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Post #51 made 10 years ago
by hashie
Cheers DanIAm, I'm glad that you enjoy the beer you make :)

I have brewed this beer many times with both Lyle's golden syrup and with CSR golden syrup. The CSR is in a larger container and is darker in colour (I just use the whole container either way) so there would be, but I've never measured the difference, some small change in the finished colour and gravity of the beer albeit marginal. For my palate, I can't taste any difference.

I haven't tried different yeasts, I just use the Danstar Nottingham. It does need to rest for a week after the initial 'active' ferment to allow the flavours to mellow. I do prefer my beers to be dry rather than sweet. I've had my best results fermenting at 12°C. That's the beauty of Danstar Nottingham, it works well at Ale temperatures, but even better at Lager temperatures. I've been able to get this yeast to kick off at 8° and then allowing it to rise to 14°, it was a 3 week ferment but I have the patience. It's a very versatile yeast.

So to conclude, I would advise varying the recipe by varying the fermenting temperatures to find what has the best results for you, before changing the recipe's ingredients.

Cheers
Hashie
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #52 made 10 years ago
by DanIAm
Onya Hashie.

I was curious was all, given that you stipulated Lyle's Golden Syrup in the recipe, rather than just saying Golden Syrup, it seemed to imply that there was a reason. I would have expected negligible difference given the other flavours in a beer and the amount it gets watered down, good to have it confirmed though.

I'll revisit the danstar someday, a degree or two difference at mash time or the rest compared to my usual brews can't be ruled out and my curiousity demands satiation. But for now, I'm back to my trusty Safale S-04. There is a variation to my routine - I put in your teaspoon of salt for giggles ;)

Post #53 made 10 years ago
by hashie
I hope you get u good chuckle from the beer you added the salt to. I can't say why, but I prefer the beers I make to have a bit of salt in the water. It simply acts as a conditioner to the water I have available. Others may or may not need it.

The reason for stipulating Lyle's golden syrup is 2 fold.
1.) to keep the beer true to style, it is after all an English styled beer.
2.) A recipe cannot be ambiguous it must be precise in measurements and quantities. Once you or anybody else modifies a recipe it becomes theirs as they now control what goes in at what time etc.

Cheers and happy brewing :)
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #54 made 9 years ago
by whattheschmidt
Just brewed the 'Old Speckled Hen' clone. I made the usual adjustment my efficiency being about 10% lower, and my efficiency came in way higher than expected. OG called for was 1.053, my OG was 1.070. So this will be an Old Speckled Cock. I am considering dry hopping it for a few days due to all the extra alcohol...will obviously change the beer quite a bit but that has already been done!

Should I add about 15 grams of Northern Brewer in the fermenter in a week? dry hop for 4-5 days?

Post #55 made 9 years ago
by DanIAm
Heya Whatthe,

Adding the hops after the brew has been fermenting for a while is sound. Hop aromas won't be forced out of the airlock as much, compared to hopping at the start of the fermentation, also want to add those hops while there is still some fermentation so that some CO2 can fill the airspace and purge it of the oxygen you let in when you opened up the fermenter.

At a week, even with the added sugars from your high OG, it should be mostly fermented, so if you taste your brew you'll have a fair idea of how your brew will turn out. The hops are more to balance out the malt, not the alcohol, so let your palate be the judge of if it wants/needs dry hopping. But if your kegging, maybe taste it on tap first then dry hop the keg instead of the fermenter - if desired (and repurge the airspace).

But that's only going to account for aroma/flavour. If you need more bittering, the dry hops won't fix that. But that can be remedied by boiling the hops for an hour in a litre or two of water and adding the liquid (once cooled) to your fermenter. Or see if your LHBS has isohops.

As for using Northern Brewer. Dry hopping is for flavours/aromas, Maybe you should make a tea out of the Northern Brewer and the Goldings and compare them. The Northern Brewer does have it's own flavour/aroma profile, but this recipe is using it for bittering, after an hour of boiling most of the oils have evaporated, which just leaves the bitter aspect in the wort. If you dry hopped you would probably want to use Goldings, but maybe you might find the Northern Brewer will be what your correction needs. (So, do make a cup of tea of both, you'll get an understanding of the aroma/flavour profiles).

Post #56 made 9 years ago
by PistolPatch
whattheschmidt wrote:Just brewed the 'Old Speckled Hen' clone. I made the usual adjustment my efficiency being about 10% lower...
That sentence caught my eye Schmidt. BIAB is less "system-dependent" than other methods of all-grain and the BIABacus purposely slightly under-estimates efficiencies so...

If you are consistently getting under the efficiencies predicted by the BIABacus, then we know there is a problem. I saw your first post and this leads me to believe you are using the BIABacus. Maybe post up a few files if you have them of your actual results.

It's possible that there might be something really simple going on here that you might have easily missed.

:peace:
PP
Last edited by PistolPatch on 30 May 2016, 20:52, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: The Old Speckled Hen (clone)

Post #57 made 8 years ago
by DanIAm
I've been brewing this for a few years now - Thanks Hashie :)

This will be up to your individual tastebuds.  But I've kept the aroma hop as East Kent Goldings but changed the flavour to Styrian Goldings and while I love the original recipe, I personally prefer this modification.  It's a tad (an amateur homebrewers term for a "bit") fruitier, but I'm having a struggle to place it.  Maybe loquats?

I just replaced like amount for like amount from the recipe and it seems about right (dependant on the crop year etc).
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