Been really loving my re-discovery of First Gold across my recent bitters. Wanting to play with it more and have read of Adnams Broadside, it's bottled version, in many places. Never fortunate enough to try it yet, so am trying to capture something of it's qualities and what I can suss across forums and Adnams itself.
Further digging confirms the bottled version is 100% First Gold. Playing with the balance of bittering to late hops - if my "normal" IBU balance for bitters is 80% bittering IBU, here I'm shooting for 70% First Gold bittering and the balance at 10 min., and 30 min (170F) WP/Steep.; if my "normal" BU:GU for bitters is .85-.90, shooting for a much lower ratio here of .61 or so. 1.064 OG, 39 IBUs, 5.8% abv.
Looking for something in a tawny-ruby; looking for some but not unctuous residual sweetness. 156F 60 minute mash (I mash most bitters at 149-150 x 90 minutes; darker strong ales, 152-153). I thought I'd go with Golden Promise over MO, in this same vein. 97% Golden Promise, 2.5% dark chocolate, .5% black malt. No crystal.
Now, to the yeast issue. I understand Adnams's is a very special house yeast. I've heard some report of WLP025 being an acceptable Southwold ale yeast. I am seeking an estery, fruity yeast that may be different from those I typically use (I use almost exclusively Wyeast 1469). I'd anecdotally read Adnams ferments a tad high, 72F or so, to "slightly stress" the yeast, and thought I, too, might ferment higher for the same purposes.
So - looking for some yeast help, in the absence of finding WLP025 anywhere. I did see on a British forum of a user achieving some success with Ringwood, but I've never used it and in truth I'm not sure I want to (for no other reason than a vague memory of people's troubles with the yeast).
Further digging confirms the bottled version is 100% First Gold. Playing with the balance of bittering to late hops - if my "normal" IBU balance for bitters is 80% bittering IBU, here I'm shooting for 70% First Gold bittering and the balance at 10 min., and 30 min (170F) WP/Steep.; if my "normal" BU:GU for bitters is .85-.90, shooting for a much lower ratio here of .61 or so. 1.064 OG, 39 IBUs, 5.8% abv.
Looking for something in a tawny-ruby; looking for some but not unctuous residual sweetness. 156F 60 minute mash (I mash most bitters at 149-150 x 90 minutes; darker strong ales, 152-153). I thought I'd go with Golden Promise over MO, in this same vein. 97% Golden Promise, 2.5% dark chocolate, .5% black malt. No crystal.
Now, to the yeast issue. I understand Adnams's is a very special house yeast. I've heard some report of WLP025 being an acceptable Southwold ale yeast. I am seeking an estery, fruity yeast that may be different from those I typically use (I use almost exclusively Wyeast 1469). I'd anecdotally read Adnams ferments a tad high, 72F or so, to "slightly stress" the yeast, and thought I, too, might ferment higher for the same purposes.
So - looking for some yeast help, in the absence of finding WLP025 anywhere. I did see on a British forum of a user achieving some success with Ringwood, but I've never used it and in truth I'm not sure I want to (for no other reason than a vague memory of people's troubles with the yeast).