English Ale Advice

[elmo]

hi all

i am halfway through brewing a morgans english bitter and am after any advice to make it better. i mixed the wort saturday afternoon. is there anything i can add to it halfway through to improve the flavour of the brew. i havnt taken a second gravity reading yet but the OG was 1045.

i have used a morgans bishops english bitter
700g brewcraft dextrose
300g brewcraft light dry malt
and brew cellar english ale yeast

i pitched the yeast at 18 degrees and the brew has been between 18 - 22 the whole time. i am planning to bottle in stubbies and was wondering if i use half or 2/3 of the normal priming sugar will the head become any 'creamier' ? or will this mae the beer crap? cheers

 

[Hefty]

If you use a lower rate of priming sugar it will give you a carbonation level that would suit the style more but it won't necessarily make it "creamier". You may perceive it to be "creamier" if you are used to a higher level, or you may just percieve it as "flat" or undercarbed.
Use of more LDM, crystal malts or wheat malt can aid head retention and along with a lower carbonation level may feel/appear more creamy. Use of hops can also aid in creating a smaller beaded carbonation.

Other than that, if you keg you could use a CO2 and nitrogen mix to get that really creamy guiness/kilkenny etc kind of head.

That's my understanding any way. Others may know more.

cheers!
Jono.

 

[bconnery]

I would definitely use less priming sugar than you "normally" would. You can use various calculators, I think there might be a link to one around here, to determine how much you want.
You could dry hop it with something English. Some nice EKG, Styrian Goldings, First Gold, Bramling Cross etc. for a few days in the primary will give a little hop aroma in there to add another dimension to the brew...

 

[Bribie G]

English draught bitters in the Old Dart, when served through the hand pump, come in two 'styles'. In much of the South of England they are served rather flat looking with little or no head but the CO2 remaining in the beer gives a nice 'tingle' to the tongue.

However in much of the North and Midlands, and in South Wales beer is served through a tight 'sparkler' which is a restriction device that causes the beer to froth and foam in the glass, then clear out to a smooth beer with a tight creamy head.



In order to emulate this in the newer 'keg' beers, most UK breweries now do a nitro keg version of their bitters gassed with a combination of CO2 and nitrogen that gives smaller tighter bubbles. They usually have the name 'smooth' or 'creamflow' attached to them. If you want to try a smooth, just get a pint of guinness at your pub or club and that's classic nitro keg.

You can easily emulate this at home by priming the beer lightly - say two thirds of what you would normally carb a kit brew.
Then on serving, take a 20ml syringe from the chemist (no needle required h34r: ), draw up about 10ml of beer then forcibly squirt it back into the glass. Bingo, instant Guinness-effect. It will take you a few goes to get it right so try it in the sink first.

What you end up with is almost identical to a pint of UK bitter pumped through a tight sparkler.



Thanks to Buttersd70 for the original idea, he may still also have his photos and post them.

 

[Ronin]

You can easily emulate this at home by priming the beer lightly - say two thirds of what you would normally carb a kit brew.
Then on serving, take a 20ml syringe from the chemist (no needle required h34r: ), draw up about 10ml of beer then forcibly squirt it back into the glass. Bingo, instant Guinness-effect. It will take you a few goes to get it right so try it in the sink first.

Not sure who came up with the idea originally, I've been doing that since my second ever beer.

I think it was called "pocket beer engine" when it first appeared on the forum a few years ago.

If you want that creamy head it works wonderfully.

James

 

[buttersd70]

For English styles, you definately want to use a priming calculator and bulk prime it. Carb drops or scoops will overprime it for sure.

Cask ale is primed to achieve aproximately 2 volumes of CO2, then the cellarman will vent this out a couple of days before going through the pump, reducing it to about 1.5vol (ish) depending on the beer.

For kegs, it would normally be around the 1.5-1.8 volumes of CO2. As Bribie said, one of the main things with a hand pump is that it goes through a restrictive sparkler. In a keg, there is also restriction due to the line and the tap (or gun), and that allows it to knock some of the CO2 out of solution to form a head. Bottles are different though. Because the pour is unrestricted, the co2, being at low level, can have trouble coming out of solution to form the head. One way of countering this is to over prime the bottles (relative to what you would do for a keg....), so you would prime it to about 1.9-2.0 volumes of CO2. A compromise is made....in order to get the head formation, you put up with slightly higher carbonation. Using the syringe as Bribie mentioned allows you to carbonate slightly lower; the head is then forced on by the squirt of beer back into the glass, knocking out some of the CO2 and forming the head.

Personally, I do kegs at 1.7vol, and bottles at 2.0 volumes. Purists may consider 2.0vol to be a little high; but as I said, it's a compromise solution. At that level, you should still be able to pour with a head, even without a syringe...

 

[reviled]

You can easily emulate this at home by priming the beer lightly - say two thirds of what you would normally carb a kit brew.
Then on serving, take a 20ml syringe from the chemist (no needle required h34r: ), draw up about 10ml of beer then forcibly squirt it back into the glass. Bingo, instant Guinness-effect. It will take you a few goes to get it right so try it in the sink first.

I tried this with a RIS last night and it didnt work <_< Allthough it was only a 3ml syringe, could this be why?

 

[cdbrown]

Hey butters - for your kegs, do you just pour from a normal tap or do you have a beer engine?

Do you also have other kegs connected to the gas bottle at higher pressures? I'm trying to work out how to have the lower pressure "cask ales" manifolded with the lagers and ales at a normal 2.7 volumes without the use of a dual reg (too pricey).

I'll be hitting you up in a few weeks for some extract recipes

 

[Bribie G]

I tried this with a RIS last night and it didnt work <_< Allthough it was only a 3ml syringe, could this be why?

Get yourself a Man's Syringe :icon_drunk:

 

[buttersd70]

Hey butters - for your kegs, do you just pour from a normal tap or do you have a beer engine?

Do you also have other kegs connected to the gas bottle at higher pressures? I'm trying to work out how to have the lower pressure "cask ales" manifolded with the lagers and ales at a normal 2.7 volumes without the use of a dual reg (too pricey).

I'll be hitting you up in a few weeks for some extract recipes

I use broncos. I have 2 lines that I use. One that is for low pressure, one for higher pressure (2.4vol). Only having one gas line, though, I tend to drink from one keg at a time, cos otherwise I'd need to fiddle with the regulator which is a pita. Got to get a dual reg....

 

[Ronin]

I tried this with a RIS last night and it didnt work <_< Allthough it was only a 3ml syringe, could this be why?

Sometimes it's taken a few squirts to get the head to form, especially if it is quite a low carbonated beer. I've got a RIS that pours flat, no head at all. After about 10 squirts it's frothing up quite nicely.

Although a 3 mL syringe will take a bit longer.

 

[reviled]

Sometimes it's taken a few squirts to get the head to form, especially if it is quite a low carbonated beer. I've got a RIS that pours flat, no head at all. After about 10 squirts it's frothing up quite nicely.

Although a 3 mL syringe will take a bit longer.

Yeah thats prolly why, it was flat as a tack when pouring, like treacle haha