James Squire Golden Ale

[buttersd70]

There is an old thread on this that has a bunch of different variants on the theme. The most interesting part is the post by DrSmurto, who did a kit version of jsga as a precursor to his award winning AG version.....

Smurtos post is here

It doesn't have any spec grain mention, but I'm positive he had the same recipe in another post (which I can't find) where he used 250g of caramalt steeped.

Edit: just realised that smurtos recipe is mentioned in post 4 of this thread.

 

[drsmurto]

Yes, added 250g of JW caramalt to the kit version, somehow forgot that in some of the recipes floating around here.

I think it was either that recipe of a kit LCPA that won the Gawler Show last year.....(yep, i won awards as a kit brewer, 2nd place in 1999 Coopers HB comp)

Dont add carapils, adds 4/5ths of sweet FA to beer. (Used it in my first AG, 30+ later, i have never used it since.) Some people add it for extra body and head retention. Not neded here as you are adding a decent whack of wheat malt.

You want a little bit of sweetness/caramel/honey that the caramalt gives.

Never tried with S-04. Always used US-05 as it highlights the hops altho S-04 does drop nice and clear.........

Have fun.

 

[mynameisrodney]

Ok I kicked off a day early. I still went with a little bit of carapils as i'm using less wheat than the real recipe. Final ingredients were

1 x Coopers Lager
1.5kg LME (40% wheat, 60% barley)
200g caramalt
100g carapils
15g amarillo @ 15
15g amarillo @ 5
15g amarillo to be dry hopped in secondary

This was my first time doing a hop boil and everything seamed to go pretty well. I need to invest in some scales to weigh the hops though, my kitchen scales aren't really any good for those small weights so i ended up splitting the 90g pack up by eye.

I'm not sure what the go is with my hydrometer readings though, they seem to be consistantly low. OG for this was 1.038 made to 23L. Thats about the 4th or 5th batch in a row that has come out well below what i was expecting.

Chris

 

[buttersd70]

Rodney (sorry, Chris. God your username is confusing!)

When this has finished, check the volume in your fermenter. Fill it with a 1L measuring jug, whilst on a flat surface, and being patient. Mark the fermenter with texta in 1L increments from 17-25L. Most fermenters have the measurements on, but it is often the amount above the deadspace when flat. So the coopers ones are about 25L actual volume at the 23L marking, and others I have are similar. (and these ingredients, at 25L actual volume work out to 1039, a beesdick difference to what you got )

 

[Crunched]

...my kitchen scales aren't really any good for those small weights so i ended up splitting the 90g pack up by eye.

:lol:

This made me laugh as it's exactly what I did on my first hop boil - the old "close enough is good enough". Later on, once I got some decent scales, I weighed the remainder - came out exactly as I hop(p)ed.

 

[mynameisrodney]

Rodney (sorry, Chris. God your username is confusing!)

When this has finished, check the volume in your fermenter. Fill it with a 1L measuring jug, whilst on a flat surface, and being patient. Mark the fermenter with texta in 1L increments from 17-25L. Most fermenters have the measurements on, but it is often the amount above the deadspace when flat. So the coopers ones are about 25L actual volume at the 23L marking, and others I have are similar. (and these ingredients, at 25L actual volume work out to 1039, a beesdick difference to what you got )

haha but confusing people is half the fun. Thanks for your help. I have a coopers fermenter so the 25L makes much more sense. also i let my sample sit on the bench and coll from about 25C down to about 20C and it came out as 1.039 so spot on. I'll still check my fermenter after this batch to make sure though.

:lol:

This made me laugh as it's exactly what I did on my first hop boil - the old "close enough is good enough". Later on, once I got some decent scales, I weighed the remainder - came out exactly as I hop(p)ed.

haha glad i'm not the only one. I figured a gram or 2 either way wouldn't make it undrinkable so might as well.

Cheers guys,
Chris

 

[mynameisrodney]

I just had some of this out of the fermenter and it is damn tasty. Not quite as much aroma but i guess the dry hopping will fix that up. I can see myself making a lot more of these, i'd better put in a bigger order of amarillo.

EDIT:
Also i have read in numerous threads on here that wheat beers should be enjoyed very fresh. Does this apply to all beers using wheat such as this, or only to traditional styles?

 

[buttersd70]

Also i have read in numerous threads on here that wheat beers should be enjoyed very fresh. Does this apply to all beers using wheat such as this, or only to traditional styles?

More so with actual wheat beers, which are yeast driven styles, as opposed to beers that happen to have wheat in them as an ingredient. This one, (or at least the version I did, which was mucked around with and changed a bit), was great when young, but did get better with a bit of age. That being said, it wasn't all that long...about 2 weeks in the cube, and 2 weeks in the keg, and it was perfic. (bit that was grain, so would presume the kit version might take a bit more to be 'at it's best').

My opinion...if it tastes green, leave it. if it tastes good, drink it!. (but leave at least some of it for longer storage, to compare for future. )

Edit....if I don't make sense, its cos I'm on my 12th pint, so try to see what I'm trying to say rather than what I'm actually saying. If you know what I mean.

 

[Cocko]

Finally!! Butter posting a little pissy!

 

[steve.m]

Hi guys
I am getting near the end of my last 80lt batch of Cascade based (couldn't get Amarillo) brew. It turned out quite nice but now i have amarillo. If i am multiplying all of the other ingredients, do i also multiply the hops? These recipes seem to have alot of hops in them.

Cheers
Steve

 

[cdbrown]

Instead of starting yet another JSGA thread I thought to bring this one back to life.

My plan is
1.7kg Coopers Draught goo
1.5kg Coopers Wheat LME
300g LDME
200g Dark Crystal Malt steeped @70C for 30mins
12g Amarillo @ 20
12g Amarillo @ 10
12g Amarillo @ 2

Make 23L

Ferment at 17-20 with US-05

Now my current procedure has been that once ferment finished I drop it into the keg fridge to get the temp down to 2C, then transfer to secondary with some gelatine to fine, a day or so later add some polyclar and then keg the following day. Nearly all the JSGA recipes have a dry hop when racking to secondary - will it still impart the same hop flavour if I'm doing it while it's cold? Is it ok to add the hops when I'm racking with the gelatine finings? Otherwise when should I dry hop?

I'm considering using the yeast cake I saved from the last golden ale jobby I made up before - it was similar to the above recipe but used cascade hops. Will this be ok to use in this brew (yeast was US-05)? Basically poured most of beer off, added 1L of preboiled cooled water, swirled around and then poured into a sanitized PET. This has been sitting in the keg fridge since 14/12/08.

 

[JudgeNik]

It strikes me as strange that all of these recipes recommend Amarillo as the flavour and aroma hops for the JSGA.

I would have thought the recipe was older than Amarillo and even Pride of Ringwood.

If JS based the recipe on more historical hop additions I would have guessed they would have used something like Goldings (available in Tas from ~1866) and maybe Saaz (also Tassie grown pre 1900s) or something similarly soft for flavour and aroma

 

[bconnery]

It strikes me as strange that all of these recipes recommend Amarillo as the flavour and aroma hops for the JSGA.

I would have thought the recipe was older than Amarillo and even Pride of Ringwood.

If JS based the recipe on more historical hop additions I would have guessed they would have used something like Goldings (available in Tas from ~1866) and maybe Saaz (also Tassie grown pre 1900s) or something similarly soft for flavour and aroma

They all use Amarillo because it is known that this is the hop used in JSGA. THis information came direct from Chuck Hahn and has filtered out into the homebrewing community.
Bittered with POR, finished with Amarillo. Portion of wheat malt and some crystal.

 

[Fourstar]

They all use Amarillo because it is known that this is the hop used in JSGA. THis information came direct from Chuck Hahn and has filtered out into the homebrewing community.
Bittered with POR, finished with Amarillo. Portion of wheat malt and some crystal.

its even detailed on their website! Its quite an easy beer to brew as extract or AG, thats why everyone uses it as their cherry popper for AG. A couple of hundred grams of JW medium crystal, 20% wheat and the rest base malt (for an extract brewer, a tin a wheat malt extract/ 1kg Wheat DME and 2kg DME/pale extract) and you are ready to rock and roll. Example of my version below from my extract days. (alhough the dry hop is not to style but a tasty addition!)

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&p=494122

cheers! :icon_cheers:

 

[manticle]

It even says it on the bottle label.

 

[jurule]

I am going to try a variation of this:

1 x Coopers Sparkling Can
1 x Coopers Wheat LME
750g LDME
250g Dextrose
100g Medium Crystal
100g Special B Malt
100g Cara Aroma
Amarillo to hop - i also have plenty of cascade??
US-05

Any thoughts, feedback would be great!

 

[theredone]

:lol:

This made me laugh as it's exactly what I did on my first hop boil - the old "close enough is good enough". Later on, once I got some decent scales, I weighed the remainder - came out exactly as I hop(p)ed.

lol im doing everything by eye at the moment.(11 dolla ebay scales broke after 2 weeks) i like to think of myself as the Huey of homebrew, but meh im not in it for perfection, or exact replicas, just taisty beer

 

[jakub76]

It strikes me as strange that all of these recipes recommend Amarillo as the flavour and aroma hops for the JSGA.

I would have thought the recipe was older than Amarillo and even Pride of Ringwood.

If JS based the recipe on more historical hop additions I would have guessed they would have used something like Goldings (available in Tas from ~1866) and maybe Saaz (also Tassie grown pre 1900s) or something similarly soft for flavour and aroma

Like Public Enemy said "Don't beleive the hype". All this 'James Squire used to brew this recipe while stealing cattle and swimming them side-stroke down the Parramatta river' is just marketing. Of course it appeals, they've nailed that side of it. But don't forget that James Squires is brewed by Lion Nathan, a very big company owned by Kirin, and subsequently Mitsubishi Japan. Hahn, Tooheys, Boag's, XXXX, Swan, Emu, Speight's, Steinlager, they even brew Beck's here under licence.
Not sure what happened to JSGA but lately it tastes like it's been blended with 20% water, I used to really love it. None the less that Amarillo flavour is unmistakeable and I reckon pretty much anyone can make a better beer than the current JSGA at home for a fraction of the price.
There's a bunch of clone recipes around, I've even tasted one made from 3kg DME + Amarillo hops and some morgan's ale yeast, heaps more flavour than the current commercial example and at least 5 times cheaper.

 

[Mickthe]

Guys

I made an extract version of JSGA with Morgans Caramalt LME, Morgans Wheat Malt, 250g Crystal steep, all Amarillo, US05. It's good but something's still not right, thought i might try a kit version.

Thinking I will use wheat malt, and steep Caramalt grain as per Dr Smurto's suggestion. (rather than using the caramalt amber lme)

Is that the best option, and what is the best kit to use? People seem to have a number of recipes they have done but no opinion on which was best, kit or extract?

Opinions?

Cheers

Mick.

 

[Mark Van Moolenbroek]

Mick,

Just drinking a second batch of the following Kit version which in a side by side test was very close but I thought better than the JSGA original.

Coopers Sparkling Ale
Coopers Liquid Wheat Malt
250g LDME
kit yeast
Amarillo 15g @ 15mins, 5 mins, 0 mins
100g Carapils
100g Pale Crystal
50g caramunich 1

best brew out of 27, looking forward to the jump to an AG JSGA clone when I finish getting the gear together

Cheers,

Mark