Timothy Taylor Landlord Clone Recipe

Back in early 2007 when Wyeast first released 1469 West Yorkshire yeast my friend James and I brewed a bitter with it.  The yeast was from Timothy Taylor so naturally we brewed a clone of their illusive Landlord (a "Strong Pale Ale" at 4.3% ABV)  We based a recipe in Brew Your Own Real British Ales at Home which looked good to both of us, but we added a bit of extra hops at the end to up the hop aroma.

For malt we used 100% Golden Promise (a Scottish base malt), simple enough.  The hops were a blend of East Kent Goldings, Styrian Goldings, and Fuggles.  The water was adjusted to have a bit more sulfate, the gypsum also helped to keep the mash pH down on such a pale beer.

The yeast gave an excellent lightly fruity flavor that blended well with the earthy hops, but it was also one of the slowest strains to clear that I have ever experienced.  Despite the low 1.043 OG after more than two weeks I was forced to rack out from under an inch of krausen because the gravity was no longer moving.  As you can see it eventually cleared, but it took a couple of weeks of cold conditioning in the fridge after carbonation.

Landlord Clone

Recipe Specifics (All-Grain)
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.20
Total Grain (Lbs): 9.00
Anticipated OG: 1.043
Anticipated SRM: 4.6
Anticipated IBU: 31.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 min.

Grain
------
100.0% - 9.00 lbs. Golden Promise  

Hops
-------
1.00 oz. Fuggle (Pellet 4.00% AA)  65 min.
0.63 oz. Styrian Goldings (Pellet 4.20% AA) 65 min.
0.25 oz. East Kent Goldings (Pellet 6.90% AA) 15 min.
0.38 oz. Styrian Goldings (Pellet 4.20% AA) 0 min.

Extras
--------
0.50 Wirlfloc @ 15 Min.(boil)

Yeast
-------
WYeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale

Water Profile
----------------
Profile: TT Pale Ale

Calcium(Ca): 74.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg): 10.0 ppm
Sodium(Na): 8.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4): 187.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl): 16.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3): 18.0 ppm
pH: 8.23

Mash Schedule
------------------
Sacch Rest - 60 min @ 151
Mash Out - 15 min @ 166

Notes
-------
Brewed 3/15/07 with James

Collected 6.5 gallons of 1.035 wort.

No problems in the brew, but topped off with .75 gallons of water because we came in under volume and over gravity.

Pitched right from a partially inflated pack of Wyeast, after 60 seconds of oxygenation.  Room temp around 62 to start.

66 degrees and three inch krausen by 24 hours. Got a bit hotter the third day due to a sudden and unexpected March heatwave.

Back down to the mid 60s for the next few days.

3/29/07 1.010, but still has a big krausen.  Hopefully this is just about done fermenting.

4/02/07 1.008 correcting for temp.  Still has a inch of krausen, hopefully its done.

4/6/07 Transferred to secondary still at 1.008

4/08/07 Bottled with 3 oz of corn sugar for 2.15 volumes of CO2.

4/15/07  After a week the carbonation is pretty good and the flavor is smoothing out a lot.  Very fruity.

7/06/07 This one took a while in the fridge to drop bright, but the flavor just kept getting better.  I think we could have gone heavier on the hops, but for a light refreshing drinker it is just about perfect.

-------------
Commercial Description:
Available filtered and pasteurized in 500ml bottles.

Ingredients: Golden Promise malt; Styrian Goldings, Goldings and Fuggles hops; Oldham Brewery yeast.  First brewed in the 1950's.

From Brew your Own Real British Ales at Home

Timothy Taylor Landlord
1.042 OG
1.009 FG
100% golden promise
30 IBU target
6 SRM

Mash:
151F (66C) for 90 minutes

Hops:
60 min hops: 1.1 oz Styrian Goldings, 1 oz Fuggle
15 min. hops: 0.45 oz Goldings, 0.3 oz Irish moss

Dave (17.5% ABV Eis Beer) Tasting

I'd been excited to crack open the second (and final) bottle of the ice concentrated version of my Hair of the Dog Adam clone. I got the chance at a tasting at my friend Dyan's house two nights ago with a three other friends to share the boozy goodness.  We actually had a few ounces left over (due to multiple batches of Supplication and Brute, not to mention a growler of Pliny the Younger) but it gives you an idea of the drinkability of Dave. 

We drank it still and pretty close to room temperature, and it showed with a big alcohol burn.  I would have liked to let this sit longer before drinking, but with my concern over oxidation I wanted to try it before it sat in the bottle too long.  I'm going to try carbonating the last few ounce with my carbonator cap to see how it changes.

Dave Clone

Appearance – Dark brown, but still wonderfully clear when held to the light. The beer is still (expected since it wasn't primed), but it displays some nice legs due to the alcohol and residual gravity

Smell – The oak really comes through with a big whiff of vanilla, as well as some subtler woody tones. The peat is present as well giving it a character reminiscent of Scotch, the big boozy character only helps to reinforce that impression. There is some bready/malty notes as well, but the wood and alcohol drown most of that out. Thankfully there is no oxidation.

Taste – A healthy spirit burn is the first thing I noticed, followed by a rich sticky sweetness. There are some great dark fruit notes (plum, raisin, date) that make me think of port (not that I drink port all that often).

Mouthfeel – Full, no need for carbonation. The alcohol burn is also a component of the mouthfeel, a first for me as a brewer.

Drinkability & Notes – 2 oz was plenty and the five of us didn't finish the bottle, but that is what you have to expect from a beer this big. One oak cube in a 12 oz bottle was too much, but it was close to the right level since the tannins helped to tame the massive sweetness.

I'll certainly try ice concentration again in the future, I'm thinking of doing it for my IPA and the barrel Flanders red just to see how it effects hops and acid (something this beer didn't give an impression of).

Smoked Stout - DC Homebrewers Anniversary Beer

There is something really wonderful about joining an organization right when it is starting up.  I've been attending meetings of the DC Homebrewers club since it was founded in early 2008.  It has been rewarding to participate in the club as it grows and tries to find an identity in a metro-area that already has several larger/older homebrewing clubs.

A couple months back I struck upon an idea, why not get club members together to brew an anniversary beer to celebrate 2 years of DC Homebrewers?  I sent out an email to the club discussion list and got some interest.  Someone suggested that we try to brew a beer with as many local ingredients as possible.  Our definition of local was pretty loose, but we came up with barley malted/smoked by a local distillery, homegrown hops, local honey, and yeast from a local brewpub.
People were great about procuring ingredients and then bringing them over to my house early on a Sunday morning to brew.  Once most of the people (ingredients) arrived we set about trying to put together a malt bill based on what we had on hand.  For awhile it had a too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen feel, but after awhile we hashed out something that I think most people were happy with.  We decided on a moderately strong stout/porter, in addition to the smoked malt we added plenty of pale malt for gravity, flaked barley for body, and a complex blend of dark malts for depth and balance. 

I contributed 1.25 oz of my own homegrown cascades (basically the whole harvest...), but luckily someone else brought some commercial cascades to supplement.  This is intended to be a beer that will age well, so we were a bit more heavy handed with the hops (50 IBUs) to ensure some bitterness remains in a year or two, and we left out late boil hops since the hop aroma is the first aspect of a beer to fade.

The yeast slurry from District ChopHouse (20th generation Scottish yeast) was gangbusters ripping through the beer quickly despite the low wintertime temperature of my basement.  Scottish yeast is relatively mild in character and great in malty beers, but it will be interesting to see how this one is after so many repitchings.
The honey will be added to the primary fermenter after the initial fermentation dies down. This will preserve as much of its aromatics as possible because the honey will not be subjected to heat or the CO2 scrubbing of primary fermentation.  Despite adding it late in the process I'm not expecting too much character from the honey in a finished beer with so much else going on.

Hopefully the club will repeat this event every February to produce another anniversary beer. A six-pack of each of these beers will make it to the club's anniversary meeting every January, with the goal (a few years down the road) of being able to sample 5-6 different batches once a year.  We spent most of the boil discussing styles to brew in the future (possibly alternating between two different styles, tweaking them as time goes by), but it will probably be next winter by the time the format is determined.

If you want to see more pictures of the brewday take a look at the Flikr page.

DC HB Anniversary 2010 - Smoked Honey Stout

Recipe Specifics (All-Grain)

----------------

Batch Size (Gal):         5.25 

Total Grain (Lbs):       14.75

Anticipated OG:          1.075

Anticipated SRM:          34.0

Anticipated IBU:          49.9

Brewhouse Efficiency:    72 %

Wort Boil Time:          90 min.

Grain/Sugar

--------------

61.0% - 9.00 lbs. Canadian Pale Malt     

16.9% - 2.50 lbs. Wasmund's Smoked Malt        
6.8% - 1.00 lbs. Flaked Barley         

1.7% - 0.25 lbs. Simpson's Extra Dark Crystal                       

1.7% - 0.25 lbs. Carafa Special II         

1.7% - 0.25 lbs. Belgian Chocolate Malt                 

1.7% - 0.25 lbs. English Roasted Barley
0.8% - 0.13 lbs. English Black Patent Malt

0.8% - 0.13 lbs. Coffee Malt

6.8% - 1.00 lbs. Honey (after primary fermentation)           

Hops

------

3.50 oz. Cascade (Pellet 4.50% AA) 60 min.

Extras

--------

1.00 Unit Whirlfloc @ 15 min.(boil)

0.25 Tsp Yeast Nutrient @ 15 min.(boil)

Yeast
-------
White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Ale

Water Profile
----------------
Profile: Washington DC

Mash Schedule
-------------------
Sacch Rest 60 min @ 152

Notes
------
Brewed 2/21/10 With a big group from DCHB.

Apple smoked malt was from Copper Fox Distillery (Wasmund's Whiskey).  Didn't look like it took a very good crush.

No water adjustments.

Hops 1.25 oz of my homegrown, 2.25 oz of year old pellets.

Yeast was a cup of slurry from District ChopHouse, 20 generations.

Shook to aerate.  Violent fermentation by 12 hours.

2/25/10 Added 1 lb of Bee George Honey (Wild Flower Honey from Takoma Park Maryland).  Considering I bought it at the COOP in Takoma Park it seemed appropriate addition to a "local" beer.  After adding the honey I gave the beer a gentle stir with my wine thief to ensure that it was mixed in.

3/13/10  Racked to secondary, should be bottling in 2-3 weeks.

5/06/10 Bottled with 2.25 oz of table sugar.  Gravity down around 1.012.  Sample tasted pretty good, not much smoke/honey character.

6/23/10 First tasting, good if a bit over-carbonated (I'll be more excited about drinking it next winter, summer is not the right season for this one).

Classic Brewing Water Profiles (rant)

For certain beer styles many homebrewers (and the BJCP for that matter) put a lot of emphasis on adjusting the brewing water to match the local water where each style is brewed historically.  Some of the "classic" water profiles include Burton-on-Trent (high sulfate), Pilsen (low ion), Dortmund (moderately high levels of everything), and Dublin (high carbonate).  The theory is that you can get the beer you brew closer to the commercial examples by using water that has a similar mineral content. In my experience this is a poor idea, certainly not the best way to adjust your water. 

The suggestion that these are somehow perfect or optimal waters just because they are what some breweries use is just silly. First off, the brewers in these locations often treat their water to add and remove minerals, or go through long complex mashes to overcome the issues their water causes (like Pilsners).  On top of that mimicking the absurd amount (or lack) of minerals in some cases will lead to poor tasting beer unless these additional steps are followed.  In particular the high levels of minerals called for to match some of these profiles is going to lead to a harsh minerally flavor in your finished beer.

With all that said, I think water adjustments are an important part of brewing many styles.  I think they should just be done based on personal taste and recipe, not history and tradition.  Burton-on-Trent is famous for its heavy sulfate content (most water reports put it around 800 ppm, nearly a gram per liter), I brewed an English Pale with enough salts in the mash/sparge water (2.9g gypsum, .5g chalk, and 1.8g epsom salt per gallon) to get to that level a couple years back and the results tasted a bit like licking drywall.  Through experimentation I've found that I like my hoppy English Ales closer to 250-300 ppm sulfate, which is enough to accentuate the hops and just give a soft mineral edge.

Please post a comment if you've had successes or failures adjusting your water to hit a "classic" regional supply, I'd be interested to hear if any of them produce great beer.  If you want to read more on how to calculate water adjustments read How to Brew or New Brewing Lager Beers (or my post on water adjustment from back in 2008).

German Bitter a Hoppy Kolsch

This was a tasty beer I brewed for my flag football team.  I wanted something light and refreshing, but with enough bitterness and hop aroma that you knew you weren't drinking a macro lager.  The Munich provided a slight bready character and the wheat assisted with the head retention which was terrific. The saaz hops near the end of the boil aren't exactly traditional, but their distinct spice played well with the clean malt character. A cold fermentation with kolsch yeast did a great job giving me a clean beer with some interesting light apricot notes.  Three weeks of cold conditioning after fermentation yielded a clear golden yellow beer, perfect for tricking an unsuspecting macro drinker. 

The team was pretty happy with the beer and helped to kill a case of it in the shadow of the Washington memorial one hot September evening.  One of my co-workers summed up the general opinion "I can drink this faster than Bud." I agreed.  Planning on brewing something along these lines soon now that summer is just around the corner...

Sadly after looking through my pictures from around that time I wasn't able to find a single shot of this batch.

German Bitter

Recipe Specifics (All-Grain)
----------------
Batch Size (Gal):         4.00   
Total Grain (Lbs):        6.50
Anticipated OG:          1.044   
Anticipated SRM:           4.2
Anticipated IBU:          30.8
Brewhouse Efficiency:    70 %
Wort Boil Time:             80 Minutes

Grain
------
69.2% - 4.50 lbs. French Pils
15.4% - 1.00 lbs. German Munich Malt                  
15.4% - 1.00 lbs. German Wheat Malt     

Hops
------
0.38 oz. Magnum (Whole 14.50% AA) @ 75 min.
1.00 oz. Czech Saaz (Whole 3.30% AA) @ 5 min.

Extras
-------
0.50 Wirlfloc @ 15 min.

Yeast
------
WYeast 2565 Kolsch

Water Profile
-------------
Profile: Washington DC

Mash Schedule
----------------
Sacch Rest - 90 min @ 148

Notes
------
Brewed 7/29/07 with James

Added 1 gram of gypsum to the mash to keep the pH down.  Took forever to get to the boil (1 hour +).  Chilled to the mid-80s, strained and place in the freezer at 59, after 3 hours added a cold jug of Deer Park spring water, gave the carboy a 45 second shake, and pitched the smackpack of yeast.  Turned the temp down to 55 (the lowest recommended temp for the yeast).

Nice healthy krausen by 30 hours (possibly earlier, but I hadn't checked in awhile).  After another 24 hours I raised the temp to 58 to encourage a complete fermentation.

8/05/07 Down to around 1.012, good flavor with a moderate hoppiness.  Still yeasty.

8/09/07 Left in primary, dropped temp to 42 for cold conditioning.

8/26/07 Gravity down to 1.009, nice smooth flavor.

8/30/07 Bottled with 2.25 oz of corn sugar (aiming for ~2.45 volumes CO2)

9/15/07 What a great beer this is, bready and smooth with an interesting slightly apricot like aroma.  Went over well with the flag football team, a version of this should become a summertime tradition.

Administrative Fermentationist Stuff

The last few days I've been putting a bit of work than usual into The Mad Fermentationist, hopefully the wider page layout and additional tabs at the top make for an easier/cleaner reading experience.  I was getting annoyed by how little of the screen was taken up by the posts on my new wide screen monitor at work and how much stuff was starting the stack up in the column on the left.

In a couple days http://MadFermentationist.Blogspot.com/ will start redirecting to my new custom web address: http://www.TheMadFermentationist.com/ (Sadly MadFermentationist.com was already claimed and redirects to South Sound Photo... damn squatters).  The old Blogspot address (as well as the RSS Feed) should continue to work, so no worries if you can't be bothered to update your bookmark when the change goes down. 

To my own shame I joined twitter a couple days ago (@madfermentation).  At this point most of the tweets are automatically generated when a new post is published here or on BrewLocal, but I have also tweeted notes about the progress of the various batches and experiments I have fermenting.



You can also follow The Mad Fermentationist on Facebook using Networked Blogs using this link.

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If you like the changes or if there are other changes to the blog that you'd like to see please let me know in a comment or with an email to madfermentationist@gmail.com.