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It's a bit like a brewing version of 'Letters from America'.
Always something of interest
It's a bit like a brewing version of 'Letters from America'.
Always something of interest
New Year - Slid Brewday
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Continue to keep us informed.
It's a bit like a brewing version of 'Letters from America'.
Always something of interest
Yes indeed, Terry. And almost always a new way to cock things up. Despite all my technical inadequacies, there is usually very good beer at the end.
Does the home made 'Golden Syrup' taste like T&Ls. I occasionally use latter in brewing and it does introduce its own flavour to the finished product, so you have to be careful. But not as careful as anyone tempted to use 'black treacle' 
The home made golden syrup is 100g plus a small amount of water, then added lemon or lime juice for acidity. I find the early addition of the acid really helps the whole process. You cook the sugar in the pan until it gets to the wanted depth of colour and then slowly add ~300mll of water (boiling) and then ~500g of sugar and slowly simmer for 40 mins or so. There a few vids on the Net that really show how easy this is.
I think using Lime instead of Lemon juice could make a real difference to a USA style pale ale.
As an aside, many. many British beers have made use of the addition of golden syrup. Belgian beers? Well, that's almost a given, in many of the great styles.
I think using Lime instead of Lemon juice could make a real difference to a USA style pale ale.
As an aside, many. many British beers have made use of the addition of golden syrup. Belgian beers? Well, that's almost a given, in many of the great styles.
Ta.
One of your earlier posts in this thread linked to this
I might have a go.
I've got some citric acid crystals. I might use that instead of a lemon slice to give a neutral taste, although I like the idea of using different citrus fruits. Grapefruit in a cascade beer perhaps?
Anyway I suppose a taste test is required.
Zephyr259
Landlord.
I would doubt the flavour comes through in the end but I've not tried this method yet.
Interesting that you add the lemon at the start Slid, means you'll be inverting right away so your caramelising mostly fructose rather than sucrose which would make it happen a bit quicker. Wonder if it affects the flavour?
Interesting that you add the lemon at the start Slid, means you'll be inverting right away so your caramelising mostly fructose rather than sucrose which would make it happen a bit quicker. Wonder if it affects the flavour?
I found that if I don't add the acid at the start, I get crystallisation rather than caramelisation and it looks like a big mess.
Ta.
One of your earlier posts in this thread linked to this
I might have a go.
I've got some citric acid crystals. I might use that instead of a lemon slice to give a neutral taste, although I like the idea of using different citrus fruits. Grapefruit in a cascade beer perhaps?
Anyway I suppose a taste test is required.
There are a few vids on U-tube and it is very easy to make.
Zephyr259
Landlord.
Oh, that's interesting, maybe not enough water? I make caramel fairly often and add more water than recipes recommend as it makes it easier to fully dissolve and the only downside is it takes a bit longer to boil off again and colour. By adding the acid you're inverting it which prevents crystallisation. Just a theory. :-)
Well I made some invert sugar/golden syrup this afternoon using the Youtube vid I/Slid linked above to see what it was all about.
I closely followed the process described and found it was quite easy, although I used one quarter tsp citric acid instead of one quarter lemon. From 900g or so of ingredients I now have 750g of syrup in two jars, so I lost 150g through evaporation.
Observations
- Colour very light and clear, a bit like rape seed oil. I put this down to stopping the initial caramelisation stage early on. And it didn't really darken very much during the main simmer. Leave it longer at the beginning and it will be darker.
- It is slightly less viscous than shop bought GS. That's because I only kept it on a low heat and probably didn't lose as much water as intended.
- Tastes of a slightly fruity sugar, with only a trace of caramel. Again if I had let the caramelisation carry on for a little longer the taste would be more caramel.
Anyway I've now got to decide what to do with it. Use it in brewing, or get Mrs terrym to make some flapjack. aunsure....
Flapjack gets my vote! I really love it. #1 Daughter makes a great flapjack, so good that it never lasts very long.
Back in the 1970's Ben Turner did a book called something like "The Home Winemaker and Brewers Calendar". It had two beer recipes I did a few times in an extract style. One with Dark DME and Fuggles, which was a mild and one using Pale DME and a good amount of Golden Syrup and Goldings - that was a bitter. They were better than the kits of the era, which is not really a great recommendation, TBH.
Back in the 1970's Ben Turner did a book called something like "The Home Winemaker and Brewers Calendar". It had two beer recipes I did a few times in an extract style. One with Dark DME and Fuggles, which was a mild and one using Pale DME and a good amount of Golden Syrup and Goldings - that was a bitter. They were better than the kits of the era, which is not really a great recommendation, TBH.
This Christmas beer, pitched on the 2nd of March, turned out at around 10% and has been sampled a few times since - each time it has been fairly awful, TBH.
Tried a bottle this evening, warmed up to room temperatures, and it is a reasonable Christmassy sort of beer. No chance I will do the same next year, though!
As I still have a fairly large number of bottles, it could be hanging on until next Christmas.
Zephyr259
Landlord.
Oh no! That's a shame, what's made it terrible? The fruit do something strange to it?
I got the best of both worlds.
Flapjack was produced anyway, and most of the invert sugar went into a brew yesterday. I used a little in a yeast starter as well and the yeast seemed to love it!
I think that beers of this strength seem to need the best part of a year to be any good. It might mature quite a bit faster in bulk, I guess, and to that end, I have a 10L carboy to experiment with. First in over the weekend will be an Old Peculier clone, OG 1.073, that I will leave for 3 months or so, longer if I forget!
I had a first taste of this today and it is really good. Newer hops might improve it, but it is fine as is.
By coincidence, I did another variant on the Centenniel Brown recipe today:
MO 4.25kg
Chocolate 300g
Wheat 220g
Crystal 200g
Brown sugar 320g
Centenniel 10.3% 19g/27g/25g/29g @ FW/15/5/0 and US05.
The hops are pellets (from the Worcester Hop Shop - 2x for £7) and between the highly crushed grain and the pellet hops, the pump / chiller got clogged up, so familiar straining through the grain bag into the PECO boiler and back to get rid. This makes for a 6 hr brewday, but WTH - if it's as good as the Green Bullet, it is worth the time and effort.
hmmmmmm nice one pal.
Bri
Bri
hmmmmmm nice one pal.
Bri
Hi Bri, nice to see you again. How's the latest brew going?
So to belatedly answers the question of @Dutto "what does it taste like?" There is an initial answer, albeit a bit later than the question.
This already shows great complexity of malt flavours. Very nice 250ml bottle sipped bit by bit tonight, since it is nearly Xmas, even though the alarm goes off at 04:45 tomorrow.
I see a little of what the fuss is about. Sufficient hyberbole, I feel.
Dutto
Landlord.
Aha!! I've brewed quite a few beers that tasted lovely when "sipped".
I admire the nearly four month wait; in fact I still have a few pints of the "Mild" I mentioned back in August after "sipping" the other 30 pints or so into oblivion!
