Arkells beer

[Steam brew]

As a new brewer and liking Arkells Kingsdown beer does any one have a recipe for this many thanks Steam Brew

 

[Buster]

You will find the recipe in British Real Ale 3rd Edition by Graham Wheeler on page 113. :thumb: and a crackin pint it is too.

 

[Steam brew]

Many thanks will try :

 

[PD]

My Wheelers Kingsdown Ale has been conditioning for a week now.
I'm disappointed with it at the moment, its not tasting nice to my mind, not nasty...just not pleasant.
It has a pronounced sweetness to it which is a little overpowering. I've not tasted this commercial brew as yet so I don't really know what it should be like.
Buster a forum member kindly sent me a bottle from his local brewery which I intended saving for a taste comparison when mine was ready. I might be drinking it earlier to get an idea how far mine is off taste !.
Still its very young yet and has time to alter. I think this brew might take several weeks to come around to my taste...if ever it does.We shall see.

 

[calumscott]

It should have a sweetness PD, but not overpowering. Mine's shaping up just about right going by yesterday's little sample. Bottling tonight! :thumb:

 

[PD]

:thumb:

 

[calumscott]

Did you bottle it or keg it PD?

 

[PD]

Only use bottles Calum.

 

[calumscott]

Maybe those yeasties just need a bit more time to chow down on the priming load?

I had that with the first couple of bottles of one recently - hellish sweet, throught I might have screwed it up but I warmed them through for another week and a half and that sorted it nicely. :thumb:

 

[PD]

yes there's no need to panic at this stage. But I get the impression that more conditioning time than normal will be required.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

I've stopped copying from books because the end result are (IMO) never like the intended ale... the odds are against you from the start unless you have that certain yeast strain...
I do a brew nowadays and work aroud it with tweeks until I get the taste I want... :thumb:
BB

 

[PD]

I agree and I don't set out to make exact clones or copies of commercial ales however if there's a commercial brew available of my ale I like to compare.

I also brew ales of the type I've bought and liked, not intending them to be exact, but of a similar nature. All my brews get tweaked and altered even if its just a bit o wheat added !

 

[calumscott]

Sliding way off topic but hey...

...I absolutely agree! GW's recipes are really good, they do come up a fair bit like the brewery's beers but you're never going to make an exact replica. It's about knowing the beers you like and either brewing them to the recipe bearing in mind that it's going to be similar, not necessarily "the same", or using the recipes as a base for something you know is a style you'll like.

I think my AG#1 Hooky Bitter was bang on recipe and was pretty close to the result, the Kingsdown seems pretty close at this stage even though I had to substitute hops and screwed up the schedule and the FortyNiner was quite radically different because of the hop substitutions I made but there were still similarities to the real one.

I don't see the point in true replicas myself. So long as I get good tasty beer that comes out mostly like it was intended then that's where I want to be. :thumb:

 

[PD]

second tasting of Kingsdown Ale and its getting a whole lot better.
As yet not tried the commercial nbottle kindly sent to me by Buster.
The beer is sweet but has rounded out from the cloying sweetness it was when first bottled and a bottle was quite enjoyable. Its carbonated but as yet no head forms on the beer, lets see how it is in another 2 weeks.