RETURN TO THE ROOTS OF U.S. CRAFT BREWING AND YOU’LL FIND THE ENGLISH ALE. PIONEERS INCLUDING SIERRA NEVADA AND BOULDER BEER QUICKLY DIVERGED AND MADE DISTINCTLY AMERICAN BREWS, BUT THE BRITISH ISLES LAUNCHED BREWS LIKE THE PALE ALE, IPA, BROWN ALE, PORTER, AND STOUT.
Nearly all brewing grains are mechanically malted, but warminster maltings’s exceptional maris otter pale ale malt has been floor-malted since 1879.
INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH ALE
Brewers producing classic British beer styles use warm, top-fermenting ale yeast that provides subtle flavor to the beers. In general, most English beers are lower in alcohol than American counterparts. And while many styles are hoppy, none match the bitterness of an American IPA. British ales are a lesson in subtlety, and the best examples have a delicious balance of the malts, hops, and yeast notes.
In this chapter, you’ll learn about:
English malt and hops
English brewing additives
English yeast strains
Diacetyl
BRITISH BASE MALTS |
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English maltsters arguably make the finest pale malts in the world. Yes, their crystal and roasted varieties are top-notch, but the base malts are unmatched in flavor. Some malt houses go so far as to continue the age-old tradition of floor-malting barley by hand instead of automation. Even if this were just a marketing gimmick, such malts bring an undeniably superior flavor compared to your standard two-row malt. On a technical note, they are also all highly modified (ready to convert starch to sugar), so a simple single-infusion mash will suffice. |
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Malt |
Color (Lovibond) |
Description |
Pale Ale Malt |
2 to 4 |
The British equivalent of American two-row malt. |
Maris Otter |
3 to 4.5 |
More robust than pale ale malt with nutty and biscuit flavors. |
Golden Promise |
2.5 to 3 |
The Scottish counterpart to Maris Otter; has a sweeter character. |
Mild Ale Malt |
2.7 to 5.3 |
Another step sweeter than other base malts with more dextrins (unfermentable sugar). |
Burton ales are largely know for the hard brewing water, but their yeast also produces a rich, slightly fruity character.
TRADITIONAL ENGLISH ADDITIVES
The Brits aren’t usually ones for fruit or spices, but they also don’t have the rigid laws of Germany that restricts brewing additives.
ISINGLASS
Derived from the swim bladders of sturgeon (yes, the fish), isinglass is a traditional fining agent that, when mixed with beer or wine, acts as a filter and improves clarity. English brewers would add isinglass to their cask as a final filter. The isinglass finings attract yeast and other particles floating in your beer, and then pull them to the bottom of your tank. Use 1.5 to 2 ounces (43 to 57 g) for a 5-gallon (19 L) batch. Chill the beer as cold as possible, then transfer onto the finings in a secondary fermenter.
FLAKED MAIZE
This form of processed corn is mostly used to lighten pilsner-style lagers, but British brewers used it a century ago to dilute the nitrogen from their barley. This improved clarity while working with the lower-quality barley of the time. Like any sugar adjunct, it can also lighten the body and mouthfeel of a beer. You can use flaked maize for up to 10 percent of your malt bill.
GRUIT
Hops didn’t become a mainstay of beer until the Middle Ages, and the British Isles were actually one of the last areas to adopt the pungent flower. Up until about the seventeenth century, brewers used a bitter mix of spices called gruit that consisted of herbs, some of which are questionably safe at best, including yarrow, bog myrtle, wild rosemary, and wormwood. A Scottish variation called Froach, which used heather, remained popular until the eighteenth century. For a safe and interesting unhopped ale, try using 2 to 4 ounces (57 to 113 g) of dried heather tips in a 5-gallon (19 L) batch.
HOPS
Just as American hops can be roughly lumped together for their citrus character, most English hops have a distinctive spicy aroma with a milder fruity, citrus component. These hops have a softer bitterness with lower cohumulone levels (see chapter 2 on bittering hops). Golding, Fuggle, and Challenger are all popular varieties for flavor and aroma. Challenger is a touch stronger in character, also having more alpha acids, but these are the essential hops necessary to make a traditional English ale.
While British ales aren’t known for big hop character like American pale ale, British brewers certainly love their hops—just in a more restrained manner. The hoppier styles, which include the bitters (ordinary, special, and extra special), all benefit from dry-hopping. Just be aware that British yeast strains are known to cover or absorb some hop character and bitterness.
YEAST
English beer is brewed with ale yeast. Though most American styles descended from English originals, the American yeast is much cleaner fermenting in terms of flavor, while British yeast can be assertive with fruity, sometimes candylike, notes. The strains don’t tend to dominate a beer like a hearty or wild Belgian strain would, but it creates complementary flavors like a mild weizen yeast might.
British yeast strains are no different from any other in that their output is a product of the environment you give it. Starving a yeast slightly of oxygen or fermenting it in the high end of its temperature range will increase the fruity ester output, while a colder fermentation yields a cleaner beer.
DIACETYL
Diacetyl adds a slick mouthfeel and flavors that can range from butterscotch to movie theater popcorn butter, or even rancid meat. The “Big D” can take over any beer, but English strains are often predisposed to its production. It’s stylistically appropriate in English bitters and brown ales, but can appear in any beer.
Infections can produce diacetyl, so in a clean brewing environment, the chemical is still a natural product of fermentation. Yeast, thankfully, will gobble up diacetyl if given enough time and warmth. That means a cold-fermented beer might need a “diacetyl rest” of sitting at 60°F (16°C) for two days. In the case of an ale, give the new beer two extra days before you’d normally transfer to a conditioning tank or secondary.
British strains range from dry with only a light fruit character from northern brewers, to sweet and malty around London. This allows for a great deal of freedom when brewing along their stylistic lines.
TEST FOR DIACETYL
Take a small sample of beer and heat to 140°F (60°C) for an hour. If no popcorn butter or butterscotch flavor comes out, your beer is ready to move on.
Alan Pugsley and his Shipyard Brewing in Portland, Maine, brought Ringwood english ales to the United States.
RINGWOOD BREWING
In the late 1970s, back when American homebrewing was only being legalized, a brewer named Peter Austin did his part to revive Britain’s beer scene by opening the Ringwood Brewery. After a few years, he was joined by aspiring brewer Alan Pugsley, and the two made full-flavored ales that were a mix of malt and fruit ester that caught the attention of Americans seeking inspiration for their own breweries. Soon, Pugsley and Austin began exporting their brewhouse across the pond to brewers who wanted to capture the same distinctive character, leading to the opening of Magic Hat, D.L. Geary, Middle Ages, Gritty McDuff’s, and along the way, Pugsley’s own Shipyard Brewing.
Though the new Ringwood-style brewers are concentrated in New England, Peter’s original brewery has undoubtedly had the largest single effect on British-style brewing in the U.S. The beers are distinctive and, if they follow all the traditional steps, use an open fermenter with only about four days before being racked off the yeast. The yeast is infamous for its diacetyl production, which in small amounts lends complexity to the beer; an extra two days in the fermenter keeps the buttery molecule in check.
INTERVIEW WITH:
JOHN KEELING: BREWING DIRECTOR, FULLER, SMITH & TURNER, LONDON, ENGLAND
John Keeling Joined Fuller’s in 1981 and became the brewing director eighteen years later
AS THE BRITISH BEER CULTURE FUMBLES WITH THE NOTION OF MODERN CRAFT BEER, THANKS TO CASK FANATICS AND FIZZY PALE LAGERS, JOHN HAS HARDLY BLINKED. INSTEAD OF ISOLATING THE LANDMARK LONDON BREWERY IN THE FACE OF IMPORTED LAGERS, HE’S DRIVEN FORWARD WITH NEW BEERS AND INGREDIENTS ON A CONSTANT DRIVE FOR A MORE FLAVORFUL PINT.
Modern, closed stainless steel fermenters at Fuller’s
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CHARACTER OF ENGLISH ALE YEAST?
The yeast flavors that come through are esters, fruity. I think it depends on fermentation conditions and the system you use. At Fuller’s, we use cylindroconical vessels, but up to about 1983, we used open squares.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CHANGE BETWEEN OPEN SQUARES AND THE CYLINDROCONICALS?
In 1982, we needed new fermenting vessels, so we had a choice. We could find new squares or look at modern vessels. We actually experimented with the two types of systems side-by-side. We found from time to time, open squares produced a beer that couldn’t be beaten. But most of the time, the cyclindroconical produced better beer. On average, a better flavor and ability to settle in a cask. We said, let’s make the beer as consistent as we can at a high Standard. We’re not going to quite hit the high notes from the open square, but nor will we hit the bottom notes we get often.
Oh yes, we got phone calls from people asking, “What have you done to my beer? It tastes better.” Also Fuller’s had not won brewing prizes for years, and all of a sudden we started winning again with the new beer. It was a strong affirmation we made the right decision.
BACK TO THE FULLER’S YEAST. COMPARED TO OTHER TYPICAL ENGLISH YEAST, COULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CHARACTER?
A strong fruity character comes through that’s a combination of hops and the yeast. As our beers tend to get stronger, you notice this orange character like a marmalade or pithiness, and that’s our yeast.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE BEST FERMENTATION TEMPS FOR ENGLISH ALES?
Every yeast does ferment a bit differently. And one of the most important things in brewing is the relationship between a brewer and his or her yeast. You get to understand it, it gets to understand you as well, and you can play tunes together. We pitch in at 17°C (63°F), and allow it to naturally warm to 20°C (68°F). When a quarter of the gravity remains, we chill it to 6°C (43°F).
TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YEAST.
The difference between making cornflakes and beer explains it. That’s like the difference between riding a bike and horse. If you’re riding a bike, you want to turn right, you turn the handlebars and you’ll go right. Just like making cornflakes; it’s the same every day. Whereas when you’re making a beer, it’s like riding a horse. If you want to turn right, you turn the reins and only if the horse agrees will it go right. If it agrees with you and trusts you, it will turn with you. That’s the same relationship you have with your yeast.
A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK OF BRITISH BEER AS BALANCE.
Some folks misinterpret what balanced means; they think you’re in the middle of the road. Balance to me is making a balance of the complexity of flavors you generate, not being neutral.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD SESSION BEER? HOW DO YOU ACHIEVE A FLAVORFUL, LOWER-ALCOHOL BEER?
In England, beer is always drunk in pubs rather than at home. So you drink it standing up and in the company of others. You want a drink that is sociable and promotes that chitchat over a long period of time. There’s no point in something that makes you really drunk and incoherent.
SO ON ONE HAND, THAT’S WHAT PEOPLE HAVE WANTED.
Yes, and I think cask lends itself to that drinkable, low-gravity because it allows a lot of flavors to be produced. I think hops are a key to it. With dry-hopping, you can generate a lot of flavor without adding alcohol. When I was a young brewer, I went to Bass in Burton to see how they make beer. One of their old brewers told me the beer with the greatest drinkability is a beer with the yeast removed late in the day. If you’re making a keg beer, filter it, and drink it six weeks later; it’s not like a beer where the yeast has just dropped out.
STILL, ENGLAND HAS HAD ITS OWN TROUBLE WITH DECLINING CASK SALES.
For a long time in the brewing world, flavor wasn’t that important. It was the profit margin and making the beer cheaper. Now with the explosion in the last twenty years, flavor has come back to its rightful position. I think flavor is now king, and the bigger breweries need to wake up to the fact that accountants decide how they make their beer. There are two types of brewers: those judged by the taste of the beer they produce and those who are judged by the cost of the beer they produce. If you’re making beer on cost, you’re being judged by accountants.
The Fuller’s brewery is London’s only remaining brewery.
The Fuller’s Vintage Ale is released every year with slight recipe variations such as switching the Fuggle hops to Northdown and Challenger.
One of the most important things in brewing is the relationship between a brewer and his or her yeast. You get to understand it, it gets to understand you as well, and you can play tunes together.
YOU MENTIONED A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KEGS AND CASKS.
With keg beer, you will get drinkability, and bottled beers are far better made than when I was studying at Bass. The difference between cask, keg, and bottle is mostly the gas content, CO2. It can have a big effect on how you perceive flavor.
CAN YOU GIVE ME AN EXAMPLE?
Some bigger beers need effervescence to bring out flavor. One of our beers we made recently, a brewer’s reserve, is just not the same beer when you taste it flat. You need the bottle-conditioned fizziness and it lifts the flavor. Then I think lower-gravity beer for drinking is better with lower carbonation, like in a cask beer.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE UK BEER CULTURE’S RESISTANCE TO FLAVORFUL, INTERESTING KEG BEER?
People get into mind-sets. For example, Northerners prefer a big creamy head, but that’s psychology. And so some people assume all beer without head has something wrong. Likewise, certain people assume there’s no good keg beer because they’ve never had a good pint. If you tried it twenty years ago and it was overpasteurized and lacking flavor, that’s no comparison to keg beer now. We have to be thankful to American brewers for starting to push past those old pasteurized beers.
DO YOU BREW DIFFERENTLY KNOWING WHICH PACKAGE IT’S DESTINED FOR?
We make our beer stronger for bottle and keg because they have to last longer. We do pasteurize a lot but also bottle condition some. Our bottle-conditioned beers tend to be stronger and will last up to six years.
But we also make bottle and keg stronger because processing is a bit traumatic with filters, pasteurization, and bottling. In the end, I just want as much or more flavor. But you cannot make a bottle taste exactly like a cask.
SO WHAT’S NEXT FOR FULLER’S?
We’re about to start making beers from the past and try to match them as best we can. It’s interesting to look through the old brewing books. We were using American brewing hops in 1902 to make pale ale, though I think it’s simply because they were cheaper. You also see the family trees for beers. If you follow that pale ale’s history, it becomes Special Pale Ale. Turn a few more pages and it’s London Pride.
BUT WHAT’S IN THE FUTURE FOR YOU?
One of the things I’m determined to do is get our brewers exposed to the world of brewing at a younger age than me. I do think younger brewers need to get a heads-up and see different beer cultures, and there’s no finer way than to get around the world and do it.
