British Golden Ale Miraculix Best - Classic English Ale

[Miraculix]

Recipe Type

All Grain

Yeast

Imperial A09 - Pub

Yeast Starter

No

Batch Size (Gallons)

4.5

Original Gravity

1.04

Final Gravity

1.01

Boiling Time (Minutes)

30

IBU

30

Color

Between golden and amber

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

3-5

Tasting Notes

Caramel, Oranges, Marmelade, Delicous

Good Evening,

as I am drinking one right now, I feel like sharing the recipe of my best beer so far. I nailed the beer I had in mind 100% with the first shot, which never happened before. So don't judge me for being a tad bit proud. I shared the beer with a lot of friends yesterday and everybody was blown away, so my initial feeling was confirmed.

I believe that beer recipes should be as simple as possible and as complex as necessary, therfore my approach for this one wasn't too complicated.

I like the flavour of the southern English ales, but I do not like the cloying sweetness of, for example fullers. But the flavour of fullers is nice. So my aim was to get something with the nice and English fullers Flavour, but without it's cloying sweetness. In addition, I like a bit of head on my beer and a bit of carbonation. I took all of this into consideration and created the following recipe, which has all of the mentioned attributes.

Please keep in mind that this is for a 4.5 american gallon batch at 80% efficiency, therefore I give you the percentage in brackets by total fermentables so that you can adjust for your own system.

Ingredients:

1.8 kg Marris Otter (75%)
0.2kg spelt malt (torrified wheat or wheat malt works as well) (10%)
0.125 Crisp Crystal malt Ebc 150, 57L (5%)
0.3kg Golden Syrup (10%)

Hops: Magnum and Cobb's Golding (can be substituted with Goldings if not available)


MO is the base malt, could be theoretically substituted for similar base malts.

Spelt malt is in it to promote the head of the beer, you can use torrified wheat or wheat malt as well, this should also do the trick.

Crisp Crystal malt brings some caramel flavour. I recommend sticking to the one I used as crystal malt's tastes differ from maltster to maltster, even when having the same color.

Golden Sirup is used for flavour and to up the attenuation a bit. The choosen yeast strain is very very very tasty, but unfortunately a weak attenuator. It will flocc out like a stone but leave a cloyingly sweet beer, if not treated the right way.

Therfore the following mash schedule, to enhance head on the one side and attenuation on the other:

Water:

The water should promote Hops, but not too much. Aim for something like this:

Sulfate: 150
Chloride: 90
Calcium: 100

Lowest alkalinity possible.

This is meant as a ballpark thing. Don't sweat it too much. If you have more alkalinity, compensate with acidulated malt or some acid.


Mash Schedule:

1. Protein rest for 10 min @55c (this enhances head retention, but keep it short, and do not go lower than 55c!)

2. 45min @62C

3. 45min @72C

4. 15min @76C (Mashout, this releases a certain type of proteins that will also enhance head retention, just do it, also if you biab as I do )

After the mash finished, time for the 30 min boil with the following hop additions:

Hops Schedule:

@30min: 8g Magnum (11.9% Alpha) and 10g Cobb's Golding (6.1% Alpha)
@10min: 15g Cobb's Golding
@Flame out: 15g Cobb's Golding

NO DRY HOPS

This should add up to 30 Ibus.
Please adjust accordingly to your Hops and to your Flame out heat. Mine takes longer to chill, I will therefore get more Ibus out of it. You might need to add a little bit more Hops to the 30min addition.

The aim is to get the hops presence/flavour/aroma in the final beer, but not to overpower the caramel and marmelade tones of the yeast and crystal malts.

Chill this down to 25c, pitch the yeast and let it ride till it is finished without further temperature control at room temperature. It should be done in less than 4 days with the recommended yeast.

If you need to use dry yeast, windsor should be the closest, but this will yield a completely different beer. The Imperial Pub Yeast really provides this fullers marmelade moreish type of thing to the beer. It is simply amazing.

Carbonation: 2.5g sugar per 0.5l beer

This beer will be (semi) dry with an attenuation of about 75%. LOADS of flavour, low ABV and really really moreish.

I hope you guys enjoy it as much as me and my friends did

Let me know how you like it!

 

[HTH1975]

If you want marmalade, try First Gold instead of (or mixed with) Goldings.

 

[Miraculix]

If you want marmalade, try First Gold instead of (or mixed with) Goldings.

I might do this for future batches. For now I wanted to get it from the yeast, which I did. I never tried First Gold, interesting to hear that some hops are also providing this type of flavour.

 

[Miraculix]

If you want marmalade, try First Gold instead of (or mixed with) Goldings.

Btw. I corrected a mistake I made, I used Cobb's Golding and not Goldings. I actually don't know if there is a huge difference or not.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Btw. I corrected a mistake I made, I used Cobb's Golding and not Goldings. I actually don't know if there is a huge difference or not.

Cobb's *is* a Golding. When you buy "Goldings" it can be a mix or any one of several named clones of the Goldings family, that include Amos' Early Bird, Eastwell, Cobb's etc - but not Styrian or WGV!

 

[thehaze]

I've read that the Fuller's yeast available on the market is not quite as " marmaldey " as the original one, but I've recently tried A09 Pub and was every pleased with the results, especially when I only used Chinook and Mosaic. The yeast flocculates like crazy and takes a bit of bitterness along with it? Maybe? Anyways, I will use it again.

 

[Miraculix]

Cobb's *is* a Golding. When you buy "Goldings" it can be a mix or any one of several named clones of the Goldings family, that include Amos' Early Bird, Eastwell, Cobb's etc - but not Styrian or WGV!

Good to know. Thanks mate!

 

[Miraculix]

I've read that the Fuller's yeast available on the market is not quite as " marmaldey " as the original one, but I've recently tried A09 Pub and was every pleased with the results, especially when I only used Chinook and Mosaic. The yeast flocculates like crazy and takes a bit of bitterness along with it? Maybe? Anyways, I will use it again.

I think that imperial might have harvested it on their own and that the others might have drifted a bit but this one didn't.

I get the full Fuller's thing from the pub yeast and I love it.

 

[schmurf]

Looks tasty, I might try this one. But do you ferment at 26C? Seems extremly high, looked it up and suggested temp. range is 18-21 and I read that a good diacetyl rest is needed for this strain. What's your fermentation schedule more exactly?

 

[Miraculix]

Looks tasty, I might try this one. But do you ferment at 26C? Seems extremly high, looked it up and suggested temp. range is 18-21 and I read that a good diacetyl rest is needed for this strain. What's your fermentation schedule more exactly?

I forgot to mention that I let it drop to room temp after pitching at 25c. I added this now. I don't control the temperature but would aim for something around 19-20c, if I would.

Let me know how it turns out!

Had it five days in the fermenter before bottling, not a hint of diacetyl.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Looks tasty and will have to try it. Especially as I have First Gold in the freezer.

 

[Miraculix]

Looks tasty and will have to try it. Especially as I have First Gold in the freezer.

Awesome. Let me know how it turns out!

 

[thehaze]

I am actually brewing a simple British Golden Ale on Friday and I wanted to ask you something about the mash water profile.

The recipe: 85% Simpsons Maris Otter + 15% Weyermann Vienna, Nottingham, 5.5% ABV, 45 IBU, 65% EKG ( 2017 ) + 35% Topaz ( 2018 ), NO dry hopping. I want to try the following mash water profile:

60 ppm Ca / 5 ppm Mg / 15 ppm Na / 30 ppm SO4 / 100 ppm Cl - I don't want to replicate a NE style beer or anything. I am genuinely wondering what can this water profile do to such a beer, as a previous Blonde Ale I brewed with only 70 ppm Cl and 35 ppm SO4, was very hoppy, but smooth. It only had 25 IBU, and felt that was too low, which is why I want more this time. Do you think it can turn out good? I don't mind mineraility, but I feel like I want to back oof the sulfate in some of my brews.

But anyway: some of my future brews will revolve around British style Pale Ales and IPAs. I would love to brew something as easy drinkable, quaffable, sessionable and enjoyable as Oakham Citra.

Cheers! ( and I apologize for the long question )

 

[Miraculix]

I am actually brewing a simple British Golden Ale on Friday and I wanted to ask you something about the mash water profile.

The recipe: 85% Simpsons Maris Otter + 15% Weyermann Vienna, Nottingham, 5.5% ABV, 45 IBU, 65% EKG ( 2017 ) + 35% Topaz ( 2018 ), NO dry hopping. I want to try the following mash water profile:

60 ppm Ca / 5 ppm Mg / 15 ppm Na / 30 ppm SO4 / 100 ppm Cl - I don't want to replicate a NE style beer or anything. I am genuinely wondering what can this water profile do to such a beer, as a previous Blonde Ale I brewed with only 70 ppm Cl and 35 ppm SO4, was very hoppy, but smooth. It only had 25 IBU, and felt that was too low, which is why I want more this time. Do you think it can turn out good? I don't mind mineraility, but I feel like I want to back oof the sulfate in some of my brews.

But anyway: some of my future brews will revolve around British style Pale Ales and IPAs. I would love to brew something as easy drinkable, quaffable, sessionable and enjoyable as Oakham Citra.

Cheers! ( and I apologize for the long question )

Good question.

I just played around a bit with the sulfate and came to a similar conclusion, too much is not for me.

I think I would try to balance it with the cl, try to get it on an equal level, both around 100 or maybe something like cl 100 and sulfate 80. And then I would try to get this cl from cacl which would add up the ca to around hundred, maybe a bit more, which is good for flocculation.

I think your beer would be fine as you suggested, it's just my gut telling me that a more mineral water with a balanced sulfate / chloride ratio and a good amount of ca would be nicer for British styles.

But this is more based on feelings than on actual evidence. Only thing I can tell you that I tried high sulfate levels (300 +) and I really didn't like it.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Thanks for posting the recipe Miraculix.

 

[kmarkstevens]

I am actually brewing a simple British Golden Ale on Friday and I wanted to ask you something about the mash water profile.

The recipe: 85% Simpsons Maris Otter + 15% Weyermann Vienna, Nottingham, 5.5% ABV, 45 IBU, 65% EKG ( 2017 ) + 35% Topaz ( 2018 ), NO dry hopping. I want to try the following mash water profile:

Is this a standard ratio for 85% base malt and 15% Vienna (no crystal, no cara, no invert, etc) for English ales?

I've never tried using Vienna and/or Munich as the only additive to the base malt, so wondering if this is a "traditional" English approach. Sounds like it should be tasty...

 

[thehaze]

I don't know if it's traditional, but Maris Otter can and is being used on many English styles. The Vienna is there as I didn't have enough MO, and at worst, it will enhance the slightly biscuity/toasty flavours in the beer, which I like. I don't want the sugar or invert this time, as I will be mashing low at 65C/149F and Nottingham will attenuate under 1.010 ( hopefully ), making for a dry, crisp ale.

I've used English and German Vienna in place of MO for Bitters + a bit of Crystal malt and it worked really well.

Normally I use MO and some Crystal malt, maybe a combination of Crystal malts, to add complexity to a Bitter, be it regular, extra, etc. But Golden/Blonde Ales should be void of Crystal malts in my opinion. I mean it can definitely work, but I've come to the realise that simpler is better. ( most times )

 

[SanPancho]

Is lyles golden syrup similar?

 

[schmurf]

Is lyles golden syrup similar?

Similar to the OP golden syrup? Then yes.

 

[Miraculix]

Is lyles golden syrup similar?

It is not only similar, it is the exact one I used. I will update the recipe with the company that makes the syrup.

Edit: cannot edit the thread any more

 

[Miraculix]

Is this a standard ratio for 85% base malt and 15% Vienna (no crystal, no cara, no invert, etc) for English ales?

I've never tried using Vienna and/or Munich as the only additive to the base malt, so wondering if this is a "traditional" English approach. Sounds like it should be tasty...

I think Vienna has not traditionally been used in English ales, but why not? It's more flavorful than pale malt and not a Crystal so if that's what you're after, it makes sense to use it.

Invert, sugars etc are often introduced to get the fg down (that's the reason for it in this recipe), as a lot of English ale yeasts are really weak attenuators.

But if a yeast like Nottingham is used, this is not necessary anymore, as notty attenuates really well without adding highly fermentable sugar or similar.

 

[HTH1975]

Vienna is certainly not a traditional English Bitter malt, nor one that I can imagine anyone using now either.

However, it’s just a slightly darker base malt, so I can’t see any harm in trying it - especially at lower amounts.

I’d imagine it could be quite nice, much like adding some Amber (which does have some use historically in bitters) or biscuit malt.

Hope it works out for you

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I am actually brewing a simple British Golden Ale on Friday and I wanted to ask you something about the mash water profile.

The recipe: 85% Simpsons Maris Otter + 15% Weyermann Vienna, Nottingham, 5.5% ABV, 45 IBU, 65% EKG ( 2017 ) + 35% Topaz ( 2018 ), NO dry hopping....

But anyway: some of my future brews will revolve around British style Pale Ales and IPAs. I would love to brew something as easy drinkable, quaffable, sessionable and enjoyable as Oakham Citra.

You need to get the ABV down then. There's a fairly hard limit of 4.5% ABV for cask beers in British pubs - that's not to say you don't see cask beers above that, but they're not common at all. Some of the original British-hopped golden ales sneak over that - Exmoor Gold is 4.5% in cask and 5% in bottle, Summer Lightning is 5% in both - but they almost feel like a separate category now to the modern ones that tend to use at least some New World hops down around 4%.

In fact you could probably divide golden ales into three nowadays - the real session beers at ~3.8% that tend to use cheap Eurohops, the "modern bests" with fancy New World hops around 4.2%, and then the old-school golds with Challenger/Goldings at 4.5-5%.

Oakham Citra is fairly typical of the modern bests, with Citra hops and 4.2% in cask (although it's a bit stronger in bottle). Plenty of clone recipes knocking around for it.

Worth mentioning that if you're planning to brew a lot of British styles, you probably ought to order your hops asap - the heatwave last year hit yields significantly and whole cones in particular seem to be in short supply. I've seen 2018 EKG cones offered at a similar price to fancy Aussie hops like Vic Secret recently, (ie about 80% more than last year) and supplies may get difficult after March thanks to the logistics of exports after Brexit (if it happens then).

As for the rest - having Northern tastes personally I like a bit of minerality, and you could probably do with a bit more calcium just for general yeast health etc.

+1 on Vienna not being traditional, but will probably work.

 

[SanPancho]

@Miraculix any opinion on swapping ashburne mild for the maris? Love me some ashburne, and it definitely gives a body boost as well.

 

[jcav]

I also love English Ales of all kinds (and German Ales) and this looks like a winner! Thanks for posting!

John

 

[Miraculix]

@Miraculix any opinion on swapping ashburne mild for the maris? Love me some ashburne, and it definitely gives a body boost as well.

I don't know this malt but if it enhances the body, I wouldn't use it. Or maybe just partially replacing the MO with it. The yeast really leaves enough behind for a nice body, mouthfeel and taste. I think further enhancement might be detrimental, but it is of course a question of personal taste at the end.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

any opinion on swapping ashburne mild for the maris? Love me some ashburne, and it definitely gives a body boost as well.

It's not something that we really ever see over here, but I'm nervous the way the descriptions talk about it being sweet, which suggests that at the very least you should be reducing the crystal if you do use Ashburne. If there's one thing to concentrate on above all else it's the balance between sweet and dry, and any edit to a bitter recipe needs to think about what it's doing to that balance. For instance, throwing in lots of crystal to make a bitter the right colour has a cataclysmic effect on the sweet/dry balance, but it still seems a popular thing to do.

 

[SanPancho]

I’m not sure I’d consider it sweet. To me it’s pretty similar MO.

I’m any case the local shop is out of the yeast so I’ll just have to wait on this one.

 

[Miraculix]

I’m not sure I’d consider it sweet. To me it’s pretty similar MO.

I’m any case the local shop is out of the yeast so I’ll just have to wait on this one.

Waiting for the yeast is a very good idea, as the yeast is certainly the dominant factor in this one.

I think I will make a little experiment and split the next batch and try to ferment a little bit with us05 or a similarly neutral yeast, just to see how big the influence is. At the moment it is hard for me to figure it out as I do not have prior experience with golden syrup. I am not quite sure which flavour comes from the yeast and which from the syrup. I can guess, but I like to know.

 

[SanPancho]

I’m gonna wait for yeast and brew your original recipe with one mod- first gold instead of cobbs. Never even seen those....

Si probably better to limit the mods to one factor. Well technically two- not sure I wanna bother with step mash.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I’m gonna wait for yeast and brew your original recipe with one mod- first gold instead of cobbs. Never even seen those....

As I said above - they're just one of the clones that gets marketed as Goldings. Even here you'll only see Goldings sold by clone when buying direct from the farm. I assume these are the Brook House ones currently being sold through Malt Miller, in which case the "official" substitute would be Herefordshire Goldings - but the whole point of bitter is that it's a somewhat fluid style when it comes to hop varieties, any of the "good" British varieties will do, First Gold work just fine.

 

[SanPancho]

Sure. Kinda like “styrian” Goldings- now auroura, celiea, Stravinsky, etc

The first golds were described as having orange flavor though, so I’ll be doubling down on that you could say.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Not quite - the Styrians are not clones but varieties, they are the result of sex which can really jumble up DNA. That's the reason you're not meant to use the term Styrian Goldings any more, because you're only meant to use actual variety names like Savinjski, Celeia etc.

The (actual) Goldings are clones, which are the result of mutation - someone has planted the same Goldings variety on different farms and they have naturally mutated in a few genes which typically tweaks the harvest date forward or back a bit and maybe slightly alters the patterns on the bines. Perhaps the most obvious is Amos' Early Bird, which as the name suggests, is a particularly early-ripening variety that was found in a field of the Bramling clone of Goldings (perhaps best known as one of the parents of the Bramling Cross variety).

These things are important to farmers, but once the cones are off the bine, then they all look the same so the hop merchants just lump Early Bird, Bramling, Cobb's etc into a single bin called "Goldings". Merchants with any sense will split out the Goldings from East Kent as they have a protected designation like Champagne, Parma ham etc and get a premium, you'll seldom see Goldings from the rest of Kent these days but previously it was quite common, some merchants will specifically market Hereford or Worcester Goldings though.

It seems you're a bit limited on the UK hops you can get across the pond, First Gold are probably about as modern as you get. They're also notable for being the first commercial dwarf hops.

I've mentioned it on other threads but I'll throw in my favourite combo of hops for a best, namely about 60:40 EKG:Bramling Cross.

 

[Miraculix]

As I said above - they're just one of the clones that gets marketed as Goldings. Even here you'll only see Goldings sold by clone when buying direct from the farm. I assume these are the Brook House ones currently being sold through Malt Miller, in which case the "official" substitute would be Herefordshire Goldings - but the whole point of bitter is that it's a somewhat fluid style when it comes to hop varieties, any of the "good" British varieties will do, First Gold work just fine.

That is correct, I bought mine there. It's my go to shop, good prices and had some good email chat with the guy running it, seems to be a nice guy.

@SanPancho
Just use Goldings if you want to stay close to the recipe, but I am sure that the other main British hops would also work.

I will probably try the ekg bramling cross combination next, although I am really curious about the first gold marmalade flavour as well...

If you don't want to do a step mash, at least mash low and long and do the mashout step at the end, that's important for the attenuation and the foam. I would do about 62c for 90 minutes. Maybe 65 for one hour would work as well. 77c for mashout.

 

[Miraculix]

It's almost gone

That batch disappeared quickly! I will brew a simplified version soon. I don't want to order new stuff, so I'll use what I got on hand which is a few kg of chevallier malt and golden syrup. As chevallier itself has some caramellish Crystal type of flavour and I suspect also a higher protein content, I will use it on its own, only addition being ten percent golden syrup.

I use the hops I have which is the cobb goldings and the yeast will be the harvested pub which I have still from my last batch.

If I'll get similar results to the above recipe, it would be supporting the theory that Crystal was invented because of newer barley varieties which took over the market and made chevallier almost disappear.

 

[ba-brewer]

I like your recipe and the description seems like a great beer.

Curious about your setup and how you do your rest at 55C(protein rest). I have a RIMS setup and the couple times I have tried to do a protein rest the mash got very milky looking and I ended up scorching the wort.

The crystal malt is missing a unit, from the percentages I assume it to be Kg.​

 

[Miraculix]

I like your recipe and the description seems like a great beer.

Curious about your setup and how you do your rest at 55C(protein rest). I have a RIMS setup and the couple times I have tried to do a protein rest the mash got very milky looking and I ended up scorching the wort.

The crystal malt is missing a unit, from the percentages I assume it to be Kg.​

Oops, yes, it should be kg. Cannot edit the post anymore....

If it is too much of a hustle for you, just skip the protein rest. I BIAB, so I just infuse with a calculated amount of boiling water to reach the next temperature step. I use the following calculator, it is pretty much on point: https://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/

I have the suspicion that the protein rest causes chill haze. It does not bother me, but I am investigating now, if the protein rest does much for head retention. If not, I will just leave it out.

I brewed this beer again with the exception that the grain bill is all Chevallier malt with Golden Syrup this time. I skipped the Protein rest. If it works well, then I will skip it in the future.

 

[deere322]

Your recipe looks great but I have a couple questions...

Is a 30 minute boil correct?
What exactly does "moreish flavor" mean?

 

[Miraculix]

Your recipe looks great but I have a couple questions...

Is a 30 minute boil correct?
What exactly does "moreish flavor" mean?

Yes, 30min is correct.

Moerish means that after having one, you want more!

 

[deere322]

Yes, 30min is correct.

Moerish means that after having one, you want more!

well , duh..........


I have chevalier, first gold and Lyle's and may brew this once the weather warms!