McMullens AK recipe

[Scrattajack]

Hi all,

Graham Wheeler's recipe for McMullens AK has a grain bill of pale malt plus a small amount of chocolate. The McMullens site though mentions crystal. Any ideas about how much and the type?

Cheers.

 

[Twostage]

It mentions the taste is caramel and the smell is nutty. I think the chocolate will largely handle the colouring so you could probably go for quite a bit of a lighter crystal. Try looking at other recipes for other beers that have similar qualities.

Unusual description isn't it - light mild.

 

[Scrattajack]

Unusual description isn't it - light mild.

It is. That's why I chose it. A low ABV malty pale beer for early spring and autumn.

 

[Scrattajack]

you could probably go for quite a bit of a lighter crystal

About 5%?

 

[Twostage]

About 5%?

Had a quick play with BrewMate (I really must update myself) and 87% pale, 4% chocolate and 9% crystal 60 (rounded numbers) looks about the right colour. For a 25 litre batch 3Kg of pale, 300g of crystal and 125g of chocolate gets you to 3.7% ABV. Probably worth upping the crystal and reducing chocolate would give you a more caramel flavour. Also worth putting it though a more modern recipe builder. Anyway, hopefully it gives you a starting point.

 

[Sadfield]

It could be worth incorporating @Twostage suggestions above into GW's recipe and then send it in a polite email to Mcmullens, asking if it would be close to replicating their lovely beer.

 

[Scrattajack]

Also worth putting it though a more modern recipe builder. Anyway, hopefully it gives you a starting point.

Thanks for doing all that, much appreciated. I'll whack it into Brewers Friend ready for brew day tomorrow.

 

[Scrattajack]

It could be worth incorporating @Twostage suggestions above into GW's recipe and then send it in a polite email to Mcmullens, asking if it would be close to replicating their lovely beer.

Good plan, nothing to lose...

 

[Sandimas]

GW's recipes are now quite old, breweries often change their recipes over the years so could well have updated it. And even GW pointed out that his recipes are approximations, not exact clones.

 

[Twostage]

GW's recipes are now quite old, breweries often change their recipes over the years so could well have updated it. And even GW pointed out that his recipes are approximations, not exact clones.

On the flip side - the below is from the Greene King website describing their Yardbird IPA. I wonder if it has the six hops in the tasting notes or the three in the hops section ?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Had a quick play with BrewMate (I really must update myself) and 87% pale, 4% chocolate and 9% crystal 60 (rounded numbers) looks about the right colour.

Noooo - that's the sort of mistake that USians make.

Traditional British brewers almost always adjust colour with caramel, so targeting colour is a terrible way to estimate the amount of speciality malts, you'll always end up with too much.

It also ignores the possibility that they're using dark invert sugars, again something that's very traditional in British brewing.

Unusual description isn't it - light mild.

It's a bit of an oddity in all sorts of ways - it's about the only beer that's still described as an AK, but as for them describing it as "light mild"...I'll leave that to Ron Pattinson :
I find this type of Light Bitter (it's not an effing Light Mild no matter Kristen says below) fascinating. So common in the last couple of decades of the 19th century but almost completely vanished by 1939. Except at McMullen and Holes. I still find it hard to accept McMullen's role in convincing many that AK was some sort of Light Mild. It wasn't. It was a Light Bitter. Or a Mild Bitter. But not a Light Mild. Is that clear?

He does have an OG for 2002 Mac's AK - 1036, a touch up on earlier ones. Previous ones have an FG of around 1.004, implying an attenuation in the high 80s.

On the assumption that the recipe vaguely resembles 19th century AKs, then it won't have any crystal malt at all - it would be pale malt with up to 10% or so of invert sugar, maybe a bit of wheat flour or rice.

 

[Scrattajack]

On the assumption that the recipe vaguely resembles 19th century AKs, then it won't have any crystal malt at all - it would be pale malt with up to 10% or so of invert sugar, maybe a bit of wheat flour or rice.

The McMullen site specifically mentions crystal, which came as a surprise as all the recipes I'd previously seen didn't.

I sent McMullen an email, following Sadfield's advice above. Maybe they'll shed some light...

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The McMullen site specifically mentions crystal, which came as a surprise as all the recipes I'd previously seen didn't.

Fair enough - reinforces the idea that it's just another ordinary bitter, it's certainly not the same recipe that they've been brewing since the 19th century as their blurb implies. And that's before you get onto hopping with WGV which only really entered commercial production in the 1950s...

I imagine at some point they've done what Fuller's did with their main beers, moving away from the use of sugar to all-grain, partly under pressure from CAMRA as part of the latter's misguided war on traditional British brewing practices.

 

[peebee]

I've had this mild/bitter argument not a while back. And got back a shot of various pump clips and beer mats describing McMullen AK as McMullen brewery put it about. Basically, they'll tell you what they think you want to know! Mild? Bitter? "How would you prefer it Sir"? Bah, good luck getting a definitive response from them.

Coincidentally, my next brew is an AK! Rose, 1896. Bit unusual so far North, and a bit strong at 5% ABV (AKs were usually about 3.5 - 4.5%). Ron P. has a book called "AK!" (I keep trying for referral income ... no luck so far ).

https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2021/03/lets-brew-1896-rose-ak.html
Made it before but I thought (like many) "invert sugar" was created by some ridiculous caramelising method. I want to try it now with a miles closer (and simpler!) combination method. Like @Northern_Brewer was saying, Pale Malt (I use Chavallier for these 19th C. recreations - which instantly makes them a hit!), Invert Sugar ("No.2" in this case) and rice.

It will go alongside the 1914 Courage X-Ale, a precursor for the "mild ales", which is ready for the pumps now. And it contains crystal malt, and is dark (dark milds/x-ales were getting commoner by WWI). The strength was holding up at this time, the wars sorted that. An X-Ale ("Mild Ale") from the time of that Rose AK would knock your block off! About 5-7% ABV.

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2017/12/lets-brew-1914-courage-x-ale.html

 

[Scrattajack]

It could be worth incorporating @Twostage suggestions above into GW's recipe and then send it in a polite email to Mcmullens, asking if it would be close to replicating their lovely beer.

Well, I had a reply from the head brewer and he said I was on the right lines but there's no crystal in it.

 

[Twostage]

Well, I had a reply from the head brewer and he said I was on the right lines but there's no crystal in it.

Interesting. Might be worth putting together a recipe with just pale and choc.

I think there must be too much of a gap between the brewhouse and marketing.

 

[Scrattajack]

Interesting. Might be worth putting together a recipe with just pale and choc.

I think there must be too much of a gap between the brewhouse and marketing.

The Graham Wheeler one has just pale and chocolate, I'll try that after the current effort. If the one with crystal is better I'll tip off the head brewer.

I did point out the source of my mistake. It'll be interesting to see if the website entry changes.