Deuchars IPA

[andysmok]

Does anyone have a recipe for Deuchars IPA?

[Russ]

Aparently this is in Graham Wheeler's new 'Brew Your Own Real British Ale' which is bound to be a sound investment
http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/news.asp
If my copy had turned up I could verify this
other book shops are available .....

also here
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=20109

Russ

[Parva]

Ordered mine from Farnborough Homebrew last night, £12.99 + £2.33 P&P + 32p VAT = £15.44 total. It's been despatched today so hopefully I'll have it tomorrow.

[andysmok]

You must let me know how you got on with it.

[escapizm]

HI

Cant remember where i found this but it was on interweb somewhere, it's a reply from the brewers of my favorite tipple Deuchers IPA the Caledonian Brewery to a guy named Ryan

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Hi Ryan,

I'm so pleased to hear of your affinity for IPA, but I assume supply could be problematic in Montana!

For our, malt we used to use entirely Golden Promise, but, due to supply and quality, we now use a blend of around 65% Optic. However, malt from varieties such as Marris Otter is an excellent one, and if it works well micro brewery and home brewed beers I would stick to something like that. We also add around 3-5% wheat malt to the final grist. We also use around 10% sugar to control colour and help fermentation

We use very high hopping rates due to our late hopping in traditional hopback and as a result only achieve around 20-22 % bitterness utilization, aiming for a final bitterness target of of 28 for both the draught ( 3.8ABV) and bottle (4.5ABV)

For home brewing I would tend to go for the higher ABV version!

We use Fuggles as the main copper hop at a level of around 10% of total hops –around 0.2 g per litre

We use Styrian Golding as the main hop, these days blended with Willamette, which we find compliments the aroma and also acts as a buffer against the variable quality of Styrian Golding . If you can’t get Styrian Golding, replace with Willamette initially

The usage rates in g per litre are as below for all hops

Copper Late

Styrian Golding 0.25 1.75

Willamette 0 0.4

Super Styrian 0.2 0

Fuggle 0.2 0

If you can't get any Super Styrian simply add more fuggle (around 0.3 g per litre) or some other variety of your choice such as Challenger or perhaps US varieties like Liberty or Mount Hood.

To get more late hop character why not try "hop tea". This is simply made by bringing hops to the boil in Water for around 5-10 min ( too long and you will add too much bitterness), straining and cooling and adding the resultant "tea" at the end of fermentation. Remember to allow for dilution effect on the original brew! I suggest you start in the range 1-2 g per litre

Simply add any variety ( in this case Styrian Golding /Willamette) but you try other varieties to give different characters

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I hope you find this useful – good luck and cheers!

Only thing I forgot is the yeast – we expect fermentation to be complete within 48hrs at 20 degrees C

This can be problematic for home brewers, but I would avoid too high a temperature as this will cause flavour changes and use fresh active yeast, even if that requires growing up a starter culture of dried yeast in some sugary nutrient first.

Yes we have our own strain

I would be glad to send you a small sample but I’m afraid we only have it in slurry form and it would autolyse during transit.

I suggest you sue whatever yeast your home brew friends find to be the most reliable – you could take a sample form their fermentations and use that?
Regards





Robert

Dr Robert Burton

Production Director

Caledonian Brewery

Tel: 0131 6238073 / 07971 503477

Fax: 0131 3132370

---------------

Let me know how it goes

escapizm.

[drsmurto]

Wow!

Thats a very detailed reply from the source.

Good to see info being shared.

Will add those extra bits of info into my next batch.

Cheers
DrSmurto

[EportJake]

I based my recipe on the information from that correspondance and have found the results to be pretty damn close. Its been in the keg for about 2 months and its good. One difference was that mine doesn't seem to want to completely clear, but I think that may be the wheat malt. Anyway:

Deuchars IPA (28L)

4900g Golden Promise
250g Wheat Malt

16g Aurora
16g Fuggles
20g Styrian Goldings (all 60 min boil)

26g Williamette
82g Styrian Goldings (15 min boil)

585g Brown Sugar

SO4

4.4% ABV, 27.5 IBU, Colour 9.3

[Garth]

I also have used that info and had a pretty spot on beer from it, I didn't use the sugar though, there's always next time...

[Grot]

Garth and EportJake what yeast(s) have you used for this? I've only had this once and I remember the malt and hop flavors more than the yeast.

[Garth]

US-05 or possibly Nottingham

[drsmurto]

I used ringwood but then i love it in most of my british ales.....

Had no worries with it clearing up but thats part of the reason i love it so much - sinks like a stone.

[Grot]

Cheers, I'll put this one in the queue.

[Invalid Stout]

I believe that Caledonian was previously owned by Vaux and used the same yeast, and happily was even able to get a fresh supply of it from there when there was a fire in Edinburgh brewery some years back. Possibly this is the same strain used in Deuchars.

Anyone else notice Deuchars having changed recently, or is it just me? The last half a dozen pints of it I've had have been utter crap, and I used to love it.

[escapizm]

Now that you come to mention it yeah, thought it was me moving towards my other fav st nicholas but pherhaps youre right... should we get in touch and advise QC there slipping.

[Invalid Stout]

I'm more and more convinced. I have drunk several terrible pints of it each in a different pub, so it's not poor cellarpersonship.

The generous explanation is that they've had to substitute different hops. Is there a shortage of Styrian Goldings or Willamette at the moment?

The less generous is that corners have deliberately been cut after the Caley came under the control of the nefarious S&N whose marketing people genuinely believe that the brand is more important than the recipe.