Sparkling Golden Ale

[timmy]

I think it takes longer, but AFAIK you also need more of it because it's not 100% fermentable....

Might have a crack at making this in a 1/2 batch with only the Brewiser kit, ~100g of crystal and loadsa amarillo....

Slightly OT - how do you create recipes in something like QBrew if using a pre-hopped extract? I'll need to get an idea of the hopping level of the kit so I don't make it too bitter with the amarillo.

Cheers,

Tim

[earle]

I'm not sure about Q-Brew but when I enter kits into beersmith there is a place where you can put in hop information for the kit also. I play with the figures (grams, time) until when I add the kit to a brew of 23L i get the right IBU. This means the kit is set up with a good starting point for any recipe.

Then I add the rest of my fermentables (all are ticked to add at beginning of boil) to the recipe. This changes the IBU for the kit (because it changes the OG and therefore hop utilisation) so I adjust it to get it right again.

Then I add my hop schedule which adds the additional IBU.

When the hops are added the IBU they contribute is listed next to each, so you could just add these to the IBU of the kit.

[petesbrew]

I think it takes longer, but AFAIK you also need more of it because it's not 100% fermentable....

On that, I've used malt only once before, and due to misunderstanding I used 300g for a 23l batch.
Overcarbed was an understatement. No bottle bombs thankfully.
Thought I'd go for the usual 180g and see how it turned out.
Will stick with Dex or sugar in future.

[Pale_Ale]

180g of malt is not such a bad amount, maybe a bit light on but you should be ok.

I use dex for simplicity but with that amount of malt I suspect with time it will carb up to an adequate level.

[petesbrew]

Cracked a couple open on the weekend. Still under 2 weeks, but I was desperate.
Still pretty flat, but carbing up slowly.
Patience is a virtue... wish i had it.

[Rob C]

Put the follolwing down yesterday:

Thomas Coopers Sparkling Ale
1.5kg Coopers Wheat Malt Extract
100g Crystal malt
15g Amarillo @ 10
15g Amarillo @ 2
15g Amarillo dry hopped in secondary (only in the primary now)
US-56

Pitched @ 22C and was down to nominal temp of 16C within 60 minutes.

Will keep @ 16C, rack to secondary and keep @ 16C for 2 weeks, then bring it down to 4C for one month of cold conditioning.

Hey ive been looking through some GA recipes and thinking of giving this one a shot. Pale_Ale is there anything you would change after you have tried this now?

As ive only done one brew to date can i grab some instructions from you how to put this together?

Thanks Heaps

Rob

[James L]

i would change each addition to 20g.... change the 10 minute to 15 and the 2 to 5... but thats just me...

[Pale_Ale]

Put the follolwing down yesterday:

Thomas Coopers Sparkling Ale
1.5kg Coopers Wheat Malt Extract
100g Crystal malt
15g Amarillo @ 10
15g Amarillo @ 2
15g Amarillo dry hopped in secondary (only in the primary now)
US-56

Pitched @ 22C and was down to nominal temp of 16C within 60 minutes.

Will keep @ 16C, rack to secondary and keep @ 16C for 2 weeks, then bring it down to 4C for one month of cold conditioning.

Hey ive been looking through some GA recipes and thinking of giving this one a shot. Pale_Ale is there anything you would change after you have tried this now?

As ive only done one brew to date can i grab some instructions from you how to put this together?

Thanks Heaps

Rob

Hi Rob,

It depends - if you want to get as close to James Squire Golden Ale, I would leave as is, but maybe add an additional 100g of crystal to make up a total of 200g crystal malt.

On the other hand, the first version of this I did used light malt extract instead of wheat malt and I really enjoyed the barley malt flavours in combination with the Amarillo, so next time round I will proably switch back to that.

Therefore, I would suggest the following:
Thomas Coopers Sparkling Ale
1.5kg Coopers Wheat Malt Extract OR 1.5Kg Coopers Light Malt Extract
200g Crystal malt
15g Amarillo @ 10
15g Amarillo @ 2
15g Amarillo dry hopped in secondary
US-56

Method is as follows:
- Boil up a few litres of water, add a few teaspoons of light dry malt extract and chuck the hops in, adding the required amount for each interval.
- Steep the crystal malt for 20 minutes or so. For more info on steeping this there is info covered in other threads which can be searched.
- Turn the stove off when done and then add the kit as well as the grain juice from the crystal, mix it all in and pour it into clean fermenter
- Add yeast once it's under 24C (preferably less) and keep it at about 16-18C for best results.
- You will need to transfer into secondary after about 7 days, at which point you can 'dry hop' which simply means to add dry hop pellets into the brew. This will mainly contribute to the aroma of the beer, which is very closely linked with how we taste things and hence an important part.


Bearing in mind you are starting out, if this sounds a bit complicated I suggest you may want to look at something a bit more basic and gradually introduce more things as you go. If you haven't done a stovetop boil before (i.e boiling hops etc.) I would suggest giving that a go.

Hope this helps

Cheer,
Pale

[Rob C]

Thanks heaps for that mate.

When you say, add the hops at 10 and 2 is that 10 and 2 minutes before the finish of the boil?

Cheers mate

Rob

[Pale_Ale]

Thanks heaps for that mate.

When you say, add the hops at 10 and 2 is that 10 and 2 minutes before the finish of the boil?

Cheers mate

Rob

Yeah, that's right.

If you've got a countdown timer on your watch or phone that's a good way to time it.

[petesbrew]

just make sure you know how to use the one on your phone before you start brewing.
It sucks when you're halfway through the brew, look at your phone timer and it hasn't done jack.

[Rob C]

Thanks again guys.

Just to make sure im on the right track is this how it should be done.

Boil 2 - 3 liters of water, Add a couple teaspoons of LDME, Add the first lot of hops. 8 minutes later add 2nd lot of hops, Remove from heat after 2 minutes.

Once removed from heat add Thomas Coopers Sparkling Ale, the rest of the LDME and the juice from the crystal malt. Mix together then pour into clean fermenter.

Pinch yeast once below 24C

Couple of other questions do you just add the hops straight in to the boiling water or use a hop sock to reduce sediment?

Which crystal malt would be best to use? Pale, Medium or dark?

Will this ferment ok at around 22C?

Thanks Heaps
Rob

[Pale_Ale]

Yep you're on the right track, spot on.

In answer to your questions, hop sock is not required, you can just pour the whole lot in to the fermenter - sounds a bit weird but it compacts down with the yeast to form a layer at the bottom.

I tend to use a lighter crystal for this one, but my HBS doesn't have a lot of different types anyway.

It will ferment fine @ 22, preferably lower but 22C should give quite a nice brew. The first time I did this I didn't have great temp control and I kept it around 20-22C, and it worked out well.

If you are racking to secondary (which is a good idea if you have 2 containers) I would give it 1 week in the primary and 2-4 weeks in the secondary. If you are just going in the primary I would leave it for 2 weeks before bottling.

[Rob C]

Thanks Again mate, im going to grab another fermenter i think, so ill do a secondary. Would you place this in the fridge or just leave it at room temp?

Cheers
Rob

[drsmurto]

Only one comment to add/make to all of Pale_Ales advice.

The 'juice' from the crystal malt neds to be boiled. I used this liquid plus a small amount of LDME to boil the hops in.

Apart from that, all good.

Cheers
DrSmurto

[Pale_Ale]

Thanks Again mate, im going to grab another fermenter i think, so ill do a secondary. Would you place this in the fridge or just leave it at room temp?

Cheers
Rob

You could do either or both, but if you do put it in the fridge you will need to make sure it has fully fermented before putting it in the fridge, however if you leave it at room temperature you can rack a little earlier when fermentation has not quite ceased.

Some may say it's overkill but with this recipe I have given it 7 days in primary (18C), 14 days in secondary (18C) and 24 days in tertiary (6C). The real James Squire Golden Ale is cold conditioned, so for authenticity it's the way to go. It's important to keep in mind though that the benefits of racking are still very much a debated topic so I would do what works for you. Personally I think it's worth it, but there's been some interesting posts on the forum about it.

[timmy]

Hey guys,

Here's the golden ale attempt I'm going to put down soon:

1 x 1.7kg Brewiser Wheat Beer kit
1.5kg Coopers LLME
25g Amarillo (8.9% AA) @ 20mins
20g Amarillo @ 5mins
Wyeast American Ale 2 (or US-56, depending on how lazy I am...)

QBrew shows this to come out at 26IBU's which hopefully is about right for the style (assuming the base Brewiser kit is about 12IBU's). I was going to add some crystal but I don't have any. Might sub in some Weyerman Cara Wheat that I have (probably about 100g). Will also ferment in the high teens. And might also dry hop depending on how much Amarillo I have left...

Will post back with the results.

Cheers,

Tim

[timmy]

Hey guys,

Here's the golden ale attempt I'm going to put down soon:

1 x 1.7kg Brewiser Wheat Beer kit
1.5kg Coopers LLME
25g Amarillo (8.9% AA) @ 20mins
20g Amarillo @ 5mins
Wyeast American Ale 2 (or US-56, depending on how lazy I am...)

QBrew shows this to come out at 26IBU's which hopefully is about right for the style (assuming the base Brewiser kit is about 12IBU's). I was going to add some crystal but I don't have any. Might sub in some Weyerman Cara Wheat that I have (probably about 100g). Will also ferment in the high teens. And might also dry hop depending on how much Amarillo I have left...

Will post back with the results.

Cheers,

Tim

Well this one turned out much better than I expected. It's really close to the real thing! I ended up using the Carawheat (100g) and did ferment in the high teens where I could. And I dry hopped with about 14g of Amarillo too. Oh - and i used the Wyeast American Ale II

Got this brew in my 8L party keg so I don't think it will last too long....

[Trough Lolly]

G'day all...A couple of comments from the sidelines if I may...

I think you'll get more out of the Amarillo hops if you boil for at least 20 minutes - I'd recommend 30 minutes, but to be honest, you're short selling this wonderful hop of you're only doing a 10 minute boil. In the earlier I recipe I noted the 200g of crystal malt - I'd use that steep liquor as the basis of the boil rather than adding any LDME to make a hop tea. You get a smoother result if you can boil the hops in a malt solution and as long as you top up the steeped liquor to at least 4 litres in volume, that should be plenty for a mini boil with the amarillo additions. Don't just rinse the crystal to get 4 litres as you risk extracting harsh tannins from the grain husks - simply rinse off the crystal as per normal and then top up with tap water to get the desired boil volume.

I remember making plenty of nice pale ales with the Coopers Pale Ale kit, 250g of Crystal and some Cascade/Amarillo/Chinook hop pellets.

Cheers,
TL

[JonesyGT]

Ok, here's my recipe:

1.7Kg Thomas Coopers Sparkling Ale
1.5Kg Coopers Light Malt Extract
15g Amarillo @ 30 minutes
15g Amarillo @ 15 minutes
15g Amarillo @ 2 minutes

Pitched 22C
Fermented 20C

Primary: 7 days
CC: 7 days 3C

Bulk primed with 170g Dextrose

Must stress that it isn't a GA clone, it's more bitter, but it's still bloody tasty!

Guys may have ballsed this one up

I have made to this recipe but cant read my scales & went with


25g Amarillo @ 30 minutes
25g Amarillo @ 15 minutes


How bigger problem will this cause in a boil of about 3.5 litres??

Cheers
Mark