Spingo Blue Anchor

Does anybody have any information on the Spingo Ales brewed at the famous Blue Anchor Helston Cornwall. I am looking to re-create a similar style of traditional beer. i am guessing a combination of maris otter, goldings and possibly fuggles for the Middle and added crystal for the Special ( i may be wrong of course-but these seem the traditional likely ingredients)..but what quantities, timings etc???

Anybody had a go at this and can offer advice???

Just venturing in here to re-energise. Had my first Spingo Middle Ale today and: wow. Straight into my top 5 all time beers. How have I not know this exists?

Any clone recipe tips would be hugely appreciated.

Oddly enough, @Sea brewer's post coincided with my delivery of Spingo (it is with a "p", don't mix it up with the "with a t" stuff) "Special" and Extra Special" for Christmas ... if I don't drink it by then.

They've brewed it for eons. One of the "famous four" last remaining brewpubs in the UK in the 1970s, But out on a limb 'cos other three are clumped together in Shropshire or just over boundary towards Birmingham. Can't remember when I was there, but I do remember the 30mph traffic sign 'cos I was sitting on it waving at the passing cars. Most of their beers are a tad on the strong side!

Casting my mind back to when I last had some (it was, ermm ... last week I ran out) I was slightly disappointed that there didn't appear to be yeast in the bottles to culture. Unfortunately, I think the yeast might be a key component, as might be the brewing environment:


[picture nicked from their website.]

There seemed to be the possibility of caramel for colour in the Special (ABV 6.6%) as it had a taste similar to you catch in some of Sam Smith's dark beers (like Taddy Porter ... Sam Smith's is another brewery that churns out a "Stingo", very refined, light coloured ... and even stronger ... spelt with a "t"!). Hopping was "restrained", typically "British" ... malt dominated, certainly not an American style "craft beer" by any means! By "caramel" I mean the "burnt" sugar type, not tasteless e150c (I'm still trying to find a source).

"Maris Otter"? I find the "Heritage" varieties work better, the Pumage Archer malts, even Maris Otter! The latter makes me think they subject it to a different malting regime than "modern" malt (which includes the usual, not "heritage", Maris Otter malt) which seems to work better for these home-brewed beers. Water? To emulate where they are stuck out in the Atantic Ocean on some of the oldest rocks in Britain (they're not for dissolving in water!), I think a bit of sea spray is the only natural source of minerals. They possibly add things?

Good luck! I think all you can do is what I intend: Make something along the same lines, that may be as good, but not the same, and have a few bottles of the real stuff about the place.

http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blue_Anchor_(Helston)

Interesting cooler they have there.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-a-day-in-the-life-of-the-brewers-of-helston-1982-online

"Ben and co. are in the process of increasing production capacity in the form of a new brewery, though one significantly different from that in the back of the pub." - October 2021

https://www.pelliclemag.com/home/20...nchor-inn-and-spingo-ales-in-helston-cornwall

Doesn't look like they have, yet.

Anyway, there's some info on the beers in that article.

As former semi-regulars at the Blue Anchor, Boak & Bailey have written a lot about it :
https://boakandbailey.com/?s=spingo

Sadfield said:

http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Blue_Anchor_(Helston)

Interesting cooler they have there.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-a-day-in-the-life-of-the-brewers-of-helston-1982-online

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That's a really interesting film but OMG, so many thoughts and questions...

For those that are interested in old films like this there is one from 1959 that was discussed in a thread a few years ago:
Thread: https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/whats-brewing-1959.81837/
Film: https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-whats-brewing-1959-online

We've all already been discussing open fermentation in this thread so that's not a shocker. But what get's me is the apparent haphazard attitude to sanitation (and I really do stress apparent here!). To be fair there is some reference to having to get steam cleaning equipment as the beer wasn't up to scratch, and steam cleaning the casks so I suspect this aspect just isn't emphasised so much in the film. But still.....

I'm not sure we all need to start taking a very cavalier attitude to sanitation but I wonder if we're generally playing it much much safer than we need to?

On the other hand maybe it's about the ratio of an infection vs. the amount of beer and yeast that will kill any infection???

The other thing I'm thinking, as we've been discussing in the other thread, is about the timings of open fermentation and then packaging the beer. Casks don't have a spunding valve but I guess commercial brewers just know from experience when to package the beer to get the desired non-explosive level of carbonation.

And I'm also thinking about when and where (i.e. which styles) we could be practicing open fermentation and then carbonating naturally in the keg - pressure fermenting doesn't tickly me much but I like the idea of using CO2 just for dispense and not having to use it to force carbonate.

FWIW I am trying these things already - I have an open fermented, naurally carbonated 15psi spunding valved, lagering in a keg at the moment, I'm just thinking out loud where else I can be doing this.

The advantage for a brew pub with cask ale, is that the beer isn't in existence for very long, so they aren't going to have spoilt beer two months down the line. As long as fermentation is quick to start, then most contamination will be out competed.

As for casks, they can be over-carbonated. Part of cellarmanship is managing that carbonation through venting.

The interesting parts of that film is the fact they use dried* yeast and throw away what they crop of the top. This will reduce the risk of recontamination.

*Likely, press dried yeast from a larger brewery, like what is seen at 10 minutes in the film you linked. There's another old brewing film from Marsten's(?) presented by Bernard Cribbins, showing the same.

There is reference in some of the blogs about Middle having a tartness to it. I think there will be an order of bottles going in soon.

Sadfield said:

The advantage for a brew pub with cask ale, is that the beer isn't in existence for very long, so they aren't going to have spoilt beer two months down the line. As long as fermentation is quick to start, then most contamination will be out competed.

As for casks, they can be over-carbonated. Part of cellarmanship is managing that carbonation through venting.

The interesting parts of that film is the fact they use dried* yeast and throw away what they crop of the top. This will reduce the risk of recontamination.

*Likely, press dried yeast from a larger brewery, like what is seen at 10 minutes in the film you linked. There's another old brewing film from Marsten's(?) presented by Bernard Cribbins, showing the same.

There is reference in some of the blogs about Middle having a tartness to it. I think there will be an order of bottles going in soon.

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Ah, I thought the yeast looked odd. Mind you, I thought scooping it by hand from a bucket was hilarious compared to the way we have sanitation drummed into us nowadays

matt76 said:

... Mind you, I thought scooping it by hand from a bucket was hilarious compared to the way we have sanitation drummed into us nowadays

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That sentiment was what I referred to with my line: "Make something along the same lines, which may be as good, but not the same, and have a few bottles of the real stuff about the place.".

I think it would be a mistake to lower our guard in an attempt to copy suspicious practices. The Americans might have infused us with plenty of daft ideas like "styles" and so-on. But setting off an obsession with "sanitising" means far more of us are achieving decent results with their home-brew than a few years ago. Long may it stay do (although the quicker this dumb "carbonating" and "keg" dies off, the better ).

Sadfield said:

... The interesting parts of that film is the fact they use dried* yeast ...

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What! ... Well, that shot one of my ideas down stone dead!

Sadfield said:

... Middle having a tartness to it ...

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Oh, oh ... Echoes of Guinness? Is this to be the beginning of daft schemes to replicate the mystical process they surely use? Nooooo...

The problem with homebrewing is the home aspect. In the general scheme of things homes are places exposed to a wide array of contamination, from humans, pets, foods, etc. Probably more than a brewery.

@peebee The film is 40 years old, probably not a reliable indication of what they use today. Regarding, tartness. Could have just been a reflection of the state of the cask at the time, or a batch variance, as they do say in the recent Pellicle magazine article that they have no temperature control on the FVs. I've not yet tried these beers, do they have a tartness from bottle? Are they bottle conditioned?

Mashed at 68c for 75 minutes. Yeast pitched at 20C.

Sadfield said:

... I've not yet tried these beers, do they have a tartness from bottle? Are they bottle conditioned?

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It's a very long time ago I tried "Middle". And that was in the Blue Anchor (draught).

The "Special": Damned if I can get any "tartness". But at 6.6% ABV "sense-of-taste" does go south quite quickly ... Nay ... any "sense" goes south quickly.

I'm looking forward to the "Extra Special" as I've never had it before (they were out of it even when I was down there in year dot): At 7.4% ABV I'm not expecting to make any sense of it anyhow. None of it comes in little bottles BTW! (You can share ... but, me? Ger out o'it). I think it's the stuff other than I've mentioned that likely does have a "tartness"? They do mess about with popular up-to-date "styles", like "Gose" and so forth. Perhaps it's something to keep the kiddies quiet? A burdock pop an' bag o'crisps used to do for us as kiddies?



[EDIT: Can't re-enact my "sitting on a 30mph" sign after drinking Spingo up here in Wales ... All the 30mph signs were switched for 20mph a few months back.]

Easily influenced. Let's see what Cornish Ale is ale about.

Based on this thread we’re off to Helston today until Monday from Brixham, about a 2.5 hour journey. Hope to visit the Blue Anchor tonight.

Appleton Brews said:

Based on this thread we’re off to Helston today until Monday from Brixham, about a 2.5 hour journey. Hope to visit the Blue Anchor tonight.

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I salute you and wish you luck on your beer pilgrimage

(I just mentioned doing this to Mrs76 and she just gave me a funny look )

matt76 said:

I salute you and wish you luck on your beer pilgrimage

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What you mean? I'm right jealous, and when I'm jealous (an' I've got toothache too) I don't wish anyone well ...

@Appleton Brews: I hope your home-brew turns to Dandelion and Burdock while you're away!

Right went to the Blue Anchor last evening and had two pints of Middle which was very good. Has a red wine aroma and taste. I asked the barman if the beer was stored in wine barrels but he said no. Will return again tonight.

peebee said:

What you mean? I'm right jealous, and when I'm jealous (an' I've got toothache too) I don't wish anyone well ...

@Appleton Brews: I hope your home-brew turns to Dandelion and Burdock while you're away!

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Always hated Dandelion (Lion’s Head) and Burdock as a kid.