Real Ales For Home Brewers by Marc Ollosson

[Kingfisher]

I recently bought the book, Real Ales For Home Brewers and am pleased with the straight forward way it approaches AG brewing. One of the recipes itincludes, which I want to try next, is Castle Eden Ale, my nearest local brew. My previous two AG brews have lost a lot of wort in the boil period and this M O recipe gives a boil time of 2 hours.

What I'd like to ask is; has anyone tried this recipe, what boil time did they use and what are the benefits of a long boil period?

 

[Wez]

I've not tried that one, but I have brewed a few from that book (which is a great book) and i've always cut the boil down from 2hrs to 1hr. Hop utilisation is something to watch when shortening a boil iirc but if you have beersmith or similar they calculate that for you.

Let us know how you get on with it.

 

[Vossy1]

I reckon this is the easiest/best recipe book ever written and it beggers belief that it is not better known.
I've yet to brew a bad recipe from it, though a couple have been repeated with varying results (probably my errors).

I've reduced most of the recipe boil times and initial tastings have been the same as those boiled for the full duration....I know.... I'm drinking one now
Extended boil durations certainly seem to have a place for long term storage of the beer, but if that's not a concern, then I see no reason why the boil times can't be reduced.
I now reduce the boil times to 1 hour for all the recipes in this book, apart from the long term keepers...but that's my choice

 

[Buzz]

I'd agree, I've done more recipes from this book than any other. I like to boil for 90 mins and use this all the time. I tend to top up with boiled water from the kettle if I'm losing too much to evaporation and it doesn't seem to effect the final gravity as the boiling condenses the wort in any case.

 

[Kingfisher]

Thanks for the above I'll certainly check the hopping as W suggests. I found these while I was clicking about they may useful to someone in future:

http://www.irishcraftbrewer.com/index.p ... &Itemid=36

http://www.toonale.co.uk/wort_boiling.htm

http://brewsupplies.com/hop_characteristics.htm

Still can't work out those linky things though. :wha: