Bollocks! It's English Ale!

So my love for the beer from across the pond has shown through. My inspiration has come from Fuller's 1845 beer which I think is one of the best beers from across the pond. My next across the pond adventure inspiration will be a hard cider.

I went into the recipe process to find out all that I could about English beer. I found out that most have pronounced bread and toffee flavors. The pronounced toffee flavors come from the Carasan/Carastan British 30/37L malt. This is a flavor I highly enjoy. To get the bready flavors I did not want them to be too pronounced but still noticeable, I used the Special Roast.

The recipe is as follows:

O/G 1.078

F/G 1.016

ABV 5.4% my scale says 8.1% but after drinking it's definitely not that high in alcohol content.

IBU: 30

SRM: 15

9lbs Light Liquid Malt Extract

8oz Carasan/Carastan 30/37

4oz English Crystal 70-80L

4oz Special Roast

2.0oz Fuggles @60min (6.0 Alpha Acids)

.5oz Goldings @15min (5.7 Alpha Acids)

.5oz Goldings @10min

.5oz Goldings @5min

.5oz Goldings @1min

1 Whilfoc tablet at 15

½ tsp of Wyeast Yeast Nutrient @10

Since none of the malts were enzymatic, I just steeped the grains in 3 gallons of water until they hit 180°F and then added malt extract. Then when the boil started I followed the hop schedule and at the end of the boil I ice bathed the wort in 30lbs of ice water in my bath tub. After 25 minutes the wort temperature was down to 68°F and I pitched my yeast. I used the WLP 005 or London Ale yeast.

After fermentation was complete and I transferred to my secondary to let the rest of the nonsense drop, I bottled. Then I bottle conditioned the beer for two weeks at around 69°F and enjoyed. The toffee flavors after tasting are not as pronounced as I'd like but next time that will be fixed. The yeast definitely gives off a drier finish to the beer. This is consistent with most British ales. This beer when shared with people has been highly popular and everyone has loved it.