English Old Ale..with a Twist

[Portreath]

Managed to squeeze in a brew day and now have 21 ltrs of Old Ale in the fermenter. I was aiming for 8% final, however the efficiency looks to be only 55%, so now have an OG of 1.066 so should come out about 7.1, not too fussed though. I think next time I’ll add a kilo of DME to try and compensate for the low efficiency. I used Saaz hops, 70g at start and 30 @10 mins, no other reason that I happen to have 100g knocking around. The wort smells really nice tough, so quite pleased. Lovely coffee & chocolate aroma. The recipe went something like this:
6 kg Pale Malt
300 g Crystal 60L
300 g Chocolate
250 g Torrified Wheat
650 g Sugar
Think I’ll let this one go for a good 8-10 weeks for conditioning, but might be tempted for a new years eve taster.
would like to get my BH efficiency a little better though.

 

[Sandimas]

Really interested in how your brew turns out. I have a loads of Saaz and Hallertau in the freezer, use them in lagers, they must be more versatile than that but never been brave enough to use them in an ale.

 

[An Ankoù]

Really interested in how your brew turns out. I have a loads of Saaz and Hallertau in the freezer, use them in lagers, they must be more versatile than that but never been brave enough to use them in an ale.

So would I. Never thought of using Saaz in an English ale, but they must have been one of the few named varieties available to English brewers a hundred or so years ago so I'd be very interested to know how this one turns out, too.
Good luck.

 

[MyQul]

Really interested in how your brew turns out. I have a loads of Saaz and Hallertau in the freezer, use them in lagers, they must be more versatile than that but never been brave enough to use them in an ale.

So would I. Never thought of using Saaz in an English ale, but they must have been one of the few named varieties available to English brewers a hundred or so years ago so I'd be very interested to know how this one turns out, too.
Good luck.

The recipe for Fullers Discovery in GW BYOBRA uses saaz

 

[marshbrewer]

I've used Saaz in quite a few 'British' ales, both golden ales and more typical brown pale ales / bitters, and I think they work really well.

 

[ACBEV]

Historically Saaz was quite common in English styles. The second world war put an end to that, due to availability.

Cluster was often used as a bittering hop too, as it was cheap compared to English hops...

Boddingtons stout in the 1920s didn't have any English hops...
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2018/04/lets-brew-wednesday-1921-boddington.html

and here is an example of Adnams Old Ale with Cluster and Saaz...
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2018/02/lets-brew-1921-adnams-xxxx.html
I've brewed this a few times and very nice, indeed...

 

[Zephyr259]

Really interested in how your brew turns out. I have a loads of Saaz and Hallertau in the freezer, use them in lagers, they must be more versatile than that but never been brave enough to use them in an ale.

I used a 50:50 split of Saaz and EKG in my pale ale, first used these in a saison and liked the character so tried it with an english yeast and they make a good pint. Just late additions though, Admiral's my go-to bittering hop.

 

[An Ankoù]

I see that Saaz is the only hop mentioned other than Fuggles and Goldings in the Durden Park recipe book so I think it must have been around in late antiquity. I'm going to try it in my QFTPB (quest for the perfect bitter) as a late hop. Thanks for the pointers.

 

[Portreath]

It's been in a conditioning barrel for almost 2 weeks, was planning on bottling when I get around to it, was thinking 6 weeks as it came out at 7.1%, which was what I was aiming for (give or take a point or two).
Just poured a little snifter and low and behold it's self carbed, nice body with a lush creak white head. No great surprise there, but the biggest surprise is the taste. It's amazing already, so lord only know what it will be like on xmas eve when I plan to get stuck in. The bitterness is really subtle, and it has a really nice warming feel. I think this is going to be a stonker.