Marston's EPA

[pas8280]

Just had a week away in Fleetwood most of the locals have Marston's EPA on fast cask and i have become quite attuned to it, its a very nice tasty session ale.
So had a google and the best i found was that it was made with Cascade and Styrian goldings its ony 3.6 % ABV and i think just pale malt with a little wheat for head retention, has anyone any idea on the hop schedule i was thinking Cascade at 90 mins taking it to about 30 ibu then the styrians in at 15 mins taking it up another 5 ibu. Can anyone assist ???
Paul

[seymour]

SEYMOUR MARSTON'S EPA CLONE

6 US gallons = 5 Imperial Gallons = 22.7 Litres

GRAINBILL:
100% = 7.8 lb = 3.54 kg, English Pale or English Lager Malt, or a blend thereof, the fresher and crisper the better

MASH at 151°F/66°C for 90 minutes

BOIL 60-90 minutes, add a pinch of gypsum to make the hops pop, drop Irish Moss at 15 min remaining.

HOPS:
.88oz = 25 g, Stryian Goldings, 60 minutes
.88oz = 25 g, Cascade, 15 minutes

YEAST:
White Labs WLP026, derived of the historic Marston's strain

STATS (assuming 75% mash efficiency and 77% yeast attenuation):
OG: 1038
FG: 1010
ABV: 3.6%
IBU: 26
COLOUR: 3°SRM/6°EBC

[Barley Water]

Ok so I have a question for you guys over there. Why is it that I see all these recipes using "C" hops (and other Pacific Northwest hop varities)? If you don't cut it out, pretty soon we will not be able to tell the difference between the British stuff and the American stuff(both of which are different but fantastic by the way)?

Incidentally, I notce a lot of forumulations using relatively low alpha acid hops for bittering when there are really good high alpha hops that will more than adequately serve the purpose, what gives? Also, if I had a bag full of Amarillo hops (even through it is a rather high alpha variety), I would certainly not use it to bitter because it is getting rather hard to find over here and it's a great flavor and aroma hop. My bittering "weapons of choice" are Magnum and Warrior, depending on what I am trying to brew (because of my water, I favor low cohumolone hops for bittering to avoid harshness). I suspect that Mr. Seymour is trying to corrupt you guys.

[seymour]

Ok so I have a question for you guys over there. Why is it that I see all these recipes using "C" hops (and other Pacific Northwest hop varities)? If you don't cut it out, pretty soon we will not be able to tell the difference between the British stuff and the American stuff(both of which are different but fantastic by the way)?

Incidentally, I notce a lot of forumulations using relatively low alpha acid hops for bittering when there are really good high alpha hops that will more than adequately serve the purpose, what gives? Also, if I had a bag full of Amarillo hops (even through it is a rather high alpha variety), I would certainly not use it to bitter because it is getting rather hard to find over here and it's a great flavor and aroma hop. My bittering "weapons of choice" are Magnum and Warrior, depending on what I am trying to brew (because of my water, I favor low cohumolone hops for bittering to avoid harshness). I suspect that Mr. Seymour is trying to corrupt you guys.

Trying to corrupt them?! Quite the contrary, I am whole-heartedly dedicated to the purity of traditional English brewing. In threads like these, however, I'm simply providing a clone recipe to the commercial brew's specifications to the best of my ability. If someone wants to brew Marston's EPA, it contains Stryian Goldings and Cascade, for better or worse. I would much prefer they continue brewing big brown malty treasures, and quit the seeming worldwide march to brewing everything with Cascade hops and Chico yeast. This particular beer sounds more like a watered-down American Pale Ale than a proud English Ale, but who am I to judge?

I fought those trends the first few months I was on these forums, but came to the conclusion I was becoming an arrogant jerk, like a snooty, high-minded European immigrant insisting that native American Indians continue grinding corn meal by hand with rocks instead of giving them a cast-iron grainmill which would dramatically improve their lives, not because they don't want it, but because it's just so cute and historically interesting for them to keep doing it the old-fashioned way. I don't know if I'm explaining myself clearly, but if English brewers wanna experiment with stinky New World hops, who am I to stop them? This might sound arrogant too, but it seems to me that despite centuries of unique brewing tradition, it seems the reality on the ground across the UK is almost entirely focused on recreating the American craft beer renaissance, except in many ways they're about 10-20 years behind the trends. I don't like it, but there it is. I fear they risk "throwing the baby out with the bath water..."

That said, I have one more response to you: modern high alpha hops are a great, cost-effective means to conduct the bitterness "heavy lifting". However, I have been recently rediscovering that when using higher quantities of so-called aroma hops for lengthier additions as well, the other acids and oils can create a wonderful "sum which is greater than its parts" if you know what I mean. Of course, the risk is going too far and creating a grassy, hazy, vegetable soup, but therein lies the brewer's challenge.

[themadhippy]

oi us brits have as much right to claim cascade as one of ours,after all part of its parentage came from the english fuggle,and the u s aint the only place that grows them,some farm in bosbury herefordshire ENGLAND has had a sucseesful harvest of em

[seymour]

oi us brits have as much right to claim cascade as one of ours,after all part of its parentage came from the english fuggle,and the u s aint the only place that grows them,some farm in bosbury herefordshire ENGLAND has had a sucseesful harvest of em

I've made the same argument about Cascade myself, and as far as I'm concerned you can have 'em. I'll take your Wye Challenger hops anyday. But in this context, I was referring to the American craft beer movement of the 1980s and 1990s, where an entire culture grew up around grapefruity American Cascade hops. Besides, you and I both know that even when English brewers use English-grown Cascade hops, it's in order to infuse their beer with some American grapefruity aspects, it's no longer recognizeable as a traditional English ale. That's all I was trying to say. Maybe someday all beer will taste like grapefruit and the progeny will no longer be relevant, but thankfully we aren't quite there yet.

[Barley Water]

You know, I just love to stir it up sometimes. The reason I post on this forum is because I just love English beers and I would hate to see everything turn into a hop bomb, there is something to be said for subtle flavors. Of course, having said that, I just purchased online a pound of hops some of which is Mosaic; a new fangled American variety (which I am told is all the rage with brewers in the know). I need to give it some thought but I know I can come up with a forumulation featuring that hop; after screwing around with that I am for sure brewing some proper English ales, it's been too long.

[Barley Water]

By the way Mr. Seymour, given that you are a fellow lover of English ales, are you serving with a beer engine there at home? On this side of the pond you can get them but they are exteremly expensive, any suggestions for a yank to save a bit of money? I would just love to set up one and do the real ale thing (except of course I would need to use a cask breather since I just can go through it fast enough before it spoils).

[seymour]

By the way Mr. Seymour, given that you are a fellow lover of English ales, are you serving with a beer engine there at home? On this side of the pond you can get them but they are exteremly expensive, any suggestions for a yank to save a bit of money? I would just love to set up one and do the real ale thing (except of course I would need to use a cask breather since I just can go through it fast enough before it spoils).

Man, I wish, but no I don't have anything that cool. Most of what I brew gets bottled. However, I've started experimenting with cask-conditioning in the stainless steel 5L mini-kegs. I don't use a CO2 dispenser, so if I prime it right and simply "gravity pull" through the bottom tap, I imagine it's fairly authentic. One mini-cask of my Chocolate Milk Stout turned out especially nice.

Y'know what looks the coolest? Have you seen Fuggledog's recycled Theakston's wooden cask setup? I drool every time I see his pictures!

[Barley Water]

Yeah those are pretty cool but frankly I'm too lazy to mess with wooden barrels like that. Right now, I keg damn near everything except high octane stuff which I bottle and usually natuarally condition (mostly Belgians but I have some year old Old Ale I think I'll bottle also). I run my kegorator too cold for real ale so I would need a dedicated frig most likely with a thermostat to keep everything at celler temperatures. Besides the cost of the beer engine and other plumbing necessities, the frig would just add to the expense which is why I haven't done it yet (that and the spouse would kick my ass but hey, you need to suffer for your art). Interestingly, while I was typing this up a buddy of mine who is currently in the UK just sent me a picture of a bunch of tap handles as he no doubt in some pub over there, he's just trying to piss me off and it worked.

[seymour]

I hear you. All your talk about kegerators and fridges reminded me you probably don't even have cellars, much less natural cellar temps in Texas, huh? That would make it trickier.

[Barley Water]

Oh yeah, there are no cellers in Texas, you must refrigerate if you want it cool. In the summer, it gets hotter than hell itself, nobody goes outside for long mid July through almost the end of September.