RCE British Golden with Foothiller and Rayyankee

[Rayyankee]

Foothiller ( Jim ) and i decided to make a British Golden Ale for our RCE.

Our recipe is for 2 1/2 gallons

3.5 LB of Maris otter
1 LB of wheat
.25 lb of honey malt
.50 OZ of goldings 60 min.
.50 oz. cascade 20 min.
.25 oz. fuggle 5 min
Safale s-04 yeast

I wen to my LHBS 2 weeks ago and got all the ingredients and brewed this on Sunday the 21st of February .
It was the first time in about 3 and 1/2 years that i brewed a small batch like this. Had to break out the old LBK.
It was quite dusty and dirty i think i spent almost as much time cleaning it out as i did brewing .
I must admit though that i had fun doing this. since it was a small batch like this i was able to do this in my kitchen and didn't
have to use my turkey fryer like i do for my 5 gallon batches. Every thing went very smooth which was unusual. I was a little under
my est OG. it was 1.053 and i hit 1.049 not off by much. I am very excited to see how this tastes. and I must say that having this much fun with a small batch
reminded me of when i began way back when 5 years ago. I also have decided to keep the LBK in my rotation for some experimental recipes i come up with.
Will keep you posted on how it goes will most probably be bottling this on Sunday or Monday.
Cheers Ray

[MrBandGuy]

That looks great. That cascade seems a bit 'Mericanized, huh? Probably around, what, 4.5% or so?

[FedoraDave]

Sounds like a good recipe.

I replaced my LBKs with 3 gallon Better Bottle carboys a while ago, but I still like making the smaller size batches. I make two 2.5ers for every fiver, and I like the variety it brings to my pipeline, as well the ability to do experimental brews or develop new recipes without having a lot of a beer that may not be up to snuff.

[Foothiller]

Thanks for getting this started, Ray. Among travel for work and visiting family, running our county fair's homebrew and commercial beer competitions, and getting my NHC entries finished and delivered, time has been short. With rain this weekend, I am hoping I can get my batch brewed tomorrow.

Ray wanted to do a style for enjoying in spring or summer, I wanted to try something new, and this came together quickly as something we both find interesting. British Golden Ale is a new style in the 2015 BJCP guidelines, where the overall impression is described as "a hop-forward, average-strength to moderately-strong pale bitter. Drinkability and a refreshing quality are critical components of the style." It's pretty recent in general, as BJCP's discussion of its history says "Modern golden ales were developed in England to take on strongly-marketed lagers. While it is difficult to identify the first, Hop Back's Summer Lightning, first brewed in 1986, is thought by many to have got the style off the ground." The discussion of characteristics includes "English hops frequently used, although citrusy American varietals are becoming more common" -- thus our shot at this includes the Cascade hops in addition to Fuggle and Goldings. The range for OG is 1.038 to 1.053, so Ray's result is well within the range. The ABV range is 3.8% to 5.0%.

I find a number of advantages to brewing 2.5 gallon batches, including being able to brew in the kitchen. I can mostly use the pots and other things that we already have, I can heat and cool the wort in a reasonable time (allowing a shorter brew day), I can brew a variety of styles during the year without having a lot of inventory accumulate (although my closet is admittedly fairly full), etc.

[Foothiller]

I did get my batch brewed today. My OG is a bit less than Ray's: 1.046, which is still well within the style's range. That was after a 60 minute mash starting at 156 F and ending at 145 F in the small beverage cooler that I used, and 45 minute batch sparge, so maybe there is some variation between the grain's actual fermentable content and what was assumed in the calculations. I'm looking forward to comparing Ray's and my observations when our batches are done.

Ray, this has been a fun RCE, and I'm glad I got this chance to try this new style.

[Rayyankee]

Jim This has been fun I agree. will work with you any time you would like to.


So I bottled this up today hit 1.008 for my FG.
The hydrometer sample was very nice golden and tasted very nice bright with a very clean finish.
Now I know this was a hydrometer sample of flat beer but I have tasted enough of these to be pretty sure
this going to be a very fine beer.

Cheers Ray

[Foothiller]

After getting my batch brewed last Sunday, I had a tense moment after forgetting to check on it Monday morning as I headed out on a business trip. I considered asking my wife to check on it, but wouldn't be able to have her fix anything if it wasn't on track -- either it would be fine when I returned, or it would need to be rebrewed. Luckily everything was fine when I returned. Now, after a week, the gravity is down to 1.010, which might be where it stays. I can still detect slight acetaldehyde, which is common at this point, and otherwise has a pleasant ale aroma & flavor. Unless scheduling goes otherwise, I will bottle it in another 2 weeks, to allow the yeast to get everything cleaned up since there is no need to rush.

[Foothiller]

I got my brew bottled today, on schedule before some schedule conflicts would have otherwise delayed it for a couple of weeks. The FG did stay at 1.010, which leaves the ABV at 4.8%, both of which are right in the style description's ranges. Light in color, it has good clarity, moderate biscuity malt, and moderate herbal and citrus hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma -- all as intended except that I think I would increase the hops in all of these attributes when I brew it again. I'm looking forward to sampling more than what I poured for the refractometer, and after carbonation and conditioning. I'm also glad that Ray suggested increasing the hops from what I had initially suggested.

[BigPapaG]

This sounds great guys... I really want to try this style... I think it might just be the next one I brew!

I've got a bunch of Marris Otter, some Pils, some white wheat, E.K.G.'s, Fuggles and C hops...

I might even have an S-04 or a Windsor in there...

Yup... Next one up...

How about some pics?

[Rayyankee]

not sure how to share a pic of this beer but i must say it was light gold and very tasty

cheers Ray

[FedoraDave]

Another successful RCE! Thanks for participating, and brew strong!

[Rayyankee]

14621246144350327161433 (1).jpg (236.3 KiB) Viewed 3712 times

might be sideways but here it is after my first few sips as i said a very tasty beer
Thanks to Foothiller (Jim) and of course the hat for setting this up
Cheers Ray

[BigPapaG]

Mmmm, that looks great!

Good job guys!

[Foothiller]

Thanks for posting the photo, Ray, and I'm glad you found this, BigPapa. When I had one last week, it seemed to match the style description but would continue to improve with more conditioning. If I enter it in a competition, I'll let you know the results. BigPapa, it will be great to hear how yours comes out too.