Wye Valley Hereford Pale Ale (HPA) Clone Recipe

[terrym]

First thanks to @MartinHaworth for this interesting thread
Next @darrellm can you remember how your beer in post #20 above turned this out , given its well over 4 years since you did it!!! I have all the ingredients to have a go.

 

[Sandimas]

No sorry, given I can't remember what I had for breakfast, I'm unlikely to remember anything from 4 years ago However, my notes on the brew said it was pretty good and quite close to the original, not a "wow" but one to brew again.

I've just found some Target in the freezer that needs using up so I'll also be giving it a go, hopefully tomorrow. I may lose the dry hop and add more hops in the aroma steep, I'm finding that beers with a dry hop seem to be producing more foaming bottles than those without (I think this has been mentioned on the forum before). I'll also be doing a 10min addition of Styrian Goldings as well as 0min.

 

[MartinHaworth]

First thanks to @MartinHaworth for this interesting thread
Next @darrellm can you remember how your beer in post #20 above turned this out , given its well over 4 years since you did it!!! I have all the ingredients to have a go.

If I were doing this beer now, I would go chloride forwards 2:1 rather like TT do with their Landlord. Hoppy, but with malt body..

Cheers

Martin

 

[marshbrewer]

I would also culture up some yeast from a couple of bottles of butty Bach. It's s great yeast.

 

[terrym]

I would also culture up some yeast from a couple of bottles of butty Bach. It's s great yeast.

My wife and I havent been in a shop since early March, apart from two trips to the garden centre. So if Waitrose or Tesco dont sell it online I'm done and I have checked and and they dont.

 

[MartinHaworth]

My wife and I havent been in a shop since early March, apart from two trips to the garden centre. So if Waitrose or Tesco dont sell it online I'm done and I have checked and and they dont.

When I spoke to the brewer he said Nottingham would be as good as anything. Personally, these days, I would probably go for Windsor, pushed high to 22C on day 3, and enjoy the full body from the low attenuation.

Cheers

Martin

 

[Sandimas]

Well, it's in the FV.

Until I re-looked at this thread I'd completely forgotten I have some Wye Valley yeast in the other fridge cultivated from bottles, but I found a packet of MJ M36 Liberty Bell yeast that I haven't used before, so thought I'd give that a try. Now just trying to find a cool place in the house for it to ferment.

 

[Petrolhead]

Well I have made a start, going to do @MartinHaworth recipe and as you can see from the photo's I am well on my way with a decent sized starter cultured from two bottles of HPA. Really getting into this yeast 'ranching' free yeast and if you are culturing up from a bottle you get an excuse to drink a few beers.

 

[MartinHaworth]

Well I have made a start, going to do @MartinHaworth recipe and as you can see from the photo's I am well on my way with a decent sized starter cultured from two bottles of HPA. Really getting into this yeast 'ranching' free yeast and if you are culturing up from a bottle you get an excuse to drink a few beers.

View attachment 28416
View attachment 28417

DO keep us updated on how it turns out.

Thanks Martin

 

[Petrolhead]

Well it was brew day yesterday. I boil outside the brew shed so as it was a bit drizzly I rigged up a brolly so the boil kettle didn't gain liquid

As I had built up quite a big starter I stole a couple of mini starters from the conical to put in the fridge for later brews. Two bottles of HPA well paid for.

Had a small hiccup in that I didn't have enough pale malt, I buy in 25Kgs bags and it does give you a surprise when you run out but no excuses my fault, I replaced 1Kg with crystal malt so we will see.

Everything went great with the exception of my perfect whirlpool technique which let me down and I had to resort to a jug and sieve. I thought this actually works well and it produced a good litre more sweet wort than normal.

Hit all my numbers with the exception of a point higher on the OG and by using the big starter it took off like a rocket. Just checked my iSpindel as I type and it is down to 1.028, off to the brew shed shortly to tidy up the mess!

I was going to add my dry hop addition just as the OG flattened out so that I was kegging/bottling three or four days later. What are peoples thoughts on this or should I add my last 20g of Styrian a little earlier?

 

[Sambill]

I've been following this thread and planning a HPA clone since lockdown. Really missing that stuff, a good pint of HPA on a hot summers day is like nothing else.

Have you come to any conclusive recipes? It's been good following the discussion thank you.

 

[Petrolhead]

Well I can recommend the @MartinHaworth recipe.

I thought my fermentation had stopped at 1.020 but then realised that my iSpindel had run out of battery so I am going to leave it a full fortnight before bottling/kegging. I did check the SG with a hydrometer and can assure you that I really enjoyed polishing of the 100mm sample.

 

[Sambill]

Thank you for the quick response @Petrolhead . I've put @MartinHaworth's recipe into Beersmith (thank you Martin) and it's coming in at 42.5 IBU's. Why do these calculators never agree! I think that'll suit me. Going to use either Nottingham or Safale 04.

Cheers!

 

[Petrolhead]

I think both those should be fine as they are fairly neutral but if you are up to it then building up a starter from the Wye Valley bottles is good fun.

 

[MartinHaworth]

Thanks Fellas. Do keep the thread ticking over with how it goes + please post the recipe you use / tweak that works for you.

Martin

 

[Sambill]

Well my recipe looks like this, basically nicked @MartinHaworth's, i'll let you know how it goes, brewing a couple tomorrow. Good to know i can scavenge yeast from the bottle, never done that before. Checked the price of HPA on the Wye Valley website, £24 for 8 bottles!

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Here's my recipe based on Roger Protz Almanac
3800g MO
800g Crystal 55L
400g Wheat malt
300g Flaked Barley
25g Target @ 60m
10g Target @ 5m
Nottingham yeast or CML equivalent.
Might be a kilometre out but I'll try it.

 

[MartinHaworth]

Here's my recipe based on Roger Protz Almanac
3800g MO
800g Crystal 55L
400g Wheat malt
300g Flaked Barley
25g Target @ 60m
10g Target @ 5m
Nottingham yeast or CML equivalent.
Might be a kilometre out but I'll try it.

Thanks for that - the brewery told me to use Styrian Goldings (celeia) alongside target.

 

[Sambill]

Got my HPA mash on at 0953 this morning. 0957 called into work. Gave it half an hour then switched plan from fly to batch Sparge. Quick vorlauf and instructions to my Wife to check and tip the cooler if needed. I'll have to boil it tonight, hopefully hasn't stuck. Fingers crossed the wort will be okay!

 

[Sandimas]

Thanks for that - the brewery told me to use Styrian Goldings (celeia) alongside target.

+1 I also saw that hop combination on the Wye Valley brewery tour.

Also, HPA is extremely pale, I don't think there is any Crystal in it. Mine's just finishing fermentation, hoping to bottle it later this weekend.