Ersatz Theakston's Old Peculier

Classification: pale ale, all-grain, Theakston's Old Peculier

Source: Andy Phillips (phillipsa@lars.afrc.ac.uk) Issue #910, 6/25/92

A good beer with a deep malty taste, a dense, lasting head and a wonderful reddish-black colour---but otherwise totally unlike OP. So---back to the drawing board...

P.S. My last batch of "basic bitter" was an accidental experiment in altered mashing conditions: I let the temperature rise to 75C in the first 30 minutes, so although I got a good conversion, a lot of this was unfermentable (due to excessive destruction of the beta amylase, which produces maltose from dextrins). So the starting gravity was 1.048, but finished at 1.020. As Conn Copas noted in HBD 909, it is thus possible to produce a relatively low alcohol beer which doesn't taste too weak. In fact, it's rather good, IMHO.....

Ingredients: (for 5 UK gallons, 22-1/2 litres, 6 US gallons)

7 pounds, crushed pale malt
2 pounds, wheat malt
4 ounces, chocolate malt (for reddish hue)
4 ounces, roast barley
4 ounces of Fuggles hops (timing same as in "English Bitter" recipe above)
Treacle (priming)
1 teaspoon, CaSO4
1 teaspoon, Irish moss
Edme ale yeast

Procedure:

Mash in 3 gallons boiled water with 1 teaspoon gypsum (66 C., for 3 hours, or overnight). Sparge to 4--1/2 gallons. Boil 1--1/2 hours with 1 teaspoon Irish moss. Cool with immersion chiller, rack, and aerate. Pitch Edme yeast. Rack to secondary after 4 days. Fine if necessary. Keg or bottle after 2 weeks (primed with 3 ounces, malt extract).