Boddingtons ish brew day

[GHW]

Tomorrow is brew day, a boddingtons style bitter. I'm using the grainfather so will separately write a review of that up.

This is the recipe, I'm doing 20L, will go in a pb which will hopefully help get that lovely white mousse like head that boddies used to have.

Grain
MO 3000g (93.3%)
Crystal 30L, 150g (4.7%)
White sugar, 70g

Hops
WGV 40g @60
WGV 10g @10
Fuggle 15g @10

Yeast: wyeast 1318 London ale iii
OG 1039, FG 1011, abv 3.7%, IBU 33

Most recipes use a 90min mash @66c and 90 min boil, but as I'm using the grainfather which seems to have great efficiency I figured a 60min mash at 66c and a 60m boil would be fine.

I was wondering about adding a small amount of torrefied wheat for head formation/retention, but haven't seen any recipes which use it. Thoughts?

 

[clibit]

Boddingtons doesn't use TW. Plenty of English ales do though.

Good luck. I'm pretty sure Bodds is Goldings, but my First Gold and Northdown recipe was the nearest thing to Bodds I've produced! WGV may well be a good option I think.

 

[GHW]

I've seen loads of variations all of which use goldings of one variety or another. I'm going loosely on graham wheelers recipe with a bit more MO and a bit less sugar. I'm hoping the low gravity means it will be in good nick by xmas as my dads coming over and he won't drink my stout and my pale is probably too strong for him now he's in his 70s!

 

[GHW]

This is going like the clappers now, lovely thick creamy looking krausen. Took it out from under the stairs as it felt rather chilly in there, though might move it back now it's going as the house is rather warm. The customary sniff of airlock gas was divine.

 

[clibit]

Scoop some of that top yeast for next time!

 

[stevej]

This is going like the clappers now, lovely thick creamy looking krausen. Took it out from under the stairs as it felt rather chilly in there, though might move it back now it's going as the house is rather warm. The customary sniff of airlock gas was divine.

Sniffing gas Gareth you have a problem :lol:

 

[GHW]

Scoop some of that top yeast for next time!

I might go in tonight and do just that. Haven't got any suitable vessels, might have to sterilise a jam jar or summat

 

[clibit]

Jam jar is fine :thumb:

 

[GHW]

Jam jar is fine :thumb:

What about lemon curd?

Joking

 

[Covrich]

What about lemon curd?

Joking

I got some pickled gerkin jar and a beetroot jar. They are big and I obviously had to make sure they were very clean (through the dish washer and rinse out and steralised afterwards)

 

[clibit]

Anything except marmite. Vile brewers yeast, as opposed to a vial of brewer's yeast.

A homophone spelling lesson there, folks. :thumb:

 

[GHW]

I got some pickled gerkin jar and a beetroot jar. They are big and I obviously had to make sure they were very clean (through the dish washer and rinse out and steralised afterwards)

Yeah I just raided my jar collection and they've all had my home made chutney in. Not sure any of them are idea really. Not sure that's a flavour I want in my beer.

I've got one jam one that's nearly empty, so I'll encourage the kids to eat toast before bedtime.

 

[clibit]

Yeah I just raided my jar collection and they've all had my home made chutney in. Not sure any of them are idea really. Not sure that's a flavour I want in my beer.

I've got one jam one that's nearly empty, so I'll encourage the kids to eat toast before bedtime.

Bloody autocorrect screwed up marmite and the spelling lesson!

I've found starsan is good at removing odours - and boiling jars should help too.

 

[GHW]

Education standards these days, honestly...

 

[GHW]

Flippin' Nora. I had wanted to barrel this brew this weekend, but the airlock is still giving off the occasional blub. No idea what the yeast is still chowing down on after two weeks but something's going on.

I wondered whether as the krausen hasn't completely collapsed, as seems to be the way with the this yeast, if it's just trapped co2 finding its way out from under the krausen?

I'm thinking that given I'm barreling, it won't really matter one way or another. Any continuing fermentation will just happen in the barrel creating the pressure required. I'll just prime lightly and add more co2 later if needed.

 

[GHW]

BAM! Barrelled this today, smelt good, looked the right colour.underprimed at only 70g for 20L as it seemed to still be giving off a few bubbles every now and again. Probably could have stayed in the fv another week but I want to try and have it in decent nick for Christmas. Might be a bit ambitious, my experience is that barrels take about 6 weeks or more to clear fully.

It's a top tap king keg though so will draw off the top...might get lucky!

 

[GHW]

Forgot FG so just took a sample, 1010, so 3.7-3.8%, perfect for boddingtons. Had a taster too and it's as close as I could hope for. Let's see what it's like in a month!

 

[GHW]

The problem with barrels is that you can't resist taking a sneaky taster. I'll never open a bottle before its conditioned for a month, but a barrel is too easy...'I'll just have a sneaky sampler...'

Anyway, this is getting very interesting. It's pale straw coloured, as it should be, and has that light moussey whiter than white head you'd expect from boddies. Taste wise it's still pretty raw but has flinty dryness, and surprisingly bitter bite on th aftertaste. Yum. Still cloudy, but it's got another three weeks til it's properly conditioned, so no worries there.

I can see this being the Xmas session beer of choice!

 

[GHW]

Well I've failed miserably in holding off this. I've had a few sneaky samplers from the pb (beers only been in it two and a half weeks) but I've had a chilled glass full and it's brilliant.

Very similar to boddingtons, looks like it, tastes like it. The 1318 yeast have given it a dimension I've not had in my other beers (mainly using us-05), and given how few ingredients went in it's got bags of taste.

It's far less troubled by the slightly grassy (might be chalky? I terrible at identifying tastes) that my other English style bitters have had. I put that down to the water, hopefully will get round to finding that out next year when I get my water report done.

Anyway, This is going in the shed on Saturday and is frankly going to get a major caning from me and my dad over Xmas.

Here it is, masquerading as hoegaarden:

 

[clibit]

Well I've failed miserably in holding off this. I've had a few sneaky samplers from the pb (beers only been in it two and a half weeks) but I've had a chilled glass full and it's brilliant.

Very similar to boddingtons, looks like it, tastes like it. The 1318 yeast have given it a dimension I've not had in my other beers (mainly using us-05), and given how few ingredients went in it's got bags of taste.

It's far less troubled by the slightly grassy (might be chalky? I terrible at identifying tastes) that my other English style bitters have had. I put that down to the water, hopefully will get round to finding that out next year when I get my water report done.

Anyway, This is going in the shed on Saturday and is frankly going to get a major caning from me and my dad over Xmas.

Here it is, masquerading as hoegaarden:

Looks great and sounds great. I reckon the change of yeast has altered the grassy/chalky thing. American brewers use US05 to reduce interference with the powerful hops. English beers traditionally derive much more flavour from malts and yeast. And get lots of flavour from them, even in low gravity beers with very few ingredients. Bodds was a great example in its heyday.