!"

 

Having said that, not sure if it's sessionable. It is a rich beer. It confirms to me that I do like bitter beers.

 

Gotta love the experimenting aspect of beer making and the satisfaction of coming up with your own recipes and making great beer and after 1 recent failure I'm really pleased with it.

 

I urge peoples to come up with recipes based on leftovers and stock on hand, you never know what you may come up with! Like my first post in this thread said, this recipe was based on Smoty Ale, but adjusted to ingredients I had at hand.

 

Cheers cool

 

 

 

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I have found over several months of brewing I am left with a vast assortment of yeasts, hops and steeping grains (mostly medium crystal).

 

Since my local supermarket always has tins of Mex Cerveza and Aust Pale Ale on the shelves, I build a recipe around them.

 

I use BrewMate software (free on the web) to design a recipe, aiming for a balance of bitterness/sweetness and alcohol (ABV). The final colour, I don't really care about.

 

Some of the brews I make can not really be classified into BCJP styles but, they are still beer and are very tasty.

 

So, use up all your leftovers, observe the golden rules ( hygiene, quality ingredients, brewing temperatures) and quality beer will be your reward.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
I don't know much about Wal's Bitter but I am guessing this beer will be very bitter.

 

If it is too full on at first' date=' hopefully it calms down with time.[/quote']

 

It did calm down with time.

 

Just tried one of these, 75 days in the bottle and it's quite drinkable.

 

Still very bitter but not extreme, full of flavour and the hops and bitterness has subsided.

 

It's not a recipe I would do the same again, BUT it is a tasty beer indeed and has re-confirmed to me, that I like bitter beers.

 

I think it's the "oldest" beer I ve made and drunk @ 75 days, most of my beer I drink at 30-40 days.

 

It's interesting how flavours change/combine/subside over time and got me thinking about coommercial beers, in particular the hoppier beers and how their flavours and hoppiness must also subside with time and that we must be getting different flavours from them depending on their age.

 

So if you have made a beer with some harsh flavours, leave it for a few months and try it again I say.

 

Cheers

Guzz

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Tried this beer again @ 120 days old.

 

Bitter and sweet, perfectly carbonated, great head, superb lacing and very very tasty.

 

Full of flavour, refreshing. One of my best from such a simple easy recipe.

 

This beer is a benchmark for me for English Bitters, only downside is the 4 months it needs to smooth out, worth the wait though and I have probably 20 x 500 mls bottles left.

 

Cheers

Guzz

 

 

 

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Hi Guzz.

 

I'm glad you're happy with the way this brew is now drinking for you. happy

 

Excluding the way most IPA's are meant to present, most beers that have an IBU above say 50IBU, really are beers that require some aging before a balance between malt conditioning & hop bitterness is reached.

 

If you enjoy this heavier beer style as a mainstay, probably get used to this aging time-frame as a bare minimum.

 

Cheers & good brewing,

 

Anthony.

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