School me on English style (warm?) Ales?

[mattdean4130]

I've been wanting to try a very English, "warm" Ale for quite some time now. The kind i believe they serve at room temp (only what i've heard, never been)

Wondering where a good place to start would be, using Coopers English bitter kit as a base.

Anybody have any suggestions for hop additions/schedules? Malts, sugars etc?

As i'm not familiar with the style, i'm a little lost as to where to start.
Google doesn't seem to be helping - there's a lot of crap to wade through with search terms "English" "Ale" Warm" .....

Can't even really find a definitive answer on a brand to go to Dan's and buy to get a bit of understanding.

Cheers guys!

 

[manticle]

Go get a hook norton or a fullers esb (or preferably both). While you're there, get a sam smiths india pale (uk ipa) a sam smiths old brewery pale and a young's special london ale. Let them warm up to at least 7 degrees before opening. Find where your palate sits in regards to what you want to make.

There are english malts, hops and yeast to make everything from all grain to souped up kits.

 

[peas_and_corn]

English ales aren't served at room temperature, they're served at cellar temperature, which is hardly warm.

 

[welly2]

They're not served warm, ever. Of the English ales you can most likely get here, I'd look out for Old Speckled Hen, Marston's 4X, Black Sheep Bitter, possibly Theakstons Old Peculiar and possibly Timothy Taylor Landlord.

Avoid Bass Ale, Boddingtons "Pub Ale", Tetley's Best Bitter - I used to drink nothing but Tetleys when I was a young 'un and it was at one point, when served well, a great mainstream bitter, but hasn't been good for a while - and John Smiths. Avoid, avoid avoid.

 

[Blind Dog]

It really depends on what you want. I haven't brewed kits in aeons, but Woodforde Wherry bitter (brewmart sells it here I think) is about a good a kit as there was and still gets good reviews. No idea if it's crap by the time it gets here though.

there'll be a ton of recipes out there - google 'English bitter kits and bits'

Whatever you brew, it needs to be served at around 10C to 14C (which is hardly warm despite the myths of warm English beer) and relatively low carbonation (1.5 volumes should get you there) to be reasonably authentic.

 

[sp0rk]

Go to Jetty Cellars (the one across from the turn off to the jetty)
Talk to the english bloke there, he was a CAMRA member before he moved to Aus and really knows his beers
He's got a great selection of beers and should be able to help you out
They're a lot fresher than stuff from Dan's too, I think they're part of the same chain as Beer Cartel and get their stuff from them
We might do a British Ale day for the brew club when the weather starts to cool down, either brew some British Ales or do a group buy from Jetty Cellars and have a tasting day
The club's having a brew day next saturday up at Coutts Crossing if you're interested

 

[MHB]

If you want to brew Real Ale, the book by Graham Wheeler of the same name is great, his first book the CAMRA guide to home brewing is really mostly about brewing this style of beer, also well worth reading.
Mark

 

[sp0rk]

If you want to brew Real Ale, the book by Graham Wheeler of the same name is great, his first book the CAMRA guide to home brewing is really mostly about brewing this style of beer, also well worth reading.
Mark

I have a copy of Brew Your Own British Real Ale, I've based a few beers off recipes from this book, my ESB that won the Grafton Show last year in particular was based off one of these recipes

I highly recommend it, it's also got a pretty good intro with good descriptions of the old English BIAB techniques which more or less translate over to what we're doing with BIAB now

 

[Rod]

I use the Coopers English Bitter and add 1kg of LDME

 

[mattdean4130]

Thanks everyone, a lot of great info. Sp0rk, would love to get to Coutts on the weekend but i was away last and have a lot of catching up to do at home!

 

[sp0rk]

Hey Matt,
Our meeting has been moved to Coffs due to some stuff that came up
We're starting around 1 at Country Brewer in Toormina this Saturday
Come along if you'd like, I'll possibly be brewing a British ale (haven't quite decided yet)

 

[stehowardtlr]

Why do people think English beer is served warm? Far from it. I'm from England and never drank warm beer. Even the thought of it make me cringe. They even have an extra cold range on tap in the pubs.

 

[manticle]

Because people in this country think anything more than 1 deg. C is warm. 10 deg C is certainly too warm for most. I'm the other way round - super cold beer is tasteless and makes me burp so much I need to switch to whisky after 3-4 pints.

 

[Howlingdog]

Why do people think English beer is served warm?

It's all Bazza McKenzie fault. If your old enough you will know what I mean.

 

[Bomber Watson]

Why do people think English beer is served warm? Far from it. I'm from England and never drank warm beer. Even the thought of it make me cringe. They even have an extra cold range on tap in the pubs.

Pretty new to this, but i was kinda under the impression it was due to the ambient temp at the time of drinking?

Ie when its 3 degrees outside a beer at 5 degrees tastes hot....

Learnt this when i visited a mate in the snowy's a little while back...During winter.....Im not climatized to that shit in the least, and was amazed that a cold beer straight from the fridge felt hot.....

Cheers.

 

[Bribie G]

Cellar temperature in the UK is around 10 degrees. When I lived in Cardiff, Wales, we had the coldest winter in X years and the cellars of the pubs gradually chilled down as the subzero temperatures permeated down into the subsoil. Eventually everybody in the pubs around the steelworks where I was employed were complaining about the temperature of the beer.

That was in the mid 1970s when microwave ovens became available for the first time.

My local would do "a pint and a flash". He could fit six pints in the oven.

 

[spog]

Cellar temperature in the UK is around 10 degrees. When I lived in Cardiff, Wales, we had the coldest winter in X years and the cellars of the pubs gradually chilled down as the subzero temperatures permeated down into the subsoil. Eventually everybody in the pubs around the steelworks where I was employed were complaining about the temperature of the beer.

That was in the mid 1970s when microwave ovens became available for the first time.

My local would do "a pint and a flash". He could fit six pints in the oven.

Bribie,did you drink at the Gower ? In Cardiff.

 

[Bribie G]

No, never got that far into the Cathays Area, I was mostly Newport Road end of town, although I lived on Cathedral Road for a while (as all students did). I see from Streetview that the Gower seems to have closed down.

 

[stehowardtlr]

Little bit clearer about it now. I think....

 

[spog]

No, never got that far into the Cathays Area, I was mostly Newport Road end of town, although I lived on Cathedral Road for a while (as all students did). I see from Streetview that the Gower seems to have closed down.

Wouldn't surprise me if it has,it was looking run down when I was there almost a year ago ( 23 dec ).
Loved the beer,I asked out of curiosity because my wife and I took her mum up there to do so e research on her family tree , the Gower was licenced to her great grandparents ? The Rossers.
Its a bleak place Cardiff with so much unemployment .
Cheers...spog..