Old brewer but new here

[Les Howarth]

Hi everyone,

I am Les.

I am originally from Liverpool where I started winemaking in 1976 and then moved to brewing too. I'm not exactly sure when because I didn't keep good records in the early days. My first brews were Boots, Geordie, Tom Caxton etc. kits and weren't very good. I worked as a student in Stevenage for 6 months in 1978/9 where I gained a taste for Abbott Ale and bought a copy of Dave Line's Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy because it had an Abbott Ale recipe, but it was all grain. So I bought the ingredients and had a go. It was a comedy of errors because I didn't have the right equipment. I was trying to crush grain with a rolling pin and I think I burnt out a neighbour's blender she lent me. The extract efficiency was understandably terrible so I topped up with some malt extract. The final beer was nothing like Abbott Ale, but it was the best beer I ever brewed at that point! It was so much effort though that I went back to using kits...

In 1980 my parents relocated down to Devon and in 1981 I followed them as far as Bristol and more university. At around this time, I went into North Devon Homebrew in Barnstaple and went to buy a Bruheat. I misread the price label and thought it was £5 but when I got to the till I was informed it was £25! (Bear in mind a pint of beer was about 40p at the time) It was a pivotal life moment. What to do? I saw a future of crappy kits ahead of me and that vision was enough for me to whip out my credit card (which had a limit of £100) and bought the Bruheat. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. I still have it (repurposed as a HLT) and it has more than paid back that £25!

SInce then I have lived in England, Scotland and the USA. I have brewed in Sheffield, Banbury, Livingston, Saffron Walden, Algonquin (Illinois) and Alloa. Along the way I have brewed hundreds of beers, made some great friends, joined up with home brewers groups in Scotland, Cambridge, Oxford, Crystal Lake, IL

Cheers,

Les

 

[Tess Tickle's Brewery]

All sounds fabulous and I'm sure you'll be an asset to us all.

Welcome.

 

[Deadhead]

Welcome!

 

[Siscokid85]

Welcome!

Loved the intro very interesting, quick google of a bruheat later and it seems like an early version of the electrim mashing bucket I started out with a few years ago!

I am sure you will be a great addition to the forum!

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Hi Les Did you ever clone that Abbott ale recipe to satisfaction?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Rwilts]

Welcome

 

[Nucbrewer]

Welcome I’m sure we will all have lots of questions for you. What kit are you using now?

 

[Les Howarth]

Yes, I brewed Dave Line's Abbott Ale recipe a few times. In the early days it always came out well (sometimes fantastic) but rarely anything like Abbott Ale! I put this down to variability in available ingredient quality at the time and my process probably wasn't 100% either. More recently, I have brewed it again and it has come out very close to Abbott Ale as I remember it from the late 1970s.

The one time I was lucky enough to meet Graham Wheeler, he told me that Dave Line's recipes were quite accurate but assumed unrealistic efficiencies. I think that Dave Line also used some sugar mixes to replicate various invert sugars and also had high hop rates because of the poor quality hops available at the time. I therefore think that Dave Line's book is a very useful snapshot of beer recipes as they were at the time so are an excellent basis for producing clones of what are now largely historic beers. Even beers that are still available (such as Abbott Ale) have been dumbed down over the years so are simply not the same. I still brew (or plan to brew) updated Dave Line recipes. My favourites include Abbott Ale, Gibbs Mew Bishop's Tipple, Ruddles County and Ind Coope Burton Ale. I've also had good results with his Chimay and Eldridge Pope Royal Oak recipes.

Cheers,

Les

 

[An Ankoù]

I therefore think that Dave Line's book is a very useful snapshot of beer recipes as they were at the time so are an excellent basis for producing clones of what are now largely historic beers. Even beers that are still available (such as Abbott Ale) have been dumbed down over the years so are simply not the same. I still brew (or plan to brew) updated Dave Line recipes. My favourites include Abbott Ale, Gibbs Mew Bishop's Tipple, Ruddles County and Ind Coope Burton Ale. I've also had good results with his Chimay and Eldridge Pope Royal Oak recipes.

Since Dave was from Southampton and I started my brewing (and drinking) in Southampton and Poole, many of these are beers I sought out in my youth. My principle diet as a 16-year-old was Watneys Starlight and whatever Whitbread Trophy on keg consisted of at that time and place. Getting out to the very remote Old Beams at Ibsley to drink Bishop's Tipple was slightly more difficult and exciting than a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Royal Oak was my beer of choice in Poole and I did more tours of Dorchester Brewery than all others put together. Both brewery's now sadly closed and Wadworth's interpretation of Bishops Tipple doesn't do it justice. Happy days, and I wonder how those beers would stand up next to today's similar offerings. Only one way to find out, I'll have to dig out my ragged copy of "Like Those You Buy" and knock up a batch or two. Thanks for the inspiration.

While Pope's is a great loss, I like to think I drunk it dry. Their hospitality, both before and after the tour, was very very hospitable indeed.

 

[Les Howarth]

Welcome I’m sure we will all have lots of questions for you. What kit are you using now?

A bit of a mixture, but the standard 3-vessel HLT+Mash tun+Kettle.

I have 2 HLTs-an old Bruheat and I Williams Brewing stainless steel one I bought when we were in the US. I need to convert it 2 220V. The mash tun is a big US insulated cooler fitted with a false bottom. The kettle is an Anvil pot (very solid, very well made) and I use an induction hob for heating. I have a mix of fermenters, Anvil, SSBrewtech and stainless steel pots. And a lot of cornies (is it possible to have too many?)

 

[clib]

A bit of a mixture, but the standard 3-vessel HLT+Mash tun+Kettle.

I have 2 HLTs-an old Bruheat and I Williams Brewing stainless steel one I bought when we were in the US. I need to convert it 2 220V. The mash tun is a big US insulated cooler fitted with a false bottom. The kettle is an Anvil pot (very solid, very well made) and I use an induction hob for heating. I have a mix of fermenters, Anvil, SSBrewtech and stainless steel pots. And a lot of cornies (is it possible to have too many?)

You use steel pots as fermenters, Les? What are these exactly? The sort of thing you might boil your beer in, re-purposed? I have some I could use for that instead of plastic, perhaps.

 

[MashBag]

You use steel pots as fermenters, Les? What are these exactly? The sort of thing you might boil your beer in, re-purposed? I have some I could use for that instead of plastic, perhaps.

Not sure I understand your question. You can use any stainless vessel as a fermenter as long as it has a lid.

Have I missed your point?

 

[Les Howarth]

You use steel pots as fermenters, Les? What are these exactly? The sort of thing you might boil your beer in, re-purposed? I have some I could use for that instead of plastic, perhaps.

Yes, exactly. Not ideal, but cheaper than the dedicated fermenters. Anvil do FIAK (ferment in a kettle) kits but Anvil products are not readily available in the UK.

 

[Martin Kernick]

Welcome. I too started out with Dave Line's recipes and I agree with the comments made above. I've recently returned to breweing after a 30 year hiatus. So much has changed. The kit you can get today for small batch brewing makes life so much easier.